Morrison in mortal fear of a minority after Wentworth by-election

Liberal candidate for Wentworth, Dave Sharma and Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at a press conference at North Bondi Surf Club. Picture: Jane Dempster

In just 72 hours, Scott Morrison has squeezed Israel, Indonesia, New Zealand, the western suburbs of Sydney, the states of Western Australia and NSW, refugees on Nauru, religious freedom and discrimination against gay students into the mere 38sq km of the Wentworth electorate.

Appearing dangerously desperate, prone to on-the-spot decisions, politically inept, distracted and divided, facing long-term challenges for short-term gains, the Coalition and the Prime Minister are investing everything in winning the Wentworth by-election on Saturday. Morrison and his colleagues are being told they face defeat in Wentworth and the Liberal leader is making it part of his 11th-hour pitch that a Liberal loss in Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat will mean a minority Coalition government and all the uncertainty that goes with it.

In Wentworth this week, the government has backflipped on New Zealand’s offer to take refugees off Nauru, moved to stop discrimination against gay students, topped up GST receipts for NSW, prepared to vote against Palestinian chairmanship of a UN committee, and opened the way to follow Donald Trump with an embassy in West Jerusalem.

There was even an embarrassing about-face over an even more embarrassing endorsement of Pauline Hanson and the language of white supremacists.

Everything that could appeal to Wentworth is being produced: protection for gay students for the gay vote; support for Israel for the Jewish vote; GST changes for NSW state Liberals and a PNG and Nauru refugee option for NZ for refugee advocates. Not being wanted to be seen to be racist applies more widely than just Wentworth but it does help in the affluent eastern suburbs.

Morrison tries to deny that all this is about Wentworth but he doesn’t hide his fear of becoming a minority government and just by chance produced an article published in May in The Australian by former ambassador to Israel, Dave Sharma, to back up the sudden decision to announce being “open” to moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem.

That Sharma is the Liberal candidate in Wentworth must surely be coincidence.

Of course, no one is buying Morrison’s dissembling and Labor is correct in charging that he is rushing foreign policy, ditching long-held, hardline policies and making long-term economic changes in the hope of garnering a few (winning) votes on Saturday.

Diplomatically, the Jerusalem decision is already having effects in Indonesia, as will any sign of weakness on entry bans on those who have used people-smugglers who may end up in New Zealand. The attempts to kill off the hysterical — although self-inflicted — claims of racism and homophobia threaten to simultaneously undermine Coalition support in western Sydney and destroy any sensible debate about religious freedoms.

Yesterday was the Morrison government’s worst day. Of course, Saturday will be worse if Wentworth is lost despite all the desperate measures. Morrison is reaping what Turnbull has sown.