A former ACT Young Labor president will take on Tony Abbott in his seat of Warringah at the federal election.
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Jules Zanetti, a 25-year-old IT consultant, has won the Labor Party's preselection to contest the seat held by the man considered Australia's most likely next Prime Minister.
He follows in the footsteps of Canberra's Nicole Campbell, who ran twice for the ALP against former prime minister John Howard in the seat of Bennelong.
Mr Zanetti spent his adolescence in Canberra, attending Campbell High School and Dickson College after his parents moved from the NSW Central Coast to the territory for work.
It was those early years in Canberra, during the Howard era, which enticed him into politics.
"Hearing the stories of what it was like in Canberra in the Howard years when they cut so deeply spurred me on to get behind the Labor cause," Mr Zanetti said.
"In mid-2006 I was quite fed up with the policies.
"I walked in off the street and into the Labor party."
Mr Zanetti was elected president of ACT Young Labor in 2010.
He moved to Sydney for a job as a technical consultant with Hewlett Packard last year but still wanted to be involved in the ALP's 2013 campaign.
Having spent every weekend on the northern beaches since his move, he put his hand up to run for the party in the seat of Warringah, which Mr Abbott has held since 1994.
"I thought I could make a difference by getting involved and running in Warringah," Mr Zanetti said.
"It's obviously a very tough fight but I think it's really important that somebody does it.
"It gives the people of Warringah an opportunity to take on Tony Abbott."
Mr Zanetti said he was "no Maxine McKew", who unseated John Howard in the electorate of Bennelong in 2007.
But he hoped having a young IT professional running in Warringah might challenge the Opposition Leader on issues such as the broadband policy.
Mr Abbott caused amusement last week when he credited his communications and broadband spokesman Malcolm Turnbull with having virtually "invented the internet" in Australia.
"Mr Abbott recently reminded voters he doesn't understand the internet, so having a young IT professional running against him in his own electorate could prove a big thorn in his side," Mr Zanetti said.
"But I'm under no illusions about this.
"I just want to give people a chance to say they're not going to be taken for granted by an Abbott government."
