Howard launches late bid to rescue Liberals in Wentworth with letter

John Howard will intervene in the Wentworth by-­election campaign in a last-ditch attempt to win over “grumpy ­Liberal voters’’.

Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: Hollie Adams

John Howard will intervene in the Wentworth by-­election campaign today in a last-ditch attempt to win over “grumpy ­Liberal voters”, warning that a ­significant protest vote could ­inflict “enormous damage” on the Morrison government.

The former prime minister said he was “genuinely concerned” the blue-ribbon federation seat could be lost at Saturday’s crucial by-election in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Mr Howard, who will campaign with Liberal candidate Dave Sharma in the streets and shops of Wentworth today, has appealed to Liberal voters not to register a protest vote that could pitch the Coalition into minority government and put Bill Shorten “dangerously close to power”.

Australia’s second-longest-serving prime minister said it was his “considered view” there was “a real risk of the government losing the seat”, which was abandoned by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull following the ­August leadership spill.

“This could do enormous damage to the Coalition government and I am genuinely concerned about the risk of a Liberal loss,” Mr Howard told The Australian.

Scott Morrison yesterday warned that defeat for Mr Sharma, a former Australian ambassador to Israel, would be a threat to “stability and certainty”.

Senior Liberals are being told polling shows independent candidate Kerryn Phelps is ahead of Labor on primary votes and running second to Mr Sharma.

 

Liberal Party officials fear that a high expectation that Mr Sharma would win the seat, held by a 17 per cent margin and which has never been in Labor hands, would lead Liberal voters to lodge a protest vote or not vote at all.

Mr Howard’s intervention contrasts with Mr Turnbull’s failure to back Mr Sharma publicly since the by-election campaign began. Mr Turnbull and his wife, Lucy, flew to New York shortly after he resigned from parliament.

Mr Turnbull’s son, Alex, who previously urged voters to support Labor candidate Tim Murray and yesterday named his top five “crazy” Liberal politicians, including Tony Abbott and Peter ­Dutton, urged Wentworth constituents to vote for Dr Phelps.

“So, realistically, if its (sic) tight, and the preference flows are as they are its (sic) better to vote for @drkerrynphelps if you want greater certainty of the Liberals not retaining the seat,” Alex Turnbull tweeted.

Dr Phelps last night described as “shocking” a dirty-tricks campaign in which an email was anonymously sent to voters from a fake address on Sunday, claiming she had been diagnosed with HIV and had withdrawn from the race. The email also asked for help in removing Dr Phelps’s campaign posters.

“I think it’s shocking. When I went into this campaign, people warned me that there would be dirty tricks, but this is next-level,” Dr Phelps said.

A spokesman for the Liberal Party said its campaign had ­“absolutely no involvement with the sending of this email”. “We condemn vile personal smears of this nature,” he said.

Mr Howard, Mr Morrison and Liberal Party advertising are concentrating on the uncertainty about the prospect of minority government because the Coalition has held a one-seat majority since the 2016 election.

A loss in Wentworth would create a minority government dependent on independent MPs, including Dr Phelps if she were elected.

In a letter to Wentworth voters, obtained by The Australian, Mr Howard warned that the by-election was “no ordinary by-election” because there was “a lot at stake”.

He said a Liberal win was “critical to the stability of the government” and a loss would “pose a risk to the budget, which is due to return to balance next year”.

As well as sending the letter, Mr Howard will campaign on the ground with Mr Sharma and has recorded phone messages urging a Liberal vote.

Mr Howard told The Australian his message to “grumpy Liberals who wanted to lodge a protest vote was that a protest vote would deliver the seat to an independent”.

“This could do enormous damage,” he said. In reference to Dr Phelps ­giving her preferences to the ­Liberals, Mr Howard said: “Except in the unlikely event of Labor finishing second, Dr Phelps’ preferences will never be distributed and will not help the Liberal Party.”

Mr Morrison said yesterday, “the Greens’ and Labor Party’s vote has completely tanked in Wentworth”, which meant the preferences system could deliver the seat to Dr Phelps if she finished second.

In recent days, Mr Morrison has announced a series of contentious policies aimed at winning votes in the Wentworth electorate — home to one of the highest concentrations of Jewish voters — including considering moving Australia’s embassy to west Jerusalem, opening the way for refugees to go from Nauru to New Zealand and guaranteeing NSW more GST funding.

Yesterday he alluded to Mr Turnbull’s removal as prime minister and resignation from parliament as “a very big issue” for the electors of Wentworth but appealed to them to “look at Dave Sharma” and consider the instability of minority government.

Julie Bishop, who lost the deputy Liberal leadership when Mr Turnbull was removed, has also been campaigning in ­Wentworth.

Josh Frydenberg said it was “insulting” for people to accuse the government of reconsidering the location of the embassy in Israel because of the by-election.