Tony Abbott volunteer assaulted at school on poll eve
The two Liberal volunteers who were the alleged victims of a corkscrew stabbing were back at the polling booths this morning. They said the alleged attacker came out of nowhere and started yelling that the Northern Beaches street was a Zali Steggall voting area. Mr Abbott urged voters not to reward this ‘nasty behaviour’, while Ms Steggall said she believed her supporters were not involved.
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The two Liberal volunteers who were the alleged victims of a corkscrew stabbing said the alleged attacker came out of nowhere and started yelling that the Northern Beaches street was a Zali Steggall voting area.
Jonathan Malota, 31, and Rafe Harrison-Murray, 18, were putting up Tony Abbott election posters outside a school on Lewis St, North Balgowlah, where they were allegedly attacked at 8.05pm on Friday by a local resident.
“We were putting the final posters up on the edge of the school and he looked like he was power walking past,” Mr Malota said on Saturday. “But then he did a quick turn, stepped on the retaining wall and said … take that sign down.
The two Liberal volunteers pulled out their phones and started filming in an attempt to get the man to stop.
Mr Harrison-Murray said he was ripping down Liberal posters.
The alleged attack ended when a woman, believed to be the alleged attacker’s wife, emerged from a house and yelled for him to come inside.
“I believe it was his wife, a woman came out and started yelling come home, come back,” Mr Harrison-Murray said.
Both men said they would not let the alleged attack deter them and were handing out voting cards on Saturday morning.
“It’s made me more resolute,” Mr Harrison-Murray.
The 61-year-old man was charged with two counts of common assault and will appear in Manly Local Court on June 5.
He declined to come out of his house to comment on Saturday.
The home and location of the alleged attack is in one of the richer parts of the Northern Beaches.
The alleged attacker’s Balgowlah Heights home was bought for $4.46 million in 2017.
The incident comes after reports of increased tensions between supporters of Tony Abbott and his rival independent Zali Steggall.
Volunteers have complained of posters being damaged and security was put in place to protect polling booths overnight.
ABBOTT: Don’t reward this ‘nasty behaviour’
As he gears up for the political fight of his life, Tony Abbott said a stabbing attack on one of his one of his volunteers was politically motivated.
“My message is that the voters of Warringah should not reward this kind really low and vicious behaviour,” Mr Abbott said this morning after he voted at Forestville Public School in his seat of Warringah.
“Now I’m not saying any particular candidate is behind this but there is absolutely no doubt who these people want to beat,” he said. “I say to the people of Warringah think long and hard before you give these nasty elements the victory they want.”
His comments came after a 31-year-old Liberal volunteer was stabbed in the stomach with a corkscrew while erecting political material outside a school on Lewis St, Balgowlah Heights at 8.05pm on Friday.
â¦@TonyAbbottMHRâ© arrives to vote â¦@dailytelegraphâ© #ausvotes, #auspo pic.twitter.com/h8x1dLxAG4
— hoist (@BrendenHills) May 17, 2019
The man then allegedly ripped down the banners that had been put up in preparation for today’s poll, and fleeing the scene.
Paramedics attended and treated the injured man at the scene. He did not require hospitalisation.
Mr Abbott said the volunteer was back working on a booth today.
Police said a 62-year-old man was charged with two counts of common assault and will face Manly Local Court on June 5.
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A video was also posted to social media of a separate incident at Mosman High School.
The footage, uploaded by Liberal supporter John Ruddick showed a man removing Tony Abbott signs yelling “This is my street. We’re all Zali supporters”.
Zali: I don’t believe my people were involved
Zali Steggall arrived at Balgowlah North Public School shortly before 9.30am to cast her vote this morning.
She walked up to the gates hand-in-hand with her husband Tim Irving, where she was met by a throng of photographers.
She kissed her ballot paper before placing it in the ballot box, telling reporters “it is more exciting than it usually is”.
She addressed last night’s incident in which one of Tony Abbott’s supporters was stabbed saying she does not believe anyone from her team was involved.
“I don’t understand that they are (involved),” she said. “We have gone through very carefully, I was very concerned when I heard of the incident. We have checked and we don’t understand that they are.
“I would be extremely shocked and extremely disappointed.”
Ms Steggall said she hoped the injured person was OK.
“Our democracy is all about respecting everybody and that is just a really appalling incident but I do understand the police is taking care of it.
“I don’t understand the alleged attacker is involved in any campaigns.”
She said all of her volunteers follow a “three Ps” guideline of being “polite, positive and prepared”.
“We have tried very hard not to engage in the dirty tactics. There has been a lot thrown at me but we have tried to stay above all that and deliver something positive.”
When put to her that Tony Abbott was confident of winning, she said: “I will take my mood from the people I’m talking to and they are confident for change.
“I think you just have to look around the electorate. How many people are engaged, how much discussion there is on the issues. Everyone is excited. We have a team 1400 strong, I think it has been an amazing election and I’m so proud of my team.”
