Scott Morrison attacks Labor ‘uncertainty, disunity’ in final days of Eden-Monaro by-election

Scott Morrison dismisses Coalition division, launches scathing attack on Labor ‘disunity’ in final sprint to by-election.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison practices social distance greeting with Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro Fiona Kotvojs in Canberra today. Picture: Adam Taylor/PMO

Scott Morrison has launched a scathing attack against Labor in the final sprint of the Eden-Monaro by-election – declaring a vote for the opposition “is a vote for uncertainty, chaos and disunity” – as he tries to ease Coalition tensions over Nationals attempts to derail the Liberal Party’s campaign.

Standing alongside Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs at a defence and space company in Canberra, just outside the Eden-Monaro electorate, the Prime Minister said he “needed” the small businesswoman and cattle farmer elected so the government could continue rebuilding after the bushfires and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Morrison was forced to attack Labor after being questioned about efforts from NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro and his supporters to deliberately undermine his government’s bid to reclaim the prized marginal seat by asking voters to preference Labor before the Liberals.

“You must have seen a completely different interview to me because I heard both John Barilaro and the Nationals candidate for Eden-Monaro (Trevor Hicks) say that under their how-to-vote card, they say ‘vote 1 National’, ‘vote 2 Liberal’,” Mr Morrison said.

“That‘s exactly what the Deputy Premier said and that’s exactly what the Nationals candidate said. I can only refer you to their absolute statement of support for their how-to-vote instructions.

“But what I would suggest is that you ‘vote 1’ Liberal for Fiona Kotvojs and that is the nature of this contest. We have a very strong Coalition and I know that whether you‘re a Liberal voter or you’re a National voter, what you don’t want to see is you don’t want to see the instability and the chaos that is taking over or rather, I should say, has never really left the Labor Party.”

Mr Morrison said Labor “need to sort themselves out” following the branch stacking scandal in the Victorian ALP.

“A vote for Labor is a vote for uncertainty. It‘s a vote for chaos, it’s a vote for the disunity that we’re seeing right across the Labor ranks,” he said.

“I mean, there‘s a corruption inquiry into Labor currently. That’s not my word, that is the words of the Labor member for Holt (Anthony Byrne). And so to reward that this weekend, I’m sure even Labor voters are very disappointed with what they’re seeing from their own party.”

Anthony Albanese said the by-election was ending the way it began, “with the Liberals and Nationals fighting each other”.

He insisted the contest was a test of Mr Morrison’s leadership, despite it also being the first time the Opposition Leader’s credentials will be tested since he took on Labor’s top job last year.

“John Barilaro just a year ago (was) saying he was glad that the Liberal candidate, Fiona Kotvojs, lost because of her personal attacks on (former Labor MP) Mike Kelly. And then, of course, condemning the Morrison government for not being honest about the cuts to the ABC,” Mr Albanese told SBS.

“(The by-election) is a test for Scott Morrison. We‘ve lost a popular sitting member in Mike Kelly. So, we started not on 51 but on 48. So, we’ve had the mountain to climb in the circumstances of a coronavirus pandemic.

“Kristy McBain is an amazing candidate. She would be a strong advocate for the people of Eden-Monaro on the need to prepare for bushfires, on the need to represent those people who have been left behind. They are still being left behind by being excluded from JobKeeper, the potential cuts that are there for JobSeeker. I think there‘s a message that needs to be sent to the government this Saturday, which is that they are keeping a whole lot of these cuts secret until after the by-election.”

Labor holds Eden-Monaro on a margin of 0.85 per cent. A government has not won a seat off the opposition at a by-election in 100 years.

Former prime minister John Howard said Labor had the most to lose from a bad by-election performance and praised Dr Kotovjs’ campaign.

“It will be hugely significant if the Liberals win, particularly for the Labor Party. There would be a huge downside for the Labor Party,” he told Sky News.
“We have a very good candidate and anything can happen ... I will watch the byelection with very close interest.”

Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally said she witnessed Nationals supporters at a pre-poll booth advising voters to preference Labor.

“I was at the polling booth yesterday. I heard National Party supporters giving voters the tip to ‘vote 1 National, 2 Labor’. John Barilaro wasn’t doing a heck of a lot of campaigning, he was just standing around,” she told Sky News.

“I was standing next to Kristy (McBain) when a National Party voter showed us his how-to-vote and said, ‘But I’m going follow the advice they just gave me and vote 1 National, 2 Labor. I’m voting for you.’”

Senator Keneally said she did not witness Mr Barilaro himself advise any voters to preference Labor over the Liberal Party.