No election protection as Scott Morrison rebukes Craig Kelly

PM unlikely to save Craig Kelly from preselection threat after he rebuked him for promoting unorthodox COVID-19 theories.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly and Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek engage in an impromptu row in the halls of the parliamentary press gallery. Picture: Getty Images

Scott Morrison is unlikely to save Liberal MP Craig Kelly from a preselection threat after he publicly rebuked him for promoting a slew of unorthodox COVID-19 theories and treatments.

The Prime Minister has effectively left the controversial MP — whom he has previously saved from electoral defeat in his southern Sydney seat of Hughes — to fend for himself and rebuild local support among branch members to salvage his political future.

Conservatives told The Australian on Wednesday that the Prime Minister had no choice but to publicly rebuke Mr Kelly after he appeared on a podcast with anti-vax celebrity chef Pete Evans and advised people to “weigh up the evidence” before taking a COVID-19 vaccine.

Mr Morrison called Mr Kelly into his office for a 30-minute private dressing down after he was involved in an impromptu row in the halls of the parliamentary press gallery with Labor front­bencher Tanya Plibersek over corona­virus treatments.

After Mr Morrison rebuked Mr Kelly in parliament, Liberal MPs were reluctant to back him in. Government sources said it was increasingly “unlikely” the Prime Minister would intervene in any preselection battle in ­Hughes.

Mr Kelly told The Australian on Tuesday he and others should “weigh the evidence” before ­taking a coronavirus vaccine, ­despite a $24m Morrison gov­ernment media campaign to get as many Australians as possible inoculated by October.

After his meeting with Mr Morrison, Mr Kelly said he now fully backed the vaccine rollout and believed the spread of misinformation on COVID-19 was harmful. “I agreed to support the government’s vaccine rollout, which has been endorsed by medical experts,” he said.

“I have always sought to support the success of our nation’s public health response during the pandemic. I believe the spread of misinformation can damage the success of our public health response during the pandemic.”

As late as Wednesday morning, Mr Kelly was pushing COVID treatments such as hydroxychloroquine — not supported by government health officials — and then became embroiled in an explosive row with Ms Plibersek captured by TV cameras in the parliamentary Press Gallery.

“My Mum lives in your electorate and I don’t want her exposed to people who are not going to be vaccinated because of these crazy conspiracy theories you’re spreading,” Ms Plibersek told him.

Mr Kelly has been a constant distraction for the government during the pandemic, in the past few months linking the wearing of masks to child abuse and calling on then-deputy chief medical officer Nick Coats­worth to resign for warning people to listen to government health advice, not Mr Kelly, on hydroxychloroquine.

After declining to criticise Mr Kelly for weeks and following months of pressure from the ALP, Mr Morrison told the house on Wednesday he did not agree with the Liberal MP’s medical views.

“It is true that the views expressed by the member for ­Hughes do not align with my views, or the views and the advice that has been provided to me by the chief medical officer,” he said. “The member for Hughes and I discussed these matters; I made it very clear what was the view of me as Prime Minister and, of course, the views of the government.”

Conservative MPs said while Mr Kelly’s comments on hydroxychloroquine were scientifically defendable, his comments on masks and vaccinations left Mr Morrison with little choice. “There were about three different incidents in 24 hours,” one conservative MP said. “It was not a good move politically to go on the Pete Evans podcast.”

Although Mr Kelly is on the right of the party, some in the NSW Liberals’ hard right faction do not consider him part of their grouping and feel the seat of Hughes — which is next to Mr Morrison’s Cook — is one of their assets. Mr Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull before him saved Mr Kelly’s preselection several times.