It’s Bribie or bust as grey army deserts Coalition
PM must overcome leadership turmoil and deliver for seniors, voters in one of nation’s conservative strongholds say.
Scott Morrison must overcome the government’s leadership turmoil and deliver for seniors if he wants to quell a brewing rebellion in the Coalition’s grey army, according to voters in one of Australia’s most famous conservative strongholds.
Bribie Island, a picturesque haven north of Brisbane, has the highest median age of any community in Queensland and has long buttressed the Coalition in the marginal Queensland seat of Longman.
However, voters on the island revolted at the recent Longman by-election, registering an above-average 5.5 per cent swing to the opposition after preferences — the Coalition’s worst result since the GST election of 1998.
Political strategists will be closely monitoring sentiment on Bribie, with similarly aged communities dotted in battleground seats including those of Attorney-General Christian Porter and Assistant Minister Sarah Henderson. With the parliament already on a knife edge, any Coalition losses at the next election could spell the end of the government. Retired company manager Darryl Ovenden, 69, voted Labor at the by-election out of sympathy for incumbent Susan Lamb, who had been ejected from parliament over her British citizenship.
Although disgusted by the Liberals’ leadership chaos, the part-pensioner said Mr Morrison seemed more “down to earth” than Malcolm Turnbull and reminded him of another straight-talking former treasurer, Paul Keating.
Ultimately, however, his vote would go to whichever party gave retirees like him “the best deal”.
“If someone said: ‘Hey Darryl, I’ll give you an extra $20 a fortnight towards Maccas food’ or something, I’d vote for them,” he said.
Mr Ovenden was suspicious of the major parties, saying the Liberals were as beholden to property developers as Labor was to unions. Pauline Hanson, on the other hand, won his approval.
“I love her. She says what we’re not going to say. There’s certainly repercussions that she suffers for it,” he said.
Self-funded retiree Bev Powell, 76, a lifelong Liberal voter, said it was “going to be really hard” to support the government after the recent leadership turmoil.
“The whole week I couldn’t turn the television or radio on. It got so monotonous I just couldn’t stand it,” she said.
Ms Powell, a regular listener to broadcaster Alan Jones, said she “didn’t think much of Turnbull” but thought the media gave the former prime minister “a very, very hard time”.
“Jones had knocked our new Prime Minister two or three times before the changeover and then, as soon as the changeover happened, he was his new best friend. So now I don’t know what to believe,” Ms Powell said.
Although she had saved money by putting solar panels on her roof, she feared increasing reliance on renewables would cause blackouts and fill the landscape with “dreadful” windmills.
Ms Powell voted Liberal at the by-election despite the “absolute disgrace” of candidate Trevor Ruthenberg falsely claiming to have a more prestigious military medal than he actually did. He said it was an honest mistake.
Although John Belleri was determined to keep supporting the Liberals, his wife Sandra was unsure. “I’m more a Liberal voter but I’m so disgusted with the whole thing, I don’t know who to vote for,” Ms Belleri said.
“I don’t want to punish them, but I get confused about how is the best way to fix the system.”
However, she said, she would certainly vote Liberal if the “young and enthusiastic” former MP Wyatt Roy contested the seat.
Mr Roy declined to “rule anything out in politics” but said he was “very happy” with his new career in business.
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