Battle for locals’ hearts, minds has Tangney MP Ben Morton on toes

A multilingual former dolphin trainer is challenging one of Scott Morrison’s right-hand men, with his Liberal stronghold appearing shaky.

A multilingual former dolphin trainer and star policeman is threatening to unseat one of Scott Morrison’s right-hand men, with the traditionally blue-ribbon West Australian seat of Tangney the latest Liberal stronghold to appear shaky.

Labor has unearthed a candidate with a backstory that could barely have been better scripted for an aspirational, multicultural seat such as Tangney.

Sam Lim was born in a small village in Malaysia, grew up without running water or electricity, and made a fortune as an entrepreneur before migrating to Australia.

Here he threw himself into serving the community as a policeman, building deep ties with the ethnic communities that could have an important influence over the fate of Tangney.

A cynic would suggest that Lim, a political novice, is in the race only as a distraction for incumbent MP Ben Morton.

As the Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Morton has been a key confidant to Morrison and an influential figure in his 2019 election win.

There are other far more winnable seats than Tangney that would bring Labor to power, and the campaign would arguably be a success if Lim did nothing more than compel Morton to devote just some of his attention to his own seat.

While Lim’s odds have nearly halved from earlier this year, he is still a $3.50 outsider in Sportsbet’s election markets.

Lim doesn’t see it that way. As he knocks on doors each day, he becomes more certain that the people of Tangney are keen for a change.

“The more I knock on doors, the more confidence I have,” he said. “I will say I will win by a big, big chunk.”

Tangney, which takes in the wealthy suburbs along the southern shore of the Swan River, has been a safe Liberal seat since its current boundaries were drawn in 1984. Morton has held the seat since 2016 and is well aware of the fight on his hands.

He told The Australian that while helping with the federal government’s Covid ­response meant he had not spent as much time in his home electorate as he would have liked in recent years, the people of Tangney would respect the senior role he had held and the infrastructure he had delivered for the electorate.

He also noted that it was he, and not Lim, who actually lived in Tangney.

Tangney MP Ben Morton. Picture: Kym Smith

“Labor is campaigning harder in this electorate than they ever have before, so I need to work harder and I will. I will need more support than I have before, but I will work hard in this electorate based on what I’ve delivered for it and my plans for the future,” Morton said.

“The people of Tangney want a local member who delivers ­locally but plays an important role nationally. And with me you get both.”

While Tangney has long been a blue-chip electorate, it is also home to a large and growing multicultural population. Labor is effectively repeating the playbook it used so successfully in the area in last year’s state election, when it recruited local India-born GP Jagadish Krishnan, who owns a string of medical practices in the area, to run for the Liberal-held seat of Riverton. He won the seat for Labor with a swing of 16.1 per cent.

Krishnan’s old campaign office, which sits next to an Indian foods wholesaler, has been repurposed into Lim’s headquarters.

Lim’s personal background is a classic migrant story. The eldest of eight children born to rubber plantation workers in a modest Malaysian village, Lim started his working life as a policeman in Malaysia before quitting to ­become a dolphin trainer at a ­safari park in Johor.

When the park closed, Lim ­entered the world of business. He heard that Malaysia’s schools were throwing out test tubes after a single use, so Lim started selling test-tube cleaning products. Before long, he was supplying every school across the country.

That led to other successful ventures in laboratory supplies, cleaning products and computer equipment. By time he reached his 40s, he was wealthy enough to retire.

Eager for a better life for his children, he and his wife migrated to Perth in 2002, and in 2006, at the age of 45, Lim resumed his police career.

In 2017, after various postings across the state, he became a community liaison officer within the force. There was a disconnect between the Asian community and police at the time, and Lim says he worked hard to build a bridge between the two.

Those efforts accelerated when the pandemic hit. Lim, who speaks 10 languages, took it upon himself to begin translating information about the Covid response and distributing it to the different ethnic communities.

His efforts were recognised when he was named Police Officer of the Year at the end of 2020.

Sam Lim, Labor's candidate for the Federal seat of Tangney, with his wife Chew Yong and Bruno his dog at Applecross. Picture: Colin Murty

As his ties in the community grew, so too did the range of areas in which people sought his advice. Questions about police matters and Covid turned into questions about healthcare education, and a host of other matters, and Lim says that led him to decide to run for office.

“I realised that as a police officer I can help, but if I’m a federal member of parliament, I can help them tenfold or 100-fold,” he said.

Joining Labor, he said, was an easy choice: before migrating, he had studied Australia’s history and admired the efforts of Gough Whitlam to abolish the White Australia policy and introduce the racial discrimination act.

He says he is a passionate advocate for Medicare, having seen the health system save the life of his daughter when she was given just weeks to live. Treating her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Malaysia, he says, would have cost his family a fortune.

Lim’s entirely local focus is in contrast to that of his opponent. Morton will again be working closely with the Prime Minister to try to engineer another surprise.

Morton, Lim says, has taken Tangney for granted.

“That sitting member, he looks like a nice guy and I have nothing personal against him, but he’s not working for the community,” he said.

“You’re not supposed to be working for the Prime Minister, you’re supposed to be working for your community who vote for you and put trust in you.

“Especially when they need your help, you’re not here for them. For me, I’ll be here.”