Arbib replacement: Keneally rules out Senate tilt

Former New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally has ruled herself out to replace Labor powerbroker Mark Arbib in the Senate.

Mr Arbib announced his shock resignation from Cabinet and Federal Parliament after yesterday's leadership spill.

This morning Labor's NSW state secretary Sam Dastyari said the process of seeking a replacement has already begun.

He said former ALP president Warren Mundine's name is in the mix, and a bid by Ms Keneally would also be welcome.

"At the moment, to be honest, we have a process to go through," Mr Dastyari said.

"I'd love to see Kristina and people of her quality being prepared to stand up and say they want to put their name forward for the Australian Senate.

"I think we're going to get half a dozen good names."

But Ms Keneally used Twitter to quickly quash any speculation.

"I've said many times that I'm not going federal. I'm not a candidate," she tweeted.

Mr Mundine will not say whether he has been approached, but admits there are plenty of internal discussions going on.

"There's a lot of media interest going on. At this stage I have no comments to make," Mr Mundine said.

"Yes, I acknowledge that there have been no Aboriginals in the Parliament, Federal Parliament, for the Labor Party, but I can see a period where that won't be too far off when that will happen."

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Arbib replacement: Keneally rules out Senate tilt