Female, a finance professional, Millennial and a renter: Amelia Hamer represents the very demographic that helped topple former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong at the last federal election.
Oxford-educated Hamer – who got her first job at a local Priceline pharmacy and made her way to the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange – questions whether her dynastic edge would be used against her if she was a man.“They say, ‘Oh well, they couldn’t have got there on their own steam, they must be some kind of nepo-baby.’
In that spirit, Hamer said there won’t be any “cat fighting” between her and Ryan, insisting one of the primary reasons the party lost the seat of Kooyong was tone.“They wanted to feel represented as a community and I don’t think they felt that. I think we need to learn those lessons.” Frydenberg received 42.7 per cent of the primary vote – more than Ryan’s 40.3 per cent – but lost on preferences.