Labor rejects claims of running a Trump smear campaign to discredit LNP’s Leichhardt candidate Jeremy Neal
Retiring Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has blasted the ALP’s efforts to liken a Far North political hopeful to Donald Trump during the federal election campaign.
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Retiring MP Warren Entsch has blasted the ALP’s efforts to liken a Far North political hopeful to Donald Trump during the federal election campaign.
But the Labor Party has insisted it ran a “positive” campaign with candidate Matt Smith claiming a comfortable victory in Leichhardt on Sunday afternoon.
LNP rival Jeremy Neal apologised “unreservedly” for deleted social media posts which resurfaced in early April where he expressed support for president Trump.
The paramedic said most of the tweets were made during the global pandemic and he experienced a number of traumatic incidents during that time.
Cairns-based senator Nita Green led the charge against Mr Neal, claiming he was a “big fan of Donald Trump” during the campaign.
Mr Entsch, who retired as Leichhardt’s longest serving office bearer after more than 25 years in the seat, said the attacks on the Coalition’s contender were done deliberately to undermine his reputation.
“It was disappointing and he didn’t deserve it,” the former croc wrangler said. “If I thought he was some bloody mad right-winger there’s no way in the world I would’ve stood beside him.
“He’s not but it played into the Labor Party’s national strategy.”
In response, Mr Smith rejected the US president, whose controversial tariffs have caused global chaos in recent weeks, was used to scare voters away from Mr Neal.
“The word Trump wasn’t used a lot when we were knocking on people’s doors,” the former Cairns Taipans centre said.
“I don’t think it had as much impact as people might suspect it did.”
Instead, the campaign was run on cost-of-living relief, creating more affordable housing and healthcare, Mr Smith said.
“There will always be a little bit of back-and-forth in politics,” he said. “But, largely speaking, it was a positive campaign. We were presenting our ideas and aspirations and that’s what we campaigned on.
“I have sympathy for anyone who runs in a campaign and feels like they might have had a rough time of it. It was tough for everybody.
“There was mud thrown at me too. I don’t think anything untoward happened though.”
Mr Entsch said the LNP must run a more moderate campaign at the next federal election and nominated former Education Minister Dan Tehan as his preferred choice to lead the party.
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