Kristina Keneally’s uphill battle to win over locals in seat of Fowler

Labor’s blow-in candidate from the Northern Beaches, Senator Kristina Keneally, has her work cut out for her if she wants to win over locals in the Fowler electorate.

Labor senator Kristina ­Keneally will probably win the Western Sydney seat she is being parachuted into — but she has her work cut out to win over sceptical locals.

The Northern Beaches local was on Friday night endorsed by the NSW Right to contest the Fairfield-based seat of Fowler in a move that saved both her political career and that of her right-wing Senate colleague Deborah O’Neill.

Both senators had been locked in an ugly battle over the sole guaranteed right-wing winnable Senate spot, with the party bowing to the powerful Shop, Distributive and Allied (SDA) union, which insisted Ms O’Neill stay in the Senate.

Former NSW premier and Kristina Keneally has confirmed she will stand for the safe Labor seat of Fowler. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

While Labor insiders claim Ms Keneally had also not wanted to move, the former NSW premier declared she was humbled to have been chosen to contest the safe seat being vacated by incumbent Chris Hayes. She also pledged to move to the electorate.

But as Ms Keneally made an introductory visit to the area on Saturday, Labor MPs and locals vented their anger.

Former Fairfield City mayor Ken Chapman, who worked as the electorate officer for slain state MP John Newman and is now the vice president of the Cabramatta Chamber of Commerce, said Ms Keneally would always be seen as “a blow-in”.

Mr Chapman, who believes local candidate, Vietnamese community advocate and lawyer Tu Le should have been ­endorsed instead, said the area had already been represented by “a blow-in” in former state Cabramatta MP Reba Meagher, who was slammed for living in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese with Tu Le, who had been endorsed by outgoing Fowler MP Chris Hayes to run for his seat. Picture: Facebook

Even if Ms Keneally moved to Fowler, she would still not be “local”, Mr Chapman said.

“She is a local — on the northern beaches. She is not a local here. Tu Le … knows what this area is about. She would have been a better candidate.”

One Fowler Labor branch member, who declined to speak publicly, said members had nothing personal against Ms Keneally other than she was sidelining a local. “It would have been better if she was local,” the member said.

“I think she is a nice person, but she is not from here.”

Ms Keneally was also yesterday copping it from some of her federal colleagues.

Labor MP Anne Aly, who is the first Muslim woman to be elected into federal parliament, said Labor needed to do better in representing multicultural Australia.

“For the Labor Party to be pushing aside a community representative from one of the most multicultural electorates is hypocrisy as far as I’m concerned,” she told the ABC.

But with a margin of 14 per cent, it would take a disaster for her to lose. The ALP is ­expected to sign off on her candidacy this week.

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Originally published as Kristina Keneally’s uphill battle to win over locals in seat of Fowler