Former prime minister Julia Gillard has taken the rare step of endorsing a candidate for an ACT Senate seat, backing Labor's Katy Gallagher.
Senator Gallagher currently holds one of the ACT's two Senate seats, alongside Liberal senator Zed Seselja.
But both are competing for re-election alongside political hopefuls from other parties, including high profile independent candidate David Pocock, prompting Senator Gallagher to say she was "not a shoo-in".
Gillard praises Gallagher as 'strong advocate' for Canberrans
Ms Gillard has rarely endorsed federal election candidates since she herself left politics.
But today, she penned a letter to Canberra voters, heralding Senator Gallagher as a "strong, experienced" politician she said deserved to be re-elected.
"There's been a lot of talk about independents recently," Ms Gillard said.
She described Gallagher as a "good friend" and "strong advocate for the values that matter to Canberrans".
"As a voter living in the ACT, you have the opportunity to make sure we keep one of our best, brightest and strongest women in the Senate," she said.
Ms Gillard also said that if Labor won the election and Senator Gallagher won her Senate seat, she would become Australia's Finance Minister.
"That's why I would encourage you to ask yourself this question before you cast your vote: 'Can I really risk losing someone like Katy from the Senate?'," Ms Gillard said.
'There's a real race on'
Senator Gallagher said this morning she was grateful to Ms Gillard for her support, adding that her re-election was not necessarily a certainty.
Canberra has long elected Labor representatives in the lower house and has consistently elected one Labor and one Liberal candidate to the Senate.
But Senator Gallagher raised the concern that Mr Pocock in particular could potentially sequester progressive votes, rather than threaten Senator Seselja's seat, as has also been posited.
"It's simply not the way our democracy works.
"I think there's a real race on — I don't think that race is between Zed and David as has commonly been the view ... I think it's a much tighter contest.
"There's some view that 'oh, Katy's fine, therefore we can go and vote elsewhere' and I don't think that's the case."
But she denied that she was seriously concerned about losing her seat.
"No, I don't think it's about panic stations, it's about ensuring that people understand that I need their support if I'm going to continue in the Senate," she said.
"We have a number of progressive candidates running with similar policy agendas in this campaign, and there's no doubt that will affect votes right across the board.
"I want people to understand that I am not a shoo-in."
'They're coming after me. They've made that very clear': Seselja
Senator Seselja said he was unsure whether Ms Gillard's support of Senator Gallagher signalled that Labor was panicked, but said the so-called "teal independents" running for an ACT Senate seat had him firmly in their sights.
"We know that David Pocock and the green independents aren't coming after Katy Gallagher, they're coming after me. They've made that very, very clear," he said.
Senator Seselja also said if Labor was so concerned about candidates splitting the progressive vote, they should not preference them second.
"The Labor party are so concerned about David Pocock, but they're preferencing him second ahead of the Greens. They're very close to him," he said.
Mr Pocock said it was not unexpected for a former Labor prime minister to back Senator Gallagher and said he did not believe her seat was under threat.
"I'm running as an independent, wanting to represent the community I love on issues that are important to us," he said.
"Based on past polls, Katy Gallagher is not under threat."
