Liberals baulk at $1m war chest for Frydenberg campaign

Victorian Liberals are deeply concerned over a push to spend big bucks on Josh Frydenberg’s reelection campaign.

Liberal Party figures say a big cash splash in the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s blue-ribbon seat could cause an internal backlash. Picture: Gary Ramage

Victorian Liberal Party officials and federal MPs are deeply concerned over a push to spend big on Josh Frydenberg’s campaign in Kooyong, saying there is little risk of the affluent Melbourne seat falling and the money should be funnelled to marginal electorates.

Party figures say a cash splash in the blue-ribbon seat could cause an internal backlash similar to when Jobs Minister Kelly O’Dwyer kept nearly all the money she raised in her seat of Higgins at the 2016 poll.

Normally, some of the money raised in traditionally safe seats such as Higgins and Kooyong is distributed to marginal electorates. The Treasurer gave $500,000 to state party headquarters and other Victorian MPs at the last election campaign.

The Weekend Australian has been told Ms O’Dwyer, who will retire from politics at the election, gave little financial support to colleagues in 2016, other than $50,000 to help Julia Banks win Chisholm. There are now concerns Mr Frydenberg, one of Victoria’s best fundraisers, will also hold on to the lion’s share of funds raised in Kooyong.

Mr Frydenberg is under pressure from Greens candidate Julian Burnside and independent Oliver Yates, neither of whom is seen by some Victorian Liberals as a credible threat to Mr Frydenberg, given he holds the seat by 12.8 per cent. Party chiefs are considering backing a $1 million spend to safeguard Kooyong, as revealed in The Australian this week.

Sources close to the Treasurer said he was yet to decide how much would be spent barricading Kooyong. Some federal MPs and members of the state executive say an overspend in Kooyong would help Labor in the knife-edge seats of Corangamite, Dunkley, Chisholm and La Trobe. The Liberals are also facing a tough fight to retain Health Minister Greg Hunt’s seat of Flinders, Cities Minister Alan Tudge’s seat of Aston and conservative powerbroker Michael Sukkar’s seat of Deakin.

A federal MP said: “This is playing into Labor’s hands, and the Greens’. This is exactly what they want us to do. They want us to drop money there so it can’t go elsewhere. And because Josh has a keen interest to be in a good position post-election, he is desperate to make sure he gets as strong as a margin as possible so he can be shielded from criticism.”

A member of the Victorian Liberal Party’s state executive said spending $1m in Kooyong would be “crazy … the seat is just not that much at risk”. Party figures said between $500,000 and $700,000 was typically spent on campaigns in marginal electorates.

A federal Victorian MP who supported a big-spend strategy in Kooyong said Mr Frydenberg would “not rob Peter to pay Paul”.

“There are people who would be giving a bit more, especially for Josh,” one MP said.

“So it is money that we wouldn’t have otherwise had.”

Mr Frydenberg and Ms O’Dwyer were unavailable for comment.