Former Australian Democrats leader and Labor MP Cheryl Kernot will stand as an independent Senate candidate for NSW at the next federal election, the ABC has reported.
Ms Kernot, the former leader of the Australian Democrats who famously defected to the Labor Party, retired from politics after she lost the seat of Dickson at the 2001 election.
She held the post of shadow education spokesman when Labor was in opposition.
Ms Kernot has boosted her low profile in recent weeks by appearing on television as a political analyst, but gave no hint she was thinking of re-entering politics.
She will reportedly stand as an independent under the group name Change Politics.