Karen Andrews backs Josh Frydenberg to run for Kooyong

“He cannot decide, months after the preselection, that now everything looks better for him and he wants to throw himself into the ring,” he said.

Mortlock, who founded the advocacy group Hilma’s Network to encourage Liberal women, said Hamer was the kind of candidate the party needed to bring women and others back to the Liberals after several prominent Liberal men lost their seats in the last elections.

Friday’s draft AEC decision, which could be challenged by political parties before being finalized in the coming months, moved about 30,000 voters from Liberal strongholds such as Armadale, Toorak and Malvern to the Kooyong electorate.

ABC election analyst Antony Green published estimates on Friday night suggesting Kooyong would be an even tighter contest between the Liberals and Ryan, raising hopes in some quarters that Frydenberg would be the best choice to win back the seat.

Andrews said the party had to reconsider its options in light of the redistribution, despite the March vote to elect Hamer.

“I think the game changed when there was such a significant redistribution,” he said.

“I think there is now an opportunity to reassess who will be the best candidate and make sure that party members in the Victorian seats that have been affected have the opportunity to shortlist the candidates they want.

“So I think this is an opportunity to bring Josh Frydenberg back, but I also think it’s an opportunity for the party to look at who will be in the best possible position to not only win the seat, but also to go ahead and take on a strong leadership role in the party.”

Ryan won 52.9 per cent of the vote on a two-party basis in the last election, and some Liberals said former Scott Morrison dragged down the vote among women. Frydenberg lost by 6,035 votes against the “trullo” campaign on climate change, public integrity and women entering parliament.

Any decision on Kooyong is likely to wait until the AEC finalizes the Victorian changes, which are also expected to weaken the Liberal Party’s hold on other Melbourne seats such as Deakin and Menzies.

Friday’s key decision, to dismiss Higgins’ electorate, leaves incumbent Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah in limbo and means Higgins’ former Liberal member, paediatrician Katie Allen, must reconsider her options.

The new borders could make it easier for the Liberals to win in Chisholm’s electorate, raising speculation about whether an alternative candidate should be sought. The party chose Theo Zographos as its candidate in a preselection in which he was elected unopposed.

The Liberals said on Sunday that Allen had not given up his bid to return to parliament and was a strong contender for Chisholm, who now includes about a third of Higgins’ electorate in the new borders.

One concern among party women is that any decision to reopen polls in Victoria could encourage a similar move in New South Wales after the electoral commission releases its draft borders for the state’s federal electors next Friday.

The New South Wales redistribution could bring big changes to Liberal and “teal” electorates, including North Sydney, Bradfield and Warringah.

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