David O'Byrne won't run for Labor in the next state election

Current Labor crossbencher David O'Byrne had sought to run for the party at the next state election, however, has had his pre-selection bid rejected by the party's national executive at a meeting on December 1 to consider candidates.

Mr O'Byrne, a long-time unionist and former Labor minister, was one of the many hoping to run for the party in the next state election, but this was rejected by the 21 members of the national executive.

Mr O'Byrne became leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party in July 2021.

A sexual harassment complaint made to the party's administration committee was leaked a couple of weeks later which eventually forced him to resign from the parliamentary Labor Party in August.

The complainant, a former junior officer at the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, accused him of sexual harassment more than a decade ago when he was her boss, saying he sent her sexually explicit text messages and kissed her twice.

Mr O'Byrne said he believed the interactions were consensual and an investigation in 2021 cleared him of breaching party rules.

Responding to his failure to gain pre-selection, Mr O'Byrne in a statement said he was devastated and would now take time to consider his political future.

He said news of his failure to be pre-selected had been conveyed to him by the media.

"While I acknowledge that my candidature does not come with a clean slate I had hoped that my years of commitment to the party and hard work in the community would balance the scales," Mr O'Byrne said.

"This combined with the electoral success over a number of elections would give me a chance to again be part of the parliamentary Labor team and contribute to the campaign to return Labor to government.

"I have never presented myself as the perfect person.

"I have made mistakes and I have owned them, but I have never given up and walked away from the work to which I am deeply committed.

"I will now take some time to consider my future."