I have never seen anything quite like it in Australian politics. The LNP hates “Psycho” Morrison more than the Labor opposition does.
Another senior Liberal has taken aim at Scott Morrison, accusing him of “self-serving ruthless bullying” and claiming he has “ruined” the Liberal party.
Catherine Cusack, a NSW Liberal who announced two weeks ago she would resign from the legislative council over her anger about flood relief, adds her voice to a growing chorus of critics of Morrison from within his own party in an opinion piece for Guardian Australia.
Cusack explicitly endorses Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells’s “character assessment of the prime minister” and reveals she will not vote for the Morrison government in the May election.
Then there is the grassroots insurrection aiming to denude the party of nine Morrison candidates on the very eve of the election:
A Liberal Party member trying to overturn the endorsement of three senior Morrison government MPs in court will now attempt to invalidate nine other handpicked candidates running in key seats.
With the federal election due to be called this week, NSW Liberal Party executive member Matt Camenzuli has sought a Supreme Court injunction to strike out last-minute Liberal candidates in Eden-Monaro, Parramatta, Hughes, Warringah, Fowler, Grayndler, Greenway, McMahon and Newcastle.
The escalation of the factional war comes as the NSW Court of Appeal prepares to hand down its judgment on Tuesday, determining the validity of the Prime Minister’s decision to shield his three senior MPs – Alex Hawke, Sussan Ley and Trent Zimmerman – from preselection challenges.
Court documents lodged on Monday night reveal the original case, brought by Mr Camenzuli, has been extended to include nine candidates that were chosen by Mr Morrison on the weekend at the expense of a vote by branch members.
The court documents request that senior Liberal figures – including NSW president Philip Ruddock and federal director Andrew Hirst – are “restrained” by the court from requesting the names of the nine candidates be printed on the ballot papers for the upcoming federal election.
This is what led to the now infamous character assassination of the PM:
At the latest count, the prominent women labeling PM Morrison “unfit”, “psycho”, “liar” and a “bully” has now reached eight: Catherine Cusack, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Pauline Hanson, Jacquie Lambie, Julia Banks, Gladys Berejiklian, Christine Holgate and Grace Tame.
Meanwhile, the corruption rolls on unabated as rats desert the sinking ship:
Former New South Wales minister Pru Goward and a former chief of staff to Scott Morrison are among six people with Liberal links appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal among 19 appointments.
On Monday the attorney general, Michaelia Cash, announced that Goward and Ann Duffield had been appointed senior members, jobs that receive pay of at least $330,000 a year, if employed on a full time basis, for up to seven years.
It gets worse for the “Psycho” in the only thing he cares about. IPSOS says QLD has flipped red:
The nationwide poll of 2563 voters, taken from Wednesday to Saturday last week, shows Labor has clawed back ground in Queensland, in which it holds just six of the 30 seats.
At the last election, Labor won just 26.7 per cent of the primary vote and lost the two-party-preferred voting by 58.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent.
The Financial Review/ Ipsos poll sampled 514 Queenslanders, which has a margin of error of 4.41 per cent.
Nonetheless, it showed Labor has recovered. Its primary vote was 35 per cent and the Coalition’s was 30 per cent. On a two-party preferred basis, Labor was on 51 per cent, the Coalition 43 per cent, with 7 per cent undecided.
If the undecided voters are removed, Labor leads by 54 per cent to 46 per cent.
And the polity has been left cold by the budget bribe:
The Coalition was still favoured as a better economic manager but only marginally.
A total of 40 per cent of voters said they thought Labor would deliver a better budget, compared to 42 per cent believing they wouldn’t.
This was the strongest support for Labor in opposition on this measure since budget questions were first asked in a Newspoll in 1999. The only higher score for an opposition was in 2013, when 41 per cent of voters believed the Coalition would have delivered a better budget than the then Rudd government.
Overall support for the budget was on the positive side of the ledger, with 26 per cent of all voters saying they would be financially better off compared to 25 per cent saying they would be worse off.
Resolve as well:
Voters have strongly backed the $8.6 billion help for households in last week’s federal budget while drifting away from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and lifting their support for Labor to give the opposition a powerful lead ahead of the election.
Primary vote support for the Coalition has increased slightly from 33 to 34 per cent in the wake of the budget but popular support for Labor has jumped from 35 to 38 per cent despite billions of dollars in government spending.
Days away from the start of the official election campaign, Labor leader Anthony Albanese has overtaken Mr Morrison as preferred prime minister with a narrow lead of 37 to 36 per cent.
And Essential:
While historically the Coalition has a political edge over Labor on questions of economic management, Labor currently has an 11-point lead on the most salient indicator.
At this gravest of times the Coalition has served up an election budget designed simply to keep itself in power
Asked which political party they trusted more to address rising cost of living pressure, 38% of respondents nominated Labor, 27% said the Coalition, and 35% said the party made no difference. A super majority of respondents (88%) said they believed governments still exerted a lot or a little influence on the direction of household expenses (only 12% said governments were powerless).
In short, the “Psycho” is now dismembering the LNP’s key brand advantage.
LNP faithful know that the party elite made a terrible mistake unleashing the “Psycho” and their best course of action for the good of the party is to be rid of him ASAP by voting Labor.
