Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the Liberal Party's decision to parachute in former Labor president Warren Mundine as its candidate for the marginal New South Wales federal seat of Gilmore.
The decision has sparked a backlash from some local party members after the NSW executive dumped locally endorsed candidate Grant Shultz.
Mr Shultz will now run as an independent in this year's election.
Mr Schultz is warning his former party that deals behind closed doors won't save them at the next federal election.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Shultz had this message for the Liberal Party.
"You need to turn your attention to your electorates. Gender will not win an electorate, deals behind closed doors will not win an election. People like me, who stand up, who stand for their electorate, who engage with their community, and who represent their community will win the election," he said.
However, Mr Morrison says he intervened in the preselection because he didn't want to reward Mr Shultz's behaviour in challenging outgoing Liberal MP Anne Sudmalis.
"We had asked when Anne had decided she wasn’t running again, I mean he was challenging a sitting member of parliament. When Anne had decided not to run and I think it would have been the better opportunity for other candidates who would have liked to come forward and I’m sure Warren would have been happy to put himself into that sort of a contest but Grant didn’t want to do that. Grant wanted to just take the option of being the only candidate in the field and I’m not going to reward that sort of behaviour,” he said.
Meanwhile, the contest for the marginal seat is looking tight, with the Nationals also considering entering the race.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said he'd spoken to former NSW Nationals minister Katrina Hodgkinson about running, describing her as a fierce fighter.
"She's somebody who understands what it takes to win a three-cornered contest. She also understands what it's like to be a cabinet minister," he told reporters in regional NSW.
[The full story is available on the podcast above]
Share
