Wayne Swan's decision to renominate for another term in Parliament has sparked fear amongst his colleagues about his leadership intentions and prompted one long-time supporter to publicly call for the former Treasurer's immediate resignation.
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Several Labor insiders have told Fairfax Media they fear Mr Swan is attempting to engineer his own return to the frontbench as well as helping install Tanya Plibersek as leader in the long term.
Labor sources accused Mr Swan and Milton Dick of working to oust long-serving member Bernie Ripoll from his seat of Oxley.
Mr Swan also recently supported former ALP state secretary Anthony Chisholm instead of his long-time friend and Labor strategist Cameron Milner for the Senate vacancy caused by Joe Ludwig's retirement.
This has led to a falling out between Mr Milner and Mr Swan, who is godfather to one of Mr Milner's children.
When contacted by Fairfax Media for comment, Mr Milner said he bore no hard feelings towards Mr Swan but called for renewal within the party and especially a boost in female representation in Queensland Labor.
"The hardest thing in politics is knowing when to leave," Mr Milner said.
"Sometimes the decision to move on has also got to be done for the good of the party.
"And that's the case federally with Wayne Swan," he said
Mr Swan confirmed last week that he would be recontesting the Queensland seat of Lilley meaning he would be seeking a total of 24 years in Parliament if successful. He has served as the deputy prime minister and treasurer but became heavily embroiled in the leadership wars between former prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.
"Former federal colleagues of Wayne's like Julia, Kevin and Stephen Smith have all moved on and the Parliament and the party owe them a debt of gratitude for doing the right thing," Mr Milner said.
"Labor should hold no fear of a byelection in Lilley given its current position federally, especially if they ran a talented woman."
"Local lawyer and former party organiser Anika Wells would make an excellent choice for a woman to represent Lilley," he said.
Labor MPs who declined to be identified said Mr Swan's continued presence was undermining current Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen's work in restoring the opposition's economic credentials which took a hit when Mr Swan failed to deliver the budget surplus he promised hundreds of times. "His presence in question time just gives [Liberal Treasurer] Joe Hockey an easy escape," said one MP.
Another senior party source said "it's ironic that the oldest and longest serving member is using the argument of 'generational change' to do over Ludwig and Ripoll."
Mr Swan declined to comment but his supporters rubbished the suggestions as "laughable" and said the former treasurer intended to make a meaningful contribution which would be complementary to the Labor frontbench's role.
