Jacinta Allan has resigned as premier of Victoria ahead of a leadership challenge by Ben Carroll, according to the Guardian’s live coverage of Australian politics. In announcing her departure, Allan urged women not to be discouraged from pursuing careers in politics.

Allan said a One Nation-Liberal coalition posed the biggest risk to the state, framing her exit against the backdrop of Victoria’s political and financial pressures.

The Guardian’s live coverage also carried critical commentary on the leadership transition, in which a critic pointed to challenges said to face the incoming leadership, including a state debt heading toward $200 billion, teachers striking over a pay deal the state government and Ben Carroll had not been able to secure, and problems such as holes in roads. The Guardian’s coverage does not identify all speakers by name in the excerpt available.

That same commentary criticised Carroll, suggesting he might “performatively” call a royal commission “tokenistically” now that he had become leader, rather than out of sincere concern about corruption, characterising any such move as motivated by concern about the polls and their implications for Victorian Labor. This is a critic’s characterisation; Carroll’s response was not included in the available coverage.

Separately, an extension of the fuel excise cut has been ruled out, according to the Guardian’s reporting.

In other developments reported in the same live coverage, Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said it was the “right time” to leave, announcing her departure alongside ACTU secretary Sally McManus. O’Neil said the union movement was “in good shape” and pointed to changes in workers’ rights and the movement growing for the first time in decades, adding that next year marks the 100th anniversary of the ACTU. “We think it’s time for a new leadership team to come in,” she said.