Liberals’ new game plan to take on teals – and it involves women

The NSW Liberals will run female candidates for the first time in the federal seats of Wentworth and North Sydney as the party tries to wrest both back from teal independents and convince voters it has made ground in fixing its so-called women problem.

Former Deloitte consultant and businesswoman Ro Knox was on Friday endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the blue-ribbon eastern suburbs seat of Wentworth, while Salesforce executive Gisele Kapterian will contest North Sydney.

Liberal candidate for Wentworth Ro Knox says voters want the party to represent them again in the seat.Credit: Nikki Short

The move to run female candidates was seen as crucial within the Liberals given census and Australian Electoral Commission data show there are more female voters in Wentworth and North Sydney than males, in each case about 7000 more.

The Liberals ran males in both seats at the last federal election and lost to female teal candidates.

Wentworth, which takes in some of Sydney’s wealthiest suburbs, was a blue-ribbon seat for more than six decades until the resignation of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull prompted a byelection.

High-profile doctor Kerryn Phelps won as an independent in a protest against the Liberals for ousting Turnbull, but she lost at the 2019 federal election to Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.

Sharma served one term but was then beaten by independent Allegra Spender, a teal who had the backing of Climate 200. She holds the seat with a 4 per cent margin.

Knox was the only candidate to formally nominate for Wentworth ahead of next year’s federal poll, although Liberal Party insiders who cannot comment on preselections publicly said other candidates had initially expressed interest.

Former local member Peter King, who held Wentworth between 2001 and 2004, was a mooted contender, but he did not put up his hand, choosing instead to remain as president of the Wentworth conference, which is the collection of branches in the electorate

Knox said she intended to run a “positive campaign” because voters had tired of mudslinging, but she acknowledged it would be difficult to unseat Spender.

“It is going to be a huge challenge, there is no doubt about that, and we as a team are really motivated by that. And I love being an underdog because I think it’s going to make us work so hard,” she said.

Knox said Wentworth was a “federation seat” that deserved a seat at a cabinet table, which an independent such as Spender could never provide.

“People in Wentworth want to come back to the Liberal Party, but we have to earn their respect for them to come back to us,” Knox said. “We have to give them a reason to come back to us, and we have to create that optimism and that excitement.”

Analysis of booths in Wentworth shows the areas in the electorate with the biggest swings against the party – Double Bay, Darling Point and Woollahra – also had the highest female-to-male ratio.

Ahead of the 2018 byelection, now Liberal senator Andrew Bragg, who was seen as the frontrunner and Turnbull’s pick as successor to contest Wentworth, withdrew from the preselection so a woman could run.

“I believe the Liberal Party should preselect a woman and my withdrawal can pave the way,” he said at the time. In the end, Sharma was preselected.

As well as Wentworth, North Sydney is held by an independent teal, and Liberals are hopeful for Mackellar on the northern beaches, which is held by independent Sophie Scamps. She beat Liberal Jason Falinski at the last federal election.

The Liberals are yet to preselect a candidate for Mackellar because of looming boundary redistributions that could throw the party’s plan to reclaim its heartland in doubt.

A seat on Sydney’s north shore is likely to be abolished, and boundary changes are expected in Mackellar, Warringah and North Sydney.

The same is expected in the Labor-held seat of Bennelong.

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