Liberal candidates announced for inner-city seats, Sydney University law student runs for Balmain

By ERIN MODARO

University of Sydney law student Freya Leach has been announced as the Liberal candidate running for Balmain in the upcoming state election. Leach will be up against Greens candidate Kobi Shetty, and Labor candidate Philippa Scott, both of whom currently sit on the Inner West Council.

Leach is a well-known young conservative on the Sydney University campus; last year she alleged that a university exam question included defamatory material against her.

Included in a criminal law exam was a question using the name ‘Freya’, in which the subjects were involved in a hypothetical situation for the purposes of testing student’s knowledge of the law.

In the hypothetical situation posed in the exam question, the subject named Freya kills a left-wing victim in a hit-and-run car accident, engages in unprotected sex knowing she is HIV positive, and is fatally pushed out of a window due to a love-triangle dispute.

Leach alleged that the question targeted her personally because of her political beliefs, and wrote to the head of the USyd law school about her concerns. The University of Sydney apologised for any distress the question had caused, and assured that it was not meant to reference any real life student or situation.

Tough electorate to crack 

Leach’s nomination for Balmain was officially announced on Monday, after rumours of her candidacy appeared in The Daily Telegraph and USyd student paper Honi Soit.

Balmain represents tough territory for any Liberal candidate, having been a consistent Labor stronghold until it was won by Jamie Parker for the Greens in 2011, and retained in 2015 and then 2019.

Leach said that she has “always been a strong advocate for our community”, and that the upcoming election is about “having a plan for NSW”.

“There are cost of living pressures hitting families, both in the Balmain peninsula and the Inner West as whole,” Leach said. She said her areas of focus for her campaign would be to “ease the pressure on family budgets” as the cost-of-living crisis impacts residents in the Inner West.

As for strategy, Leach says she will lean on the Liberal Party’s “pragmatic policy” and “strong and proven economic management” to address community issues.

“From scrapping stamp duty, to welcoming cashless gaming, and introducing universal pre-Kindergarten, only a strong community advocate and the Liberal team can make sure Balmain remains the best place to live and build a future,” she said.

On climate, Leach cited “pragmatic environmental policy” as her focus.

Leach is involved in the Young NSW Liberals and the University of Sydney’s Conservative Club, and has broad academic and business backgrounds in economics, global markets, commerce and law.