David Feeney’s Greens challenger ‘confident’ on eligibility

The woman tipped to topple David Feeney if he is forced to run in a by-election has her own dual citizenship issues.

Former Batman Greens candidate Alex Bhathal. Picture: David Smith.

The woman tipped to topple David Feeney if the Labor powerbroker is forced to run in a by-election has her own dual-citizenship issues, ostensibly inheriting Indian citizenship from her father.

Social worker Alex Bhathal has stood for the northern Melbourne seat of Batman five times since 2001, losing to Mr Feeney by fewer than 2000 votes last year.

She yesterday declared she was ready to run again, emboldened by last month’s Greens by-election victory for the state seat of Northcote which lies within Batman.

“These latest revelations involving David Feeney demonstrate yet again that the people of our electorate need an MP who will be focused on the needs and concerns of people in our suburbs,” she said. “Northcote showed there is strong support for the Greens in our community.

“If we run another strong grassroots campaign we can win.”

Information provided to SBS Punjabi last year suggests Ms Bhathal is eligible for registration as an overseas citizen of India through her father. He reportedly moved to Australia in 1952 when he was 17, studying medicine at Adelaide University.

Ms Bhathal’s grandfather was the chief of police in British ­Malaya before and after World War II.

Ms Bhathal yesterday declined to answer questions about what steps she had taken to renounce any overseas citizenship rights or identify her cultural heritage on her mother’s side.

“As a proud Australian with South Asian heritage, I have done my due diligence following the High Court rulings and am confident that I will be eligible to stand for the seat of Batman in the next election, whenever that may be,” she said.

The Greens vote in Batman has steadily increased at the expense of Labor as young professionals and families move to the inner-northern suburbs of Northcote, Thornbury and Preston.

Ms Bhathal won the most first-preference votes and recorded a 9.58 per cent swing in her favour last year, but after preferences was 1853 votes behind Mr Feeney, who won the two-party-preferred vote with 51.03 per cent.

There is a possibility the Liberal Party would choose not to run in a Batman by-election, as it did not field a candidate in Northcote, improving Ms Bhathal’s chances.