Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer has today responded to controversy over her status as a landlord after it emerged that despite marketing herself as a renter in the early days of her campaign, she owns two properties outside of Victoria.
Appearing in North Balwyn for a funding pledge, the Kooyong candidate said that despite empathising with rising rent and vowing to tackle the housing affordability crisis during her campaign, there were in fact plenty of Australians who can afford to have a foot on both sides of the divide.
“I think the reality is people acknowledge you can be both,” Hamer said.
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“You can be renting and you can also own a property and I’ve spoken to over 10,000 people in this local community and in those conversations we’ve talked about the struggles of renting, that people are telling me about, we’ve talked about the struggles of being a home owner.
“I have spoken to a number of people who are in that position, there are definitely young voters who do that, I mean I was listening to it on the radio this morning.”
The grand-niece of former premier Sir Rupert ‘Dick’ Hamer, 31-year-old Amelia hit an early roadblock in her campaign to return the electorate to its former blue-chip glory, when it emerged that despite renting locally, she in fact owns two properties – in London and Canberra.
As first reported by The Age, documents reveal Hamer is the landlord of a $1.07 million flat in Wandsworth, south-west London.
She denied her housing predicament presented a disconnect to voters in the blue-chip seat.
“You can see both sides of the coin and you can empathise with different people’s experiences ,” she said.
“The reality is I’m focusing on listening to people understanding their experiences and seeing what we can actually get done for people.”
Liberals ‘can’t afford to lose’ Kooyong
Earmarked as one of the battleground seats at next month’s federal election, the fight for the affluent Melbourne electorate of Kooyong will be a major test of faith for the Liberal Party.
Former Treasurer and Liberal Party Deputy Leader Josh Frydenberg’s conservative stomping ground from 2010 to 2022, these days the electorate in Melbourne’s inner east is a modern melting pot, where wealth and inheritance meet university students and Millennial and Gen-Z renters.
Regarded as blue ribbon Liberal stronghold since the dawn of Australia’s federation, more than 120 years years later Kooyong was for the first time painted another shade of blue, with constituents narrowly voting in Climate 200 backed teal independent Dr Monique Ryan at the 2022 federal election.
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Hamer is tasked with the challenge to reclaim the seat, and if she fails there could be dire consequences, according to Monash University head of politics Dr Zareh Ghazarian.
“Kooyong is a very important seat for the Liberal party,” Ghazarian said.
“For the Coalition, if they have any chance of forming government, they have to win this seat.
“If they are unable to win it this time around with the resources and the effort they have put in, then the party will really struggle to form government and it is going to be one of those seats they’ll probably find very difficult to reclaim in future elections.”
Despite the supposed importance of the electorate, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is yet to make a campaign appearance in Kooyong.
“I would be very happy for Peter to be here alongside me to announce more things and get more things done for the local community,” Hamer said.
‘Litmus test’ for the teal movement
Teal independent Dr Monique Ryan is vying for re-election, after a nail-biting win three years ago, where less than 2500 first preference votes separated the former paediatric neurologist from Frydenberg.
Ryan won over constituents at the last election with climate-centred policies that also put integrity in politics in the spotlight.
But with a recent boundary redistribution shaking up the balance, she holds a slim 2.2 per cent margin in her favour.
The boundary change shaves off Mont Albert and Surrey Hills, where most people voted for Ryan in 2022.
Instead, more conservative patches in Toorak, and Malvern, along with Labor voters in parts of Armadale and Prahran East will be brought in.
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When it comes to the longevity of the teal movement, a lot is riding on the seat, according to Ghazarian.
“This is going to be the litmus test of whether independents are a permanent part of the Australian system, at least for the foreseeable future,” he said.
“If they are able to win they will have entrenched themselves, they will have consolidated their role in Australian politics.
“But if they are to lose then we might think the 2022 election was primarily based on voter sentiment towards the Liberal Party and primarily Scott Morrison.”
Ryan has been no stranger to controversy during this campaign, either.
In late March, the federal MP’s husband, Peter Jordan, was forced to apologised after footage emerged of him removing a corflute sign belonging to Ryan’s Liberal rival from a fence in Camberwell.
In the video Jordan claimed he believed the sign had been erected illegally, but conceded he should have reported the matter to council rather than removing it himself.
“I unreservedly apologise for removing the sign. It was a mistake,” he later said in a statement.
Ryan also issued an apology, stating “it should not have happened”.
Early campaign struggles a flash in the pan
Ghazarian believes that while it was not an ideal start to the campaign for Hamer nor Ryan, their controversies would not be a major consideration of constituents at the ballot box.
“It’s just adding to the noise and excitement for the campaign, rather than necessarily being the defining factors in one of them winning or losing the contest,” Ghazarian said.
On the popular Glenferrie Road strip in Malvern, where both Hamer and Ryan hold campaign offices just metres from each other, voters seemed to agree.
Local resident Howard Kiel, a lifelong Liberal voter, said Hamer’s gaffe was not enough to sway him from putting her at the top of the ballot.
“I’m going for Amelia, because she’s Liberal,” he said.
“I think if she was interviewed today I think she would’ve preferred that that didn’t happen but then again what Monique Ryan’s husband did pulling the signs down, it’s not a good look.
“They’re all not 100 per cent.”
Fellow Toorak resident Rosie agreed Hamer’s housing blunder didn’t reflect well, but she too remained committed to voting Liberal.
“I hope Amelia Hamer can get Kooyong, but that recent article, look I mean I admire Amelia, but it’s a pity she didn’t say ‘well yes I understand renting but I also have a property’,” she said.
“Under Labor we never do very well … land tax and inheritance tax…these sort of taxes at our age is ridiculous.”
