ReachTel poll shows Liberals’ dire position as female MP blasts ‘bullies’ in government
SCOTT Morrison has declared to do everything he can to unify his government after a Liberal MP launched an extraordinary attack on the “intimidation” tactics behind the leadership spill, while also claiming gender inequality is rife within the party.
Leaders
Don't miss out on the headlines from Leaders. Followed categories will be added to My News.
SCOTT Morrison has declared to do everything he can to unify his government after a Liberal MP launched an extraordinary attack on the “intimidation” tactics behind the leadership spill, while also claiming gender inequality is rife within the party.
Julia Banks, the MP for Chisholm in Victoria, earlier blasted the “political games” and “powerbrokers” that contributed to Malcolm Turnbull being overthrown, and said she would not be contesting her seat at the next federal election.
Mr Morrison said his main priority in the wake of complaints of bullying and sexism was Ms Banks’ welfare.
“What is important right now is Julia’s welfare. I know she is going to take a bit of time out between now and when parliament comes back,” he said.
READ THE JULIA BANKS STATEMENT HERE
.@ScottMorrisonMP on @juliabanksmp retiring at next election: I have laid down the law to my cabinet, I have laid down the law to my ministry, they know what I expect, and I have every confidence they will live up to what I expect.
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) August 29, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/UJI1mc0alT #newsday pic.twitter.com/ZRabxLSJIw
“My first concern is for her welfare and wellbeing and she is taking the time to ensure that that is taken care of and she has my support fully in that.
“I will continue to consult with my colleagues about ensuring that there can be no question about the culture of the Liberal Party.
“There should not be and certainly under my authority there would have been absolutely nothing of that sort taking place.”
IT’S OFFICIAL: ScoMo’s ministry sworn in at Government House
SCOMO SQUAD: Morrison’s ministry may not be as new as you think
Ms Banks has held her seat since the 2016 election, which was previously held by Labor for 18 years.
Mr Morrison also addressed reports Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton intervened in a visa case for a third au pair in 2015.
DUTTON: Fresh questions raised over au pair case
“That’s a matter I have been in close contact with the attorney-general on and I’m taking his advice on those matters and the government will deal with those matters inside their own processes.
“I would not have appointed Mr Dutton to the important role he has without considering those matters.”
NEW POLL SHOWS LIBS IN DIRE POSITION
It comes after a ReachTel poll showed Wentworth electorate voters could be planning to punish the Liberals for dumping Mr Turnbull. The poll showed the Liberal Party and an independent could be pegged at 50 per cent each on a two-party preferred basis in the seat.
In the 2016 federal election, the two-party vote was 67.8 per cent in Mr Turnbull’s favour.
Mr Turnbull will resign as an MP on Friday after representing the seat for 14 years, ahead of a by-election expected in early October.
The loss of Wentworth would rob the government of its one-seat majority in parliament.
Senior Labor MP Richard Marles said Wentworth was one of the country’s safest seats and the outcome of the by-election would reflect on new Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
“Anything other than a strong Liberal win in the Wentworth by-election is going to represent an initial rejection by the Australian people to the idea of Scott being the prime minister,” he told Sky News.
The poll of 886 people commissioned by left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute also found Mr Turnbull’s constituents valued renewable energy reform more than the Liberal Party.
A majority think Australia should move to 100 per cent renewable energy within five to 10 years and also believe the National Energy Guarantee should include an emissions reduction target, according to the poll.
They also think new Mr Morrison will do less to tackle climate change than his predecessor.
Half of the voters said Mr Morrison’s 2017 parliamentary question time “coal stunt” made them less likely to vote Liberal at the next election. The Liberals’ primary vote has slumped to 39.6 per cent, from 62.3 per cent in 2016.
And Labor’s primary vote has soared to 29.9 per cent, from 17.7 per cent when the last federal election was held.
Wentworth respondents were also asked about their support for Liberal preselection frontrunner Dave Sharma.
