Jostling has begun for the deputy leadership of the NSW Labor Party, as MPs prepare to cast their vote for their preferred candidate for the top job.
The month-long leadership race between Strathfield MP Jodi McKay and Kogarah MP Chris Minns will be finalised this weekend after the party's 50 MPs meet to vote in the caucus ballot.
Swansea MP Yasmin Catley, who has been Ms McKay's chief lieutenant during the campaign, has already begun canvassing support among her colleagues in the party's left faction.
However, the move would likely trigger a split in the left, as Labor's acting leader Penny Sharpe confirmed her interest in the position.
"I will be putting my hand up to return to the deputy leader position," Ms Sharpe said on Tuesday.
Ms Sharpe, an upper house MLC and the party's most senior left figure, served as deputy leader to Michael Daley. She has held the role of acting leader since Mr Daley's resignation in March following the state election. Her appointment to the position represented a break with the longstanding convention that only members of the lower house could hold leadership roles.
Ms Catley, when approached for comment on the matter, did not deny that she had approached MPs to discuss her candidacy, but said she had not yet made a decision to contest the role.
"I will make that decision after the ballot following discussion with my left colleagues," Ms Catley said.
With Mr Minns and Ms McKay both hailing from Labor's right faction, party convention dictates that the deputy role will be filled by the left faction.
The left MPs will meet next Tuesday to decide which candidate to nominate for the role, ahead of a partyroom meeting of all Labor MPs where, by convention, the right MPs endorse the left's recommendation.
The caucus will also elect MPs to the roles of leader and deputy leader of the opposition in the upper house, currently held by right-wingers Adam Searle and Walt Secord respectively.
Further jostling is expected on this front, as Mr Searle is backing Ms McKay for the leadership while Mr Secord is supporting Mr Minns.
Sources close to Ms McKay said it was unlikely she would try to exert any influence over the process should she win the leadership ballot.
However, one left-wing MP backing Ms McKay for the leadership said her victory would represent "a new world order", and her view on the leadership team would have currency.
"Yasmin and Jodi have been a good team. There's a lot of support for Yasmin [as deputy]," the MP said.
In a sign of the looming tensions, another MP from the party's left said it would be "unacceptable" for Ms Sharpe to be passed over for deputy leader given her seniority, and her role in holding the party together during the leadership vacuum.
"I would be very shocked to learn that someone was pursing the position when Penny was interested in it," the MP said.
This view was backed by another senior Labor source, who said: "By any measure, Penny should remain as deputy Labor leader."
"While we don't always agree, I recognise that she is a sincere human rights activist, a uniting figure and is a mature, rational thoughtful person with experience," the source said.
- The Sydney Morning Herald
