Ex-Nats leader in bid to stem the exodus

Coalition MPs thinking about retirement have been urged to consider the impact of their decisions on the nation’s future.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison at an Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony and Flag Raising event in Canberra, on Saturday. Picture: AAP

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson has urged ­Coalition MPs thinking about ­retirement to consider the impact of their decisions on the nation’s future, amid growing pressure on Scott Morrison to stem a pre-election exodus.

The former Nationals leader ­issued the warning to wavering government MPs as the Prime Minister prepared for a three-day campaign blitz across southeast Queensland to sandbag seven ­at-risk seats, including that of Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

The government is bracing for further retirement announcements, including the hotly speculated departures of Julie Bishop and Craig Laundy, following the retirement notices of frontbenchers Nigel Scullion, Kelly O’Dwyer and ­Michael Keenan.

Mr Anderson said the loss of experienced MPs so close to an election would further weaken the government, handing Bill Shorten an election victory that would dramatically change the country.

“The nation is now faced with a very stark political choice, the starkest for many elections,” he said. “Mr Shorten makes no apology for the fact that he intends to take the country quite dramatically to the Left, and to reinstitute a level of union power that even the Labor Party had rejected 20 years ago when the union movement was more substantial than it is today.

“In those circumstances, I ­deeply ­believe that members of the Coalition should consider very carefully what they should do, as well as what they would like to do.”

Meanwhile, former PM John Howard this morning said: “I will do anything I am asked by the Liberal party, either state or Federal, to help them be re-elected because I think it’s in the interest of both NSW and Australia that both of the current governments are re-elected”.

“I am a very strong supporter of the premier. I think she’s doing an excellent job,” he told Seven News.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said it was not unusual to lose senior MPs ahead of elections, particularly “towards the end of the cycle”, but he said it put Mr Morrison in a difficult position. “If they have gained promotion as ministers, they want to complete their term as best they can as a minister and (retain) the benefits that go with that,” Mr Kennett said.

“I feel very sorry for Scott Morrison. This makes it much harder for him because he is not only losing good people, particularly Kelly O’Dwyer, but it makes it harder for Scott because of the impression — fact or otherwise — that it creates.”

The government’s position could be further weakened with reports Julia Banks is considering running as an ­independent against Health Minister Greg Hunt in the seat of Flinders. Ms Banks, who quit the Liberals and went to the crossbench in the wake of the toppling of Malcolm Turnbull, is considering switching seats to run against Mr Hunt, reports the Herald Sun.

A survey published in the Herald Sun shows the Liberal Party’s primary vote in the Flinders electorate has gone from 51.6 per cent at the 2016 election to 36.8.

Labor lost 15 MPs through retirement at the 2013 election that ended the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government, while 13 Coalition MPs left parliament voluntarily at the 2007 election that marked the end of the Howard government.

The Prime Minister will head to Brisbane tonight to announce new infrastructure spending and to campaign with threatened ­colleagues. In a sign of the electoral difficulties facing the government in the state, Mr Morrison is expected to campaign alongside Mr Dutton in his seat of Dickson, which is being targeted heavily by Labor and left-wing activist group GetUp.

He is also expected to spend time in the seats of Petrie, Forde, Bonner, Ryan, Wright and ­Brisbane — all of which would fall to Labor under current polling.

The Opposition Leader will begin his week in Victoria, where the Coalition faces a rout, and is due to ­announce $200 million today towards improving the health of urban rivers.

There has been speculation over the future of a raft of high-profile Coalition MPs. Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt, who colleagues speculated might be preparing to exit parliament, told The Australian through a spokesman yesterday that he was “dedicated to holding his seat of Hasluck and continuing to serve”.

Immigration Minister David Coleman also sought to cool speculation that he might pull the pin, saying he was preselected for his Sydney seat of Banks and “will run in the 2019 election”.

Mr Laundy, a close confidant of Mr Turnbull, is widely ­expected to announce his resignation soon, despite pleas from Mr Morrison for him to remain.

Colleagues believe Ms Bishop, the former foreign minister, will also retire but think she is delaying her announcement to ­ensure the best chance for her preferred replacement, AsiaLink ­director Erin Watson-Lynn, in the pre­selection battle that would follow.

Ms O’Dwyer said she wanted to leave politics to have the best chance of having a third child, while Mr Keenan said he could no longer be an “absent father”.

Senator Scullion announced on Australia Day it was time to retire after 18 years in politics, saying he wanted to spend more time fishing and shooting.

Government backbenchers Ann Sudmalis, Andrew Broad, Luke Hartsuyker and John ­Williams have also announced they will stand down at the ­election. Tony Abbott faces a tougher contest at this election with the ­announcement that high-profile independent Zali Steggall will challenge.

The warning of an exodus of Coalition MPs comes as another former Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, issued a call to arms to government MPs, urging them to fight their own fight rather than that dictated by Labor.