Coalition divided over more than just Deves
While the Liberals have gone to war over the candidate for Warringah, Campaign Confidential has found a few more battles looming within the Coalition.
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Divided over Deves
THE stink around Katherine Deves, Scott Morrison’s ‘Captain’s Pick’ for the seat of Warringah and her record of making anti-trans, anti-LGBTI comments is not going away. Despite NSW Treasurer Matt Kean calling for her to be disendorsed, and a number of Liberals including Foreign Minister Marise Payne saying they don’t share her views, speculation is mounting that Prime Minister Scott Morrison actually sees the Deves issue as a net positive that could help the party win votes in outer suburban electorates, even at the expense of support in traditionally safe Liberal seats such as North Sydney, Wentworth and Kooyong. Conservative columnist Janet Albrechtsen added her voice to those calling for Deves to be dumped, tweeting that her comments “make it much harder to have a sensible conversation about an important issue. That’s why a leader would disendorse her.”
A change in the climate
STILL on Warringah, it’s interesting to note Zali Steggall is now officially being backed by Climate 200. While many would have presumed this was the case anyway, the organisation only added her to their list of candidates over the Easter weekend. Last we heard the independent MP for Warringah was blaming Climate 200’s Damien Hodgkinson for her breach of donation requirements, so we can only assume whatever tensions existed there have been smoothed over.
Sizing up the seats
Voter registration for the 2022 election closes on Monday, with a number of MPs stepping up their efforts to encourage younger Aussies to get on the roll. (In a typically punchy video, Labor’s Member for Bruce, Julian Hill, implored young people to register, saying it was “the only way to wipe the smirk off [ScoMo’s] face”.) The close of rolls means we’ll also get a good look at the size of each electorate heading into May 21. While we think of each division as being roughly the same size, there is in fact a pretty big range, from the smallest (Solomon in the NT, which has 71,967 voters) to the largest (Macarthur in NSW, which has 133,067). A quick overview of the states reveals NSW has a total of 16 “megaseats” with more than 120,000 people enrolled, and all of SA’s ten divisions hit that mark. Queensland has nine electorates with more than 120,000 voters, WA has four, Victoria has one, and Tassie, the NT and the ACT have none. Expect some major rejigging of boundaries before 2025.
Covid stalks the campaign trail
IS Covid-19 politically biased? The spicy cough continues to make its presence felt on the campaign trail, with Labor’s Chris Bowen and Catherine Renshaw, the party’s candidate for North Sydney, now joining Kristina Keneally in the ranks of the temporarily isolated. On the Coalition side, Karen Andrews and Angie Bell have also been forced to campaign from home. With reports that some journalists covering the leaders have also tested positive, we wouldn’t be too surprised if Covid claims a bigger scalp at some point during the campaign.
Coalition v Coalition
WE often think of the Coalition as one entity, but every so often they like to remind us that they are in fact two parties by running against each other. In 2022 there are four contests between the Liberals and the Nationals. In Victoria, the retirement of Nationals MP Damian Drum has unleased a competition between his would-be replacement Sam Birrell, and Liberal challenger Stephen Brooks, while in the seat of Indi both Elizabeth Fisher (Nat) and Ross Lyman (Lib) are attempting to win the seat off independent MP Helen Haines. In two other races the Nationals have fielded a candidate to challenge a sitting Liberal: in the WA seat of Durack, Ian Blayney is up against Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price, and in Barker (SA), Jonathan Pietzsch is taking on Tony Pasin, who has held the seat for the Libs since 2013. Game on!
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