Liberals target Isaacs

THE Liberal Party has preselected a candidate for Isaacs at the next federal election.

Isaacs has been a Labor seat since 1996. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is the incumbent, having held the seat since 2007.

Last week, the Liberal Party announced that businessman Anthony Richardson had been endorsed as its candidate for Isaacs.

In a statement, Richardson said “families in the Isaacs electorate deserve a dedicated community representative in Canberra who will work hard to fix local issues and reduce the cost of living in the Bayside area.”

“I want to represent you in Isaacs so that we can work for responsible policies that tackle important challenges – like reducing inflation, encouraging home ownership and boosting national security,” he said.

The next federal election is not expected to take place until 2025.

Richardson was the Liberal candidate for the state seat of Clarinda at last year’s election. He was comfortably defeated by incumbent Meng Heang Tak, but there was a 4.7 percent swing towards the Liberals.

The 2022 federal election campaign in Isaacs was disastrous for the Liberals. Candidate Robbie Beaton’s campaign was derailed after he was found to have listed his business as his address on his nomination form instead of his house, which was outside the electorate. His campaign never recovered, and he was fined for the blunder this year.

Labor holds Isaacs with a handy 6.85 percent margin.

First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 20 December 2023