Rebekha Sharkie’s citizenship issues leaves Mayo door open for bid by Alexander Downer’s daughter Georgina

REBEKHA Sharkie’s citizenship woes open the door for the revival of the Downer political dynasty in the family stronghold of Mayo.

Georgina Downer may get a chance to contest the seat her father Alexander held for many years.

• NXT’s Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie caught in citizenship crisis

REBEKHA Sharkie’s citizenship woes open the door for the revival of the Downer political dynasty in the family stronghold of Mayo.

Georgina Downer, daughter of former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer, has been the subject of speculation about standing in the Adelaide Hills seat held by her father from 1984-2008.

The Advertiser’s Off the Record column revealed in January that Melbourne-based Ms Downer had been mentioned in dispatches as interested in her father’s former seat.

A lawyer and former diplomat, Ms Downer narrowly missed out on preselection in the blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Goldstein ahead of last year’s federal election to then Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson.

Should Ms Sharkie’s citizenship status require a by-election in Mayo, the Liberals would consider themselves a strong chance of regaining a former party stronghold.

The Liberals held Mayo from 1984, when the electorate was created, until last year, when Ms Sharkie deposed Jamie Briggs.

His electoral stocks waned after quitting the ministry following an incident involving a young woman in a Hong Kong bar.

Ms Downer was raised in the Adelaide Hills but left South Australia as a teenager for a Melbourne University scholarship.

If she did declare interest and win preselection for Mayo, she would have to overcome Ms Sharkie’s reputation as a hardworking MP who is not beholden to major parties.