Libs in dark as MP Craig Laundy courts TV limelight

Undecided MP Craig Laundy is considering offers from TV networks to serve as an election night commentator.

Undecided MP Craig Laundy.

Craig Laundy is considering offers from TV networks to serve as an election night commentator, infuriating federal government colleagues who say his immediate priority should be announcing whether he will recontest his at-risk inner-Sydney seat of Reid.

A day after The Australian revealed­ that former NSW police deputy commissioner Nick Kaldas had rejected Scott Morrison’s offer for him to run in the seat, NSW Liberals said there were no clear alternative candidates.

NSW Waratahs government relations manager Natalie Baini and the outgoing NSW minister Pru Goward’s chief of staff Simon Fontana have both been mentioned­ as possible starters.

However, it’s understood that neither is interested in being parachuted in as the Liberal candidat­e for the seat, believing it would be a suicide mission.

Liberal MPs say Mr Laundy has placed the Prime Minister in an impossible position, rejecting suggestions in recent days that the MP was doing Mr Morrison a favour by putting off his widely expected retirement announcement until a star candidate could be found.

The Australian has learned Mr Laundy is considering offers from several TV networks to provide election night comments.

The close confidant of Malcolm Turnbull is seen as ideal for the role, given his strident views on last year’s leadership change, which the polls suggest has worsened the government’s chances.

Mr Laundy told The Australian yesterday that he was yet to decid­e his future.

“When I finalise what I’m doing, I will have something to say,” he said.

One federal Liberal MP said the heir to a hotel empire had left his expected retirement announcement so late he had no alternative but to stand.

“I think it’s now at the point where he has to run again,” the MP said.

Mr Morrison yesterday batted away questions about the party’s plans for Reid, where Mr Laundy has failed to do any serious campaign­ing for at least a year.

“When I’m in a position to make announcements about that, I will,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Laundy, who won the seat in 2013 and held it in 2016 with a margin of 4.7 per cent, told colleagues­ last year that he was more likely to go than contest the upcoming election.

Labor candidate Sam Crosby — the executive director of the party’s public policy think tank, the McKell Institute — has been campaigning hard in Reid for ­almost 12 months.

The son of pub baron Arthur Laundy has a ready-made job with the family business if he decide­s to leave politics.