Kooyong Showdown Heats Up as Amelia Hamer Accuses Monique Ryan of ‘Dirt File’ Smear Campaign
In the tightly contested race for the federal seat of Kooyong, Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer has accused independent MP Dr Monique Ryan and her campaign volunteers of distributing a “dirt file” aimed at smearing her personal reputation — a claim Dr Ryan has not denied.
For the first time, voters in the affluent Melbourne suburbs of Toorak, Armadale, and Malvern will join the Kooyong electorate following a redistribution. The margin between the two candidates is razor-thin — just 2.2 per cent — making the seat one of the most closely watched battlegrounds of the 2025 election.
Dirt File Allegations and Personal Attacks
Hamer, 31, said the so-called “dirt file” included information about her being the beneficiary of a $20 million family trust, a detail she claims was spread by Ryan’s volunteers online.
“Let’s be very clear: Monique Ryan’s team put together a dirt file and put that on the internet,” Hamer told 7.30.
Dr Ryan responded by distancing herself from the actions of her supporters but acknowledged the information was publicly available.
“I have over 3,000 volunteers supporting my campaign. I do not control what they post on their personal social media accounts,” she said.
Further scrutiny has been levelled at Hamer for property ownership in London and Canberra, which contradicts earlier statements that she identifies as a renter. That information was independently reported by The Age.
Campaign Incidents and Party Alignments
Adding fuel to the fire, Dr Ryan’s husband was caught on video removing one of Hamer’s campaign signs. Dr Ryan has again described the incident as a mistake and said both she and her husband apologised immediately.
“It was unfortunate, and we’re really sorry it happened,” she said.
Questions have also been raised about Hamer’s decision to preference the Libertarian Party, despite their controversial policy platform — including scrapping renewable energy targets, public childcare, and the education department. Their Victorian Senate candidate, Jordan Dittloff, has a criminal history, having served more than two years in prison for fraud.
Hamer declined to comment on Dittloff’s past but defended preferencing the party, calling them “reasonable.” Liberal Senator Jane Hume, campaigning alongside Hamer, said preference arrangements are made at the national level and not by individual candidates.
Senator Hume also accused Ryan of being aligned with the Greens.
“Monique Ryan votes with the Greens 77 per cent of the time and then denies it,” she said.
Independent or Teal?
Dr Ryan, who unseated former treasurer Josh Frydenberg in 2022, rejected the notion that she is a Greens-aligned candidate, saying she supported just 26 of 37 Greens motions in this parliament.
While widely considered part of the “teal” wave of 2022 independents backed by Climate 200, Ryan rejects the label.
“There is no such thing as a teal. It’s something the media came up with,” she told 7.30. “There’s no party, no formal organisation.”
She acknowledged ongoing support from Climate 200 but said it’s “not actually that much” and cited more than 2,000 individual donors backing her 2025 campaign.
As the Kooyong contest grows increasingly personal and politically charged, both candidates are walking a fine line between defending their reputations and appealing to a voter base that values integrity, transparency, and local representation.
