Outgoing Brunswick MP Jane Garrett and her would-be replacement, the ACTU'S Ged Kearney. Credit:Simon Schluter Ms Garrett confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that she will not recontest Brunswick and will instead nominate for the Western Metropolitan upper house seat to be vacated by embattled veteran Khalil Eideh​. Just hours after Fairfax revealed Ms Garrett's political bombshell on Wednesday, Labor unveiled Ms Kearney, who has been ACTU president for seven years, as its star candidate to seek pre-selection for the inner-north seat. Ms Kearney said she had been approached just the day before "by colleagues in the union movement" with the idea of standing for Brunswick. Ms Garrett was once touted as a possible future premier of Victoria.

Tanya Plibersek joined Labor's candidate for Northcote, Clare Burns, on Wednesday. Credit:Joe Armao But she endured torrid year in 2016, resigning as Emergency Services Minister after a brutal feud with the powerful firefighters union and some of her Labor colleagues, undergoing cancer treatment and being attacked in the street in Carlton. A move to Western Metro would allow her to avoid a tough election in Brunswick, where she looked likely to face a campaign against her from the United Firefighters Union as well as the challenge from the Greens. But taking a Legislative Council seat also means any ambitions for the top job would have to be put on hold indefinitely. She also faces a contest for the plum upper house spot she is seeking after Ingrid Stitt, Victorian branch secretary of the Australian Services Union, also nominated on Wednesday for Mr Eideh's Western Metropolitan seat.

Mr Eideh, who announced last week that he would not recontest his Legislative Council seat, is facing an anti-corruption commission investigation into allegations his office billed taxpayers for bogus printing jobs. The investigation was launched after accusations from "Labor whistleblowers" were supplied to the media and the opposition. In a statement, Ms Garrett said colleagues across the labour movement and community members suggested she stand for the Western Metropolitan seat after Mr Eideh's announcement. "It is well known I have faced some significant challenges in recent times, including health issues," she said. "After very careful consideration and discussion with my friends, family and colleagues I have decided to take up this request."

Ms Garrett described Ms Kearney as a Brunswick local who was a "tireless representative of working people". "Ged will be seeking the support of the hundreds of Brunswick branch members for her pre-selection to continue delivering the Victorian Andrews Labor government's progressive agenda," she said. "Her candidacy has my full endorsement." Labor holds Brunswick by just 2.2 per cent against the Greens who are are yet to pick a candidate for next year's race. Tim Read, a local doctor who ran for the Greens against Ms Garrett in 2014, entered the pre-selection contest again on Wednesday, as did Adam Pulford, who works with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

Ms Kearney, a long-term Brunswick resident, said she believed the seat was winnable despite the Greens' long-term ambition to capture Labor in the inner-north. "I think it is winnable," she said. "I think I understand the seat of Brunswick very well...and I am prepared to listen. "If there's one thing I've learned at the ACTU about campaigning it is that you have get out there and listen." Confirmation of Ms Garrett's plan comes as Labor tries to hold the neighbouring electorate of Northcote, left vacant by the death of MP Fiona Richardson, at a by-election in November.

The ALP holds Northcote by a margin 6 per cent but the area's shifting demographics have seen the Greens make big gains and they are seen as a genuine chance of winning in November. Labor's federal deputy leader Tanya Plibersek visited Northcote on Wednesday to lend some star power to the campaign.