Alannah MacTiernan backed by Louise Pratt MacTiernan an 'amazing' candidate WA Labor senator Louise Pratt has said that Alannah MacTiernan would make an amazing and competitive candidate for Stephen Smith's seat of Perth. Western Australian Labor Senator Louise Pratt has backed Alannah MacTiernan as a possible candidate for Stephen Smith's seat of Perth. "She's the local mayor in the town of Vincent and she'd be an amazing candidate" Senator Pratt told Fairfax Media's Breaking Politics. "That question of who gets [the preselection] is in the hands of the party; it is yet to be resolved but it will be resolved quite soon," Senator Pratt said. . Alannah MacTiernan. Ms MacTiernan, a former West Australian government minister, says she'll decide in the next 48 hours whether to nominate as Labor's candidate for the seat which is held by Labor with a margin of 5.9 per cent. Ms MacTiernan will announce her intentions on Thursday when nominations close. "Obviously, there's a process after that," Ms MacTiernan said. There's not much I can add. I'm not going to engage in a commentary while making a decision. Senior Labor sources expect Ms MacTiernan to nominate. In 2010, she stood unsuccessfully for the seat of Canning, but lost to Liberal Don Randall. "When she ran against Don Randall her candidacy really boosted our vote by a couple of percent above the general swing against Labor in the state, so she's a very strong candidate," Senator Pratt said. Senator Pratt says she wasn't surprised that Mr Smith decided not to contest the next election. "I've been looking at Stephen Smith's face over the last few years ... it's a big job flying backwards and forwards from Western Australia for 20 years," Senator Pratt said. As WA's Planning and Infrastructure Minister from 2001 to 2008, she championed the development of the Perth-to-Mandurah railway line, which proved a big success. Ms MacTiernan hit national headlines in March when WA Labor was trounced at the state election and she called time on Julia Gillard, saying something radical needed to be done to improve the party's fortunes. Senator Pratt says because of the leadership change to Kevin Rudd there's a "real opportunity" for Labor to win the next election. "The mood [in Perth] very positive and optimistic," she said. Barrister Tim Hammond on Monday announced he would not nominate for the federal seat being vacated by the Defence Minister, who is retiring at the election after holding Perth for 20 years. Mr Hammond, who unsuccessfully contested the seat of Swan at the 2010 election, reportedly does not want to nominate because he and his wife have a 17-month-old daughter and want to have more children.