The former MP Tim Wilson has won preselection to become the Liberal party candidate in his former seat of Goldstein, setting up a rematch with the “teal” independent Zoe Daniel.
Wilson, who held the seat in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs between 2016 and 2022, won the vote of Liberal party members on Sunday afternoon, beating out two female challengers, Colleen Harkin and Stephanie Hunt.
Harkin, a research fellow at the conservative thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs, had formerly run for the Liberal party in the neighbouring federal seat of Macnamara, while Hunt is a lawyer and former staffer to the former ministers Julie Bishop and Marise Payne.
About 300 members voted in the ballot, which was held at Kingston Arts Centre in Moorabbin, after hearing from the three candidates.
According to Liberal party sources, Wilson did not win a majority of votes in the first round, meaning a second round was required.
Wilson was one of six MPs to lose once-safe Liberal seats to progressive independents – known as “teals” – at the 2022 election and is the only one to put his hand up to run at the next poll, which is due by the middle of 2025.
In a statement issued on Sunday afternoon, the Victorian Liberals endorsed his candidacy.
“Tim has been driven to run for Goldstein at the next federal election by his deeply principled commitment to integrity in public service and his belief that the Goldstein community is worth fighting for,” it read.
“He is committed to strengthening the pathway to home ownership for young residents in Goldstein to make owning their own home a reality, to ensure they have the opportunity to build strong families and strong communities.”
The former MP, who is undertaking a PhD in economics, said he would “fight every day to deliver real cost-of-living relief”.
“Families are struggling to pay their mortgages,” he said. “Grandparents are having to pick up their grandchildren’s school fees.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, congratulated Wilson in a statement shared on social media.
“Tim understands the challenges people are facing with mortgage costs and power bills soaring under Labor and will work every day to deliver real cost-of-living relief for families and small businesses,” Dutton said.
Before the 2022 election, Goldstein had been held by the Liberals since its creation in 1984. It takes in well-off beachside suburbs including Brighton, Hampton, Sandringham and Beaumaris, as well as Bentleigh, Ormond and McKinnon and parts of Cheltenham, Highett and Elsternwick.
Daniel, a former ABC journalist, now holds the seat Goldstein on a 2.9% margin. She won in 2022 with a primary vote of 34.5%, while Wilson’s primary vote dropped by more than 12%.
In a statement she acknowledged Wilson’s preselection, describing it as a “party decision made in what they believe is the best interest of their party”.
“I remain very proud to be a community-backed independent, acting in the best interest of my community, and I will run again,” Daniel said.
On Saturday Amelia Hamer was preselected to become the Liberal party’s candidate for Josh Frydenberg’s former seat of Kooyong.
The 31-year-old is an executive at a fintech company and the grand-niece of the former Victorian premier Rupert “Dick” Hamer.
Last year Frydenberg, a former treasurer, ruled out a run in his old seat, instead pursuing a corporate career with the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
In New South Wales the party selected the former state minister Andrew Constance to run again in Gilmore – the most marginal seat in the country, held by Labor on a margin of 0.2%.
Both Constance and Hamer raised the cost of living as an issue they will pursue in the lead-up to the 2025 election.
