Kristina Keneally responds to criticism of seat change

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Labor Senator Kristina Keneally hit back at suggestions that her move to Fowler’s safe Labor seat is a blow to diversity and vowed that she will fight for the local community.

Senator Keneally confirmed on Friday that she would move from the Senate to the seat of the culturally diverse lower house, after months of internal tensions over whether she or her colleague Senator Deb ONeill would take first place on the Labor Senate ticket, rather than in the hard-to-win third place.

Labor Senator Kristina Keneally talks about her decision to challenge Fowler’s seat in the lower house in the upcoming federal election.Credit: Rhett Wyman

There have been concerns within Labor over Senator Keneallys’ decision, with retired MP Chris Hayes known to favor attorney 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 must do better on diversity … this is a huge failure for Labor on diversity and inclusion.

But Senator Keneally, who currently lives more than 25 miles on the exclusive island of Scotland on the northern beaches, hit back at the criticism at a press conference in Bonnyrigg on Saturday.

Lawyer Tu Le is the potential successor to Fowler’s outgoing Labor MP Chris Hayes.Credit:

I am proud to be part of a party that achieves cultural diversity. Let me take this head on because I’m a little disappointed with some of the media coverage… if you look in South West Sydney you have MPs Ed Husic, Michelle Rowland, Mike Freelander, a-t she said, also naming a number of state MPs from diverse cultural backgrounds.

I am proud to be part of a party that supports gender diversity and supports multicultural diversity. It is a community in which I will live, love and represent. I know how to fight for communities like this – that’s why I entered politics.

When asked what she has to offer the community of Fowler, Senator Keneally said that although the Southwest seat was geographically different from the Heffron State electorate she represented while on Macquarie Street, it had socio-economic and multicultural similarities to this seat.

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