Savage assessment of Morrison a bolt of lightning for election campaign

The savage assessment of Scott Morrison by one of his nominal allies is like a bolt of lightning into the debate about whether the Prime Minister deserves another term in power.

It electrifies the election campaign when Morrison is trying to make the contest about his leadership and the personality of his opponent, Anthony Albanese.

But it burns Morrison badly, and might even fry his campaign, when voters are told that some of the Prime Minister’s own party do not think he is fit for the job.

There is no budget night in living memory when a government senator has denounced the Prime Minister in the way Concetta Fierravanti-Wells did in the Senate on Tuesday.

“In my public life I have met ruthless people. Morrison tops the list,” she said. “Morrison is not fit to be Prime Minister.”

Fierravanti-Wells said a lot more but those words are enough for a Labor television campaign to turn more Australians against the Prime Minister.

Fierravanti-Wells’ spray has the power to shock not only because of its ferocity but also because it comes from a conservative viewpoint when Scott Morrison presents himself as a social conservative.Credit: Renee Nowytarger

Some Liberals dismiss the attack as sour grapes from someone who has just lost a party ballot to stay in the Senate. Others believe she is right to say that Morrison has tried to dictate terms to the party’s NSW division in a way that has deprived party members of their rights.

“They can’t dismiss what she’s saying because what’s she’s saying is legitimate,” says one Liberal.

“The members want to have a vote, the members don’t want to live in an autocracy.”

This week, for instance, the NSW division was forced to cancel attempts to select candidates for the seats of Parramatta and Hughes because Morrison has backed an intervention. The result of the stand-off between Morrison and his party is that the government, fighting for survival at this election, does not even have a candidate for the swing seat of Eden-Monaro.

The bad blood between Morrison and Fierravanti-Wells goes back more than a decade. She wanted a conservative ally, Michael Towke, to gain party endorsement to run for Cook, the federal seat that includes Cronulla in southern Sydney. Towke won a ballot but Morrison defeated him later; some Liberals accused him of dirty tactics.

Fierravanti-Wells has plenty of enemies. She backed Tony Abbott but got on the wrong side of his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, when he was prime minister. She was a minister for Abbott and his successor, Malcolm Turnbull, but gave up on Turnbull in the leadership spill. She has been an energetic opponent of Liberal moderates on issues including marriage equality and religious freedom.

Yet her decision to go public and pour vitriol on Morrison in the Senate has the power to shock not only because of its ferocity but also because it comes from a conservative viewpoint when Morrison presents himself as a social conservative. It is a bolt from the blue in a world that is used to diatribes about Morrison from progressive voters.

And it leaves questions for voters. What do they know about Morrison? Or what do they need to learn before they cast their votes?

The court dispute over control of the party, launched by some of Fierravanti-Wells’ supporters and due to be heard in the NSW Court of Appeal on Friday, could become a forum to air more of the frustrations.

Claims about bullying are not settled easily when they are set loose. Morrison denies the claims and rejects the assessment of this rogue senator. But there is some way to go on these claims.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.