She refuted claims she would be little more than a one term protest candidate, stating: “At the end of the day I am accountable to the electorate and it will be up to the electorate to decide if I deliver or not. I am a very result based person in sport as in law. It is about delivering.”
Ms Steggall said a strong independent candidate would still be effective under a Labor Government.
“Well I think it is very important to have a strong cross bench to make sure the issues are raised,” she said.
“And I definitely think I will be more powerful than a backbench opposition member.
“But at the end of the day it is about really representing the electorate and making sure the issues of concern are at the forefront and no matter which party forms government and is in power making sure that we are taking care of the long term issues.
“Climate change overwhelming in this electorate with a lot of young families who want to see action.”
Breaking. This is a Zali supporter at Mosman High voting booth moments ago vandalising Tony Abbott signage. More to come. Apparently someone pulled a knife moments before this video. pic.twitter.com/Z9kcQyzlLo
— John Ruddick (@JohnRuddick2) May 17, 2019
‘D-Day’ for Abbott
Mr Abbott arrived at the school to vote at 8am and said “Obviously this is D Day, it’s democracy day. It’s decision day of four country and for the electorate of Warringah.”
He admitted he was nervous at the challenge he is set to face from former Olympic skier Zali Steggall for the seat he has held since 1994.
But he said nerves were nothing new for him.
“I’ve always been a nervous candidate,” Mr Abbott said. “I was nervous at the by-election where I came in; I was nervous at the election that brought the Howard Government into power; I was very nervous in 2007 when regrettably the Howard Government lost; I was nervous in 2010 when I was the party leader; I was nervous in 2013 when I was the Prime Minister and sure I’ve got a few butterflies doing loop the loops in my tummy as well.
“That’s the lot of all candidates because the one thing that you can’t take for granted is the vote of the Australian people,” he said.
He added that he felt the campaign against him had been “pretty ugly”.
“I think that we’ve seen a lot of low blows,” he said. “At one stage they sank into the gutter and then they went literally into the sewer.”
After arriving to vote, Mr Abbott realised he had accidentally joined the Mackeller line before joining the Warringah voting line.
The former Prime Minister found himself lined up in front of the New Zealand All Blacks beanie wearing voter, Graeme Biddle, who joked there was a “pretty good PM over in New Zealand”, a reference to Jacinda Ardern.
Mr Abbott retorted that John Key was equally as good.
After voting, Mr Abbott bought some banana bread, shook the hands of voters and absorbed the well wishes of a few locals.
However the final say went to an independent volunteer handing out how to vote cards who attempted to hand Mr Abbott one of his cards on the way out.
“Time for change, Tony?” the volunteer said.
THE DIRTY CAMPAIGN
The incidents come after a dirty election campaign where Mr Abbott was targeted by activists.
The former PM has said he is in the “fight for his life” as he battles to keep the Warringah seat he has held for 25 years.
This is how @zalisteggall crew behave at polling booths. #warringahvotes #auspol pic.twitter.com/UbDM9A6lIc
— leefurlong (@leefurlong) May 17, 2019
He was targeted in a fundraising video by left-wing lobby group GetUp! which depicted him sitting on the beach laughing while a person drowned, and only last week had a book filled with faeces placed on the doorstep of his electorate office.
Earlier this month a hollowed out book with faeces inside it with the word “unpopular” on the cover was left outside Mr Abbott’s electorate office
Mr Abbott has blitzed the campaign trail in the Northern Beaches attending questionnaires in the pub, community meetings and visiting a number of schools.
However on Thursday, he courted controversy with a post on social media about the late Bob Hawke.
Mr Abbott was widely condemned for suggesting Mr Hawke had a “Liberal head” but a “Labor heart”, in a post that was seen as political point scoring.
Earlier this week, Mr Abbott has opened up about the toll personal attacks have taken on his family as he bids to retain the seat of Warringah.
The former prime minister explained the “depressing” reality of how the vile attacks spilt into his private life, affecting his wife Margaret and their three daughters.
“This is by far the most personal campaign that’s ever been waged against me and I think the tone of political debate is deteriorating all the time,” Mr Abbott said.
“Margie endures all that, as do the kids and I think all that is an inevitable and depressing element of public life. You can’t really protect your family in a political campaign, which is there for all to see.
“Margie drives past the Times Up Tony stuff and the Vote Tony Out stuff she hears on the radio about the cartoons with “C …” on them and all that.
“I’ve always had a very thick skin which helps and I think Margie and the kids have been very good at focusing on their own lives as well as what happens to me and just getting on with things otherwise they find them much more taxing.”
To protect his family as best he can, Mr Abbott says he doesn’t like to “drag them into photo opportunities” so they can instead retain their own identities.
Originally published as Tony Abbott volunteer assaulted at school on poll eve
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