GetUp planning to door knock 64,000 homes to unseat Tony Abbott

Lobby group GetUp has unveiled its not-so-secret plan to oust former Prime Minister Tony Abbott from his seat of Warringah in front of a room of 400 left wing activists on the northern beaches.

• Steggall: Abbott is ‘desperate’ and ‘out of touch’
• Steggall’s campaign manager praised ex-GetUp boss

Left wing activists have hatched an ambitious plan to knock on the door of all 64,000 homes in Tony Abbott’s electorate of Warringah in a bold attempt to oust the former prime minister.

Lobby group GetUp last night unveiled the details of its rogue plot to unseat Mr Abbott to a room full of about 400 activists — the majority who were over 50 — at the Manly Pavilion.

Campaign director Django Merope-Synge urged attendees to sign up on the spot to become hosts of door knocking activities explaining that talking to locals “on their doorsteps” and reading their body language was key to influencing their vote.

About 400 people attended the meeting at Manly pavilion. Picture: Twitter/Denise Shrivell

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Door knockers are handed a script to follow that is meant to convince Warringah residents to turn against Mr Abbott similar to the one given to activists phone canvassing.

2GB this week exposed the guide which instructs volunteers what questions they should ask and even what “personal story” they should tell about how Mr Abbott has “negatively impacted our deeply held value(s)”.

While GetUp denies formal links to Zali Steggall, strategists conceded that their campaign indirectly benefits the independent candidate as its activists push the public to vote for candidates aligned to the group’s values.

“If there was a candidate that was stronger on (value x), would you consider voting for them instead of Abbott,” the script states.

Mr Merope-Synge revealed last night that GetUp had crunched census data to identify the suburbs to target where voters were most likely to change their vote away from Mr Abbott.

He said the organisation would use feedback from door knocking and phone canvassing to further help its activists to pinpoint swinging voters.

Activists were warned they may need to return to some homes more than once in their desperate bid to pressure voters to shun Mr Abbott.

Mr Abbott yesterday dubbed Ms Steggall the “carbon tax candidate” for her stance on climate change and said he was confident he would defeat her as he had seen off other strong independents in the past.

GetUp strategists said their campaign, while not formally linked to Zali Steggall, benefits independent candidates. Picture: Jordan Shields

The Liberals have held the seat of Warringah since 1969. Picture: Mick Tsikas

Ms Steggall announced her candidature for the seat the Liberals have held since 1969 on Sunday, saying she had grassroots support from Warringah locals who wanted action on climate change.

“I have seen off some fairly significant challenges over the years and without anyway being complacent I am confident of a similar result this time,” he told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.

He said voting for Ms Steggall, a former Olympic skier, would mean more expensive and less reliable power because she said she wants to take action on climate change.

“That means she is the carbon tax candidate because it is all very well saying we’ve got to do more, but there is a cost to doing more, a very heavy cost.”

“There is no way we can suddenly do a whole lot more on climate change without putting power prices through the roof, without putting reliability through the floor without, closing down a whole lot of important industries.”

GetUp concedes it would be difficult to defeat Mr Abbott but was buoyed by the success of Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth.

At the 2016 election Mr Abbott comfortably won Warringah without requiring preferences from minor parties after securing 51.5 per cent of the primary vote. He won with 61 per cent of the two party preferred vote.

Independent candidate James Mathison received significant media attention during his campaign to unseat Mr Abbott but he received just 11.41 per cent of the primary vote.

Volunteers have been told they may need to return to homes more than once. Picture: Twitter/Dennis Shrivell

Retired teachers Colleen O’Brien, of Manly Vale, and Libby Boyd, of Northern Balgowlah, had already began door knocking to convince voters to shun Mr Abbott.

Both ladies were fired up about the Coalition’s “climate wars” which they believe began under the former prime minister’s leadership.

“I’m disturbed by the direction Australia is going down in terms of climate,” Ms O’Brien said.

“Abbott is paid to represent the views of his electorate but instead uses parliament as a forum to promote his ill-informed views and twisted ideology.”

Ms Boyd said she did not believe that Mr Abbott as her local member represented her on any of the issues she held dear.

“He himself sends out the message not to vote for him if you disagree with his stance, it’s time to oppose him,” Ms Boyd said.

“He has acted as a handbrake on global action on climate change. We cannot afford not to oppose him on this issue alone.

“Then there’s his pivotal role in the pivot of many members of his party to the hard right and helping to engineer the dumping of Turnbull. Not great for people’s dwindling faith in democracy.”