Nine Liberals nominate for Warrandyte preselection in race seen as test of John Pesutto’s leadership

Former IPA boss John Roskam, KPMG director Sarah Overton and previous Liberal candidates Nicole Ta-Ei Werner and Jason McClintock are all in the running, but a 22-year-old has been described as the ‘dark horse’ of the contest.

Former IPA Executive Director John Roskam is running for Liberal preselection in the Victorian state seat of Warrandyte.

Nine people have nominated for Liberal preselection in the Victorian state seat of Warrandyte, with the frontrunner far from clear in a contest widely viewed as a test of Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s leadership.

The outer eastern Melbourne seat is being vacated by Baillieu-Napthine government minister and former leadership hopeful Ryan Smith, who announced his shock resignation last week after 16 years in parliament.

Those lining up to succeed Mr Smith include former Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam, KPMG director Sarah Overton, former Liberal candidates in the neighbouring seats of Box Hill and Eltham ­respectively, Nicole Ta-Ei Werner and Jason McClintock, and energy industry communications director and former Matthew Guy and Katie Allen staffer Jemma Townson.

Others in the mix include Ryan Smith staffer, champion rower and law student Antonietta di Cosmo, cancer campaigner and former John Howard staffer Allison Troth and Manningham councillor and maths teacher ­Andrew Conlon.

David Farrelly – who lost the seat of Pakenham for the Liberals by just 307 votes in November – has also nominated.

Despite having earlier publicly declared interest in running, ­former Maroondah councillor and local wedding venue CEO Mary-Anne Lowe, federal Liberal Party vice-president Caroline Inge and Matthew Bach staffer Tristan Layton did not nominate.

Liberal insiders said the party’s factions had not yet settled on their candidates, and there were disputes among some groupings over who they should support.

Conservative Liberals are ­likely to back either Mr Roskam – who lost a preselection battle for the seat of Hawthorn to Mr Pesutto in 2014 – or Ms Werner, who cut short a European holiday to return to Australia and nominate, and received cross-factional support when she ran for Box Hill.

Former Box Hill Liberal candidate Nicole Ta-Ei Werner has cut short a European holiday to put her hat in the ring for preselection in Warrandyte. Picture: Ian Currie

An opposing factional grouping that coalesces around powerbrokers Frank Greenstein and Holly Byrne is said to be open to supporting Ms Overton, Mr McClintock or Ms Townson, with the preselection expected to be held as soon as June 18.

Several senior Liberals – some of whom hold significant power within local Warrandyte branches – described Ms di Cosmo as the “dark horse” of the contest, despite her tender age of 22.

“She’s extremely impressive, articulate, intelligent, and very well-connected and popular with the locals. If this preselection was in five years’ time, she’d win ­easily,” said one senior Liberal.

Warrandyte is wedged between the Yarra River and the Eastern Freeway, taking in suburbs including Doncaster East, Donvale, Ringwood North, ­Warrandyte, Park Orchards, Warranwood, Wonga Park and Chirnside Park.

Both Mr Smith and Labor candidate Naomi Oakley suffered first preference swings against them at the November state election (of 2.8 and 2.3 per cent respectively), resulting in a 0.4 per cent swing to Mr Smith two-party-preferred, and seeing him hold Warrandyte with a 4.2 per cent majority.