GetUp’s all-in-one-basket Abbott plan may lay an election egg

Liberals believe they’ve got a boost in marginals by GetUp putting all its resources in Warringah.

GetUp! volunteers in Warringah launch the lobby group's campaign to unseat former PM Tony Abbott. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

The Liberal Party believes it has been given a boost in its marginal seats in NSW because left-wing campaign organisation GetUp has decided — unlike at the 2016 election — to put all its resources into former prime minister Tony ­Abbott’s seat of Warringah rather than target Coalition marginals.

GetUp says it has about 600 volunteers in Warringah, where Mr Abbott is facing a challenge from independent candidate Zali Steggall that the Liberals believe they can narrowly stave off. But the number of volunteers in Warringah from the organisation means GetUp is not working in seats it attacked during the last federal election campaign.

The volunteers are not present in Wentworth, where GetUp campaigned during the by-election last year, and where Liberal Dave Sharma is hopeful of taking Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat back from independent Kerryn Phelps.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and senator Michaelia Cash campaign outside a Warringah pre-polling centre yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams

Liberal sources have said the fixation on Mr Abbott is also helping the party in other seats such as Banks, where Immigration Minister David Coleman came under a large GetUp attack in 2016 and hung on by only 1.4 per cent.

“In 2016, we saw GetUp run in multiple seats on multiple issues,” one NSW Liberal source said. “In this election, their campaign in NSW is targeting Warringah with whatever resources they have.”

GetUp announced earlier this month it would use 7000 volunteers, mostly to take on politicians it regarded as “far right”, across the country during the campaign.

A GetUp spokeswoman said yesterday 30 seats would be targeted on polling day but for now the organisation was focusing on only seven seats, of which one, Warringah, is in NSW.

The others are Dickson, Pearce, Flinders, Boothby, Menzies and Kooyong.