Labor’s right-wing faction is set to secure the plum new Victorian seat of Werribee with high-profile Left wing candidate Emma Walters likely to run in the upper house.
The news comes after veteran MP Christine Campbell announced she will not contest next year’s state election.
Ms Campbell was first elected to Pascoe Vale in 1996 and served as a minister under former premier Steve Bracks. Pascoe Vale is a very safe Labor seat held by the right faction.
The administrative committee of the state branch of the ALP met on Tuesday night and resolved to conduct rank and file preselections by the end of the year.
Negotiations for Werribee, created in a shake-up of the state’s electoral boundaries, have been the major hurdle in achieving the swift preselections desired by Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews.
Sources now say the Right should get Werribee with Shadow Treasurer Tim Pallas to run there. The Left will get the other new seat of Sunbury.
Ms Walters, a senior lawyer at Slater and Gordon and partner of CFMEU state secretary John Setka, is likely to run the upper house, the Left say.
Ms Walters’ candidacy has worried some who are wary of having the militant union linked to the party. The party recognises that Sunbury is a parochial area that needs a genuine local to run.
Within hours of ms Campbell’s announcement, Federal MP Kelvin Thomson’s adviser Anthony Cianflone announced he would seek preselection.
“My vision for Pascoe Vale reflects my experiences in having been born, raised, lived, educated, employed, and now starting my own family in this community,” he said.
