Georgina Downer gives up on Mayo, returns to Victoria

The Downer dynasty has come to an end in SA with Georgina Downer moving back to Victoria.

Georgina Downer with her father, former Liberal Party leader Alexander Downer, during last year’s Mayo by-election. Picture: AAP

The 40-year Downer dynasty has come to an end in South Australia with Georgina Downer — daughter of Alexander and granddaughter of Sir Alick — moving back to Victoria after twice failing to win the seat of Mayo.

Ms Downer, 40, a corporate lawyer, adjunct fellow at the ­Institute of Public Affairs and longstanding member of the ­Liberal conservative faction, broke the news to party members at a meeting of the Mayo Liberals’ ­federal electoral college on Tuesday night.

Her departure from both the seat and the state has created a power struggle between the conservative and moderate factions over who is best placed to fill the void, with senior moderates saying the party needs to find a more progressive, small-l liberal candidate to win back Adelaide Hills voters from independent Rebekha Sharkie. It has also raised the prospect of Ms Downer re-­emerging as a force within the Victorian Liberals, where she sought but was ­denied ­preselection for the seat of ­Goldstein in 2016.

READ MORE: Alexander Downer hits out at daughter’s critics | Georgina Downer says she is in for the long haul

Ms Downer did not return calls yesterday but The Australian understands that at Tuesday’s meeting she thanked members for their support and confirmed she and her family would be returning to Melbourne in January. Her husband, Will Heath, is a partner at the multi­national law firm King & Wood Mallesons and has been commuting between the firm’s Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney offices, which has been a juggling act with their two young children.

Georgina Downer voting at Stirling East Primary School on Election Day 2019. Picture: Ashleigh Pisani

Ms Downer became frustrated after this year’s election loss, where she was accused by her more toxic critics of regarding the seat of Mayo as her birthright.

“Being defined as your father’s daughter the whole time is quite demeaning,” she said after her ­defeat. “I’m Georgina Downer, not someone’s daughter.”

One party figure told The Australian Ms Downer’s departure gave the SA Liberals a chance to change tactics in a bid to take back the seat, which in recent years has gone from being made up of old-money types and gentlemen farmers to a more progressive university-educated middle class, with a huge local market scene with organic farms and boutique wineries. “Mayo is now a peri-urban liberal-leaning seat,” the source said.

That assessment was shared by the man who, as an Australian Democrats candidate, almost beat Alexander Downer at the 1998 GST election, Redgum lead singer John Schumann.

Georgina Downer pictured at the Normanville jetty. Picture Matt Turner

“If we are indeed witnessing the gentle but inevitable decline of the Bunyip aristocracy, well, it’s not a moment too soon,” Schumann told The Australian. “They need to ­realise that the seat has changed. It’s not filled with hard-left green radicals, but it is home to people who are generally progressive, broadly of the centre left.”

The Australian can reveal that the Liberals are so desperate to win back the seat that former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and former South Australian premier John Olsen made direct overtures to Ms Sharkie ahead of this year’s poll, pleading with her to rejoin the Liberals. Ms Sharkie won the seat off her former boss, former minister Jamie Briggs, at the 2016 election, making her the first Nick Xenophon Team member to be elected to the House of Representatives.

Georgina Downer, with husband Will Heath and children Henry, and Margot, in Mount Barker.

Holding dual citizenship, she was forced to quit the seat in 2018, but stared down the first challenge from Ms Downer at that year’s by-election, securing a swing towards her and sparking a furious tirade on social media from Alexander Downer.

In a post that would plague his daughter, Mr Downer became embroiled in an online spat after the by-election with a Sharkie Supporters Facebook group.

“We are Adelaide Hills people and been in politics here for decades and through multiple elections never come across such abuse,” Mr Downer posted in ­response to the group. “Sharkie supporters have brought such horrible hate to our district. You must all be new arrivals.”