By Jacqueline Maley
Julian Leeser is a federalism freak, young fogey, Gilbert & Sullivan tragic and policy nerd who dates his ambition to enter Parliament to about his 10th birthday, for which he asked his parents for a copy of the Australian constitution.
Most 10-year-old boys want a destructive toy of some sort.
Julian Leeser delivers his first speech at Parliament House on Wednesday.Credit: Andrew Meares
But the new Member for Berowra, who drew national attention this week with his moving maiden speech about his father's suicide, was always different.
"Julian was always an old head on young shoulders," says Peter Kulevski, a Sydney barrister and one of Leeser's closest friends.
They met at law school at the University of NSW in the mid-1990s, a heady time when public effigies of John Howard were burned on campus, subjects were taught through the lens of post-modernism, and student politics was concerned with the creation of women's rooms.
Leeser eschewed student politics for the real thing. Aged 19, he became Australia's youngest-ever councillor, on Woollahra council, and he was the youngest elected delegate to the constitutional convention, where he staunchly fought the republic cause.
"This was a guy who was a young conservative, a very public constitutional monarchist and a councillor at Woollahra council," says Kulevski.
"They weren't very fashionable things to be at uni."
Kulevski, the son of a Macedonian-born Newcastle steel worker whose family "bled Labor", first encountered Leeser at an 18th birthday party.
"I was probably wearing a heavy metal T-shirt and he had a tweed jacket on. I didn't know where Woollahra was at that stage ... but I found myself thoroughly enjoying his company. He was so decent and kind, he was universally well-liked, notwithstanding his unfashionable views."
His views didn't get any more fashionable.
When Leeser left university he worked as an associate for conservative High Court judge Ian Callinan. There followed stints as an adviser for Tony Abbott and Philip Ruddock and at law firm Mallesons, before he was poached to head the Liberal Party-aligned think-tank the Menzies Institute. He also snuck in a Harvard fellowship and for the past few years he's been a senior executive at the Australian Catholic University.
Federalism was, and is, one of Leeser's passions, and it is his political ambition to help resolve the tension between state and federal governments, where he believes there is much service duplication and financial waste.
He adores the constitution, which he says is "unique and worthy of celebration" and beautiful in the sparseness of its language.
Leeser's policy credentials could not be dryer or more serious, but he also loves theatre, musicals and the books of Clive James, and he chose to begin his parliamentary life with the most personal possible story – that of his father's suicide when Leeser was a "self-absorbed 20-year-old".
About 250,000 people have viewed the moving speech on Leeser's Facebook account.
"I thought it would get some attention but what amazed me is the sheer number of people who have seen it. I have been overwhelmed by emails, calls and messages.
"I wanted to say, 'I have had this experience.' I could write you an elegant treatise on mental health and it would sink like a stone. Telling the story made an impact."
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has known Leeser since he was a young man and says he has "future cabinet minister stamped all over him".
"He's got a really good mind, he's got deep and good values and shrewd judgment to match," Abbott tells Fairfax Media.
"We need more thinkers in our Parliament. The Liberal Party needs more convinced conservatives in its ranks and to be frank, far fewer game players. He says what he means and he does what he says."
"Leeser invited Abbott to campaign for him in Berowra during the election, "and given that I'm not exactly flavour of the month with everyone in the Liberal Party …"
The former prime minister pauses to break into laughter.
"It showed a bit of political courage."
As for ego, Leeser "almost lacks it", says his ally and neighbouring MP Alex Hawke.
"He won't be on the extroverted end of the circus. He's the guy you want solving the problem, not the guy wearing the clown suit like some of us do."
How Leeser will deal with the grubbier aspects of politics will clarify over time, but he has already shown the ability to quietly build branch support before taking over from retired MP (and his former boss) Philip Ruddock.
Ruddock represented the area for 43 years before Leeser took his place. Both men deny a political "rolling" but Ruddock will admit to a conversation between the men in his library on a Sunday morning, in which Leeser let the older man know he would be a preselection candidate for the seat.
Ruddock says he had already made the decision to retire from politics (he is now a United Nations human rights envoy).
"He was creative in terms of branch development and that's a good thing. I supported the work he was doing. He used my name in terms of branch recruitment," Ruddock says.
If there was a political knifing of his old boss, it was a polite one.
The two men live next door to each other and Leeser has been known to bring Ruddock his mail.