this performance brought her to the attention of the party nationally. when a by-election occurred in ipswich she was chosen as the liberal candidate. ipswich was not promising territory for the liberals who had not run a candidate at the two previous elections. however, the party wanted a good candidate as the by-election was expected to attract media attention as the former liberal mp dingle foot was standing as the labour candidate. she polled 21.4% the highest liberal percentage vote in ipswich since 1929;