Piers Akerman: Why Wentworth will decide the fate of our nation
IN just under a fortnight we should know whether Malcolm Turnbull’s poisonous bequest to the nation is a Shorten Labor government. What a disgraceful legacy for a man who purported to be a Liberal prime minister, Piers Akerman writes.
Opinion
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IN just under a fortnight we should know whether Malcolm Turnbull’s poisonous bequest to the nation is a Shorten Labor government.
What a disgraceful legacy for a man who purported to be a Liberal prime minister. In fulfilling his threat to desert his constituents, his party and his government, Turnbull has thrown open his seat to a Melbourne Cup-sized field of candidates who may wrest the electorate from the Liberal Party for the first time in its history.
Recent surveys indicate that the formerly safe Liberal seat could be anyone’s. More importantly, the electors have to face up to their huge responsibility. This is not about local issues. This time they are electing the next government; nothing more, nothing less.
The choice they make is not only for themselves but for every other Australian citizen. They have to make a decision about what is in Australia’s best interests. Local issues and personalities are irrelevant. It’s a
huge responsibility.
Which means that Labor (and others who stand to gain by bringing on an early federal election) are working hard to game the October 20 by-election,
elect a non-Liberal and bring down Scott Morrison’s one-seat majority government.
Of all 16 on the ballot paper, Dave Sharma, a former senior diplomat (Australia’s former ambassador to Israel) and business figure is the best credentialed to contribute to the commonwealth through parliamentary service.
However, Wentworth, while it contains some of the wealthiest suburbs in the nation and counts many who would consider themselves to be the brightest, also has within it legions who strive to exhibit their commitment to the fashionable social and cultural trends, global warming, diversity, and hip Leftism on policies such as immigration.
Sharma, who has actually seen the hard edge of racism, terrorism, failed nations and flawed social policy, is thus facing his most serious challenge from Dr Kerryn Phelps, who is running as an independent but effectively with Labor support and standing for social justice and inclusion, climate change action and renewable energy, in short a ragbag of touchy-feely issues which might touch the heart strings but are matters of emotion rather than reality.
In placing the other 14 candidates, some independents, others representing fringe groups such as the Science Party and the Arts Party, ahead of the candidates from the two major parties, Phelps’ political whisperers are banking on gaining the preferences of the rats and mice candidates and getting her over the line to either bring down the government or install her as the powerbroker.
In either role she would be a disaster and this is why 16 should be written beside her name on the paper.
Sharma has to win in his own right for the government to be safe and Bill Shorten to be kept out of the Lodge — at least for now.
Apart from Phelps, there are two others who would celebrate her win.
Shorten, of course but also the NSW Liberal powerbroker Michael Photios, whose business model stands to gain the most if the federal election is held before the NSW government goes to the polls on March 28.
Photios’ lobbying business is dependent on the Berejiklian government, many of whose ministers he helped into parliament through his party activities.
Because so many Wentworth voters are comparatively well-heeled (median personal weekly income of $1242 compared with the national average of $662), they may not be as stressed by the soaring prices of electricity and some may well fall for the Green snake oil and look for a candidate who wants to outlaw organic fuels like coal and oil in favour of unreliable, inefficient and expensive wind and solar — which may help Phelps.
What seems to weigh heavily on the minds of the politically aware are the Turnbull/Shorten factors.
Some people want to punish the Liberal Party because of (a) Turnbull’s lousy leadership or (b) the manner in which he was dumped. Contrarily, others who know Turnbull well say they are going to vote Liberal again for the first time since Turnbull was first elected to represent the seat in 2004.
It is just as divergent on the Labor side, with a number of dyed-in-the-wool ALP supporters saying they would not vote for a Labor candidate while Bill Shorten was Opposition leader.
Wentworth voters must make the right choice. Twenty-five million Australians depend upon it.