But Senator Keneally – who currently lives more than 40km away on exclusive Scotland Island – hit back at criticism that her being parachuted into the seat was not appropriate for the seat of Fowler.
“I’m proud to be part of a party that gets cultural diversity. And let me take this head on because I’m a little bit disappointed in some of the media coverage here. If you look across south-western Sydney you’ve got MPs Ed Husic, Michelle Rowland, Mike Freelander,” she said, as well as 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. And that is why, come the next election, I want to go into the House of Representatives, as the voice of every family, every small business, every faith community in Fowler and stand up for them in every possible way.“
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 is also a long-time ally of 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. And I look at Labor’s team and the team that I lead and what I see is a diverse team. Just across where we’re standing here, in fact, our local member is Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives,” he 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.”