John Barilaro being blamed for Coalition’s Eden-Monaro by-election loss

Coalition sources say John Barilaro is in part responsible for the loss and his sabotaging of the campaign makes his position untenable.

John Barilaro and his supporters are accused of deliberately undermining the Morrison government’s bid to reclaim a prized marginal seat. Picture: AAP

The NSW Nationals have hit back at the Liberal Party for accusing their leader John Barilaro of costing them the prized seat of Eden-Monaro, declaring the popularity of the state deputy premier only assisted the senior Coalition partner.

Labor is declaring victory in the by-election off the back of preferences from the Shooters and Nationals parties, stoking anger in the most senior ranks of the Liberals who are fuming over Mr Barilaro’s efforts to undermine their campaign.

Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs has not conceded despite Anthony Albanese and Labor’s candidate, Kristy McBain, claiming an “against-the-odds victory”, with more postal ballots to be counted and the margin shrinking to fewer than 1000 votes.

A NSW Nationals spokeswoman pointed out the Liberal Party did well in Queanbeyan, which had been Labor heartland, and said they should acknowledge the gain rather than “blame others for their loss”.

“Maybe that should be attributed to John Barilaro’s brand and cut-through, which has assisted them, rather than looking for blame,” the spokeswoman said.

“The Nationals had every right to run in the Eden-Monaro by-election and the Nationals how-to-vote card clearly indicated the Nationals wanted preferences to flow to the Liberal candidate. Scrutineers have confirmed preferences did flow to the Liberal Party close to 90 per cent.

“More importantly, Labor retained the seat with the preferences of the unholiest of alliances — with the Shooters and Greens. Rather than blaming the Nationals, the Liberals should focus on the Shooters and Fishers who have again sold out their base. It is now clear that a vote for the Shooters and Fishers is a vote for Labor.”

Liberal sources said it would require “heroic results” to get over the line, but Labor’s primary vote was down more than 3 per cent and the two-candidate-preferred count was on 50.4 per cent for Ms McBain to 49.6 per cent to Dr Kotvojs.

Coalition sources in the NSW and federal governments said on Sunday Mr Barilaro — known as “Barra” to colleagues — was in part responsible for the result and his sabotaging of the campaign had made his position untenable.

Mr Barilaro and his supporters deliberately undermined the Morrison government’s bid to reclaim the prized marginal seat by asking voters to preference Ms McBain before Dr Kotvojs, as revealed by The Australian.

The NSW Deputy Premier confirmed he had preferenced former Labor MP Mike Kelly ­before Dr Kotvojs in 2019 and had not ruled out a future tilt at the seat.

Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs votes at Jerrabomberra Public School on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

The destabilisation inspired a pamphlet authorised by the NSW ALP that stated: “Voting Nationals? Vote 2 Kristy McBain and Labor.”

“He’s not a real Nat, just a spoiled brat,” a federal Liberal source said.

A NSW Liberal minister added: “There’s going to be serious ramifications against Barra. He’s told everyone he’s going to resign at the next election, made it very clear he doesn’t want to be the deputy premier but still takes the salary; he’s had a blue with every single Liberal minister — they’ve just had a gutful of him.

“What we’ve seen in the last few months is a very selfish man.”

A federal Liberal frontbencher said it was “pretty clear now on the numbers that Barilaro has cost us the seat.”

Labor’s Kristy McBain and Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Sean Davey

“That should always be remembered next time he runs.”

The Nationals, Labor and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, which preferenced Ms McBain second, said the junior Coalition partner’s preferences had flowed to the ALP by up to 30 per cent in some booths.

Liberals were sceptical of that, saying there had been a mixed result for the Nationals, with the vast majority of preferences flowing to Dr Kotvojs.

Nationals close to the Eden-Monaro campaign predicted the Liberal Party would end up with about 85 per cent of their preferences.

On the Nationals’ how-to-vote card, Dr Kotvojs was preferenced second, behind Nationals candidate Trevor Hicks.

Liberal MPs and operatives agreed SFF preferences had benefited Labor most but said the way Mr Barilaro had managed the campaign raised eyebrows. “If the Nats hadn’t run a candidate, we would have won the by-election,” a Liberal source said. “Why run Trevor Hicks? Why have Barra’s face on his election material?”

 

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was understood to have been infuriated by Mr Barilaro and his effect on the outcome of the by-election.

She did not respond to questions from The Australian.

Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said Mr Barilaro’s leadership was a matter for the NSW Nationals partyroom.

“The result in Eden-Monaro is still unknown and conjecture as to what may or may not have affected the result is simply that … conjecture,” he said.

Sources close to Mr Barilaro said it was the Liberals that had “stuffed up” the battle for Eden-Monaro by messing him around when he was considering contesting the seat before the by-election had been called.

Shortly after Mr Barilaro announced he would not run, Liberal MP and NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance put his hat in the ring for 24 hours before withdrawing his candidacy.

“If they’d put their egos away and let John run, that’s when they stuffed it,” the Nationals source said.

They also said the Liberal Party could have run a better candidate and targeted the Shooters better.

SFF leader Robert Borsak, whose Eden-Monaro candidate Matthew Stadtmiller was set to receive more than 5 per cent of the primary vote, agreed the party’s preferences helped Labor claim victory but said no deals had been made.

He estimated up to 60 per cent of Shooters preferences flowed to Ms McBain.

The Opposition Leader countered suggestions he would not have won the by-election if it were not for preferences from the Shooters and Nationals by pointing out the Liberals would not have won without any preferences either.

“No one got 50 per cent (of the primary vote) so that is just a matter of fact,” Mr Albanese said. “In most seats in Australia, candidates do not receive 50 per cent of the primary – I did last time by the way.”

Scott Morrison said on Sunday morning it would be a while before the final results of the by-election was known.

“With history against us, the strong performance of the Liberal primary vote in an expanded field in a by-election held by the opposition is welcome,” the Prime Minister said.