The former ambassador to Israel garnered 34.6 per cent support, against 20.3 per cent for Labor’s Tim Murray.
The next highest responses were for Kerryn Phelps and NSW state Independent MP Alex Greenwich, who were both on about 11 per cent. Professor Phelps, a Sydney City councillor, has not said if she plans to run or not.
Mr Greenwich has already ruled himself out.
Mr Sharma is looking at a preselection face-off against Business Council of Australia executive director Andrew Bragg, who resigned his post this week. He’s likely to also come up against former prime minister Tony Abbott’s sister Christine Forster, the Sydney City councillor who also wants to run for the Liberals.
ABBOTT’S DIG AT TURNBULL
Tony Abbott has taken a thinly veiled swipe at Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to quit Parliament saying the outgoing former prime minister was partly to blame.
The Australian reports that Mr Abbott said Mr Turnbull’s announcement of a spill came as a surprise, and led to the drama that eventually led to his demise as prime minister.
Mr Abbott, who was speaking in Perth on Tuesday night told radio station 6PR: “I always suspected that the instant he didn’t have the top job he’d want to go.”
MORE: Abbott accepts ScoMo’s job offer in indigenous affairs
“He certainly wouldn’t be the first prime minister to do that. Paul Keating didn’t hang around, Bob Hawke didn’t hang around.”
Mr Abbott said he never expected there would have been a spill last week and a change of leadership within the party.
“None of us really wanted to change the leader but all of a sudden he spilled his own position and that set in train a whole series of events and, presto, we’ve got a new prime minister,” he said.
Mr Turnbull is expected to quit politics on Friday this week, triggering a by-election in his seat of Wenworth.
Mr Abbott’s comments came after he was exposed by senior figures as one of the masterminds behind last week’s leadership chaos that engulfed the party.
Liberal elders unleashed on Mr Abbott to ABC’s Four Corners, saying the anger that came with losing the leadership in 2015 never disappeared.
Others demanded he quit politics, with the conservative former leader even dubbed a “wrecker”.
Hostility between the two former prime ministers started in 2009, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett told Four Corners, when Mr Abbott rolled Mr Turnbull as Liberal Party leader by one vote.
At the time, it was understood the moderate Mr Turnbull had lost support of the party because he supported a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
“Everyone blames Tony and I understand that, but it goes back to when Tony defeated Malcolm Turnbull in Opposition by one vote and that laid the seeds to this continuing hostility between them both. So they’re both responsible,” Mr Kennett told the ABC.
The bitter divide was only exacerbated in 2015 when Mr Turnbull made a triumphant return to the top job after Mr Abbott had been prime minister for two years, leaving him among the shortest-serving leaders.
“What Tony has done is really regrettable, lamentable. Tony made something of a statesmanlike speech when Malcolm defeated him for the leadership … He has not delivered on that,” former Liberal Party treasurer Michael Yabsley told Four Corners.
Mr Abbott pledged not to snipe or undermine Mr Turnbull after he lost his grip on power in 2015, but Mr Yabsley said he was eager for revenge.
His view is shared by conservative NSW Liberal Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who signed the petition that ousted Mr Turnbull and saw former treasured Scott Morrison installed as party leader.
Ms Fierravanti-Wells claims his disposal in 2015 amounted to “unfinished business”.
Liberal Party president Nick Greiner slammed Mr Abbott for his behaviour, and said he should have quit parliament after he lost the prime ministership, much like Mr Turnbull.
Former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer also weighed in on the debacle, saying there was a bitterness that followed being toppled as prime minister, which could lead to revenge.
“We saw through the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years the bitterness that follows from changing the Prime Minister in the party room. And in the case of the Liberal Party, the same sort of thing has happened,” Mr Downer said.
“That in turn can lead to acts of attempted revenge.”
Originally published as ReachTel poll shows Liberals’ dire position as female MP blasts ‘bullies’ in government