Josh Frydenberg has poured cold water on the idea he will recontest Kooyong for the Liberals this election, after major blowback over a proposal to oust the existing candidate.
On Monday senior Liberals were split on the proposal, which the shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, denounced as a “crazy” idea but the former home affairs minister, Karen Andrews, backed as necessary to attract an “absolute asset” back into parliament.
Frydenberg, the former treasurer and deputy Liberal leader, announced shortly after noon on Monday that he is “not rushing back to politics” and his “position on contesting the next election remains unchanged”.
In September Frydenberg had decided against contesting for Liberal preselection in Kooyong, citing a desire to spend “precious time” with this family.
The party preselected 31-year-old Amelia Hamer for the inner-east Melbourne seat, which Frydenberg lost to independent Monique Ryan in 2022.
In a post to social media website X, Frydenberg said he will “continue to support the Liberal Party and our local candidate, Amelia Hamer”.
Re the recent speculation about Kooyong: I am not rushing back to politics, my position on contesting the next election remains unchanged. I will continue to support the Liberal Party and our local candidate Amelia Hamer.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) June 3, 2024
The recent bout of speculation was triggered by a proposed electoral redistribution eliminating the neighbouring seat of Higgins. Some suggested preselections could be re-opened to allow Katie Allen, the former MP and candidate for Higgins, and Frydenberg to contest Chisholm and Kooyong.
Earlier, Andrews told ABC Radio that although she is “well and truly on the record that we need to do more make sure we are preselecting women in winnable seats” this was “quite a different scenario because of changes to seat boundaries”.
The draft redistribution had made “significant changes” to a number of Melbourne seats, including moving 30,000 voters from Higgins into Kooyong, which had “substantially” changed the pool of Liberal preselectors, she said.
“My understanding is that he is not ruling in or ruling out the option of coming back into federal politics,” Andrews said. “But I’m firmly of [the] view he needs to return for the Liberal party and stand for preselection and election.”
Andrews said the redistribution was a chance to “ensure we have the best possible candidates”, suggesting it would have been better if the Victorian Liberals had waited before conducting the preselection.
“My view of Josh Frydenberg is he would be an absolute asset to the team we take forward to the next election.
“I’m saying that the Liberal party in Victoria should do all that it can to ensure that we attract Josh Frydenberg back into standing for parliament.”
But Hume, a Liberal senator for Victoria, said the party had “already preselected Amelia Harmer, and Amelia is a highly qualified woman”.
“Why would they open the preselections based on draft boundaries alone?
“Draft boundaries change all the time, they have done in the past, it would be a crazy thing to do,” Hume told Sky News.
Hume said supporters of Frydenberg may have got “a little bit of a rush of blood to the head” when they heard of the electoral distribution.
“But, quite frankly, our focus as a party should be on keeping Higgins right now. We have some extraordinary female candidates, people like Katie Allen, people like Amelia Hamer.”
On Sunday Charlotte Mortlock, the founder of the Hilma’s Network advocacy group for Liberal women, said Frydenberg “had ample opportunity months ago” to run.
“Amelia is the exact demographic we need to win back. She is a more competitive candidate,” Mortlock told Guardian Australia.
One MP said it would be a “terrible look” to ask Hamer to step aside, noting perceptions of the party having internal issues with gender equality.
Andrews acknowledged these are the “sorts of things he’d [Frydenberg would] be considering”.
She noted that the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, had “already said some time ago that he would be welcoming of Josh Frydenberg coming back and I doubt that his position has changed”.
Frydenberg, Hamer and Allen were contacted for comment, as was the Victorian Liberal party.
