Keira MP Ryan Park won't be throwing his hat into the ring for the Labor leadership following the resignation of Jodi McKay.
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"Leadership must almost always be about the institution, and how you respond to successes and difficulties," Ms McKay said in a sometimes teary speech on Friday afternoon.
"Leadership is also about knowing when you step up, and when you step down."
She also called for the party to rally round whoever new leader is, rather than try and destabilise things.
"There has to be a future where there is no destabilising of the party's leader from within," she said.
"While the leadership of the Labor Party may move to a ballot, there must an acknowledgment that at the end of the process, when the new leader is determined, we unite as a party."
Keira MP Mr Park and Wollongong MP Paul Scully were touted as possible replacements earlier this week.
Sources have told the Mercury that Labor's head office had requested Mr Park not contest the leadership in the interests of party unity.
Mr Park has agreed to that request.
Mr Scully has also made the decision not to run for the leadership.
Chris Minns, who has twice challenged for the leadership before, is widely expected to be the chosen candidate, thought sources suggest former leader Michael Daley is looking to run again.
Mr Minns has yet to make a statement on whether he intends to run.