Morrison bid to convince Laundy to run again

PM has spent two hours meeting Craig Laundy in a bid to convince him to recontest his seat, as the Turnbull backer mulls his future.

Former Liberal minister Craig Laundy. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison spent two hours meeting former minister and Malcolm Turnbull supporter Craig Laundy in his office in Sydney in a bid to convince him to recontest his marginal inner-Sydney seat of Reid at the election this year.

Mr Laundy is understood to be using his leave ahead of the resumption of federal parliament next month to make a decision on whether to run again, amid widespread speculation that, after Mr Turnbull was rolled last year, the former workplace relations minister would call it quits.

The Liberal Party’s woes deepened last night when it was ­revealed that Human Services Minister Michael Keenan had decided to quit at the next election to spend more time with his family.

Mr Keenan told The West Australian he could not continue to be “an absent dad”. “The sad reality is that (my wife) Georgina has essentially been a single mother in terms of the time I get to spend at home, and clearly that puts pressure on her,” he said.

Mr Morrison’s meeting with Mr Laundy on Thursday and his securing of high-profile candidate Warren Mundine for the marginal NSW south coast seat of Gilmore have highlighted how the Prime Minister is pulling out all the stops to win office or save the furniture ahead of an expected election in May.

Craig Laundy with then-treasurer Scott Morrison in 2017.

Mr Laundy holds Reid by 4.7 per cent and is up against Labor candidate Sam Crosby, chief executive of the McKell Institute and a former state government staffer.

News of the Laundy meeting comes amid growing speculation that Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop will also quit at the election.

Senator Scullion, 62, yesterday refused to rule out that he would quit at the election after nearly two decades in parliament. Jobs Minister Kelly O’Dwyer revealed last weekend she would not contest the federal poll, due by May 18, to spend more time with her family.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack told The Weekend Australian: “Senator Scullion hasn’t made any announcements yet, so I respect that. Until he does, then there’s nothing to be said. Of course I’d like Nigel to stay on. He’s done a great job, not just for indigenous affairs but for rural and regional people in ­general.”

A Country Liberals spokesman yesterday would not comment on whether Senator Scullion had been preselected for his Northern Territory seat and said he would make his announcement when he was ready.

Several Nationals MPs said they would not be surprised if Senator Scullion, who entered parliament in 2001 and is the party’s Senate leader, decided to quit. But there was concern that an announcement might be made close to an election, with most MPs already in campaign mode, and that the seat could go to the Liberal Party if there was a new candidate. ABC election analyst Antony Green said that if Senator Scullion quit, the Coalition was guaranteed to pick up the Senate seat because historically both major parties had won one Territory seat each.

Mr Laundy’s seat, formerly known as Lowe, was traditionally a Labor seat. After winning the seat in 2013, Mr Laundy increased the margin in 2016, against the national swing.

Insiders are questioning whether Mr Laundy will want to take a greater role in his father Arthur’s large Sydney hotel empire or whether he wants to serve in a likely opposition, given the most recent polls put Labor ahead 55-45 on a two-party-preferred basis.

With Mr Morrison unable to afford a net loss of any seats if he is to hang onto government, Mr Laundy running again for him would be a big boost.

In recent weeks, Mr Laundy has declined to comment on speculation that he will quit at the election. He refused to comment yesterday on his meeting with the Prime Minister. A spokesman for Mr Morrison yesterday declined to comment on the meeting. A source close to the Prime Minister attempted to characterise it as a routine meeting with an MP and said it lasted about an hour.

In October, Mr Laundy told his local newspaper that voters in the seat of Wentworth had clearly punished the Liberals for dropping Mr Turnbull as leader.