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April 25, 2025
Saturday 19 April 2025
John Ferguson
The Australian
Thousands of extra Jewish voters in the Victorian electorate of Kooyong have complicated teal MP Monique Ryan’s bid to retain the seat after the redistribution overhauled the boundaries.
Demographic analysis suggests close to 5000 Jewish voters are now living within the new boundaries of Kooyong after the old seat of Higgins was abolished, an estimated increase of four times the numbers compared with the boundaries.
The suburb of Toorak alone has about 1250 Jewish voters, which is slightly more than the total number of Jewish voters in Kooyong before 2025.
The new Kooyong now includes well-heeled areas like Armadale, Toorak and Malvern, which are wealthy inner southeastern Melbourne suburbs.
The Liberal Party has tried to paint Dr Ryan as sympathetic to the Greens, which have attracted the ire of many Jewish community members over the minor party’s pro-Palestinian stance on Gaza.
But Dr Ryan has told The Weekend Australian she won’t be doing any deals with the Greens if she is re-elected and that she wants to focus on alliances that counter anti-Semitism.
The Kooyong demographic analysis is based on the most recent available data.
It gives a clear indication of the shifting demographics in Kooyong, which senior Liberals believe should notionally favour Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.
It comes after the October 7 atrocities and the war in Gaza, although the broad Jewish vote is not confined to conservative politics, nor does it back as a bloc the decisions of the Netanyahu government.
Dr Ryan and Ms Hamer are due to conduct a Kooyong Jewish community candidates’ forum on Thursday.
A senior Liberal told The Weekend Australian that tens of thousands of new voters had been moved into Kooyong after the redistribution and the demolition of the old seat of Higgins.
The demographics were that it should advantage Ms Hamer.
“It’s a much better Liberal seat than it was last time around,’’ a senior Liberal said. “People are underestimating the numbers.’’
Kooyong is listed by the ABC’s Antony Green as 2.2 per cent independent versus the Liberal Party but a 3.7 per cent Liberal seat on a two party-preferred basis.
The stuttering fortunes of the national Liberal campaign have given Dr Ryan’s camp cause for optimism in her drive to win the seat for the second time. Dr Ryan has re-emerged as the frontrunner to hold the seat.
In the early stages of the campaign, senior Liberals were quietly optimistic that the party could regain the electorate previously held by former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, former leader Andrew Peacock and former prime minister Robert Menzies.
That has since been tempered but the Liberals remain optimistic of winning back the teal seat of Goldstein, held by Zoe Daniel, which also has a significant Jewish community.
Dr Ryan said her electorate included significantly more constituents subsequent to the 2024 redistribution, including a larger number of Jewish community members.
“I’ve been very grateful to the Jewish community for its openness and generosity to me, and I continue to establish deeper relationships with Jewish community and faith groups,’’ she said. “The recent increase in anti-Semitism in our society is utterly abhorrent.
“Both the Greens and Liberals have sought to politicise the Middle East conflict in ways which are divisive and harmful.
“It’s disappointing to see (Liberal) Senator (James) Paterson continuing to do this.’’
Senator Paterson said Dr Ryan had failed to respond strongly enough to the Gazan crisis and was too close to the Greens.
“The Greens are a dangerous, extreme party whose actions and rhetoric have emboldened extremism, spread conspiracy theories and directly contributed to a hostile environment for our Jewish community,’’ he said.
“Even after it was clear UNRWA staff took part in the October 7 massacre, Monique Ryan still called for Australian taxpayer funding to be reinstated.
“Monique Ryan has let down her Jewish constituents and all residents in Kooyong.’’
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Zionist Federation of Australia wrote to all of the recontesting teal MPs last year urging them not to form a negotiating bloc with the Greens in a hung parliament.
Dr Ryan said she would work with the party that best aligns with her electorate.
Schools play a big role in the Kooyong electorate, with most of the major independent and Catholic campuses in the seat.
In November 2023, Dr Ryan attracted the ire of Bialik College, with its principal Jeremy Stowe-Lindner writing an excoriating letter to the MP, demanding a more balanced response and claiming that the MP had failed to sufficiently called out the role of Hamas and acknowledge the Israeli suffering.