Georges River Councillor Ashvini Ambihaipahar emerges as frontrunner for Barton

A local councillor has emerged as the frontrunner in race for a prized Labor seat in Sydney’s south ahead of the federal election next year.

Georges River Councillor Ashvini Ambihaipahar has emerged as a front runner to take over the prized seat of Barton on Monday, after canvassing votes among Labor left colleagues.

It’s understood proxies on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had been pushing for the councillor to be nominated for the south Sydney seat in the upcoming federal election next year.

Labor sources expect that whoever the Prime Minister endorses for the seat will take preselection, avoiding a rank and file vote in the prized safe seat.

Georges River Councillor Ashvini Ambihaipahar. Picture: Supplied

Other names thrown around for the seat included Upper House NSW MP Mark Buttigieg, Australian Workers Union organiser Jack Ayoub, and former union official Emma Maiden.

The seat has traditionally been held by the Labor right – until 2016, when it was given to Linda Burney, from Labor’s left.

That was a result of a factional deal to keep Joel Fitzgibbon, from the party’s right, in the Hunter, when his seat was redistributed to an area largely held by Labor left.

Ms Burney announced her retirement earlier this year.

Ms Ambihaipahar narrowly lost the race to win the state seat of Oatley to Liberal Mark Coure in the 2023 NSW election.