Warrandyte Liberal candidate Nicole Werner defends her Planetshakers youth pastor role as she campaigns with John Pesutto

Werner says her father is a Buddhist, her mother agnostic, her brother an atheist, and she and her husband happen to be Christians.

Nicole Ta-Ei Werner, 2022 Liberal candidate for Box Hill

The new Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Warrandyte has proudly defended her previous role as a youth pastor and charity manager with the Planetshakers church, amid a smear campaign from Labor supporters on social media.

Nicole Ta-Ei Werner’s comments came as she hit the hustings on Monday with Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto, who cited his own comeback story in the eastern Melbourne seat of Hawthorn in declaring he would “throw everything” at the must-win by-election.

Ms Werner beat eight other candidates at a preselection convention on Sunday, including former Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam, winning the final round, 55 votes to 50, against 22-year-old law student and state rower Antonietta di Cosmo, who works for retiring Warrandyte MP Ryan Smith.

Minutes after news broke of her preselection win, Labor supporters flooded Twitter with disparaging references to Ms Werner’s affiliation with the Melbourne-based evangelical Christian Pentecostal megachurch.

What a planet shaking decision. https://t.co/nWORro6yvipic.twitter.com/Xy0HjRnYp7

— Preston Towers (@prestontowers) June 18, 2023

“I’m actually proud of my work as a youth pastor. I worked with refugee communities, I worked with disadvantaged young people, and I think that’s part of the beauty of Victoria,” Ms Werner said on Monday.

“My dad is a Buddhist, my mum is agnostic, my brother, I have one, he’s an atheist. We have Islamic family members, and my husband and I are Christians,” said Ms Werner, whose parents are Malaysian-Chinese. “That is part of the fabric of Victoria and what makes it great. It’s a multicultural, multifaith society, and I will always defend the right for people to have the freedom to worship if they choose to, or not, and the religion they choose.”

Ms Werner joined the Liberal Party during the pandemic, while working as business development manager for the Empower Australia food relief centre, run by the charitable arm of Planetshakers.

She ran as the Liberal candidate in the neighbouring Labor seat of Box Hill in November, suffering a 4.2 per cent two-party-preferred swing to incumbent MP Paul Hamer.

Most recently Ms Werner worked as an adviser to Victorian Liberal senator Jane Hume.

Liberal candidate for the state by-election in the Victorian seat of Warrandyte, Nicole Werner, says she’s proud of her previous role as a youth pastor for the Planetshakers megachurch.

Labor sources told The Australian the party was still considering whether to run in Warrandyte, in Melbourne’s outer northeast, with the by-election likely to be held in August or September.

Mr Smith holds the seat with a 4.2 per cent margin and has been a popular local member, making Liberals fearful of a repeat of the April federal by-election loss in Aston, just south of Warrandyte.

While many within Labor are hopeful of pulling of an Aston-style upset, others have warned against spending money campaigning for a 57th seat that could be needed to win a 45th in Victoria’s 88-seat parliament at the 2026 state election.

Asked if his leadership would be compromised if the Liberals lose the seat, Mr Pesutto said every election was tough and he would “throw everything” at winning. “I’m really proud, though, that we’ve chosen a rising star, the future of the party, in Nicole.”