Peter Khalil to scrape in despite the deluge of gloomy polls
“If just 1 in 10 voters change their vote, we can turn Wills Green” says the Greens on their website. Samantha Ratnam is the Greens candidate in the battle for Wills in this election. She is no stranger to politics. She has represented the Wills community for over a decade on council and in State Parliament. Samantha is trying to wrest the seat away from Peter Khalil, who is the sitting Labor member for in the 2025 battle for Wills.
Wills is one of the most powerful electorates, which gave Australia the former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke. It has been a very safe Labor seat since coming into being except one term from 1993-1996 when an Independent Phil Clearly was its member.
The Liberal party has never taken battle for Wills seriously. Since late 1960s and early 1970s its demography has been dominated predominantly by migrants from Europe and Middle East who only tend to vote Labor. But from around 2010, the younger demography of the seat has shown trends away from Labor and more towards the Greens. It is thus not surprising that the Greens are having a real tilt at it in this election, fielding their Victorian star candidate Samantha Ratnam.
Labor candidate in Wills, Peter Khalil, is no pushover. A very strong local member and former SBS Board member, Peter is well connected to the locals. Despite his party continuously criticized for the government’s stance on the war in Gaza, and Peter’s office being vandalised and graffitied many times, he has held his nerve and managed to coherently explain the government position to his electorate. While in opposition, he valiantly took the Morrison government to task and had hundreds of Australians stranded overseas brought home.
For this story on battle for Wills, we asked the sitting Labor member Peter Khalil to give five reasons for electors in Wills to consider voting for him and not the alternative, he gave the following five reasons:
Reason 1:
- As a member of a party of government, I deliver real outcomes for Wills. I advocate directly to the Labor caucus, Labor Ministers, and the Prime Minister. That is a unique privilege of being a member of a party of Government – and it means I can deliver the best outcomes for people in Wills. Minor parties and independents can make a lot of promises at election time, but they have no mechanism for delivering them.
Reason 2:
- I have a strong track record of delivering for our community. I have delivered $1 million in funding to the new Balam Balam creative arts hub in Brunswick which we opened this year. I delivered $500k towards the refurbished Fawkner Pool and Recreation Centre. In December last year, we reopened the beautiful new space which will support our community for generations to come. And two new community batteries that I committed to – one in Coburg and one in Brunswick – are in their final stages of construction.
Federally, I have delivered cost of living relief to our community, including a tax cut for every taxpayer, energy rebates for every household, cheaper childcare, cheaper medicines, support for small businesses, and wiped $3 billion off student debts. But I know that there is still so much more to do – and as your federal representative, I will keep doing the work.
Reason 3:
- I have a strong plan for our community in the next three years. A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will open a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Coburg and Clifton Hill – alongside the Clinic already operating in Carlton. It will provide free, bulk-billed urgent but non-life-threatening care for our community. These are part of the 50 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that Labor will open if re-elected, on top of the 87 already operating around Australia.
Reason 4:
- Only a Labor Government will build Australia’s future. We will provide more tax cuts to every taxpayer, another $150 off energy bills, cap the price of PBS medicines at no more than $25, make the biggest ever investment in Medicare so that everyone can see a GP for free, build 1.2 million new homes, let all first home buyers purchase with just a 5% deposit, and wipe 20% off all student HECS debt.
Reason 5:
- Every Labor seat counts to form government. This election is incredibly close. We cannot risk Peter Dutton and a Liberal Government who have no plan for Australia’s future, will repeal tax cuts, and send energy prices soaring. The simple truth is, the Party who wins the most seats on election day will be best placed to form government. Every Labor seat lost – regardless of who it is lost to – gets Peter Dutton closer to Government. That’s why I am asking everyone to vote [1] Labor in Wills and then other candidates in order of their preference.
The Greens in the battle for Wills
There is no doubt, there is no dearth of ‘progressives’ in the electorate of Wills and that is what gives hope to Samantha Ratnam and the Greens. We tracked down a member of the local community, we will call ‘Richard*’ for this story, who had been a lot ‘greener’ than many and always wanted to see a greens candidate win the seat, until the cost-of-living pressures hit closer to home.
His Australian born, university going son ‘Seb*’, recently lost his job to an international student, Seb’s customer at work. Close to completing his degree, Seb was saving up for deposit for his first home he had been dreaming to buy. Seb has been jobless ever since because nothing as suitable, can be found without having to recalibrate his study completion to start working full time, which is now delayed, pushing everything else back by years.
Unhappy with the Greens, Richard is very bitter about the influx of millions of migrants and international students who, now he says, are affecting the life of Australians.
Although the Greens think Richard and many like him in Wills, will be voting for them, I am not so sure. Richard is particularly not happy with the Greens position on what he calls ‘free for all migration to Australia’. A progressive in many respects, he feels migrants flooding Australia are adding to the cost of living and housing crises we have.
When countered as to what impact does migration have on a vast continent country like Australia, his quick response:
“If it is really impact neutral, why does not a single politician pledge to take a single migrant home and take responsibility for all their needs?”
Richard also believes the influx is adding to pressure on our law-and-order enforcement agencies and thus, of late, the youth offending has gone out of hands.
He argues the government should equip the system with resources and personnel to manage the scale of criminal behaviour we have seen in the last couple of years before bringing more people in.
Richard, who had been a devout supporter of the Greens, seemed unlikely to vote for them.
“Are you not voting for Samantha Ratnam then? She is one of our own”, I asked.
“No doubt she is, but so is Seb. The Greens do not seem to believe in national borders. I am afraid soon many Sebs will find themselves queuing outside Centrelink soon.
Are you voting Liberal then? I asked thinking he would be attracted to Peter Dutton’s slogan of reducing migration intake.
To my utter surprise, despite the Trumpet of Patriots shouting ‘200,000 visas in one month alone’ by the Albanese government, Richard was considering voting for Peter Khalil.
“I do not believe I will vote Liberal in Wills. The sitting member is good, may be in the wrong party for me, but I like him. I think I will vote for Peter, not Labor.”
If the story of Richard household replicates widely in and around Wills, the predicted gains by the Greens may not all come true.
Despite the hype projecting the Greens as the potential ‘king-maker’ post May 3, Peter Khalil, on his personal connection to the grassroots in Wills alone, looks set to scrape in.
In the battle for Wills, may the best candidate win!
*not their real names on request.