The former New South Wales premier and Sky News broadcaster Kristina Keneally, will replace Sam Dastyari in the Senate, and could arrive in Canberra for the opening of parliament next week.



Keneally was formally endorsed by the right faction to replace the strife prone Dastyari on Tuesday night, but the timing of her arrival is contingent on the New South Wales parliament, which will need to have a joint sitting to rubber stamp the move.

In a letter to her centre unity faction, Kenneally paid tribute to Dastyari and noted her arrival in Canberra would “add weight to our already strong federal parliamentary party”.

Keneally said the current situation in NSW “demonstrates the importance of a strong, united and energetic trade union movement to protect frontline workers from a Coalition government’s assault on wages and conditions”, adding that the joint mission between the parliamentary and industrial wings had “never been more important”.

She said she intended to “advocate for research funding for pregnancy loss and stillbirth, which affects six Australian families each day” and flagged using her Senate position to “advance serious consideration in the parliament of the Uluru Statement from the Heart”.

Keneally’s formal endorsement came as members of the Victorian right faction met separately to ponder a factional realignment in Bill Shorten’s home state which has generated considerable internal controversy.

Just before Christmas, a damaging factional brawl boiled over in the Victorian branch. A breakaway group of right- and leftwingers is seeking to overturn a stability pact agreed between the former rightwing parliamentary powerbroker Stephen Conroy and the veteran leftwinger Kim Carr, which has maintained factional harmony in the Victorian branch for several years.

The proposed shift, Labor sources say, is being spearheaded by Adem Somyurek, who was a minister in the Andrews government before being dumped – but has had the support of Shorten.

Somyurek, according to internal accounts, is attempting to assert himself as the kingmaker in the Victorian right, and he has the backing of elements of the industrial left, including the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union construction division; the Finance Sector Union; and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union.

But the push faces stiff resistance from elements of the parliamentary and industrial left. Elements of the industrial right, including the National Union of Workers, and the shop assistants union, have also been unconvinced the realignment is a good idea.

Late last year, Shorten faced internal criticism for meeting personally with the architects of the rebellion, and for lobbying personally and through proxies to get elements of the Victorian right to sign on – and has now stepped back from the fray.

But supporters of the change are powering ahead. A meeting of rightwingers in late December declined to endorse the new arrangements, deferring further discussion until after the Christmas break.

Members of the Victorian right met late on Tuesday to discuss the power realignment and failed to reach a decision. They will meet again on Wednesday.