Amelia Hamer holds off rivals to win Malvern preselection
Liberal Party rising star Amelia Hamer will be confirmed as a candidate for the seat of Malvern, convincingly beating three other challengers in preselection voting.
More than 200 Liberal Party members turned out at Caulfield Race Course on Sunday to elect a new candidate following the retirement of former Liberal leader Michael O’Brien, who will step down after the November state election.
Amelia Hamer (right) and Jacqueline Blackwell (light blue jacket) greet Liberal Party members at Caulfield Racecourse for the Victorian Liberal party Preselection for Malvern.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Hamer, the Oxford-educated grandson of former Victorian prime minister Sir Rupert “Dick” Hamer, defeated Victorian Council of Liberal Women president Jacqueline Blackwell, as well as former Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto and former Samuel Griffith Society counsel Xavier Boffa and barrister Lana Collaris.
Blackwell has the backing of former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, while former premier Jeff Kennett has endorsed Hamer.
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Hamer famously fell 1,500 votes behind incumbent MP Monique Ryan to retake the federal seat of Kooyong for the Liberals in this year’s federal election.
Blackwell has recently risen through the party’s organizational ranks. In July, Kooyong, who sits on the state party’s executive committee, became president of the Federal Electoral Conference and in August was elected president of the Victorian Liberal Women’s Council.
More to come.
