Kooyong election results: Teal doctor Monique Ryan - who doesn't answer journalists' questions, has a rogue husband who tears down candidates' signs - celebrates victory after being pooed on by a bird on election day

Daily Mail​

03-05-2025

Teal independent MP Monique Ryan has retained her inner Melbourne seat after a fraught election campaign, including an investigation by the electoral taskforce.
With 56.1 per cent of the vote counted, the former paediatric neurologist held an estimated lead of about four per cent in affluent Kooyong over Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer.
'We're still waiting for some data to come in,' she told supporters at the Auburn Hotel late on Saturday night.
'But it seems pretty clear that despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, this band of brothers has overcome the Brethren.'
The comment was a clear swipe at members of secretive Christian sect the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, which was campaigning for Ms Hamer.
While Ms Hamer is yet to concede, Dr Ryan concluded her speech with 'let's have a party' as Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High blared through the venue.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Ryan experienced a 'good luck' omen when a bird pooed on her outside Glenferrie Primary School in Hawthorn, where she would cast her vote.
But the road to re-election has been chaotic over the five-week campaign with Dr Ryan facing a series of controversies.
The MP told Nine News on election day that the streets in her electorate had been 'tense' up until the last fortnight.
'There was more tension then there normally would be [at polling booths], it felt uncomfortable,' she said.
A week before election day, April 27, Dr Ryan came under fire after footage emerged of two campaign volunteers claiming they were told by the Hubei Association to support her.
The group has previously been accused of working with the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Department, a foreign influence operations agency.
As a result, the Australian Electoral Commission referred it to the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce, a move which was welcomed by the Teal MP.
The drama surrounding her campaign kicked off in March when her husband, Peter Jordan, was filmed removing a sign backing Ms Hamer.
'I unreservedly apologise for removing the sign. It was a mistake,' Mr Jordan later told Daily Mail Australia.
'I believed the sign was illegally placed, but I should have reported my concerns to council.'
Dr Ryan also issued her own apology, saying it should not have happened.
In a video that circulated on social media in April, leading spine neurosurgeon Professor Greg Malham could be seen tearing down one of her corflutes.
'Just finishing the job, boys. Always gotta bury the body,' he said to the camera after stomping on the sign multiple times.
Prof Malham apologised for his behaviour and agreed to fully co-operate with an independent investigation by Epworth Healthcare, the private hospital he works with.
Dr Ryan also endured a series of painful media interviews while campaigning, including being laughed at by an ABC presenter after failing to answer a simple question.
Referring to independent MP Allegra Spender paying social media content providers 'to make videos talking about the great things she is doing', Insiders host David Speers asked Dr Ryan if she had a problem with that.
The Teal MP at first looked confused at the question, then fumbled over an answer, eventually saying: 'We pay to generate the content we put to the voters.'
A week later, she then turned her back on a Sky News reporter as she attempted to ask her about Ms Spender's social media content.