Is Tim Smith the Liberals’ messiah or just a very naughty boy?
When the Opposition attacked Premier Daniel Andrews for keeping social restrictions on Mother’s Day, it was Kew MP Tim Smith — not leader Michael O’Brien — who led their response. Now his stridency has forced him to deny leadership aspirations.
VIC News
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Kew MP Tim Smith inwardly shuddered when he answered the phone the other day.
On the line was former Premier Jeff Kennett.
Smith had been generating headlines.
When the Opposition attacked Premier Dan Andrews for keeping social restrictions on Mother’s Day, it was Smith — not leader Michael O’Brien — who led their response.
Smith said Andrews was “incredibly cruel”. “Why?” he asked rhetorically.
“Because Chairman Dan, the premier of Victoria, is obsessed with telling people how to live their lives.”
Smith, a state politician since 2014, credits his Italian great-grandmother for his passionate outbursts.
He has described Andrews as “a loony”, “a friendless loser”, and compared him to Lurch from The Addams Family.
In a spare moment, he labelled Deputy Premier James Merlino a “deputy chihuahua”.
Smith’s stridency — and turn of phrase — has forced him to deny any immediate leadership aspirations. His outbursts are perceived by some to have distracted from the party’s talking points.
O’Brien has been trying to get traction with his proposals for helping rebuild Victoria, including payroll tax relief,
$1 billion for manufacturing and energy bill discounts.
On Thursday, Smith was asked by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell if his attacks against the government challenged the public authority of O’Brien.
When Kennett called this week, the 36-year-old was naturally wary.
Kennett publicly describes Smith as “bright”, “hard working” and having a “a lot of good attributes”.
In private, Kennett can be less measured.
The pair first met in 2014. Smith was running for pre-selection against Kennett’s preferred candidate, Mary Wooldridge, and Smith had been warned that the imperious Kennett was deeply displeased.
Kennett is unusually vague when asked whether he swore at Smith dozens of times during this meeting. This week’s chat went slightly better. Smith readily recites what Kennett told him:
That he is part of a team, and the “party is the most important thing”.
“I can understand Tim’s frustration,” Kennett tells the Herald Sun.
“Does it justify his language? People go about things in different ways.”
But Smith’s political opponents acknowledge that his inflammatory style garners attention.
The Premier’s office had no comment on Smith on Friday.
In parliament, Smith was thrown out of Question Time 25 times in 2017.
He argues that opposition parties must challenge the tendency of both the public and media to ignore them.
He seeks “cut through” messaging, he says, which is especially important in times of crisis when the community instinctively embraces strong leadership.
He fears for the state’s economic rebuild, and has been moved by the plight of a Chapel St café owner who laments the forced absence of sitting patrons.
“I’ve always been colourful,” he says.
“I’ve always been a straight shooter. For people who have known me a long time, this doesn’t surprise them.”
One senior Labor figure observes: “He works harder than his front bench colleagues to generate stories and cultivate the media. He gets a run.”
Another says: “He’s like Tony Abbott. He’s never happier than when he’s tearing people down.”
Smith agrees that he has leadership ambitions. He cites former Prime Minister John Howard, who once said that of the 150 members of the House of Representatives, 150 people wanted to be leader.
But he does not want to lead the party any time soon.
A close source says: “He’d like to be leader tomorrow, if he could. But he’s not an idiot. He knows that won’t happen because he doesn’t have the numbers. It’s a long game.”
Smith was elected as Stonnington’s youngest ever mayor in 2009.
While running for the 2018 election, Kennett called Smith out for campaign posters, describing them as “false advertising”.
They depicted Smith as thin, whereas he had beefed up since his sporting days.
Smith bowed to Kennett’s advice and visited a “fat farm” in New Zealand.
The problem, Kennett says, with calling Smith a “frog” was that Smith relished the nickname.
He went to Scotch College (like Kennett) before residing at Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.
In year 9, he attended the prestigious Rugby School in England, where he played cricket in the firsts. He also rowed for Australia.
While his bachelor status might hamstring his political aspirations, he is exceptionally well-connected throughout the wider Liberal Party and astute, says another source, in “duchessing” older voters of his electorate.
In emulating the tireless energy of his political mentor and friend, federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Smith has been called “Eddie Everywhere”.
After injury ended his rowing career, Smith worked for a year in O’Brien’s electorate office.
He denies a well-placed claim that the pair do not like one another.
One source says Smith would enjoy the recent leadership speculation, even though it ostensibly works against him.
The source offers two reasons. Vanity is the first.
The other?
“Because leadership talk isn’t just in his head anymore,” they say.
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