The senate seat belongs to the right faction but is bitterly divided in Victoria between subgroups aligned with the Australian Workers’ Union,on one hand,and the Shop,Distributed and Allied Workers and Transport Workers union groupings on the other.
Three Victorian Labor figures aligned with Senator Kitching’s AWU faction,which is headed by her close friend and former party leader Bill Shorten,suggested the SDA and TWU groupings – which are loosely led by deputy federal leader Richard Marles – could be angling to take over the senate seat.
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But according to one senior member of the faction,such an insensitive move by Mr Marles’ grouping could ignite “civil war”.
“Hopefully not,if I get my way,” a second source said on the condition of anonymity. “They don’t deserve it.”
Ms Hutchins is aligned to the AWU and last year considered a tilt for the federal seat of Hawke,having pushed for women to be supported in party ranks. She did not respond to calls fromThe Sunday Age.
She lost out in the race for that newly created seat to former state secretary Sam Rae,who is close to Mr Marles.