Former prime minister Tony Abbott to campaign for Liberal candidate Daniel Wild in Labor-held northern Adelaide seat of Spence

Former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott will campaign in a safe Adelaide ALP seat, declaring it crucial for a Peter Dutton victory.

Former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott will campaign in a Labor stronghold in northern Adelaide on Tuesday, declaring Peter Dutton has to win these seats across the country to secure election victory.

Mr Abbott will appear with Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) colleague and Spence Liberal candidate Daniel Wild, in heartland Labor suburbs like Elizabeth – where Holden’s manufacturing plant closed in 2017.

In an exclusive statement to The Advertiser, Mr Abbott explained why he was campaigning in Spence, which Labor holds with a 12.9 per cent margin, rather than Adelaide marginals of Boothby and Sturt.

“I’m more than happy to help Dan, first, because he ‘can’ win the seat; and, second, because (Opposition Leader) Peter Dutton ‘must’ win the election – and that means winning seats like Spence,” Mr Abbott said.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott will campaign in the Labor stronghold of Spence with Liberal candidate Daniel Wild. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Labor has caused the cost-of-living crisis: its energy madness has put power prices through the roof and its addiction to record immigration is cutting wages, adding to housing costs, and clogging infrastructure, as well as straining social cohesion.

“Hence, the only way to ease the cost-of-living crisis – which impacts disproportionately on seats like Spence – is to change the government.”

Spence was created in 2018, after an electoral redistribution, and has been in Labor hands since, but Adelaide’s northern suburbs have long been an ALP heartland.

Adelaide-raised Mr Wild is on leave as deputy executive director of the IPA, a conservative, free-market think-tank, for which Mr Abbott, prime minister from 2013-15, is a distinguished fellow.

Mr Abbott amplified federal Labor’s infrastructure budget bungle, in which SA’s only new money was $125m allocated for the Curtis Rd level crossing removal, by praising Mr Wild’s commitment to fixing the Munno Para bottleneck, in Spence.

“Dan will make an outstanding MP. His policy work gives him a good grasp of the big national issues and his growing up in Adelaide means he gets local ones too, like the need to fix fast the Curtis Rd bottleneck,” Mr Abbott said.

As Prime Minister, Mr Abbott was personally targeted for triggering the Holden Elizabeth plant’s closure, when in 2013 he declared there would not be an increase in taxpayer assistance to the struggling car maker.

Former Liberal industry and finance minister Nick Minchin, who engineered a car manufacturing assistance package when in John Howard’s cabinet, in 2019 declared his “distress” that Mr Abbott’s treasurer, Joe Hockey, effectively had “said goodbye to the industry”.