Scott Morrison’s secret weapon Jenny steals the limelight on campaign trail
Two Liberal candidates have already been dumped over concerns they may not meet their citizenship requirements; Miranda Devine spends a day on the campaign trail with the Jenny Morrison; Which Labor candidate set off overseas after the election was announced? FEDERAL POLITICS WRAP.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Two Liberal candidates have been dumped over concerns they may not meet their section 44 citizenship requirements.
Just one week after the Victorian Liberal Party was forced to sideline three of its candidates over citizenship, the party has moved to replace its candidates for the southwestern Sydney electorates of Werriwa and Fowler, amid serious concerns over whether they would pass the Australian Electoral Commission qualification checklist relating to section 44 of the Constitution.
Sam Kayal, who was endorsed as the candidate for the Labor-held seat of Werriwa last month, renounced his Lebanese citizenship in November.
However, the NSW Liberal Party has yet to receive a letter from Lebanon to confirm that he was no longer citizen.
As parties have until Sunday noon to submit bulk House of Representative nominations, officials decided tonight to terminate Mr Kayal’s candidacy in order to put forward a replacement.
Mr Kayal, a former ALP member who ran for local council elections three years ago, had been the sole Liberal candidate to put his name forward for the seat once held by former Labor leader Mark Latham.
The seat is held by Labor MP Anne Stanley with an 8.2 per cent margin.
A local Liberal source said Mr Kayal had done everything possible to renounce his citizenship, but “without a confirmation letter Beirut” it was not possible for him to continue as a candidate.
“The unfortunate thing is he had been making inroads in the seat,” the source said.
“This doesn’t seem to be of concern to the president of Lebanon.”
Issues over dual citizenship have also wiped out Fowler candidate Courtney Nguyen, who is of Vietnamese descent.
It is understood Ms Nguyen also renounced her citizenship, but as of yesterday had been unable to obtain the necessary paperwork.
Ms Nguyen, a Bachelor of Commerce graduate whose party profile states she arrived in Australia “almost 30 years ago”, grew up in Cabramatta before moving to Endensor Park.
Fowler is a safe Labor seat, held by Chris Hayes with a 17.5 per cent margin.
Following the disqualification issues of the last parliament, the Commission has made it a requirement for candidates to submit a qualification checklist relating to section 44 of the Constitution.
Under the section 44 provisions, any person who is a citizen of a foreign power “shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or member of the House of representatives”.
A NSW Liberal Party spokesman said: “The NSW Liberal Party will endorse two new candidates in the Divisions of Fowler and Werriwa, due to foreign governments not processing their applications to renounce their foreign citizenships in time for the close of nominations of candidates.”
Whatsapp chats and calls to Jenny: PM’s downtime on election trail
Keeping the Prime Minister grounded on the campaign trail are his twice daily phone calls to wife Jenny and a joke-studded WhatsApp group with pals from his university days.
With their two daughters staying with a beloved uncle in the Blue Mountains for the first week of the school holidays, nurse Jenny Morrison, 51, joined her husband Scott in Tasmania on Thursday for a rally in the marginal Labor seat of Bass, the first time she had seen him for a week.
“I do miss him,” she says of the childhood sweetheart she first met age 12 at Luna Park.
“I think early on I would have missed him a lot more when I had the babies … but you get to a point when someone is in politics where you don’t become resentful, you go, ‘Well, that’s the way it is. It’s a bonus if he’s home’.
MORE NEWS
NRL failed to give de Belin ‘anti-violence against women training’, hearing told
TV host not guilty of parcel bomb sent to Penthouse Pet
Daughter ‘empowered’ by charges over dad’s laneway death
“That way you’ve got a better outlook on everything instead of being wound up and annoyed.
“It takes a massive decision in your brain to go, ‘Right, I want this to work’. So, you just don’t get upset if he doesn’t come home on time.
“But if I find he’s home and then he’s going out doing something else that’s not work then I’m like, ‘Hey, OK, you’ve been away, I’ve given you grace, now it’s time to give attention to me’,” she laughs.
She liked him the minute she saw him: “When you’re 12 it’s all about how cute he was. He’s still gorgeous.”
“I probably had a crush on him from Year 9 or 10 but I never saw him … He lived at Bronte and I lived at Peakhurst South (and we) didn’t get together ’til Year 12 … He rode the bike all the way to my place one day.”
She liked him because “he was funny, he was confident and he was nice to me. I used to get flowers every week”.
When asked if he still bring her flowers, she laughs: “You get married, you know that, and what happens? The romance is just gone!”
With the PM in Devonport, Mrs Morrison flew into Launceston on Wednesday night ready to meet him the next day and luxuriated in a room service dinner of meat balls and pizza bread.
She’s on a health kick, trying to eat proteins and vegetables with a glass of “green gloop stuff in the morning”.
“But the pizza bread looked so nice … It was salty, it was yummy … I’m not great at being healthy,” she said with a laugh.
After a healthy breakfast yesterday of an omelette with spinach and a piccolo, she dressed in a blue chiffon blouse, navy pants and suede boots, and headed off to meet her husband with Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman and 200 Liberal faithful.
She has preferred a back seat role in her husband’s career but says she is happy to help in the campaign: “Whatever he wants me to be at, I’ll absolutely be there. I just have to be mindful of the girls.”
For a reluctant conscript, she sure charmed the Launceston locals yesterday.
She deftly sidestepped an awkward moment with one fan of her husband telling her: “He’s a big improvement compared to the last prime minister (Malcolm Turnbull) who looked like a plaster gnome and had the same personality.”
Quick as a shot, she replied: “You know what? Everyone’s different and we appreciate all the differences. But, of course, I’m pro-Scott.”
When Morrison is home he’s always talking politics, and sometimes she dispenses home truths. “I don’t care if I offend him so I’ll say stuff that probably other people don’t say because … I’d rather be honest.
“Maybe If I’ve seen him on telly and I didn’t like how he came across …
“When he was first in parliament, if I saw him going off, I’d send him a message and say ‘behave’.”
Does he pay attention? Sometimes, she says. Then she gives a dazzling smile and walks off hand-in-hand with the Prime Minister.
PM GIVES TONY A HAND
Scott Morrison has pledged to campaign alongside former PM Tony Abbott, who he says faces the “fight of his life” to beat independent Zali Steggall.
Prime Minister Morrison, who has spent the past week campaigning in marginal seats across the country, said he would be offering Mr Abbott support to hold on to the northern beaches electorate he has held since 1994. But he signalled that Mr Abbott would not be relying on multiple prime ministerial visits and local cash splashes.
When asked if Mr Abbott needed help fundraising, Mr Morrison said: “Tony is getting tremendous support.”
CANDIDATE TRIPS UP
When Scott Morrison finally called the election last week, candidates across the country sprang into action and hit the campaign trail.
But not Labor’s Declan Steele, who is challenging Jason Falinski in the safe Liberal seat of Mackellar.
The Macquarie University student was instead packing his bags for a trip in South East Asia with a family member to take in the sights of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Speaking on Facebook to The Manly Daily, Mr Steele conceded it was the “worst timed overseas trip of his life”, adding “this is a longstanding commitment I made to my family”.
Originally published as Scott Morrison’s secret weapon Jenny steals the limelight on campaign trail
Poll backs cops over move to ban Middle East protests
An overwhelming majority has expressed strong support for granting police the authority to reject planned protests, following the Premier’s announcement of a review into resource allocation for managing these events.
Python panic: ‘Anaconda sized’ snake on the loose
A massive “anaconda sized” python is on the loose on the Qld-NSW border, with its owners keen to see their sneaky family pet slither back home.