Keneally wipes out Liberal lead in Bennelong

John Alexander spruiked ‘great news’ as his British citizenship was renounced. But new polling data is a major blow.

John Alexander campaigns in Bennelong yesterday. Picture: Toby Zerna

Malcolm Turnbull’s grip on ­majority government has been weakened by new polling that shows tennis ace John ­Alexander and former NSW premier Kristina Keneally level pegging in the contest for Bennelong.

Labor’s Ms Keneally and Liberal candidate Mr Alexander are equal at 50-50 on a two-party-­preferred vote in the Saturday Telegraph/Galaxy Research poll.

Mr Alexander’s primary vote is only three points ahead of Ms ­Keneally’s, 42 to 39 per cent.

The poll shows a huge 10 per cent swing in the north Sydney seat since last year’s federal election, when Mr Alexander had improved his margin. Support for the former Liberal member, who was forced to resign over his dual British citizenship, has dropped 8 per cent since the last election, when he held the seat with a primary vote of 50.4 per cent.

Labor’s primary vote has ­increased from 28.5 per cent to 39 per cent, the Saturday Telegraph reported.

 

The poll of 579 voters in the seat on Wednesday night also found only 42 per cent believed Ms ­Keneally did a bad job for the ­people of NSW and that 37 per cent were still happy with her performance as premier. Ms Keneally’s NSW Labor government was roundly defeated in 2011.

Ms Keneally became the surprise Labor candidate for the crucial seat on Monday, as part of a Labor strategy to attempt to steal the Coalition’s one-seat majority in federal parliament.

Mr Alexander yesterday announced he had formally renounced any claim he had to British citizenship, with confirmation in documents from the British Home Office.

 

There was initial confusion over Mr Alexander’s statement that the document showed he was only an Australian citizen, but Mr Alexander later clarified that he had been a British citizen and the by-election was necessary.

“Today started off with some great news ... I had official notification from the (UK) Home Office that I am indeed something that I’ve always believed I am — Australian and solely Australian,” Mr Alexander said.

Under questioning, he ­explained the document he had received was not confirmation that he had not been a British ­citizen, but that he had renounced any claim to it.

The confirmation paved the way for direct NSW Liberal Party endorsement for Mr Alexander for the by-election next month, the outcome of which will determine whether the Coalition loses its one- seat majority in the lower house.

But Liberal troubles were compounded yesterday by a threat from Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi to run his own candidate in the seat that voted No in the government’s same-sex marriage survey.

Senator Bernardi said he been urged to do so by supporters who no longer felt their interests were being represented by the Liberals.

The Bennelong electorate was one of 17 out of 150 lower house seats that voted against same-sex marriage, ­returning a vote in favour of traditional marriage by a margin of 50.2 per cent to 49.8 per cent.

Senator Bernardi is hoping to pick up supporters by tapping into conservative voters who have felt abandoned by the government’s handling of the survey, including those who feel Malcolm Turnbull has failed to provide leadership on the provision of protections for freedom of religion and speech.

“At this point, it is our intention to run a candidate in Bennelong because that is clearly the desire of our local members,” Senator Bernardi told The Weekend Australian. “The state and federal executives will be finalising our position in the next couple of days.”

As Mr Alexander announced he was eligible to run, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese campaigned in the seat with Ms Keneally.