News and politics live updates: Ben Carroll unanimously elected Victorian Premier succeeding Jacinta Allan

Anthony Albanese says a new $4 million pre-feasibility study, jointly funded between the State and Federal governments, could help Australia build its first new oil refinery in decades.

He said it was important to explore how Australia could build its national resilience amid energy shocks prompted by the Iran war and an increasingly fragile global environment.

Speaking in northern WA on Tuesday, Mr Albanese said Australia were “not protagonists in it” but noted it was “having an impact here”.

“Like it’s having an impact right around the world,” he said.

“One of the things that building national resilience does is it makes Australia less vulnerable to the impact of events around the world.

“We know that it’s an important part of national resilience.

“We obviously want to make sure that there’s a commercial opportunity.”

Anthony Albanese has accused Pauline Hanson of ignoring WA and challenged reporters in the north of the state to tally up her appearances.

Speaking in Karratha on Tuesday, the Prime Minister was asked if he was intentionally avoiding appearing in the southern state seat of Secret Harbour ahead of a by-election.

“It’s not normal for Prime Ministers to attend state by-elections and I reckon Roger Cook’s governor is doing a fantastic job,” he said.

“If someone can tell me that there’s been a leader or a minister from the east coast since Federation who has been to WA more often than I have, then good luck with that.

“I don’t come just during to an election campaign.

“I’d ask you to add up how many times I’ve been to WA.

“I’ve been to Karratha more than some political leaders and Prime Ministers in the past have been to WA, as Prime Minister in the last four years.

“I note that the leader of One Nation has been in Parliament for the same period of time as I have been. I’d ask you to add up how many times she’s been to WA.”

Ben Carroll has won the leadership and will replace Jacinta Allan as Victorian Premier.

The Party room selected the former deputy leader after a reportedly chaotic caucus meeting.

Gabrielle Williams was elected as the new deputy Premier.

The meeting ended just before 12pm, when the Party needed to attend Parliament.

The announcement was made by Labor whip Julianna Addison.

“I am delighted to announce that we have a new Premier of Victoria,” she said.

“Ben Carroll has been unanimously endorsed by the State Parliamentary Labor Party as our next Premier of Victoria.

“I am also delighted to announce that Gabrielle Williams will be our Deputy Premier.

“I want to thank our former Premier Jacinta Allan, an extraordinary person who has contributed so much to the Parliament of Victoria.

“Personally, as a regional woman, to have her as our Premier is something I’m incredibly proud of.”

Gabrielle Williams has reportedly been elected interim leader of the Victorian Labor Party.

Ms Williams, who secured the party’s deputy leadership, will step in as Premier until nominations close for leader.

This comes after Sonya Kilkenny threw her hat in the ring alongside Ben Carroll.

It is understood that Steve Dimopoulos also nominated for the deputy leadership.

What was initially expected to be a smooth process has become chaotic, with lots of yelling heard behind the closed doors of the caucus.

Anthony Albanese has claimed that a newspaper report referencing his attendance at a fundraising event at the Sydney harbour side mansion of Felix Lee, the son of a Chinese billionaire accused of tax evasion, is “wrong”.

The dinner, initially reported by The Australian Financial Review, was hosted in Point Piper and attended by former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn.

Mr Lee’s father faces allegations of deceiving the Australian Tax Office about his holdings in order to channel large sums of money into Australian bank accounts.

However, the Prime Minister claimed on ABC Insiders on Sunday that he wasn’t aware of Phillip Dong Fang Lee’s legal troubles.

“I’ve answered those questions. I attended a range of functions last week, and that is what I do,” he said on Tuesday.

“And we declare any donations that are made to the Labor Party.

“The premise of the original reporting of that event was wrong.

“The newspaper was told it was wrong in advance.

“They chose to make those assertions anyway.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has praised Victoria’s departing Premier describing his state colleague as a “very decent human being” following her decision to step down.

“(She is) motivated by her passionate belief in the lifestyle and in education, health, transport of Victorians, and delivering for Victorians,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Western Australia.

“She’s someone who can be proud, I think, of her achievements over a long period of time, and I wish her well for her future. This will have been a very difficult day”.

Mr Albanese says he will also work well with whoever takes over as Victorian Premier.

Premier Jacinta Allan vowed to fight for her job. She claimed she would have defeated her challenger and deputy, Ben Carroll.

But the woman who led Victoria for almost three difficult years baulked at one more political fight and resigned on Tuesday morning.

At a press conference where she took no questions, Ms Allan said she decided to step aside for the benefit of the Labor Party, which would have been required to hold a ballot of all members to choose a leader four months before an election polls indicate it may lose.

“I was prepared to put my record and my plan to a ballot of members as our rules allow,” she said.

“I believe I would have won but doing so this close to an election takes up valuable resources including the most important one: time.”

Victoria’s 49th premier and the second woman to hold the position leaves office with the state in poor shape.

Read the full analysis here.

Jacinta Allan believes she would have won the internal electtion against Ben Carroll.

“I believe I would have won. But doing so this close to an election takes up valuable resources, including the most precious of one — time.

“At the end of the day, I am and always have been, a team player.”

Outgoing Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan says she chose to step aside rather than force a lengthy party ballot, arguing it would have created unnecessary uncertainty ahead of the next election.

While insisting she believed she would have won a vote of Labor members, Ms Allan said the process would have consumed valuable time and resources.

She thanked Victorians for the “honour of my life” serving as Premier and said she was leaving proud of her government’s record after 1,036 days in office.

In a farewell address, Ms Allan pointed to falling crime, a return to budget surplus, cost-of-living measures, major infrastructure projects and investments in schools and hospitals as key achievements of her government. She said she had always put working families first and vowed to continue fighting for them beyond politics, while defending projects including the Metro Tunnel, West Gate Tunnel, North East Link and Suburban Rail Loop against Coalition criticism.

Jacinta Allan has announced she is stepping down as leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party and Premier, saying the decision was made in the best interests of both the party and the state.

In a statement, Ms Allan said she would chair a caucus meeting to elect a new leader and pledged her full support if Ben Carroll succeeds her.

“I have made the difficult decision to step aside as leader of the Victorian state Parliamentary Labor Party, and as Premier of Victoria.”

She added, “I am making this decision because it’s the right thing by the Labor Party, and by the Victorian people.”