The Labor caucus on Tuesday will formally instal the right factional powerbroker Don Farrell as Stephen Conroy’s replacement as deputy Senate leader – but the tussle for Conroy’s Senate spot is not yet over.
Up to 10 women are signalling interest in putting their name forward for the Senate spot, with nominations due to close on Thursday.
They include Maribyrnong councillor Sarah Carter, Glen Eira councillor Mary Delahunty and Jennifer Yang, who ran on the Senate ticket for the ALP in the recent federal election.
Emily’s List is insisting Conroy’s replacement must be a woman and, if the ALP selects a man for the spot, the group will demand the national executive uphold the Victorian branch rules.
Emily’s List’s national coordinator, Lisa Carey, told Guardian Australia the rules were very clear – Conroy’s replacement needed to be a woman and there were a “number of eminently qualified women” signalling interest.
“If the rules aren’t upheld we will go to the national excutive and call on them to uphold the Victorian branch rules,” Carey said.
Senior party sources dispute that interpretation of the rules but current indications suggest the dispute is unlikely to escalate to that point.
While there are male candidates in the mix, party insiders are signalling Conroy’s replacement will almost certainly be female.
Conroy’s abrupt resignation from politics at the end of the last parliamentary sitting period took most of his Labor colleagues by surprise.
He did not telegraph his intentions to most colleagues, including his close factional ally and Labor leader Bill Shorten, before tabling a valedictory speech in the Senate late on the last sitting week.
Replacing Conroy in the Senate is a complicated exercise courtesy of the fact that he was, up until his retirement, the most significant powerbroker in the Victorian right faction, apart from the leader.
Shorten will want Conroy’s replacement to be a person either with some authority in the faction, or an ally who can be relied upon, given Labor’s internal power balances remain delicate.
• This article was amended on Tuesday, 11 October 2016. It previously stated that former lobbyist Melissa Horne would be a candidate for the Senate vacancy, on advice from Labor sources. Horne has subsequently made it clear to Guardian Australia she will not be a candidate for the position.
