Former New South Wales premier and Sky News presenter Kristina Keneally has been officially confirmed as Sam Dastyari’s replacement in the Senate.

Ms Keneally was formally endorsed by the right faction of the NSW Labor party on Tuesday night.

She will take up her seas as soon as the NSW parliament meets and could arrive in Canberra for the opening of Parliament next week.

In a letter to her centre unity faction, Ms Keneally thanked ousted Senator Dastyari and said her move to Canberra would “add weight to our already strong federal parliamentary party”, according to The Guardian.

Ms Keneally said the current state in NSW “demonstrates the importance of a strong, united and energetic trade union movement to protect frontline workers from a Coalition government’s assault on wages and conditions”.

She told Labor officials she will push for stillbirth research funding, which she says “affects six Australian families each day” and to to “advance serious consideration in the Parliament of the Uluru Statement from the Heart”.

Ms Keneally gave birth to a stillborn daughter almost 10 years ago and is an advocate of Stillbirth Foundation Australia.

She takes over from former frontbencher Mr Dastyari, who resigned in December over a scandal linked to a Chinese donor.