Qld MP Andrew Wallace laments LNP’s ‘very poor’ federal campaign

Fisher MP Andrew Wallace has apologised to his community for almost $10m in broken pledges after a self-confessed “very poor” campaign from the Federal LNP.

LNP: Andrew Wallace Federal Member for Fisher at Lake Kawana, Sunshine Coast. Picture: Patrick Woods

LNP MP Andrew Wallace has conceded his election promises will likely fall by the wayside after claiming victory in the seat of Fisher.

Mr Wallace congratulated Labor candidate Morrison Lakey on a “good clean fair fight” during his victory declaration in Bokarina on May 6.

The MP and his team were out waving “Thank You Fisher” signs on Nicklin Way, Bokarina as passing motorists tooted their horns.

“I am incredibly honoured and privileged to once again be elected as the Federal Member for Fisher,” Mr Wallace said.

“We ran a good, strong, local grassroots campaign, and the results showed.

LNP: Andrew Wallace Federal Member for Fisher at Lake Kawana, Sunshine Coast. Picture: Patrick Woods

“Over the next three years, the people of Fisher should know that I will continue to go into bat for them.”

Mr Wallace mentioned key transport infrastructure projects, such as the Mooloolah River interchange, as being in his sights.

He congratulated Labor on their win and said he looked forward to getting back down to Canberra to elect a new party leader after the loss of Peter Dutton.

“I look forward to rebuilding the faith and trust in the Liberal National Party brand across the country.”

Mr Wallace apologised for not being able to keep any of his election commitments.

“At the end of the day, if we don’t control the government purse strings, we can’t deliver those projects,” Mr Wallace said.

“For that, I’m sorry for those community groups that we are unable to provide that $10 million in funding.”

Mr Wallace attributed the retention of his seat to “good old fashioned hard work” and the fact that he isn’t a career politician.

LNP: Andrew Wallace Federal Member for Fisher at Lake Kawana, Sunshine Coast. Picture: Patrick Woods

He only suffered a small swing against him in the primary vote, bucking the national trend towards Labor.

When asked about the potential new Liberal leader, Mr Wallace said he had received a phone call from one of the potential candidates but looked forward to hearing from the others.

“Regardless of who the party chooses, I think it is incredibly important that this individual has the ability to bring people together and identify where we went wrong in this campaign,” Mr Wallace said.

“I think there are many reasons why voters lost faith in the Liberal Party.:

He said the Liberal Party were great at action, but “very poor” salespeople.

“I think we really need to work on our communications and our messaging, which has let us down terribly,” he said.

“It’s a lot more than that, I accept that.”

Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien has not responded to questions from this publication, having suffered a five per cent swing towards Labor in a historically safe seat.

LNP: Andrew Wallace Federal Member for Fisher at Lake Kawana, Sunshine Coast. Picture: Patrick Woods

On election night, Mr O’Brien posted a statement on social media saying it was “difficult to see the election results roll in tonight and see so many fine colleagues lose their seats across the country.”

Neither Mr O’Brien or Naomi McQueen, the Labor candidate, have claimed victory or conceded defeat with a 5.3% swing towards Labor.

Mr O’Brien currently leads with 77 per cent of the vote counted.