Angry MPs blame Malcolm Turnbull for Wentworth loss
Malcolm Turnbull comes under fire from angry Coalition figures for failing to issue a public endorsement for Dave Sharma.
Malcolm Turnbull has come under fire from senior Coalition figures including Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party’s national president for failing to issue a public endorsement for candidate Dave Sharma in the final days of the disastrous Wentworth by-election campaign.
The future of the Morrison government hangs in the balance following a 19.09 per cent swing against the Liberals in Mr Turnbull’s former Sydney harbourside seat, the largest federal swing since the 1992 by-election for Bob Hawke’s former seat of Wills.
A cloud of uncertainty will hang over parliament as it resumes today, with the opposition ramping up pressure for an early election and eager to test the Coalition’s numbers in the House of Representatives in the weeks ahead if Wentworth is lost, reducing the government to minority status.
Following an early declaration of victory from high-profile independent Kerryn Phelps on Saturday evening, the race tightened yesterday to within fewer than 800 votes at one stage as postal returns broke 65 per cent in favour of the Liberal Party.
However, the Liberals’ hopes of a surprise victory became more remote last night, with the Australian Electoral Commission’s latest tally showing Dr Phelps 1616 votes ahead following further counting of postal votes and corrections to preferences in several booths.
That put Dr Phelps’ two-party-preferred vote at 51.1 per cent compared o Mr Sharma’s 48.9 per cent.
The Prime Minister yesterday sent a text to Dr Phelps to “open the lines of communication” in the event that the independent gay rights campaigner and general practitioner wins. Acknowledging that voter anger had fuelled the massive swing and claiming, “we will cop that on the chin”, Mr Morrison said he had not yet conceded the seat. He sent a rallying call to Coalition MPs urging them not let the Wentworth result “dent” their commitment or give up as Liberal founder Robert Menzies said “until the bell rings”.
The Australian has confirmed that Mr Sharma, a former ambassador to Israel, personally called Mr Turnbull on Thursday evening in a last-ditch appeal to the former prime minister to issue an endorsement for him either through a social media message or robo-call. His request was rejected.
With Mr Turnbull and wife Lucy due to land in Sydney this morning from Singapore, senior Liberal MPs, including several frontbenchers, yesterday attacked his refusal to issue a public endorsement. They say he should have at least publicly refuted the campaign of his son, Alex, who was telling voters in Wentworth to back Dr Phelps.
Liberal Party president Nick Greiner accused Mr Turnbull of being “precious” and suggested his behaviour could have made a difference, with the final result potentially coming down to a few hundred votes.
“There are understandable emotions behind him becoming precious, but he could have sent out a tweet that said ‘Sharma is the best candidate and you should vote for him’,” Mr Greiner told The Australian.
Mr Morrison also took a veiled swipe at Mr Turnbull, confirming that he and others had sought his help. “I will be honest about it: those approaches were made, they were even made by Dave himself,” he said. “But what impact they would have had, ultimately, is for others to judge.”
Mr Sharma said last night it would have been “more helpful” if Mr Turnbull had publicly supported him. “I was in touch with him regularly through the campaign and, look, whatever he was willing to provide was helpful,” Mr Sharma told Sky News. “Whatever more he would have been willing to provide would have been even more helpful, no doubt.”
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, accused Mr Turnbull of being part of a campaign against the government. The former deputy prime minister said he would be “very surprised” if Alex Turnbull waged the campaign against the government without talking to his father first.
“That’s all he had to say: ‘Please vote for Dave Sharma’. Five words. He owned an IT company, I think he could have managed that,” Mr Joyce said. When asked whether Mr Turnbull’s silence was a tacit show of support for Alex Turnbull’s campaign, Mr Joyce said: “Is there another way to see it?”
He said Mr Turnbull’s reputation would be shattered because he resigned and refused to endorse the Liberal candidate. “He was more aware than most of what happens when a government with a one-seat majority has a member retire; he took it upon himself to do exactly that. He did it because he was sulking,’’ Mr Joyce said.
“I could have done the same thing myself, shat on the place and left but I didn’t.”
NSW federal Liberal MPs including Jason Falinski and Assistant Immigration Minister Alex Hawke also appeared to apportion some blame for the result to Mr Turnbull’s behaviour.
Assistant Families Minister Michelle Landry said she was “very disappointed” that Mr Turnbull did not campaign for Mr Sharma at the by-election.
“And I think it is disgraceful his son is out there saying to vote for Labor,” she said. “His father was the goddamn prime minister for the Liberal Party and they are doing this crap. I am very annoyed.”
Ms Landry said the behaviour would sour Mr Turnbull’s legacy.
Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger said Mr Turnbull should have stayed in parliament until the next election and it was “profoundly disappointing” he didn’t publicly endorse Mr Sharma.
The Prime Minister last night told The Australian he believed it might be another week before a final result was declared, with postal votes swinging in favour of Mr Sharma. Party officials said that while unlikely, it was not “inconceivable” Mr Sharma could win enough postal votes, which can be received up to November 2, to turn the result.
Mr Morrison said if the government did lose the seat and find itself in minority government, “then that is obviously more challenging than governing as a majority”.
“It’s as obvious as the sunrise, but we have a very good relationship with the crossbench and people can expect us to get to work,” he said.
While a victory in Wentworth would force the Coalition into minority government, Dr Phelps all but ruled out a no-confidence motion in the government. “I’ve certainly said that the government and all governments should go full term unless there are exceptional circumstances, and the next election is due in May next year, and that’s time enough,” she said.
Moderate Liberal MPs urged Mr Morrison to take more action on climate change and embrace the “broad church” of its voters after the mammoth swing in the Wentworth by-election.
However, conservatives argue that the seat is not representative of the broader community.
Hughes MP Craig Kelly said Wentworth was not reflective of the attitudes of middle Australia.
“I think we would have to be careful to jump to too many conclusions from it,” he said.
Additional Reporting: Brad Norington
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