Julie Bishop says Teal candidate win would prompt soul searching by Liberals

Former deputy Federal Liberal leader Julie Bishop has refused to back in her successor as Curtin MP Celia Hammond, instead predicting Teal Independent Kate Chaney will provoke “a lot of soul searching” in the party with a win in her old seat. Ms Bishop’s loaded observations come just one week after saying she couldn’t engage in the “partisan political process during election campaigns”. She made that comment when asked why she hadn’t publicly supported Ms Hammond who is being challenged by Ms Chaney for the blue-ribbon seat. The former Foreign Minister’s reluctance to help out has infuriated Liberal officials. Ms Bishop told an oil and gas conference in Brisbane on Tuesday it would “eat the heart out of the party” for the Liberals to lose blue-ribbon seats like Curtin, Bennelong, Kooyong, Goldstein and Wentworth. “There would have to be a lot of soul searching within the Liberal and National parties if the Teal independents get up — one, two, three, however many of them,” she said. The former Foreign Minister said the Teal candidates were focusing on the disillusioned, moderate, progressive Liberal voters and their disappointment their representatives for not having a greater influence over the Morrison Government on climate change. Teal independent candidates campaigning for more action on climate change and a Federal independent corruption commission are targeting Liberal heartland seats in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Ms Bishop said the group constituted a threat to the progressive, moderate side of the Liberal Party “which is absolutely necessary if the Coalition is to remain the broad-church that John Howard so often spoke about and why it has been such a successful political movement since World War 2”. Last week Ms Bishop, who was Liberal member for Curtin for 20 years from 1998-2018, defended her absence from the party’s fundraising campaign when asked about it by the West Australian. “I was appointed Chancellor of the Australian National University in January 2020,” Ms Bishop told The West. “It is long-standing practice for the Chancellor to not actively engage in the partisan political process during election campaigns and I advised senior Liberal Party figures to that effect”. However, since the election campaign officially began, Ms Bishop has repeatedly made political commentary — including sharing her belief Foreign Minister Marise Payne “should be on the next plane to the Solomon Islands” when news of the “deeply disturbing” security pact with China emerged. At the conference on Tuesday, Ms Bishop told the crowd Australia could face a “multi-hued” House of Representatives after Saturday’s poll because of the rise of independents and small party candidates. She also said the 2010 parliament - when independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor joined with the Labor party to form a minority government - provided a history lesson. “While some say it was a time of great legislative change, I think it was a time of terrible uncertainty and most certainly it gave Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party and the National Party a huge opportunity to win government in 2013, which we did,” he said. “I wouldn’t suggest that a hung parliament relying on the votes of independents like the 2010 parliament is an example of strong, stable, secure government - not at all.” Ms Bishop also noted Mr Oakeshott and Mr Windsor had supported Labor against the will of the majority of their electorates, which were traditionally National Party-held seats. While the Teal independents have not said which party they would support in the event of a hung parliament, former Perth MHR Stephen Smith said they would be “cutting their own political throats with their first act” if they were to support Labor to form a minority government in the event of a hung parliament. The former Foreign Minister, who served in the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, also spoke at APPEA as part of a panel and said if elected and given the opportunity, the Teal Independents would negotiate with the Coalition to sustain a minority government. However, he argued the former minority Labor Government’s political problems were caused by personality differences rather than the structure of the Parliament. “There’s plenty of comparable jurisdictions where minority governments operate on a daily basis, so I take a more benevolent view of the outcomes that are possible from a minority government,” he said.