Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie gives government support, until Wentworth by-election

CENTRE Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie will temporarily throw support behind the Morrison government until the Wentworth by-election.

CENTRE Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie will temporarily throw support behind the Morrison Government until the Wentworth by-election.

A date to fill former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s seat is yet to be announced.

But Ms Sharkie has vowed to use the period to examine the Coalition’s ability to provide “stable, good government”.

“In the meantime, I will not support a motion of no confidence in the current Government,” she said.

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie

Ms Sharkie said when the new MP was elected, she and party colleagues Senators Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick would reconsider their position.

She also confirmed that she had met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who confirmed he would honour more than $21 million of promises made during the Mayo by-election.

Senior Liberals have discussed delaying the Wentworth by-election for as long as practicable, in order to defuse the potential for a no-confidence motion backed by crossbenchers.

One option discussed involves securing conditional support until the by-election, as Ms Sharkie has agreed, then vowing to go to a general election in February if Wentworth is lost and the government’s position endangered.

Under this option, the argument presented to crossbenchers would be that, forcing a pre-Christmas general election through a no-confidence motion would needlessly anger voters, particularly when one would be held in a few months anyway.

Liberal preselection frontrunner Andrew Bragg has pulled out of the race for Wentworth, stating a woman should represent the seat.

Originally published as Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie gives government support, until Wentworth by-election