Scott Morrison refused to call Liberal MP Fiona Martin after she lost her seat
Scott Morrison refused to call one Liberal MP after they lost their seat – snubbing them in his round of calls to MPs who were defeated in the election.
Federal Election
Don't miss out on the headlines from Federal Election. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Scott Morrison has refused to speak to former Liberal MP Fiona Martin after she lost her seat on Saturday night snubbing her in his round of calls to MPs who were defeated at the election.
The former prime minister’s decision to put Dr Martin in the deep freeze since she lost the seat of Reid in NSW has disgusted and appalled colleagues who described the move as “graceless.”
In an exclusive interview with news.com.au, Ms Martin said the Prime Minister had never spoken to her again after she crossed the floor to strike down laws allowing discrimination against transgender and gay students.
“I guess that’s his choice. He must be angry with me, I guess,’’ Dr Martin said.
“I really got the sense he wanted me gone. As soon as I crossed the floor and showed what I believe in, I got the impression they were like, ``Right, she’s a problem.”
Mr Morrison has picked up the phone to nearly every other MP who lost their seat calling former Victorian MP Gladys Liu and Dr Katie Allen in Higgins, former Liberal MPs Trent Zimmeran and Dave Sharma and Jason Falinksi in NSW.
But he has refused to speak to Dr Martin or thank her for her work for the Liberal Party during the three years she held the seat of Reid.
Ms Martin voted in favour of laws to ban religious discrimination but also crossed the floor to support an amendment to also protect gay and trans kids from being discriminated against and expelled from school.
Three years, ago, the former Prime Minister had promised to act to remove current laws which allowed schools to discriminate against gay kids during the Wentworth by-election but he never delivered on the promise.
Ms Martin revealed that the Prime Minister, who reportedly spoke Liberal candidate Katherine Deves multiple times during the election, had not spoken to her in months.
“The last time he spoke to me, I am pretty sure it was the night I crossed the floor,’’ Ms Martin said.
During the late night speech, the Prime Minister announced Ms Martin would sit on a committee in a desperate move to save religious discrimination laws and secure her vote.
“I was in my office. I remember eating biscuits, it’s funny the things you remember, I called or texted (political adviser) Yaron and I said, “Why am I being mentioned in the PM’s speech ?,’’ she said.
“Yaron said to the PM ‘you need to speak to Fiona’. I remember I spoke to him in the annexe in Parliament House.”
“That is I think the last time he spoke to me,’’ she said.
“He did contact me on February 23 about another matter. That was the last time I had contact via text.”
After she crossed the floor, Dr Martin said she was never given another question when Parliament. She was effectively frozen out.
“I never got any questions after that in Parliament,’’ she said.
At the time, the Prime Minister’s office briefed journalists that Ms Martin had “deceived” Mr Morrison about her intentions and suggested that Mr Morrison believed she had indicated she would not cross the floor.
Then, a story appeared in The Australian that claimed she had a high turnover of staff.
“I think it was a hit job. It could have been anyone, it could have been Morrison’s camp. It could have been conservatives in the branches. I don’t know,’’ she said.
Ms Martin said she wasn’t really surprised to learn that the former Prime Minister had called other MPs who lost their seats and got used to him never calling her.
“I paid the price for standing up for my values I believed that we could protect people of faith but not harm young people gay and gender diverse people who are vulnerable and a suicide risk,’’ she said.
“I don’t like burning bridges. But I will always stand up for what I believe in. When you cross people they come after you. I definitely think I paid a price. But my inbox was inundated with people thanking me. I am proud of that. I truly believe we can protect people of faith and protect kids.”
During the election, Mr Morrison did not campaign in the marginal seat of Reid and did not call Ms Martin during the campaign.
That was despite the fact he reportedly called Liberal candidate Katherine Deves multiple times after she sparked headlines over claims she had received death threats and demanded the Liberal Party pay for two security guards to accompany her on the campaign trail.
However, the former Prime Minister did pick up the phone after the election to two other MPs who also crossed the floor – Dr Katie Allen who lost the seat of Higgins in Victoria and Dave Sharma who lost the seat of Wentworth in NSW.
Those MPs had been clearer about their intentions according to sources close to the Prime Minister.
Dr Allen confirmed to news.com.au that she had a “long conversation” with Mr Morrison on Monday after the election loss.
Mr Morrison also called Jason Falinksi who lost the seat of Mackellar to Independent Sophie Scamps and spoke to him about the reasons for the election loss.
He has also had a long discussion with former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and his close friend Ben Morton, who lost the seat of Tangey in WA.
Mr Frydenberg has confirmed today that he shutdown any discussion of a leadership challenge last year after MPs suggested that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s brand was toxic.
Liberal MPs have revealed that Mr Frydenberg was “very loyal” and perhaps “loyal to a fault” towards Mr Morrison who he lived with during the pandemic at the Lodge.
But he and his supporters now believe that it may have been a mistake to run full-term which allowed the RAT test mess to unfold over Christmas which fatally wounded the government and allowed ‘teal’ independents more time to establish name recognition in their seats.
Speculation has also arisen in recent weeks that Mr Frydenberg should be parachuted back into politics via the Victorian seat of Aston which is currently held by former education minister Alan Tudge.
The emergence of that idea coincided with Mr Tudge ending his self-imposed media interview ban this week with a series of post-election interviews including one on Sky News where he dismissed the idea he would stand aside.
Dr Fiona Martin told news.com.au that she did urge Mr Frydenberg to challenge.
“I just wanted to ensure that our party could win at the next election. I thought that Josh Frydenberg was a natural leader,’’ she said.
“And the next leader of the party. I am a moderate. I thought we should be leading from the centre.”
“He’s very charismatic. He was an excellent treasurer. He has so much talent there and it’s a great loss to our country to see him go and I hope, I really hope he comes back one day.
Former NSW Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who lost his seat of Mackellar in NSW also the idea had been discussed and dismissed by Mr Frydenberg.
However, the former Treasurer became increasingly frustrated during the campaign that one of the biggest challenges he had in Kooyong was that voters had turned against Mr Morrison and the backlash in his own seat was being driven by anger towards the Prime Minister.
Mr Frydenberg was also appalled by references to the Holocaust by Liberal Katherine Deves on social media when discussing the transgender people.
Colleagues say he thought the “whole thing was rubbish” and “unnecessary distraction.”
“We just got hurt by the RAT tests over Christmas,’’ a colleague said.
Originally published as Scott Morrison refused to call Liberal MP Fiona Martin after she lost her seat
Parliament House’s tattered Aussie flag replaced after call for action
Less than 24 hours after it was revealed the giant flag flying above Parliament House had fallen into disrepair, it has been replaced.
Read more
‘Extremely concerned’: Aussie voters’ big fear revealed
Australians have revealed how they are feeling about the next Federal Election — in particular a plausible outcome about who will lead the country. Have your say in our poll.
Read more