Liberal royalty to take on Monique Ryan in Frydenberg’s former seat of Kooyong

Amelia Hamer, the 31-year-old Oxford-educated grand-niece of former Victorian premier Sir Rupert “Dick” Hamer, has won preselection to become the Liberal Party’s candidate for Josh Frydenberg’s former seat of Kooyong.

Coalition leader Peter Dutton and Frydenberg congratulated the former staffer and financial technology worker, who trounced her nearest rival, Transgender Victoria chair Rochelle Pattison, by 233 votes to 59.

Amelia Hamer on Saturday.Credit: Justin McManus

More than 300 Liberal Party members, including former Victorian Liberal premier Ted Baillieu and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs James Paterson, gathered at the Hawthorn Arts Centre on Saturday to choose a replacement for Frydenberg, who lost the seat to independent Monique Ryan in 2022.

Hamer was considered a frontrunner for the seat despite suggestions of a late surge in support for Pattison, who was seeking to become the Liberal Party’s first transgender MP.

Local surgeon Susan Morris, who had the backing of former prime minister Tony Abbott, and barrister Michael Flynn KC, was also in the race.

Hamer said cost-of-living issues and housing would be key to her campaign for the seat: “I will fight to put home ownership back on the agenda for young Australians by tackling housing affordability and cost of living pressures.”

Dutton, who has faced questions about whether he intends to invest political capital to win back inner-urban seats like Kooyong, said Hamer was an outstanding pick. “Amelia Hamer has a breadth of experience and will be a champion for the people of Kooyong,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The Liberal Party regards the once-safe seat of Kooyong – centred on the Melbourne suburbs of Hawthorn and Kew – as a target seat at the next election after Frydenberg suffered a 6.5 per cent fall in his primary vote.

Arriving at the preselection, Paterson said the party did not underestimate the challenge of winning back the seat, which Ryan holds by a margin of 3 per cent.

“We don’t underestimate the task. Once independents are in seats they are hard to dislodge,” Paterson said. “We think we can win it back in one term but we are going to have to throw a lot at it.”

Ahead of the ballot, several federal Liberal Party MPs were also hopeful a female candidate would be selected, with fears the federal party’s current record-low level of women MPs would not improve after the next election. In a letter of support for Morris, Tony Abbott said the party needs “more capable candidates who happen to be women”, given the need to be “broadly representative of the wider community”.

Candidates Amelia Hamer, Susan Morris, Rochelle Pattison and Michael Flynn on Saturday.Credit: Justin McManus

Hamer, 30, was a director of strategy at financial technology company Airwallex and is a former adviser to former financial services minister Jane Hume. She has been endorsed by former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

Her great-uncle served as Victorian premier from 1972 to 1981. Her grandfather, David Hamer, was a senator for Victoria and her great-grandfather, Sir William McPherson, also served as Victorian premier in the late 1920s.

Pattison, 56, who is director of an asset management and corporate finance firm, had strong support from senior Liberal Party figures, including senior fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs John Roskam, former Victorian opposition leader Michael O’Brien as well as Marg Hawker, the chair of the Liberal Women’s Council.

Ryan, the sitting teal MP for Kooyong, was asked on Friday about the upcoming Liberal preselection. She said while Pattison was the standout candidate because of her experience, she was unlikely to be selected.

“It would make sense for them to go for someone who’s got experience and knowledge and demonstrable dedication to the Liberal cause. And there is a candidate who’s a senior Liberal who’s worked in the party for a long time: Rochelle Pattison. They’re not going to pick her,” Ryan said.

Pattison's nomination comes as the broader Liberal Party remains locked in a divisive dispute about trans rights issues after dumped Liberal MP Moira Deeming launched a defamation case against Opposition Leader John Pesutto alleging he compared her to a Nazi sympathiser, a claim he has rejected.

Michel Flynn – the only male candidate – was being backed by former president of the Legislative Council Bruce Atkinson and former Supreme Court and Federal Court judge Tony Pagone.

Frydenberg now chairs investment bank Goldman Sachs’ Australian and New Zealand operation. The former federal treasurer, who was at Saturday’s vote, ruled out a political comeback in Kooyong late last year.

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