Liberal battle for Julie Bishop’s seat of Curtin makes party vulnerable to independent candidate

The internal Liberal battle over Julie Bishop’s safe seat of Curtin makes the party vulnerable to a strong independent candidate.

Julie Bishop's favoured candidate in the seat of Curtin.

The battle inside the Liberals for former foreign affairs minister Julie Bishop’s safe seat of Curtin makes the party vulnerable to a strong independent candidate, insiders say.

The candidate seen as Ms Bishop pick — 33-year-old foreign affairs specialist Erin Watson-Lynn — is today reported to have once declared herself a non-Liberal voter and in 2013 tweeted that Tony Abbott was a “wet rag in comparison to Turnbull”.

The West Australian reports that in 2013, Ms Watson-Lynn posted a comment about Mr Abbott becoming the minister for women’s affairs: “Disgusting”.

The same year she tweeted under the hashtag for the ABC program Q&A: “Ooh I don’t like you but well played Julie Bishop, well played”.

The Australian has been told Ms Watson-Lynn is considered not conservative enough by some senior Liberals who want to install former Catholic University boss Celia Hammond, 50, a lawyer who once gave a public speech saying feminism had become “pro-abortion, anti-men, anti-tradition and anti-family”.

Neither Ms Bishop or party leaders are publicly endorsing any candidate but party sources say it is obvious this Sunday’s preselection is shaping up as a choice between the candidate Ms Bishop cultivated and the one head-hunted by her Conservative party foes.

However concerns are growing that the seat of Curtin, which Ms Bishop won from an independent in 1998, could again go back to an independent if the Liberals are seen to be squabbling.

“If this is botched, it’s ripe for a good quality independent,” one said.