Proving there’s more than one way to get your name out there before a parliamentary run, the protagonist in an odd little culture war episode from late last year is throwing their hat into the ring for the Liberals.
A tipster has pointed out that University of Sydney student Freya Leach is running in the seat of Balmain for the NSW election on March 25. Posters are up in the area, and she’s put together an Instagram in which she is perfecting the political skill of looking unnaturally happy to talk to people.
In November, Leach wrote to Sydney Uni’s law school about a take-home exam that set up a hypothetical wherein a character with the name Freya kills a politically ambiguous victim in a hit-and-run, has unprotected sex while HIV-positive and ends up being pushed out a window.
“I am concerned because it is clearly intended to depict me. Very rarely do problem questions use such specific names as Freya,” she said at the time. “People have also posted jokes about me in an anonymous Facebook discussion page, showing that even beyond the law faculty, people know it is me in the exam.”
The university said the use of the name was a coincidence. The whole thing spun out into a little media episode, with pieces detailing “concerns about a lack of respect for centre-right students on campus” and the like.
The 20-year-old has been given a tough gig. Historically Labor heartland, Balmain has been held by Green Jamie Parker since 2011, who has increased his margin to 10% since taking the seat from Labor’s Verity Firth. Parker won’t stand at the March election, but that’s more likely to bring Labor back into the frame than help Leach.
