Danby’s Ports in a storm
LONGSTANDING federal Labor MP Michael Danby is under challenge for preselection in his seat of Melbourne Ports, which he has held for almost 17 years.
Throwing her hat in the ring for a shot at Federal Parliament, Port Phillip Mayor Amanda Stevens stated last Friday: “We need leaders who are prepared to actively represent the interests of their electorates.”
Stevens, 42, in her third term as Port Phillip mayor, told The AJN her tilt at the seat was “offering the branch members an opportunity to have a choice … I was encouraged to put my hand up … I’ve been a leader in the community”.
As a lawyer from a private law firm and having run her own business, “my background is probably quite different to most of the other federal members of the Labor Party”.
A regular face at Jewish community events, she listed Port Phillip’s annual commemorations for Holocaust hero Raoul Wallenberg as one of her many involvements.
Stevens last year visited Israel with her Jewish husband, whose grandparents fled Nazi Vienna. She described her visit as “an interesting and moving experience. I don’t pretend to have a great knowledge of the [Israel related] issues”.
Asked about the Israeli– Palestinian conflict and wider Middle East concerns, Stevens said she had met with Palestinian and Israeli business leaders in a group called Beyond the Impasse. Peaceful coexistence “was the strong view of many people that I saw there and I would support that”.
In a statement, Danby said he had been focused on tackling the Liberals in Canberra. “I welcome the opportunity to reconnect with Labor members in Melbourne Ports, but understand the concerns of some Labor members that internal Labor wrangling distracts attention from where it should be – on the Abbott government’s failures.” He warned that Melbourne Ports is a knife-edge seat in need of “active representation”.
Danby, 60, who was the only Jewish federal MP from 1998 to 2007, when he was joined by MP Mark Dreyfus, has a wide following among Jewish voters in Melbourne Ports and has taken strong stands in support of Israel, sometimes at odds with his party’s front bench. He has also fought for funding for security measures at Jewish schools.
The Melbourne-born former student activist is shadow parliamentary secretary to Bill Shorten. He has chaired Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Migration and the foreign-affairs subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and is chair of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for the US.
PETER KOHN
Under challenge: Michael Danby.
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