The lawyer, Orthodox feminist leader and Plus61J writer is taking on David Southwick in Victoria’s most Jewish seat.
Kaltmann, 30, will challenge deputy Liberal leader David Southwick, who holds the seat by just 0.1 per cent.
Kaltmann was a member of the Labor party until last week and has worked for veteran Victorian Labor MP and former minister Marsha Thomson and was an electorate officer for federal AttorneyGeneral Mark Dreyfus. Her husband, Daniel Guttmann, was a Labor candidate for the federal seat of Goldstein in 2013 and her mother-in-law Jennifer Huppert was the Labor MP in the Victorian Parliament.
But she said she was frustrated by the major parties and had been inspired by the success of the teal candidates at the federal election in May.
She is supported by the Voices of Caulfield Group, led by Alex Fein, who worked as an adviser to Zoe Daniel, the independent member for Goldstein elected in May.
Labor’s candidate in Caulfield is corporate lawyer Lior Harel. All three candidates are Jewish. Kaltmann, a lawyer and mother of three, is the founder of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance. She co-ordinated and accompanied a Parliamentary delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
She was recently awarded a Women Leading Locally Fellowship, by the Institute of Community Directors Australia. The fellowship is a program to encourage women of all backgrounds to develop their leadership potential and become involved in local government.