Barrister Roshena Campbell firms as Liberals poised to name Aston aspirant

The Victorian Liberal Party is preparing to announce its candidate for the Aston by-election as early as Tuesday.

Barrister and Melbourne City councillor Roshena Campbell.

The Victorian Liberal Party is preparing to announce its candidate for the Aston by-election as early as Tuesday, as Peter Dutton declared he was “confident ultim­ately that we can win”.

The state division was forced to accelerate its preselection process for the marginal seat after House of Representatives Speaker Milton Dick announced April 1 as polling day, with close of nom­inations on March 9. The by-election was triggered when former Liberal minister Alan Tudge announced he would resign from federal parliament.

Labor has already chosen former union official and breast cancer survivor Mary Doyle, who contested the seat at last year’s federal election when Mr Tudge’s margin was slashed from 10.1 per cent to 2.8 per cent.

Barrister and Melbourne City councillor Roshena Campbell is widely seen within the party as the frontrunner, ahead of Ranjana Srivastava, Cathrine Burnett-Wake and Emanuele Cicchiello.

Having received references from former treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Aston Federal Electorate Conference secretary Michael Gilmore, Ms Campbell has strong support from a moderate factional grouping linked to Victorian senator James Paterson and the MP for the neighbouring electorate of Menzies, Keith Wolahan, while many further to the right see her as preferable to Ms Burnett-Wake and Dr Srivastava.

The Victorian Liberal Party last week scheduled a plebiscite to decide its candidate but on Monday night was moving towards allowing the administrative committee to choose so the candidate could enter the field as quickly as possible.

“The decision will be made very quickly and we’ll be able to make an announcement in the not-too-distant future,” the Opposition Leader said.

“I’ve expressed my view that I would very much like – in a democratic process that we have in the Liberal Party – for a female candidate to be selected in Aston.

“But, ultimately, that’s a question for the division in Victoria so we’ll work on that. I think it’s a tough, a tough seat for us to retain.

“Alan Tudge has done a great job as a local member but it’s a tough, difficult circumstance in any by-election. The government is still in its honeymoon and there are a lot of local issues at play, but I’m confident ultimately that we can win, but I think it’ll be a tough fight. I think we go into it clearly as the underdogs.”

Despite nervousness in some parts of the party about inner-city-based Ms Campbell’s lack of connection to Aston, supporters say they are confident her intellect and demonstrated capability as a barrister and councillor put her in a position to provide locals with a strong voice in Canberra.

She is also seen as a strong Liberal, having been a member of the party for more than two decades.

While oncologist and two-time Fulbright scholar Dr Srivastava has received references from former health minister Greg Hunt and former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, supporters of Ms Campbell have sought to cast her nearest rival as a relative newcomer to the Liberals and portray her views on issues such as asylum-seekers as being to the left of the party’s.