Liberals turn to barrister Roshena Campbell for Aston by-election

The Victorian Liberal Party’s administrative committee has chosen Roshena Campbell, a woman of Indian heritage with a career as a barrister, as its candidate for the seat of Aston.

New Liberal candidate for Aston Roshena Campbell with federal leader Peter Dutton on Tuesday night after the vote. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

Peter Dutton is set to hit the hustings in the crucial seat of Aston on ­Wednesday morning with newly chosen Liberal candidate Ros­hena Campbell, a career barrister of Indian descent.

Ms Campbell received 13 votes from Victorian Liberal Party administrative committee members, with three each going to her rivals, oncologist and Fulbright scholar Ranjana Srivastava, and migration agent and former state upper house MP Cathrine Burnett-Wake.

Promising to move to the marginal outer-eastern suburban seat immediately, Ms Campbell highlighted infrastructure and cost of living as the key issues on which she would campaign, as the Opposition Leader declared he would be making “many, many visits” to the seat, which is critical to his leadership, before polling day.

In a move that generated internal anger, the Liberals were forced to expedite their preselection process after federal Speaker Milton Dick announced April 1 as the date for the by-election, which was prompted by the resignation of frontbencher Alan Tudge.

Nominations close on March 9, and pre-poll voting is due to open in three weeks.

Labor has chosen its candidate, with Anthony Albanese visiting Aston last Friday to announce former union official and breast cancer survivor Mary Doyle would recontest the seat, after slashing Mr Tudge’s margin from 10.1 per cent to 2.8 per cent at last year’s federal election.

Having last week scheduled a plebiscite of grassroots members, the Liberal Party’s administrative committee on Monday night resolved to meet on Tuesday to choose its candidate. Federal Liberal party director Andrew Hirst and representatives from the party’s Aston branch were also in attendance.

Each candidate was given 16 minutes to present their case for preselection to the committee, which questioned each of them before choosing Ms Campbell.

Deputy school principal Emanuele Cicchiello had pulled out of the race in protest at the decision to bypass a plebiscite of local party members.

Flanked by Mr Dutton following her preselection, Ms Campbell said she would be “in the seat from tonight”.

“I will be listening to every voter in that seat, because they deserve to know that the Anthony Albanese government was happy to throw them under the bus,” Ms Campbell said.

“He’s scrapped infrastructure projects across the seat ... and families are feeling the pinch.

“That cost-of-living crisis is hurting hard, and I want the voters of Aston to know that they ­deserve hope, they deserve a plan and they deserve better than this Labor government.”

Ms Campbell said she had represented small businesses in Aston, and would stand up for every small business and family in the seat.

“I will be moving to the seat, unlike the Labor candidate, who hasn’t given that commitment,” she said. “The Liberal name on the ballot on election day is going to be an Aston local.”

Amid disappointment among some party members that they were not able to participate in the preselection process, Ms Campbell said she would be writing to every Aston Liberal.

“We’re a party of grassroots democracy,” she said. “It’s my job to earn their trust. They’ve all got my phone number.”

Mr Dutton said he was “very excited” that Ms Campbell had been preselected.

“She has demonstrated over a long period of time an ability to fight for small businesses, for ­families, and she’s advocated for really good causes, so I think she will be a great local champion,” the Liberal leader said.