Election 2022: ALP parachute ex-Rudd adviser into Parramatta

Labor will parachute Andrew Charlton, the managing director of Accenture and owner of a $16m mansion in Sydney’s east, into the federal seat of Parramatta.

Former Kevin Rudd adviser Andrew Charlton.

Labor is planning to parachute Andrew Charlton, a former senior economic adviser to Kevin Rudd and owner of a $16m mansion in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, into the multicultural federal seat of Parramatta.

The move to install Mr Charlton, managing director at Accenture Australia, at the expense of candidates from culturally ­diverse backgrounds has angered local branch members in Sydney’s west.

Retiring MP Julie Owens – aligned with Labor’s “soft left”, also known as the “Ferguson left” after former MP Laurie Ferguson – has held the seat for 18 years. She was re-elected in 2019 on a 3.5 per cent margin.

The “soft left” is a factional rival of Anthony Albanese’s “hard left” or Socialist Left.

Labor sources said the move was likely to be confirmed later this week. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Mr Charlton ­intended to move to the electorate from the Bellevue Hill home he bought in November 2020. Factional infighting has prev­ented the Liberal Party from ­deciding on a candidate for the seat, and plebiscites are pencilled in for the end of March.

The $16 million Bellevue Hill home.

The Opposition Leader’s “captain’s pick” is expected to be announced this week, coming at the expense of local candidates solicitor Durga Owen, a Tamil refugee, and union lawyer Abha Devasia.

The move comes just months after opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally was dropped into the neighbouring seat of Fowler, in Sydney’s southwest, pushing aside local Vietnamese-Australian lawyer Tu Le.

The decision by Labor’s Right faction to back senator Deb O’Neill forced party power­brokers to find a place for Senator Keneally, who was living on Scotland Island on the northern beaches, about 60km from the Fowler electorate.

Durga Owen.

A former Oxford University Rhodes scholar, Mr Charlton has been managing director of ­Accenture Australia since February 2020. He simultaneously holds an adjunct professor role with Macquarie University and is director of the e61 Institute, an econometrics think tank.

Mr Charlton didn’t respond to requests for comment.

As a senior adviser for Mr Rudd between 2008 to 2010, he was intricately involved in the ALP’s fiscal response to the global financial crisis.

The two-tranche $42bn stimulus package has been heralded by some as critical in the nation’s ability to stave off ­recession during the global ­economic meltdown.

Mr Charlton has been touted as a potential treasurer ­in-­waiting, if successfully elected.