She's a former migrant, a human rights and employment lawyer, and she's gay. On paper, the new candidate for Melbourne sounds like a Green out of central casting. But Sophie Ismail is central to Labor's plans to wrestle its erstwhile federal seat back from Adam Bandt.
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And the fact she makes Bandt, the sitting Greens MP, look like a white, middle-class male has not been lost on senior Labor Party figures – nor Ms Ismail herself.
"Adam Bandt looks like a Labor candidate and I look like a Greens candidate," she said.
The 37-year-old is from Labor's Socialist Left faction. Left candidates have lost the past two elections to Mr Bandt, and voters to the Greens more broadly, as the inner city grows more affluent.
Meanwhile, Labor members across the country have received ballot papers to decide the national presidency of the ALP, with Labor's Left faction in Victoria using the ballot to challenge the dominance of federal MP Anthony Albanese and his allies in the Left of the party including federal frontbencher Mark Butler.
Three candidates from the Left are standing for national president: Brunswick MP and current co-party vice-president Jane Garrett, Mr Butler and former senator Louise Pratt.
Labor's Victorian and Queensland Left factions have backed Ms Garrett, while the national, New South Wales and South Australian Left factions have thrown their support behind Mr Butler.
Correction: The original version of this article omitted Louise Pratt as a candidate from the Left, and incorrectly referred to Jane Garrett as the current co-party president.
