Curtains drawn on Batman battle scene ACTU President Ged Kearney says she won't be standing for the safe Victorian seat of Batman. IT was set to be a battle royal between a union boss and a Labor party powerbroker for the right to contest Australia's safest seat. But the white flag went up before any swords were drawn. ACTU president Ged Kearney announced on Saturday she would not be nominating for Labor preselection for the Victorian seat of Batman, declaring it was not the right time to run for parliament. Her decision avoids a contest with Victorian senator David Feeney, who on Friday announced his nomination for the lower house seat being vacated by former cabinet minister Martin Ferguson. "I want to thank all of those people who have encouraged me to run for the seat of Batman, however I will not be nominating," Ms Kearney said in a brief statement. I believe I still have a lot more to do in this role given the challenges the labour movement faces. Senator Feeney, a key factional figure in the overthrow of Kevin Rudd in June 2010, appears to have the backing of the prime minister and Victorian right-wing powerbroker Bill Shorten. He faces the loss of his upper house seat at the September election after being given the unwinnable third place on Labor's state ticket. The party has been under internal pressure to preselect a female candidate for the seat to meet its target of 40 per cent of female candidates in winnable seats. The Victorian ALP executive will meet next week to decide on the process and timetable of the preselection.