A safe Labor seat passes from one man to another as the party struggles to field its quota of female candidates

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Labor senator David Feeney has virtually sealed preselection for the safe seat of Batman after beating rival candidate Mary-Anne Thomas in a ballot of local party members on Monday night.

Feeney, who is considered an influential figure on the right of the Labor party, secured 383 votes from members.

His main challenger, Thomas, from the Left of the party, won 247 votes. She has withdrawn from the second stage of the preselection process, a vote cast by 100 members of the statewide Labor party, effectively confirming Feeney as the candidate.

Feeney's victory means only 27% of candidates for Labor seats so far in Victoria will be women, a long way short of the 40% demanded by party rules.

Senior Labor ministers Penny Wong and Jenny Macklin both called for a woman to be preselected in Batman, pitting them against then prime minister Julia Gillard, who backed Feeney.

Batman encompasses the northern Melbourne suburbs of Northcote, Clifton Hill and Thornbury, as well as the fringe district of Thomastown.

Former minister Martin Ferguson, who is retiring at the upcoming election, has held the seat since 1996.

Ferguson has a healthy 24.8% margin in Batman, although the Greens made significant inroads at the 2010 election and are strong in the inner-city part of the electorate.

Feeney will have to resign his senate position, where he is third on the Labor ticket, on 21 August, creating a casual vacancy for Victorian Labor party to fill for the next eight months. He was appointed parliamentary secretary for defence in prime minister Kevin Rudd's latest cabinet.

Feeney tweeted: "Proud to be the locals' choice - thank you Batman ALP members. I will fight hard to represent and advocate for you in the federal election."

Thomas thanked the "active and progressive" Labor members for backing her and urged them to turn their attention to winning the federal election.

Momentum had gathered behind the Plan International executive in recent weeks, amid disquiet from some members that Feeney, who does not live in Batman, had been "parachuted" into the seat.

Refugee advocate Hutch Hussein ended her own candidacy for the seat to support Thomas, echoing Macklin and Wong's calls for greater female representation in parliament.

Speaking to Guardian Australia on Monday, prior to the result, Thomas said Labor needed to do more to diversify its list of candidates.

"We need more women, but also more women like myself who have had full careers outside politics," she said. "The party needs to look at why we are not achieving that.

"Batman is a very multicultural seat. The best of Australia is built on migration but what has really concerned me is that the refugee rhetoric under the Howard government still dominates the discussion. Labor needs to challenge the inherent racism in this debate.

"Batman needs a voice in parliament who will stand up for disadvantaged communities. We face a significant threat from the Greens so we need to show that we are the party of ideas, who supports issues such as marriage equality.

"Talking to Labor members, people are ready to campaign for the leader (Rudd) now. We can start talking about Tony Abbott and his damaging policies now."