Wentworth by-election: Alex Turnbull calls on voters not to vote Liberal

The PM says Malcolm Turnbull is supporting the Liberal Wentworth candidate despite Alex Turnbull calling for a vote against him | WATCH

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull with his wife Lucy, their son Alex and his wife Yvonne and their daughter Isla. Picture: Cameron Richardson

Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t agree with his son, who is urging Wentworth voters not to support the Liberal party in his father’s old seat, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.

Alex Turnbull issued an explosive social media message to voters in the Wentworth by-election urging them not to support the Liberal Party which he says has been taken over by extremists on the hard right and requires an “intervention’’.

“I disagree with Alex. His father disagrees with him too,” Mr Morrison told the ABC on Friday.

“His father Malcolm Turnbull is heavily supporting Dave Sharma, the only Liberal candidate running for Wentworth.” Mr Morrison says the former prime minister has recently been silent on the issue as he has bowed out of public life.

Alex Turnbull, a professional investor based in Singapore, argued a general election was due next year anyway providing an opportunity for voters to “send a signal about which way the Liberal Party is going and your displeasure at where it is going’’.

“Don’t vote for the Liberal Party in the Wentworth by-election … this time, don’t give the Liberals your vote,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull’s message, posted on Facebook and Twitter yesterday, comes as senior Liberals are tipping a knife-edge result in Wentworth next Saturday. The Coalition must retain the seat to keep its one seat majority in the House of Representatives.

The extraordinary message from the former PM’s son is a boost for independent candidate Kerryn Phelps.

I recorded this message for the people of Wentworth. We need to send a message on climate change. This time, don’t give the Liberals your vote.

Posted by Alex Turnbull on Wednesday, 10 October 2018

Liberal candidate Dave Sharma is seen as marginally ahead of Dr Phelps but the question of whether Labor or Dr Phelps finishes second in the seat is seen as the key to Prime Minister Scott Morrison hanging onto his majority. Alex Turnbull said the Liberal Party had been taken over by extremists “on the hard right who aren’t particularly motivated to win an election and aren’t particularly motivated to serve the general public’’. They want to pursue a crazy agenda,’’ he said.

In a direct rebuke of Liberal conservatives who are backing coal-fired power, Mr Turnbull declared that as an investor in energy “there is no way coal can compete anymore’’ because renewable energy was “too cheap’’.

“There is no trade-off any more between lowering your power bills and reducing emissions and yet still some would like to prosecute a culture war over this issue for whatever the reasons may be,’’ Mr Turnbull said.

Malcolm Turnbull’s national energy guarantee divided Coalition MPs and unsettled his leadership. On winning the Prime Ministership, Scott Morrison said the NEG “is dead’’ and Energy Minister Angus Taylor has made lowering power bills ahead of cutting emissions his policy priority.

Mr Turnbull’s father also lost the Liberal leadership in 2009 after a revolt by conservative MPs over plans to back a deal on Kevin Rudd’s carbon pollution reduction scheme.

But Alex Turnbull described the latest Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change report as “terrifying’’ and argued it was “insane that we could not be doing something about this and soon’’.

Urging voters not to back the Liberals, Mr Turnbull said: “If you want to pull the Liberal Party back from the brink, this is the one clear signal you can send. Consider it an intervention for Australia, for the party, for Wentworth.’’

Meantime, the Phelps camp believes missteps by NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian including the controversy over the Everest horse race and the Opera House are helping their campaign; as is the controversy over the religious freedom debate.

The Phelps camp believes a 40 per cent primary vote for Mr Sharma will win it, but a 25 per cent primary vote for Dr Phelps will give her a red hot chance, pushing her ahead of Labor for second spot.

“It’s not been a great week for them (the Liberals) that’s for sure,” a Phelps supporter said, alluding to the Everest Opera House controversy. “But they had three good weeks before that.”

Yesterday, the NSW Liberal Party released an ad saying that: “The polls say 50-50 in Wentworth. That means voting independent could deliver a hung parliament. Phelps and Labor — Don’t risk it.”

A senior Liberal said the Morrison government was decidedly nervous about the seat. “It’s still unclear whether Labor will beat Phelps,” another Liberal said.

Focus group research on Premier Gladys Berejiklian in recent days of which The Australian is aware raises concerns from voters that she is looking after the “top end of town”, in terms of bending to pressure to allow Everest race advertising on the Opera House after agreeing to build two new stadiums.

Ms Berejiklian said earlier this week she was an “outsider” and said she would lobby the federal government to halve immigration in NSW.

Former Liberal premier and federal party president Nick Greiner has strongly endorsed Mr Sharma. Mr Greiner said he believed Dave Sharma was of the calibre of a “Bob Hawke” or “Malcolm Turnbull” and deserved to be elected to Wentworth.

Mr Greiner said that “it’s obviously a tough fight” but “I think Sharma’s one of the highest potential people on either side of federal politics’’.

Additional reporting: AAP