After a failed attempt to oust Sharon Bird from her position as MP in 2015, Misha Zelinsky has put his hand up to rock the Labor Party boat once more.
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Ms Bird announced she would retire from politics in late 2021, and Alison Byrnes, Ms Bird's long-time adviser and executive assistant, was seen as a shoo-in for the role.
Up until 7.35am Monday, when Mr Zelinsky announced he would nominate just before the 10am cut-off.
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Mr Zelinsky lacked the numbers to threaten Ms Bird in 2015; when his name was tossed out at a potential nominee following her departure Labor insiders said they did not think that had changed.
Mr Zelinsky describes himself as a third-generation local, with degrees in commerce and law from the University of Wollongong, before going on to work as a criminal defence lawyer for the Aboriginal Legal Service.
He is now the assistant national secretary of the Australian Workers' Union and is secretary of the Australian Labor Party's national policy forum
"I am a passionate advocate for Labor values and ideas," he said.
"I have been a State and National Labor conference delegate. I have helped rewrite Labor's Platform, host a top rating podcast Diplomates and represented Australia on the international stage as a Fulbright Scholar.
"That's why I am proud to step forward and offer myself as Labor's candidate for the federal seat of Cunningham."
He said health care, wage growth, fair work, education and affordable housing were top of his agenda.
He also rated "gender equality," despite previously being slammed for his attitude towards women in a satirical relationship advice manual for women he co-wrote in 2012.
The book - He's an Arsehole Anyway - How to Deal with Being Dumped According to the Arseholes Themselves - was published in 2012, and included lines such as: "Now every girl is like 'I wish some semi-retarded, creepy guy would stalk me at a carnival and then build me a house out in the middle of nowhere'," (in reference to popular film The Notebook).
In a 2015 interview Mr Zelinsky said he had "grown up a lot" since then.
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