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Green-slayer Sarah Witty says voters had ‘just had enough’

New MP Sarah Witty says the seat of Melbourne turned against Adam Bandt rather than the Greens broadly, adding voters ‘just had enough’.

New Melbourne MP Sarah Witty, pictured right with Anthony Albanese on Monday, said voters turned on former Greens leader Adam Bandt, left. Picture: NewsWire/David Crosling, Martin Ollman
New Melbourne MP Sarah Witty, pictured right with Anthony Albanese on Monday, said voters turned on former Greens leader Adam Bandt, left. Picture: NewsWire/David Crosling, Martin Ollman

One of Labor’s two leader-slayers, Sarah Witty, says the seat of Melbourne turned against Adam Bandt more than the Greens broadly, attributing her success in toppling the former party leader to the fact voters “just had enough”.

When Ms Witty was selected to contest the seat she was told she was unlikely to win running against the Greens leader, but from her first day on the hustings she knew the electorate was “swinging against” Mr Bandt.

She said she never saw Mr Bandt or his volunteers actively campaigning in the inner-city electorate, remarking that the loss of his seat would have come as a “big shock” to the parliamentarian of 15 years.

As the new class of MPs arrived in Canberra for the first sitting week since the May 3 election, Ms Witty said she had reflected on her unlikely road to federal parliament that led to her defeating the “pretty confident” party leader.

“It was said to me, it’s unlikely you’ll win because you’re against Adam Bandt, the leader of a party,” Ms Witty said.

“But I knew from day one that it was swinging against Adam. It was a little bit against the Greens, but mostly against him.

“I didn’t know how far it was going to swing, but I absolutely knew that we were in for a chance.”

Ms Witty – who has worked in the charity sector and been a foster carer – said voters had “just had enough” of Mr Bandt and were ready for a change.

“People were coming up to me, more than once, with exactly the same phrase, saying, ‘I voted Greens the last X amount of times. I can’t do it again, tell me about you’,” she said.

“I didn’t go into any depth about why they’re not wanting to vote Greens anymore because that was an opportunity to talk about why they should vote for me.”

When asked if she believed that voters in the seat of Melbourne had been turned off by Mr Bandt’s efforts to politicise the Middle East conflict or decision to team up with the Coalition to block Labor’s legislative agenda, Ms Witty said she didn’t know.

“I didn’t hear any of that, because I didn’t go into any of that,” she said.

Ms Witty said Mr Bandt rang to congratulate her before he publicly conceded defeat after five days of nailbiting vote counting. It’s a phone call she will always ­remember as “very awkward”.

“As somebody who has been doing the job for quite a long time, it was a big shock to him,” she said.

“I know it was a shock to him, because I didn’t see him during the campaign.

“I did see him once or twice, but I didn’t see him or his volunteers when I was out and about, so I know that he was pretty confident that he was going to get in.

“So I imagine that it would have been pretty shocking for him when he found out that he didn’t.

“The conversation was very awkward, there were not many words said. But just enough to say congratulations and also for me to have the opportunity to say, thank you for the work you’ve done.”

Ms Witty will be the second of the 24 new Labor MPs to deliver her maiden speech to parliament, after Dickson MP Ali France who unseated former opposition leader Peter Dutton. Ms Witty’s speech will focus on supporting children and affordable housing.

After her unexpected win saw her celebrated as a leader killer, Ms Witty said she had always been focused on listening to voters and campaigning hard. She put in 18-hour days balancing a four-day work week with door-knocking and evening events.

“For me, I was just in my electorate, doing my thing,” she said. “It wasn’t about slaying a giant. It was really just about doing the best job I could for my electorate, for the people I was talking to, for the people that had asked me to run.

“I didn’t want to let them down.

“It was just about making sure I listened to the people that you know were looking to change their votes, and focused on them instead.”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/greenslayer-sarah-witty-says-voters-had-just-had-enough/news-story/e307c2149a10f093ff3d35d3a9b71f4f