A dark horse has emerged in the Labor preselection race for the plum state seat of Footscray.
Andrew Porter, a former advisor to prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and press secretary to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, has thrown his hat in the ring to force a four-way race with Katie Hall, Sarah Carter and Michael Clarke.
Mr Porter, 33, said he saw the retirement of sitting MP Marsha Thomson as an opportunity to represent the area in which he grew up.
“My family has been in the western suburbs for five generations, and while this is not a qualification in itself, it is home in so many ways,” he said.
Mr Porter has singled out jobs as his top priority.
He described the closure of the Toyota plant in Altona North and the flow-on impact to thousands of workers as “gut-wrenching”, pointing to similar concerns about the shedding of shipbuilding jobs at BAE in Williamstown.
“They do have a large number of employees drawn from across the west broadly, with people in Footscray, particularly the Brooklyn, Sunshine and Sunshine West end,” he said.
Since leaving his political roles, Mr Porter has served as a communications director for Indian mining giant Adani and an analyst with logistics and trucking powerhouse Linfox.
He accepts that these roles may come under scrutiny but insists the attraction of both companies is their role in job creation.
“Just as I’ve been passionate about job creation while working in politics, I’ve been driven to seek roles in the private sector with companies focused on that same goal, in areas crying out for jobs.”
Ms Thomson has spoken of her desire for another woman to step into the role, a situation Mr Porter has acknowledged.
But he points to the likelihood of women being preselected to replace the retiring Wade Noonan in Williamstown and Telmo Languiller in Tarneit, as well as an expected increase in female representation in the western metropolitan upper house.
“I don’t think it’s a zero sum game. As someone who has worked for the first female prime minister of this country, I am fully keen to see equitable representation.”
Footscray branch preselection voting takes place this Sunday and Monday night. The endorsed candidate is due to be known by November 15.
