Amelia Hamer’s Strong First-Round Win Shakes Up Malvern Politics
Alright, so let me walk you through what’s been happening around the Malvern preselection, because it turned into a pretty significant moment inside the Victorian Liberal Party.
Amelia Hamer has officially secured the Liberal preselection for the state seat of Malvern — and not just by a slim margin. She held off three other contenders and won so convincingly that the whole contest wrapped up in the first round of voting. This was a surprise, because many within the party thought it would be a much tighter race that might need multiple elimination rounds to decide a winner.
Now, more than 200 Liberal Party members turned up at Caulfield Racecourse on Sunday for this vote. They were choosing a new candidate because former Liberal leader Michael O’Brien is stepping down at the next state election in November next year. So this preselection wasn’t just a routine pick — it was essentially about shaping the future direction of a once-powerful Liberal seat.
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Hamer, who’s Oxford-educated and notably the grandniece of former premier Sir Rupert “Dick” Hamer, managed to secure a broad base of support despite facing strong competition. The most widely discussed challenge came from Jacqueline Blackwell — the chair of the Liberal Women’s Council of Victoria and someone who has been rising quickly through the party ranks. Blackwell had the public backing of former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, so plenty of people expected the contest to go down to the wire.
But Hamer’s support held firm. She was endorsed by former premier Jeff Kennett, and her profile had already grown after she came within just 1500 votes of taking back the federal seat of Kooyong earlier this year from the teal incumbent, Monique Ryan. That near-win really boosted her reputation inside the party, signalling that she could connect with voters in electorates where the Liberals have been struggling.
It’s worth noting that the other candidates — Xavier Boffa, a former adviser to John Pesutto, and barrister Lana Collaris, who heads the Samuel Griffith Society — added depth to the field, but the day clearly belonged to Hamer. The momentum behind her was strong enough that the first round of voting ended it on the spot.
Blackwell, for her part, has been climbing quickly within the organisational structure of the party. She’s taken on major roles recently, including chairing the Kooyong Federal Electoral Conference and then stepping into leadership of the Liberal Women’s Council. So this contest was not just a symbolic matchup — it reflected deeper shifts in party influence and future leadership potential.
For now, though, Amelia Hamer walks away with a decisive victory, setting her up as the candidate in one of the Liberals’ most historically significant seats as the next state election approaches.
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