BOB Carr has used his last stand as a senator to endorse vanquished Labor MP Mike Kelly for his job.
The former NSW Labor premier was parachuted into the Senate and the plum jet-setting role of foreign minister 18 months ago by then prime minister Julia Gillard.
He has quit just six weeks after actually winning his seat in the election that dumped Labor into opposition.
"I was very high spirited about taking this job but my enthusiasm probably got ahead of a more calculated approach," he said on Wednesday.
He told the ABC he would "love" to stay but didn't want to "hog" the job.
He said replacing a new senator was quite cheap, and it would be good for Labor to give Tanya Plibersek a shot at being shadow foreign affairs minister.
Senator Carr made his final speech as a politician to the United Nations Association of Australia in Canberra, where he endorsed Labor MP Mike Kelly for his vacated seat.
Dr Kelly says if he wins Labor's preselection for the senate spot next week, he'd only occupy the upper house benches for three years and try to win back at the next election his recently lost lower house seat of Eden-Monaro.
Dr Kelly's pitch for the job includes six years of ministerial experience, expertise in defence and security policy, and regional representation.
Other likely candidates are Deborah O'Neill, who lost the central coast seat of Gosford on September 7, and Senator Carr's former staffer Graeme Wedderburn.
At the UN function, Senator Carr called Dr Kelly, who was there, his esteemed parliamentary colleague.
"I wish I could hand my Senate seat over to you," Senator Carr said in opening his speech.
He lamented that Dr Kelly was no longer in the parliament to carry on the fight for aid spending and the UN's work.
"He's someone who's been involved in the frontline of peace building and peace keeping around the world," Senator Carr said.
"I hope his talents can be edged back into that parliament as soon as possible."
Senator Carr lashed out at the coalition's plans for refocusing aid programs.
"I don't like this idea that our aid program ought to follow trade," he told the UN Day function.
"Because there's no trade interest involved in the Solomons - we sell virtually nothing to them, they sell virtually nothing to us.
"It would be a very sad thing if we end up saying to the Solomons you have to push out to 2025 the goal of getting rid of malaria because we're going to cut back on this."
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