By Paul Sakkal
Labor has dumped its candidate in Higgins in favour of a high-profile lawyer who party officials believe has a better chance of wresting the blue-ribbon seat vacated by Minister Kelly O'Dwyer.
Dumped Labor candidate for Higgins Josh Spiegel.
Josh Spiegel has been replaced by Fiona McLeod, SC, who the party believes has the requisite star power to mount a serious challenge to claim the seat in Melbourne's inner-east.
The move comes after months of debate within Victorian party headquarters over whether the young and inexperienced Mr Spiegel had enough electoral appeal to defeat the Liberals if the vote in Higgins tightened.
Mr Spiegel said he had always been a strong supporter of Labor's efforts to preselect more women.
"I don’t believe that one can, in good faith, say they support more women in parliament without backing their words with actions," he said.
"And in my case, I am standing aside for one of the most qualified, experienced and talented candidates I could think of."
Higgins – which covers wealthy inner-eastern suburbs including Toorak and South Yarra – was vacated by the retiring Ms O'Dwyer in January.
High-profile lawyer Fiona McLeod will take up the fight for Labor in the seat of Higgins.Credit: Louis Porter
Katie Allen, a pediatrician and unsuccessful candidate at the November state election, is the Liberal candidate in the seat the party holds by a margin of 10.1 per cent.
Ms McLeod chairs anti-corruption body Transparency International Australia, the peak body advocating for transparency in government.
She has previously served as the president of the Law Council of Australia, the Victorian Bar, the Australian Bar Association and Australian Women's Lawyers.
In her current role, Ms McLeod has been a vocal proponent of a federal anti-corruption commission.
Labor has promised to establish a federal integrity commission if it wins the election.
Ms McLeod's Twitter account has been disabled.
It is unclear whether Ms McLeod is a member of the Labor Party.
A ReachTel poll of 1000 Higgins voters in November, before Ms O'Dywer's retirement, indicated a swing against the Liberals that would put the seat in Labor hands on a two-party preferred measure of 53-47.
However, the poll was based on parties rather than individual candidates.
It's understood Labor's internal polling puts it marginally ahead of the Liberals in Higgins.
Sources close to the Higgins campaign say Ms McLeod will need to raise more than $150,000 dollars in order to be competitive at the election.
Labor's Higgins campaign account currently has less than $10,000 under its name.
At the 2016 federal election, the Liberals attracted 52 per cent of the primary vote.
Greens' candidate Jason Ball, who is running again at the upcoming election, attracted 25.33 per cent of the vote, while the Labor candidate was a distant third with less than 15 per cent.
The race in Higgins has been compared to the recent by-election in Wentworth, where the Liberals were exposed to a campaign highlighting the Coalition government's record on climate change and refugee policy.