Liberal MPs are increasingly nervous that a teal wave of independents could knock out four high-profile MPs – including Treasurer Josh Frydenberg – and seriously damage Scott Morrison’s re-election chances.
-James Massola and Anthony Galloway, Sydney Morning Herald, 30th Apr 2022
I can not speak for Kooyong or Wentworth directly but as I work in Mosman, which is in the Division of Warringah, I think that I have first hand experience about what the area looks like, by virtue of walking around inside it. Admittedly I am no expert on how an election campaign should be run but even in may naivety I should think that one of the most basic things that a candidate for office should do, is walk around and be seen in the electorate.
To that end, this is the number of times that I have seen the front running candidates om the streets of Mosman since the beginning of the election campaign:
3 - Zali Steggall (Ind)
2 - Andrew Robertson (UAP)
0 - Katherine Deves (Lib)
When I made this observation on Twitter, the first reply that I got was from someone informing me that Ms Deves wasn't likely to be on the street because she'd received death threats. Now I don't know about you but having worked in Mosman for almost 20 years, I can tell you that it isn't exactly reknown for being a hotbed of thuggery, violence and the domain of ne'er do wells. Apart from the class of people who think that it is acceptable to take a toy-sized dog to the coffee shop and old people who think that mayonnaise is way too spicy and that the best colour for food is beige, the only other people who you will see in Mosman on a daily basis are the army of people like me who do not live in the area and who have no dog in the fight whatsoever. We are the service army who arrive by bus and who leave with the marbles of tiredness rattling around inside our skulls at the end of the day. We are not likely to kill Ms Deves; largely because we don't care.
However, it is telling that when the campaign of three years ago was being played out, I did see both Tony Abbott and Zali Steggall on the streets. Mr Abbott would go on to lose the seat but even as a deeply unpopular ex-Prime Minister, there would have no credible death threats made against him. We have also found out that there have been no reports of death threats made to either the NSW police or the Australian Federal Police by Ms Deves; which might be an indication that there weren't any to begin with.
The whole point of a prospective candidate for parliament being on the streets and canvassing for votes, is so that the electorate can speak to them. A candidate wouldn't want to be out on the streets and campaigning is one of two basic reasons:
A: that they don't want to face a barrage of abuse; which might be likely given the tactics used by Ms Deves in the campaign and her views on a range of issues.
B: that they don't feel that they need to; because they see their election as an action of right, rather than one of possibility.
I have been getting that general impression from a number of Liberal Party candidates right across this election cycle. The Labor Party knows that it isn't going to win a certain number of seats and so just like the Liberal Party in other electorates which they know that they are not going to win, has surrendered the field. This has left the door open for Independents and the two broadly righist shock parties. In three seats especially, being Warringah, Wentworth and Kooyong, the next likely candiate to challenge for the seat, is not from the Labor Party but from the Independents.
Warringah and Wentworth are the seats of former Liberal Party Prime Ministers. Kooyong is the seat of the current Treasurer. All three are seen by the Liberal Party as theirs to claim by right, and the attitude which is in display from the media, is one of outrage and annoyance that these scurrilous little upstarts should even dare challenge the establishment.
On the ground in Mosman, the United Australia Party and Zali Steggall have very visible office space on Military Rd; which is the major through road of the one suburb council. Campaign corflutes have gone up all the way down to Mosman Junction and beyond and the physical presence of the Liberal Party, is nil.
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