Former NSW Premier and Sky News host Kristina Keneally has been revealed as the Labor candidate in the upcoming Bennelong by-election, as the opposition launches its campaign to unseat incumbent Liberal MP John Alexander.
Voters in the Sydney electorate will head to the ballot box on December 16.
The by-election was called after John Alexander resigned on Saturday over his dual citizenship. He plans to recontest the seat.
Mr Alexander won Bennelong with a strong 60 percent vote in the 2016 election.
“This is going to be a tough campaign. We do start out as the underdog,” Ms Keneally said, announcing her candidacy with Labor leader Bill Shorten on Tuesday morning.
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“I’ve never shirked from a fight.”
A Labor victory in Bennelong would destroy the government's one-seat majority in the Lower House, but would not necessarily end the Turnbull Government. Two crossbenchers in the House of Representatives - the NXT's Rebekha Sharkie and independent Cathy McGowan - have said they would continue to support the government on matters of confidence and supply.
Ms Keneally named recent cuts to Sunday penalty rates, access to Medicare and the rising price of electricity as issues she would campaign for as a member of parliament.
Mr Shorten described Ms Keneally as an “incredibly capable candidate”.
The Coalition has already attacked Ms Keneally over her ties to disgraced former state Labor politician Eddie Obeid, who is currently serving a jail sentence for corruption offences.
"You have a comparison here," health minister Greg Hunt said.
"One, Kristina Keneally, fought for Eddie Obeid. The other, John Alexander, fought for Australia on the [tennis] international courts".
Mr Obeid was a member of the Labor government in NSW when Ms Keneally was premier. She has previously stated she did not like Mr Obeid, when she was called to give evidence to an ICAC investigation in 2014.
Ms Keneally said Mr Shorten convinced her to run over the phone on the weekend. “Bill Shorten’s a very persuasive man,” she said.
Ms Keneally was born in the United States. She renounced her US citizenship in 2002.
