Pyne: I’ll take your seat if mine goes in redistribution

Christopher Pyne has openly declared to Lib colleague Nicolle Flint that he would seek her seat should his be abolished.

Leader of the House Christopher Pyne. Picture: AAP

Veteran cabinet minister Christopher Pyne has openly declared to Liberal colleague and first-term MP Nicolle Flint that he would seek her federal seat in South Australia should his own seat be abolished or redrawn unfavourably in a looming electoral redistribution.

Mr Pyne issued the warning of his intentions to a private meeting of South Australian federal MPs and officials in Canberra on September 14. It is understood that the four South Australian federal MPs — including Ms Flint, who was elected to the seat of Boothby in last year’s election — were present at the meeting, as well as the SA division’s president, former South Australian premier John Olsen and party state director Sascha Meldrum.

Senior Liberal sources yesterday confirmed Mr Pyne had told the meeting that should the electoral commission’s redistribution abolish his seat of Sturt, which he has held for 24 years, or redraw its boundaries to become a notionally Labor seat, he would seek pre­selection for Boothby and force out Ms Flint.

A Liberal Party source, from outside South Australia, said Mr Pyne told colleagues, including the 39-year-old Ms Flint, that should his constituents be forced to live in another electorate, he was “determined to serve them wherever they are”.

Mr Pyne is reported to have then said: “I am not going to run in a seat I can’t win.”

Conservative colleagues of Ms Flint have warned that they would seek to block any attempt by Mr Pyne to unseat her.

“How would it look for a male cabinet minister, who has been in parliament for 24 years, to force out a woman who has been there little more than a year,” they said.

“The moderates are constantly calling for greater representation of women in parliament, and Pyne, being a leader of this faction, is undermining everything his faction has spoken to. They should practise what they preach.”

The minister’s office last night issued a statement to The Australian, which read: “The minister has already indicated publicly that he will seek to represent whatever seat contains the people he represents now.” Mr Pyne’s spokesman described the speculation as a “fabrication”.

Ms Flint is regarded as a key member of a group of up-and-coming conservative female Liberal MPs and critical to the future of the party.

While Mr Pyne has publicly flagged that he would seek preselection elsewhere should his seat be abolished, his comments in the meeting were seen as a blatant warning to Ms Flint that he would seek her seat if he could not secure agreed boundary adjustments in the party’s submission to the Australian Electoral Commission that would favour Sturt.

Mr Pyne last month raised a possible preselection showdown following speculation that an AEC redistribution for South Australia — which will reduce the number of seats from 11 to 10 — would lead to his seat being abolished.

“The fact that I’m probably one of the most prominent South Australian members of parliament means you’re all salivating at the prospect,” Mr Pyne told the ABC. “But I’m sure that Labor and the Nick Xenophon Team would quite like to see my seat merged.

“All the speculation is all very exciting but somewhere, in some seat, will be the people that I represent, where I represented for 24 years and I intend to continue to represent them as long as they keep voting for me.”

Mr Pyne suffered a 4 per cent swing against him at the last election but still holds Sturt by about 6 per cent.