Josh Frydenberg searches for full control of Victorian senate ticket

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will attempt to strengthen his authority over the Victorian division of the Liberals by installing one of his closest advisers into the Coalition’s parliamentary ranks in the vacancy left by former Senate president Scott Ryan.

More than 400 Liberal Party members will vote in person in Melbourne on Saturday to choose the new senator and elect the Coalition ticket for next year’s federal election in the biggest gathering of party faithful since the start of the pandemic.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (right) will attempt to install Simon Frost, one of his closest advisers, into the Coalition’s senate ranks. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen/Chris Hopkins

Mr Frydenberg, considered most likely to succeed Scott Morrison as party leader, is pushing for long-time friend and political confidante Simon Frost to fill the vacancy left by Mr Ryan, who retired last month after almost 15 years in Parliament.

Incumbent senator Sarah Henderson, also a Frydenberg loyalist, will contest the number one spot on the ticket for the next election while Mr Frost is angling for the third spot. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie will be second on the Coalition ticket. The highest non-incumbent candidate elected will be awarded the casual vacancy.

Mr Frost, 46, is a former state director of the Victorian division who was widely credited for helping the Coalition hold on to the seat of Chisholm at the last federal election, after it was abandoned by former Liberal turned independent MP, Julia Banks.

The win for Gladys Liu proved critical in the Morrison government’s election victory, however, Mr Frost was later asked to front the Federal Court, sitting as the Court of Disputed Returns, after the result was challenged because he authorised Chinese-language signs that were intended to look like the Australian Electoral Commission’s material. The court later decided against referring Mr Frost to the High Court despite finding the purple and white signs were likely to mislead or deceive because it ruled there was “no real chance” they affected the result.

Senator Henderson, a former lower house MP who lost the seat of Corangamite in 2019, will be challenged for the top spot by long-time Liberal figure Emanuele Cicchiello, the deputy principal of Lighthouse Christian College Cranbourne and a former Knox mayor. Mr Cicchiello has unsuccessfully run for the Liberal Party at both state and federal elections on several occasions.

Greg Mirabella, a Wangaratta-based farmer and former army officer in the Corps of Royal Australian Engineers, will also challenge Senator Henderson, having lost to her 234 to 197 in a September 2019 preselection ballot to fill the vacancy left by former senator Mitch Fifield, now the Australian ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr Mirabella has received a strong endorsement from Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano, for his work with the Wangaratta and district branch since 2014.

Prominent oncologist and Guardian columnist Ranjana Srivastava will also contest.

Several senior Victorian MPs, including Mr Frydenberg, have made phone calls to voting members this week advocating for Senator Henderson and Mr Frost to be elected to the ticket.

In a letter to Liberal members, Mr Frydenberg said Mr Frost had been a “close friend” for 20 years and was a “highly capable policy adviser”.

“Simon’s specialty in ‘on the ground game’ campaigning over the last decade is well-established, and it is this particular skill he will deliver to the Liberal party campaigns throughout Victoria but particularly in Melbourne’s growth corridors where we must win more seats,” he wrote.

But Mr Frost, who was state director during the past two federal elections, is likely to face questions from preselectors over his knowledge of branch-stacking revelations, which have plagued the Victorian division during the past 12 months and led to an audit of the party’s membership base.

Members for the vote have been drawn from the party’s state assembly, state council and electorate councils across metropolitan and regional areas. More than 150 members have declined to take part because they were uncomfortable travelling to Melbourne and have been told only those who have been double-vaccinated against the virus will be able to enter the venue.

Mr Frydenberg has also written a reference for Senator Henderson, praising her work in Geelong where she established her electorate office. He also praised her “extensive media skills”.

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