Let me take this head on Keneally hits back at criticism over seat switch

Labor senator Kristina Keneally has hit back at suggestions her move into the safe Labor seat of Fowler is a blow to diversity and vowed she will fight for the local community.

Senator Keneally on Friday confirmed she would switch from the Senate to the culturally diverse lower house seat, after months of internal tensions over whether she or fellow senator Deb O’Neill would take the top spot on Labor’s Senate ticket, rather than in the difficult-to-win third spot.

Labor senator Kristina Keneally speaks about her decision to contest the lower house seat of Fowler at the next federal election.Credit:Rhett Wyman

There has been disquiet within Labor about Senator Keneally’s move, with retiring MP Chris Hayes known to favour lawyer Tu Le, a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, to replace him.

On Saturday Labor MP Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to the Federal Parliament, told the ABC: “Labor needs to do better on diversity ... this is a huge failure for Labor when it comes to diversity and inclusion.”

But Senator Keneally â€" who currently lives more than 40 kilometres away on the exclusive Scotland Island on the northern beaches â€" hit back at that criticism at a press conference in Bonnyrigg on Saturday.

Lawyer Tu Le is the potential successor favoured by Fowler incumbent Labor MP Chris Hayes.Credit:

“I’m proud to be part of a party that gets cultural diversity. Let me take this head on because I’m a little bit disappointed in some of the media coverage ... if you look across south-western Sydney you’ve got MPs Ed Husic, Michelle Rowland, Mike Freelander,” she said, also naming a number of state MPs from culturally diverse backgrounds.

“I’m proud to be part of a party that supports gender diversity and that supports multicultural diversity. This is a community I will live in, I will love and I will represent. I know how to fight for communities like this - it’s why I’ve gone into politics.”

Asked what she had to offer the community of Fowler, Senator Keneally said while the south-western seat was geographically different to the state electorate of Heffron she represented while on Macquarie Street, it had socioeconomic and multicultural similarities to that seat.

“The communities in Fowler need a voice in the highest levels of government, and I want to step forward to be that voice,” she said.

Senator Keneally pointed to her lengthy state and federal political resume as evidence for why she was best suited to represent the seat over a local candidate, adding that she had the endorsement of the local Vietnamese community.

Senator Keneally also stood by her controversial call in 2020 for the country to reconsider the level of temporary migration post-pandemic, arguing it impacted wages.

“We need to restore the focus in our migration program on permanent migration,” she said. “Under the Liberals it has been vastly changed leading to exploitation, a two-tiered society and yes impact on wages.”

She said Labor needed to work together to heal factional splits over the preselection battle and instead focus on ousting the Coalition government at next year’s federal election.

Within the NSW Right faction, frontbencher Chris Bowen is said to have been backing Ms Keneally while fellow powerbroker Tony Burke is understood to have been backing Ms Le.

Senator Keneally - Labor’s home affairs spokeswoman - is also a long-time ally of federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who backed her in on Saturday for the seat of Fowler.

“We will have strong candidates in all seats, be that held seats, but importantly, we’ll have strong candidates in our seats across the board,” Mr Albanese said. “I’m very proud to lead a diverse team, an effective team, and a team that will be able to lead our nation through.

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James Massola is political correspondent for the Sun-Herald & Sunday Age. He won the Kennedy award for Outstanding Foreign Correspondent while posted in Jakarta and wrote The Great Cave Rescue. He was previously chief political correspondent.Connect via Twitter, Facebook or email.

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