Labor’s announcement of Mr Laxale on Saturday came just days after the Liberals announced Simon Kennedy,a partner at consulting firm McKinsey,as its candidate to replace retiring incumbent John Alexander in Bennelong.
Mr Kennedy’s pre-selection was something of a surprise,with the conservative candidate beating former Julie Bishop staffer and moderate Gisele Kapterian for the pre-selection in the seat.
Bennelong is held by the Liberal Party with a margin of 6.9 per cent but it has been firmly in Labor’s sights at successive elections,with the party keen to replicate Maxine McKew’s famous victory over John Howard in 2007.
Mr Alexander has had a strong personal vote in the diverse,multicultural community and had withstood every challenge for the seat,which is based around suburbs including Ryde and Epping.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said Mr Laxale was known and respected by everyone in the local community and he was “ready to go” after a stint as mayor.
“I went back to Jerome and said ‘mate,now that you’re not the mayor I reckon you need to focus on representing the whole community as the federal member’.
Mr Laxale said the Opposition Leader had been “very persistent” in persuading him to stand for the seat.
Local Labor supporters had been frustrated by the delay in selecting a candidate,seeing it as a potential missed opportunity to take advantage of Mr Alexander’s retirement and snatch the seat.
Mr Laxale,38,said his candidacy was delayed by Ryde’s council elections in December and a need to relinquish his overseas citizenship to be eligible for Parliament.
ABC election analyst Antony Green said Bennelong would be “one of the seats to watch” on election night and would likely be more competitive than the current Liberal margin suggests.
“It’ll be a contest,” Mr Green said,adding that as a former mayor of Ryde Mr Laxale had a higher profile in the local community than Mr Kennedy.
The Liberal candidate attended high school in Epping but has been living in Maroubra,in Sydney’s eastern suburbs,since returning from several years working in the United States.
Mr Kennedy said he and his wife would move back to the electorate,where he worked as a supermarket check-out clerk and removalist during his youth.
“Bennelong has always been a special place for me - my values were formed here,” Mr Kennedy said. “The electorate is Australia typified:it’s diverse,multicultural,aspirational and hardworking.”
Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news,views and expert analysis.Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.