The class of 2009

RARELY has there been a brighter star on the Liberal Party horizon and, given the scrap in Federal Parliament this week over the prominence of women in politics, the rising could not come at a more opportune time.

The star is Kelly O'Dwyer, the 32-year-old former staffer of ex-Treasurer Peter Costello, who tonight is expected to win preselection for her mentor's blue-ribbon inner Melbourne seat of Higgins. Victory would put her in line to become the first woman in the Liberals' 65-year history to hold one of the party's plum Melbourne seats.

If there is such a thing as a lay down misere in grassroots politics, then O'Dwyer super smart and with a blue-chip resume is probably it. "I have never had a more talented political operator on my staff than Kelly O'Dwyer," says Costello in a ringing endorsement circulated to party members. "Nor have I seen better in Coalition politics in Canberra."

Roundly hailed within party ranks as "a prodigious talent" with a sharp intellect and abundant political nous, O'Dwyer is ready to trade her fledgling business career looking after super-rich family clients of the NAB.

"She's highly intelligent," says a colleague. "She's probably been an over-achiever from the day she went to high school."

Her opponent in the Higgins preselection battle is Andrew Abercrombie, a 53-year-old commercial lawyer and Toorak businessman who built a $200 million-plus personal fortune largely from his interest in consumer finance firm FlexiGroup. Though less politically conspicuous, Abercrombie has long been a financial party backer in Higgins, but illustrative of the battle he faces is the blunt view of one Liberal source: "A young professional woman with a background in politics is exactly what the Liberal Party needs."

And plenty of heavyweight Liberals seemingly concur. Those in O'Dwyer's corner include Robert Nicholson, chairman of law firm Freehills where O'Dwyer worked on graduating from Melbourne University and a member of the electorate's big-ticket fund-raising group the Higgins 200 Club.

"She is a woman of uncommon intellect, skill, energy and integrity, with the capacity to make a long-term contribution in public service," Nicholson wrote in a glowing reference. She enjoys the imprimatur, too, of stalwarts such as former minister Richard Alston, businessman Peter Bartels, John Howard's former chief of staff Arthur Sinodinos and company director Patricia Cross.

Little wonder expectations are running high. In fact, Liberals are glowing generally about the quality of a raft of candidates being assembled in Victoria before the next federal election. Unlike some other states, where the preselection process has either been slowed by a redistribution or stymied by a lack of long-time MPs moving aside for fresh talent, notably in NSW, the Victorians are pushing the line that renewal is well and truly taking hold.

The former Howard government adviser and well-credentialled 38-year-old Josh Frydenberg has been chosen to succeed five-term MP Petro Georgiou in Kooyong, while ex-diplomat and party official Daniel Tehan, 41, (the son of former Kennett government minister the late Marie Tehan) triumphed in a field of 10 for the Western Districts seat of Wannon, held by former speaker David Hawker since 1983 and previously the province of former prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

The Liberals have also endorsed former journalist and commercial lawyer Sarah Henderson for the sprawling seat of Corangamite, an electorate taking in Geelong south of the Barwon River, the Surf Coast and Colac, which fell to Labor in 2007 after more than 70 years of conservative rule. But the party regards the loss as an aberration and believe Henderson can easily overhaul Darren Cheeseman's margin of less than 1 per cent.

The immediate preselection picture is completed tonight in Higgins and on Sunday, when a candidate is chosen from a field of 11 for Aston, which takes in Melbourne's outer east, bumping up against the Dandenongs. Alan Tudge, 38, another ex-government adviser who worked closely in education with Brendan Nelson, is thought to have his nose in front of other contenders including former state operative Nicholas McGowan and two Knox City councillors, Sue McMillan and Darren Pearce.

The party has also started the ball rolling in 19 other non-Liberal seats (having backed Phil Barresi to reclaim his place in Deakin), and members argue that new rules giving the rank and file the greatest-ever involvement in the selection process is producing some of the best-prepared candidates.

THE reforms, championed by Liberal state president David Kemp, have proved a resounding success with several hundred party members getting involved in each preselection. "There's a new buoyancy, something we haven't seen for quite a while," says one source. "I think people are revelling in the opportunity of getting together, grilling candidates, debating over a cuppa, that sort of thing. It's good for the party and good for democracy."

The old branch delegate system, in which candidates faced perhaps 80 or so electorate members and party officials, has been replaced by a system giving a direct say to all paid-up members in the electorate of more than two-years' standing.

