Liberal elite endorse academic for Bishop’s safe WA seat

Liberal powerbrokers worked behind the scenes for weeks to thwart plans by Julie Bishop to choose her own successor.

Liberal powerbrokers have held secret talks with Notre Dame University vice-chancellor Celia Hammond to encourage her to nominate for the safe WA seat of Curtin being vacated by Julie Bishop.

Liberal Party powerbrokers have worked behind the scenes for weeks to install university chief Celia Hammond as a replacement for Julie Bishop in the prized seat of Curtin, thwarting plans by the former foreign minister to help choose her own successor.

Liberal sources said senior party figures — including federal Finance Minister Mathias Cormann — had been in secret talks with Ms Hammond, 50, to encourage her to nominate and to assure her they could deliver her the numbers to win the upcoming preselection contest.

While the move could exacerbate tensions between Ms Bishop and some of her West Australian colleagues, senior Liberals said the outgoing MP should approve of Ms Hammond, given she is a woman with vast experience and is widely viewed as a moderate.

On Monday night, Ms Hammond resigned from her highly paid job as vice-chancellor of Notre Dame University to nominate for preselection for Curtin, one of the safest Liberal seats in the country.

Julie Bishop.

She is well-connected in Perth business circles and is believed to be close to many people within the Liberal Party.

As vice-chancellor for the past decade, Ms Hammond is credited with improving the private Catholic university’s performance and reputation.

Ms Hammond only joined the Liberal Party in December, when talks are said to have begun to line up a replacement for Ms Bishop, who was widely expected within the party to resign before the federal election.

The move is likely to halt a push from Ms Bishop’s camp to install foreign affairs specialist Erin ­Watson-Lynn, 33, as her ­successor.

While Ms Bishop and Ms Hammond know each other, they are not close.

Relations between Ms Bishop and many of her Liberal colleagues have been strained since she lost last year’s federal leadership spill. None of her WA colleagues voted for her in the ballot.

In her retirement speech last week, Ms Bishop said she planned to work with the next Liberal candidate to retain Curtin after being contacted by several “extra­ordinary people, including women” who wanted to contest the election.

Erin Watson-Lynn.

Before joining Notre Dame University in 1998, Ms Hammond was a lawyer in private practice and an academic lawyer at other universities. She has also served as the head of Notre Dame’s School of Law and university general counsel.

According to the university’s website, Ms Hammond is “passionate about Catholic higher education, with its commitment to the harmony of faith and reason, to the rigorous pursuit of truth and wisdom within a Catholic moral framework”.

She is the daughter of former West Australian District Court chief judge Kevin Hammond. Her sister Roz Hammond is a comic actor who has appeared on the ABC program Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell.

Last year, Professor Hammond outlined plans to leave Notre Dame at the end of the year.

In a statement on Monday night, the university paid tribute to Ms Hammond’s role in “transforming Notre Dame into one of Australia’s highest-performing universities”.

“After a remarkable 21 years at the University of Notre Dame Australia, especially the last 11 years as vice-chancellor, Professor Hammond has announced that as she wished to pursue a unique ­opportunity she would bring forward her leaving date to the close of business today,” it said.

Nominations for Curtin close on Friday.