The veteran Labor senator Kim Carr has bowed out of the Senate contest in Victoria, marking an end to his almost 30-year career in parliament.
Carr had lost the support of powerbrokers to remain on the Senate ticket but had indicated he was prepared to fight to remain in the upper house, to which he was first elected in 1993.
But in the wake of the death of his fellow Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching, Carr announced on Sunday he had decided that he would withdraw from the contest.
“The Labor Party’s mission to create a fairer Australia never ends and while I would have liked to have continued to pursue it in the parliament, issues with my health have made that inadvisable,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“In light of recent tragic developments, and following determined urgings from my children, I concluded that it was time for me to reassess my priorities.”
Carr, who served in cabinet under both Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, had become estranged from many within his left faction and is a longstanding political rival of the party’s federal leader, Anthony Albanese. Carr was responsible for shifting a small but significant number of parliamentary numbers to install Bill Shorten as leader ahead of Albanese in 2013.
The senator also publicly split with his left caucus colleagues in 2016 after they voted to remove him from the frontbench but he then formed his own mini-faction in defiance to ensure he remained in Shorten’s ministry.
The 66-year-old said he believed his service had made a difference to many Australians, particularly those in his key portfolio areas of higher education, science, innovation and research.
He also said he believed it would be difficult for Labor to form government at the next election. “Nobody should underestimate how tough it is for Labor in this country to be elected to govern, and I take this opportunity to wish the party every success in the forthcoming federal election,” he said.
“There are so many people in this country who need and depend on the progressive government that Labor offers for their wellbeing and ability to fulfil their potential.”
Carr’s left-aligned position is now expected to be filled by the unionist Linda White.
But with less than two months until the election, the Victorian division of the party remains divided over the replacement of Kitching amid an ongoing dispute over the national executive’s control of the state branch.
The national executive seized control of the Victorian branch after branch stacking allegations were aired in 2020, angering rank-and-file members and union leaders who have now lost control over preselection decisions.
This week the high court will consider whether to allow an appeal to an earlier supreme court decision that found the Victorian branch was bound by the party’s national constitution and that the national takeover was legal.
The appeal is being lodged by the Health Services Union secretary, Kitching ally Diana Asmar, with the party’s submissions due to be made to the hearing on Monday.
As the political fallout from Kitching’s death continues, the Labor senator Katy Gallagher said on Sunday that she had not had any disagreements with the Victorian senator beyond the normal political differences of opinion, and objected to the “mean girls” description that had been used by Kitching’s supporters to describe her and senators Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally.
“I hadn’t heard that term before it was published in the paper so I can’t answer that really, it wasn’t a term I heard Kimberly used, it certainly wasn’t a term she used directly to me,” Gallagher said.
“I think it’s an unfortunate term in the sense it does diminish women. And as I said, I can’t really answer more than that.
“I don’t think I did anything that would deserve that name, but I don’t think any person deserves that name on any side of the political chamber.”
Kitching’s family are expected to travel to Canberra on Monday to be present in parliament for condolence motions that will be moved to acknowledge the late senator.
