Martin Hamilton-Smith blames Vickie Chapman for Liberals' SA State Election 2010 loss
FORMER Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has blamed one-time leadership rival Vickie Chapman for the party's loss in the state election.
FORMER Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith has blamed one-time leadership rival Vickie Chapman for the Liberals' State Election loss, saying the party could have won government if not for her election-week gaffe over Isobel Redmond's leadership.
"I have no doubt that Vickie Chapman's refusal to rule out a challenge to Isobel Redmond hurt us in Bright, Hartley, Newland and Mt Gambier in particular," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.
"It was a free kick to the ALP campaign."
The public accusation was made as the Liberal Party came to grips with winning just three seats from Labor - despite a significant statewide swing. The party was left a distant six seats short of forming government.
Mr Hamilton-Smith's comments will reopen old factional wounds in the Liberal Party and divert attention from Labor's own festering divisions.
He said, however, he was speaking out to ensure Ms Redmond was not undermined by colleagues in the same way that cost him leadership of the party last year.
"I will be supporting Isobel Redmond and will be aiming to ensure that what happened to me doesn't happen to Isobel between now and 2014," he said.
"She deserves a clear shot at the 2014 election. I think Isobel Redmond has done an amazing job. She is a decent person who has demonstrated she can be a good premier.
"I will be urging the parliamentary party to give her their full support. I think disunity has been a theme of this campaign and we must strive to put it behind us."
Mr Hamilton-Smith said he believed Ms Chapman's failure to immediately rule out a leadership challenge to Ms Redmond in the final days of the campaign clinched victory for Labor in crucial marginal seats.
Labor moved swiftly to capitalise on Ms Chapman's gaffe, flooding marginal seats with personalised mail-outs to voters warning of Liberal divisions as well as hanging "Chapman Could Challenge" posters below the Liberals' "Redmond is Ready" posters on Stobie poles.
Mr Hamilton-Smith said the Liberals had been on track for victory but the spectre of disunity derailed their campaign in the crucial last days.
"Our achilles heel through this campaign has been the perception, exploited by the Labor Party effectively, that the Liberals are divided," he said.
Asked if that image of disunity cost them government, he replied: "It was the decisive issue."
Ms Chapman declined to comment when contacted.
Mr Hamilton-Smith said the Labor Party maintained discipline despite a series of internal issues, such as Deputy Premier Kevin Foley's faux leadership challenge and the Michelle Chantelois saga.
"Over the past eight years Labor has been able to exert internal discipline when ministers or the party struck trouble - the challenge for Liberals is to work as a tighter unit than the ALP each week for the next four years," he said.
