James O’Doherty: Liberals paying a high price to fight teal war

A teal wave could end up delivering Anthony Albanese to The Lodge — even if the Liberals hold on to seats being targeted by the Climate 200-backed candidates, writes James O’Doherty.

In Bondi Junction Westfield, massive effigies of Dave Sharma beam down on shoppers as they stroll from one expensive boutique to the next.

Images of the smiling Wentworth MP, some at least 15m high, are plastered throughout the shopping centre.

They proclaim Sharma’s achievements in delivering tax relief and cuts to the cost of living (something perhaps not front-of-mind for patrons perusing high-end designer stores).

Like most things in the ­eastern suburbs shopping mecca, the massive ads would not have come cheaply. The cost of sandbagging Sharma’s blue chip seat against a challenge by Allegra ­Spender is at least $800,000, sources say.

That’s about double what was spent in the last election and inordinately more than 2016, when Malcolm Turnbull held the seat as prime minister.

The Liberal Party has spending up big to defend traditionally safe Liberal seats against challenges from Teal independents. Picture: Terry Pontikos

Sharma’s vast campaign spending is an example of the massive amounts of money being dropped by the Liberal Party in seats targeted by the so-called “teal independents”.

And it is just one of the reasons a teal wave could end up delivering Anthony Albanese to The Lodge — even if the Liberals hold on to seats being targeted by cashed-up, Climate 200-backed candidates.

While these candidates are largely running a campaign based on the colour of their T-shirts (Liberal blue mixed with a climate-friendly green), they could collectively help turn the government into a Labor red.

Think of the money that the Liberal Party raises in wealthy electorates like Wentworth.

In elections past, this would be funnelled into battleground electorates like Reid or Lindsay — or spent on the Coalition’s central campaign ­efforts.

So-called “donor” electorates have become “donee” seats — turning from places where money is raised into electorates where money needs to be spent.

Part of Liberal MP Dave Sharma’s ad blitz in Westfield Bondi Junction. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

A Liberal source tells this column one rich donor has spent some $200,000 to help Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong and another $100,000 to aid Andrew Constance in Gilmore.

That makes $300,000, from just one donor, which has gone to individual seat contests rather than the national battle.

At the same time, the Liberal Party’s best asset in retaining seats like North Sydney has effectively been silenced.

As revealed this week, former premier Gladys Berejiklian has been gagged from campaigning in inner Sydney seats because of her new job at Optus.

Previous comments attributed to Berejiklian (that Scott Morrison was a “horrible, horrible person”) aside, Liberals insist the former premier wanted to help the party she led in NSW, but her hands are tied.

That has led to “palpable anger” in the Liberal Party that Berejiklian has been unable to assist her good friend Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney.

The Liberal Party is fighting a battle on two fronts — even if it sees off the teal threat, the amount of time and resources devoted to saving progressive Liberals will have weakened efforts elsewhere.

But this isn’t just a political problem for the Coalition; there are real and potentially worrying questions about what high-profile Climate 200-backed candidates would stand for in parliament if they win.

Teal positions on a raft of crucial issues are a mystery.

As The Daily Telegraph reveals today, candidates such as Spender in Wentworth and fellow teal Kylea Tink have refused to properly detail their stance on border protection policies. Questions about where teal candidates stand on China’s advance in the Pacific went unanswered.

Dave Sharma and Allegra Spender at the Sky News Wentworth People’s Forum. Picture: Richard Dobson

On the question of tax, Tink and Warringah MP Zali Steggall this week would not say whether they wanted changes to GST to be “on the table” in a future review of the tax system, as Spender proposed on Sunday.

And, as The Daily Telegraph revealed this week, high-profile Climate 200-backed candidates are demanding tougher emissions reductions targets than even their green backer Simon Holmes a Court believes are necessary.

Crucially, none have confirmed who they would back for minority government if neither the Coalition or the ALP gains enough seats to govern in their own right.

The teal independents indicate they will negotiate with both sides and stand up for their constituents if elected. Knowing who their MP would back for government is not too much for voters to ask.

So in NSW Treasurer Matt Kean’s fight to save his progressive federal colleagues, he would be wise to focus his efforts on pointing out what the teal independents would mean for the country, rather than what he thinks they could do to the Liberal Party.

Ironically, behind Kean’s desk in his parliamentary office is a poster of John F. Kennedy, who famously said: “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country”.

Kean told The Daily Telegraph this week the Climate 200 candidates would “tax like Labor” if they manage to “sneak into office”.

But perhaps in his enthusiasm to help the cause, he warned on Thursday the teal wave could lead to the Liberals becoming “the party of Trump, the party of Putin sympathisers and anti-vaxxers”.

That may play well to progressive voters in the seats he intends to save but could equally frustrate the conservative base.

And the last thing the Liberal Party needs right now is to be fighting more battles.