Dutton, Hamer and the image that became an instant election meme
Covering the federal election in the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Kooyong was always going to be exciting. But I could not have expected just how wild it became.
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Ah, the Kooyong campaign. What heady, absurd days those were in April and May for this reporter.
The Liberal heartland, where first-time federal candidate Amelia Hamer was attempting to take back the seat from independent MP Monique Ryan, was always going to be exciting viewing. But I would not have expected just how wild those weeks ended up being.
Amelia Hamer, Jane Hume and Peter Dutton on the 2025 election campaign trail.Credit: James Brickwood
Between the corflute thefts by the MP’s husband, swarms of Exclusive Brethren, secret property portfolios, Supreme Court challenges against the local council over political signs and a grandmother punching a neo-Nazi linked gatecrasher – the campaign was genuinely off the chain.
Which brings us to the photograph in question; chosen by The Age as one of the defining images of the year. Taken at the unofficial Kooyong Liberal headquarters, the Tower Hotel in Hawthorn East, it captures the single appearance by then opposition leader Peter Dutton in the coveted seat during the 2025 election campaign.
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It shows Hamer, veteran Senator Jane Hume, and Dutton holding brews inside novelty stubby holders mocking Ryan. The purported expressions of our trio were a cocktail of stunned, grinning, and grimaced.
My colleague, James Brickwood, who snapped the bizarre photo, previously wrote that the image captured a “vibe”, where a tentative Hamer – inexperienced and unsure – was left adrift during the meet-and-greet.
I have a different view. By this point, I had watched Hamer up close for weeks, and at no point did I feel she was awkward. Quite the opposite; in person, Hamer is charming, confident, and self-assured. How she appeared on TV and in the narrative that swirled around her was often disjointed from how she was received by locals on the ground. That narrative emanated mostly from a story I broke about her omissions on home ownership while campaigning as a renter. But in the pub and on the hustings, she was chatty and all smiles.