Labor operator joins Kerryn Phelps’s camp for tilt at Wentworth

Wentworth candidate Kerryn Phelps has risked undermining the independence of her campaign by hiring a Labor operative.

Darrin Barnett.

Wentworth candidate Kerryn Phelps has risked undermining the independence of her campaign by hiring a Labor operative to help in her bid to wrest the eastern Sydney seat from the Liberals.

Darrin Barnett, who worked on the recent Braddon by-election campaign for Labor, has been hired as Professor Phelps’ campaign spokesman. He also works as a spokesman for the Maritime Union of Australia and was a media adviser to former prime minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Barnett insisted yesterday that Labor had played no part in his hiring by Professor Phelps, but his strong links to the party would be useful during the campaign.

Given Professor Phelps has a better chance of wresting the seat off the government — killing the Coalition’s one-seat majority — than Labor; the Phelps-Labor link could be critical. In a statement to The Australian, Professor Phelps said: “I asked my campaign chair Wendy McCarthy to look for someone with experience in running a by-election campaign.

“Darrin was recommended to her. We hired him as a freelance consultant on an as-needs basis. He is not involved in policymaking.

“If it is not already obvious, it will become clear as the campaign progresses that I am a true independent.”

Ms McCarthy confirmed yesterday that Mr Barnett had been recommended to her but would not say whether it was by Labor people, saying “I know more than Labor Party people”.

Liberal campaign spokesman and federal MP Trent Zimmerman said yesterday: “It would be concerning if Professor Phelps has chosen a Labor backroom operator to manage her campaign.

“It appears a seasoned Labor operator for Julia Gillard, the Maritime Union and recent Labor by-elections is now working to get Professor Phelps elected.

“A vote for an independent will bring Bill Shorten one step closer to power — and that would mean higher taxes, a weaker economy and greater uncertainty.”

Malcolm Turnbull, who resigned from parliament after losing the prime ministership, sparking the October 20 by-election, won the seat in 2016 with a primary vote of 62 per cent.

But polling conducted for Andrew Bragg, who had been a frontrunner for Liberal preselection before he withdrew, showed the Liberal primary vote had collapsed to 39 per cent. But it could be lifted by 4 per cent by the selection of a female candidate.

The Liberals last week chose former diplomat Dave Sharma as its candidate and Professor Phelps entered the race at the weekend in a move Labor insiders have described as a “gift’’ to the Opposition in that it will force the Liberals to pour resources into a seat that would normally be among its safest.

If Professor Phelps, who had 20 per cent support in Mr Bragg’s polling, could get ahead of Labor, which polled 25 per cent, she would be in contention to win the seat.

Ms McCarthy said Mr Barnett would be paid personally by Professor Phelps.