Liberal trans woman Rochelle Pattison wants to succeed Josh Frydenberg

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The chair of Transgender Victoria, Rochelle Pattison, wants to become the Liberal Party’s first transgender MP and win back former treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s old federal seat of Kooyong.

Pattison, 56, a Liberal Party member for more than 30 years, has formally nominated for preselection for the seat, which teal independent Monique Ryan won from the Liberal Party at the last election.

Trans woman Rochelle Pattison is standing for preselection in the seat of Kooyong.

Pattison is director of an asset management and corporate finance firm Chimaera Capital and is chair of the Knox Ranges Liberal Women group, where former state upper house MP Cathrine Burnett-Wake is vice-chair and a close ally.

Her nomination will have an impact as the party wrestles with trans rights issues after ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming launched a defamation case against Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

The opposition leader eventually removed the first-term MP for her role in the controversial Let Women Speak rally, which was organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull and gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Deeming is suing Pesutto for defamation because she alleges Pesutto compared her to a Nazi sympathiser, a claim he has rejected.

Burnett-Wake said she was “delighted to see a diverse range of candidates stepping forward for the Liberal Party’s pre-selection processes, a testament to our commitment to inclusivity and representation”.

“Among these candidates is Rochelle Pattison, whose decision to nominate is a significant and celebratory milestone,” Burnett-Wake said. “As an accomplished individual and a trans woman, Rochelle’s participation enriches our party’s dialogue and mirrors the diverse society we aim to represent.”

Last year, Burnett-Wake spoke out against extremism in party politics after losing her position on the Liberal upper house ticket to Pentecostal church member Renee Heath.

Burnett-Wake said her acknowledgment of Pattison’s candidacy was not an endorsement over other candidates but a recognition of the importance of diverse representation.

The Liberal Party is locked in a battle between progressive moderates and the religious right.

Battle for Kooyong: Surgeon Susan Morris, teal independent Monique Ryan and Amelia Hamer.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen and supplied

“I think it will be welcomed,” a Liberal source said who requested anonymity due to party rules about discussing preselections. “There are people who will not be positive about it, but they are a minority. She has campaigned for them and has never encountered hostility,” the source said.

A separate party source, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Pattison “has a lot to offer the party and the general public – she is a very accomplished woman”.

Other candidates for preselection include Amelia Hamer, a former staffer for Liberal Senator Jane Hume, who is the great-niece of former Liberal premier Sir Rupert “Dick” Hamer; Kew vascular surgeon Jane Morris; and barrister Michael Flynn KC. Nominations close on January 15.

At the last federal election, Ryan upset then treasurer Frydenberg in the former blue ribbon Liberal seat after campaigning on the Morrison government’s poor record on the environment and status of women.

Ryan, who holds the seat with a 3 per cent margin, is expected to run again. A Liberal victory would be an outside chance.

It is uncertain if the protest vote against unpopular former prime minister Scott Morrison, which fuelled the victory of several teal candidates in a string of seats in inner Melbourne and Sydney, will still be a potent force at the next federal election.

The seat of Kooyong could be redrawn as looming redistribution by the Australian Electoral Commission will probably result in Victoria losing a federal seat after its population declined during COVID-19.

Frydenberg put his political ambitions on hold in September and took a job as Australia and New Zealand chair of the investment bank Goldman Sachs. He said he would not run at the next election.

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