Labor looks set for a tougher fight in the by-election in the Melbourne seat of Batman after Malcolm Turnbull indicated the Liberals were unlikely to put up a candidate.
The by-election, expected to be in March, was triggered by the resignation of Labor MP David Feeney after he failed to find paperwork showing he had renounced UK citizenship before entering parliament, disqualifying him under the constitution.
Former ACTU president Ged Kearney is Labor's new candidate for the inner-city electorate.
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Greens candidate Alex Bhathal has run in each election for the seat since 2001, barring 2007.
She won the primary vote at the last federal election but Mr Feeney clung on courtesy of Liberal preferences, taking Batman with a margin of one per cent.
Mr Turnbull said the final decision on running a candidate would be up to the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party.
"But I don't expect we will be running a candidate in the Batman by-election," the prime minister told ABC TV on Sunday.
Asked why, Mr Turnbull said it was a political decision and "parties have to assess priorities and the limited resources".
ABC election analyst Antony Green said if the Liberals didn't run a candidate, the Greens were more likely to win the poll - which would give the minor party its second lower house seat and dent Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's numbers.
Senior Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese - who has experience fighting off Greens in an inner-city electorate - believes the party can retain the seat.
"We need to put our case to the people of Batman (that) the election of a Labor candidate will be an important step in Labor forming government either later this year or early next year," he told Sky News.
