Adverts target Abbott rival Zali Steggall as ALP’s ‘stooge’

Zali Steggall will be targeted as Bill Shorten’s stooge in a series of paid advertisements launched today by Advance Australia.

Independent candidate for Warringah Zali Steggall. Picture: AAP

Zali Steggall will be targeted as Bill Shorten’s alleged stooge in a series of paid advertisements launched today by Advance Australia, the campaign machine set up as a conservative counter to the influence of left-leaning activist group GetUp.

The aggressive ads attacking the campaign of the Sydney barrister and former world champion alpine skier running as an independent against Tony Abbott in his seat of Warringah will start with one alleging she and Mr Shorten are “two of a kind”.

Another will focus on Ms Steggall’s support for Labor’s “retirees tax” — an attempt to persuade ageing, conservative voters who might be considering a shift away from Mr Abbott that Ms Steggall is out of step with the electorate on Sydney’s northern beaches.

Ms Steggall says she is a genuine independent with grassroots support and wants to oust Mr Abbott because it is time to change to a local MP more representative of the electorate’s views on issues such as climate change and same-sex marriage.

The Australian revealed yesterday that Ms Steggall’s campaign manager, Anthony Reed, is a veteran Labor operative who has been the chief of staff to NSW Labor ministers, has worked on numerous Labor campaigns and has been a party member for decades. Mr Reed is also the brother of federal MP Sharon Bird, his twin brother is a former official of an ALP-affiliated union, and his mother worked in the office of NSW Labor MP Michael Knight for years.

Mr Reed remained silent on his Labor involvement yesterday, but Ms Steggall said she was not concerned about his background, dismissing suggestions it might affect her independent status.

She confirmed Mr Reed had been identified to her by Kerryn Phelps, the independent who won Malcolm Turnbull’s former seat in the Wentworth by-election last October, as “the best person to have an effective winning strategy”. Mr Reed was Dr Phelps’s campaign manager in Wentworth, although his involvement and Labor pedigree was little known then outside a small circle.

 

The Australian reported last year that Darrin Barnett, Mr Reed’s business partner and also an experienced Labor operative, was working as Dr Phelps’s media adviser in the campaign. It is now clear Dr Phelps had two Labor operatives working for her. Mr Barnett has stayed on as her principal adviser.

The Manly Daily reported yesterday that Labor’s candidate in Warringah, Dean Harris, said he had “no idea” a veteran ALP supporter was running Mr Steggall’s campaign.

Mr Harris said whoever Ms Steggall chose was a matter for her, and he had no need for him.

Labor rejects that it is “running dead” on Mr Harris’s campaign. But while Ms Steggall has set up a well-resourced campaign headquarters in Brookvale, just doors away from Mr Abbott’s own campaign office, Mr Harris appears to have no campaign office, no media adviser and his mobile phone is routinely out of service.

Mr Abbott, who acknowledges he faces a tough fight with GetUp, unions and various groups opposing him, said the role of Mr Reed showed Ms Steggall’s campaign was “Labor in disguise”.

“It is absolutely crystal clear that if you vote for Steggall you get Shorten,” Mr Abbott said.

Labor sources claim Mr Reed is no longer a Labor member, and the party’s head office says Mr Barnett’s membership remains “suspended” from the Wentworth by-election. Under party rules, it is an expellable offence for members to work against endorsed ALP candidates.

Ads launched today will be aired on social media and in Warringah on billboards and bus shelters. Mailouts will go to voters.