More than 500 got involved in the Kooyong preselection, and more than 350 in both Corangamite and Wannon. Similar numbers are expected tonight for the Higgins ballot, being held at Melbourne University's Hawthorn campus in Auburn Road.

Liberal Party rules strictly forbid members from commenting on preselection battles or championing candidates publicly, or candidates themselves from talking up their cause in the media.

But Frydenberg, having won Kooyong, was at liberty to reflect on the benefits of the revamped process.

"It's two things," he says. "I think, one, it's the physical renewal. You're getting people with energy, youth and new ideas coming in, people who are ready to communicate to a new generation of Liberals.

"And secondly, it's about the process itself. It's actually a more democratic system. It's given the candidates a better understanding of their membership base, and a confidence that comes with being blooded through that process."

Henderson, too, praises the leap forward. "It allowed me to present my credentials to all members of the party, and that was a very important factor in me winning preselection, because under the old system it was a lot easier to mock up the numbers, so to speak.

"I think that not only has this been good for the party in that it has attracted a wider range of candidates . . . people with a lot to offer, it has also been very important to the membership because every party member is very engaged in the process and the party even more so has become the true grassroots party."

Another Liberal, without licence to comment publicly, says if the new system helps deliver better candidates "then it's obviously a good thing . . . And good people attract good people, and good candidates run good campaigns, which means better results which means better fund raising, better growth in membership . . . it becomes a circle."

Yet the new rules do not guarantee a wide-open race. Faction heavyweights still push and shove, and some members voice concerns privately that Costello and cohort Michael Kroger have sought to exert too much influence in the Higgins contest. Costello has proved adept at helping to find homes for former staffers Mitch Fifield has landed in the Senate, Tony Smith in the seat of Casey and Michael O'Brien as state member for Malvern.

The Higgins battle has rankled with some who reckon potential candidates were dissuaded from running, reducing the field to a two-horse race. Names touted as potential contenders ex-state director Julian Sheezel, the executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs, John Roskam, and research and communications specialist Jason Aldworth failed to materialise when nominations closed in June.

"I can't recall an occasion where there has been as much flagging who the intended candidate is and that others should get out of the way," notes one prominent party member. "I think it was made clear to them where things stood and in the end they probably decided it just wasn't worth it . . .

"What's interesting is that it's a woman who's the beneficiary of this. That's a first. And, you know, if it's going to be about mates, then it's good if the mate is occasionally a woman, because usually it's a bloke. So there's a degree of progress."

THE woman in question has unquestionable Liberal credentials. A Presbyterian Ladies College student who notched two VCE Premier's awards and ranked in Australia's top 500 students, O'Dwyer went to work in 1995 as a part-time electoral officer for Howard government health minister Michael Wooldridge while studying a double degree at Melbourne University. She joined the party the same year.

After her stint as a lawyer at Freehills, she joined Costello's ranks in February 2004, just shy of her 27th birthday. She has served in numerous party administrative positions and has been involved in a string of community organisations.

Tonight, O'Dwyer and rival Abercrombie will each get to front party members for two informal round-table question-and-answer sessions, before addressing the entire conference before a vote. Some of the recent preselections have proved marathon affairs. Wannon took nine hours and a process of elimination that required five rounds of voting. Aston can likewise be expected to be arduous. But the fate of the two Higgins contenders should be decided relatively swiftly.

Should she triumph, O'Dwyer will be more than simply following in Costello's footsteps; she will be replicating his achievement, becoming an endorsed candidate at just 32. Costello did it in 1989, and clearly envisages a similarly successful political pathway for O'Dwyer.

"Kelly has the intellect, judgment and work capacity to rise to a senior ministerial position in a future government," the soon-to-depart member for Higgins wrote. "As importantly, she has the political and electioneering skills . . .

"Politics is a skill all of its own part public speaking, part media, part fund-raiser, part local organiser, part constituent councillor, part policy expert, part team member and leader. Kelly O'Dwyer has experienced all these levels. She understands politics."

For her part, O'Dwyer sees the big picture and recognises the local parameters in which MPs toil.

"The Rudd Labor Government is destroying the results of a decade's hard work," she wrote to her potential constituents. "The years 1996-2007 were a golden age for Australia, underpinned by the Coalition government which built better opportunities for all Australians . . .

"I know that Higgins cannot be taken for granted. The Liberal Party needs candidates who understand that all politics is local, and that it is from local issues that we build our national campaigns."

Simon Mann is a senior writer.