Outgoing Victorian Labor MP Jane Garrett says her post-parliamentary life is a "wide open road", but her short-term list of careers does not include Melbourne lord mayor.
The member for the marginal seat of Brunswick will not contest town hall's top job, made vacant by Robert Doyle, who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations he vehemently denies.
"Unfortunately the timing is just that little bit off and it would result in me causing a by-election in an election year," Ms Garrett told AAP on Friday.
"I have fallen on the side that it's bigger than me and a lot of colleagues of mine are working very hard to be re-elected in November and I don't want to add any more stress to their lives."
She said the people of Melbourne want and deserve a "strong and competent person with a proven track record" as lord mayor, noting nominee and Property Council of Victoria executive director Sally Capp appeared to be a frontrunner.
Ms Garrett has had a tumultuous past few years.
She resigned as emergency services minister in 2016 rather than ramming through a controversial Country Fire Authority pay deal.
She failed in a bid for preselection to a safer upper-house seat.
And personally, Ms Garrett was diagnosed with breast cancer, accosted in the street, and mourned close friend and colleague Fiona Richardson.
"It's not been easy at all, which is probably stating the bleeding obvious, and it's not really what I imagined would occur," she said.
"But you have to deal with what's put in front of you.
"I dealt with the issues that came my way as best as I possibly could being true to what I believed was right."
As for life after the November state election: "It's a wide open road and that's OK."
Ms Garrett will not recontest Brunswick at the November 24 election, a seat under threat from the Greens.
Ged Kearney had been pre-selected to run for the seat, but when a by-election was called for the federal electorate of Batman, Ms Kearney instead set her sights on federal politics.
A by-election for lord mayor will be held on May 12.
This week, an independent investigation commissioned by the City of Melbourne upheld four allegations of misconduct against Mr Doyle.
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