We were robbed in Wentworth and it's all Malcolm's fault!

Now let me see….how did it all go down again?

There are eighty-five parliamentarians in the federal party room representing the parliamentary arm of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Leadership of the party has been a political football since December 2009 when Tony Abbott ousted Malcolm Turnbull. Winning this leadership spill by one vote to become Opposition Leader.

Almost six years later in September 2015 Turnbull returned the favour by replacing Abbott as leader, when Abbott became a terminally toxic prime minister less than three years into the job. Turnbull won that leadership spill by ten votes and became prime minister.

What followed was over two years of relentless vindictive payback directed at Turnbull by Abbott and his cronies.

Then Peter Dutton threw his hat in the ring on 21 August 2018. He lost this attempt to topple Turnbull and replace him as prime minister when Turnbull called a leadership spill and Dutton lost the spill by thirteen votes.

By this time the Liberal party room was swept by what can only be described as a form of hysteria.

Another motion to spill the leadership was passed by five votes on 24 August 2018.

This vote effectively sacked Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister and the leadership contest was then between Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison.

Morrison became the current (and very interim) prime minister on the back of just five votes that same day.

On 31 August 2018 Turnbull made good on his promise to resign from parliament and, a by-election was called for the seat of Wentworth which had been held by conservative politicians since its inception in 1901.

Scott Morrison campaigned in the Wentworth electorate on behalf of his party’s candidate, David Sharma.

On 20 October 2018 the Liberal Party lost the by-election to an Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, with a swing against the party of over 19 per cent.

The Morrison Government is now a minority government, having lost its one seat margin in the House of Representatives.

So who is the Liberal Party blaming for their by-election defeat? Why it appears to be all Malcolm's fault.

The Daily Telegraph, 24 October 2018:

PRIME Minister Scott Morrison is “done with” Malcolm Turnbull and will no longer ask the former leader to represent Australia at international conferences.

Senior Liberal sources told The Daily Telegraph that while the PM would not rescind the decision to send Mr Turnbull on official duties next week at a conference in Bali, it would be the last request. “Scott has said to a number of senior Liberals that he doesn’t want anything further to do with Malcolm,” the source said….

In September, Mr Morrison asked Mr Turnbull to ­represent the Australian Government at the ‘Our Ocean Legacy’ conference in Bali next week — a decision that has been met with a backlash from Liberal and National MPs after the former Prime Minister did not even send a tweet backing the Liberal Party in the by-election caused by his resignation…..

The pair had been communicating regularly over WhatsApp prior to Mr Turnbull’s decision to reject Mr Morrison’s request to help Liberal Party candidate Dave Sharma campaign against ­independent Dr Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth.

Mr Turnbull, who told journalists yesterday he was “out of partisan politics”, was initially invited to attend the conference by the Indonesian Government in March when still prime minister.

After the August leadership spill, Mr Morrison said he was unable to attend the conference, so asked Mr Turnbull to still go. It was understood to be an “olive branch” extended to the former leader.

All of Mr Turnbull’s travel and accommodation costs will be covered by taxpayers during the trip.

“I did request the former prime minister to represent us at that conference, and he’ll be there representing the policies of our government,” Mr Morrison said yesterday.

His office later issued a statement denying that Mr Turnbull had been banned from representing Australia at such events, adding that Mr Morrison “will be seeking to maintain a positive relationship with the former PM as he would do with any other former PMs”.

“Mr Morrison rejects the suggestion made to the Telegraph,” the statement said. “The decision to invite Mr Turnbull to represent Australia was initiated eight weeks ago after direct discussion with President Widodo of Indonesia and was well received by the President.” However, Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce said Mr Turnbull may be “sulking” after losing the leadership and should not represent Australia at the conference, especially given his refusal to campaign in Wentworth.

“It is a problem and there should have been a bit more thought put into this” Mr Joyce said. “I think he’s angry about losing his job — one can only presume some sulking. I suggest that probably gives us a very good reason not to send him to Bali.” 

The Wentworth by-election has still not been officially declared, with the Australian Electoral Commission still counting postal votes yesterday. Dr Phelps’ lead dropped by 74 votes to 1552 as Mr Sharma secured 55 per cent of the postal votes counted yesterday. He needed upward of 70 per cent to dent the margin.

Mr Morrison defended the pending result, saying that while the Liberal vote in the eastern suburbs seat dropped by about a third so did the Labor and Greens vote.

Fronting the Coalition party room for the first time since Saturday’s by-election, Mr Morrison hit back at calls from moderates in the party for action on climate change and the urgent removal of refugees from Nauru.

“We’re not shifting to the left or the right — it’s not hokey pokey politics,” he told the closed door meeting.

“We will continue to be a strong centre-right government with strong centre-right parties focusing on the things that matter.” Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, whose leadership has been under pressure from renegade ­Nationals, urged MPs not to be “spooked” by the result in the once-safe Liberal seat.“What they think in ­Double Bay is not what they think in Dubbo,” Mr McCormack said.

One political thumbnail draws attention to what Morrison & Co were loathe to mention during their public blame gaming.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 24 October 2018:

By the way, Malcolm was in a no-win position – if he had campaigned he would have been accused of being disruptive and a distraction - of crowding out Sharma. 

Morrison wanted his letter of support but wouldn’t allow Turnbull to mention the circumstances of his demise, so, no go.

Next, move on to Morrison’s horror personal contributions to the campaign – the lingering image of him hugging a lump of coal; his defence of advertising on the sails of the Opera House, wanting to see not just horse racing but also car racing; his mishandling of the issues of funding and independence of the ABC generated by the dismissal of chief executive Michelle Guthrie; his multiple positions on the treatment of gay students and teachers; the white supremacist/neo-Nazi parliamentary vote; announcing the possible shift of our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (even after most devout Jews in the electorate would have already pre-voted, to avoid having to do so on the Sabbath); the possible rejuvenation of a New Zealand deal on refugee resettlement; and then, finally, the assertion that a Kerryn Phelps win meant “instability”, conveniently ignoring the instability in his own party that had resulted in the byelection in the first place.

All this shooting from the hip, attempting to spin the issue, assuming some resonance with some identified constituency, only compounds the electoral cynicism and mistrust. So much for the new, marketing/PR-type jockey - so much for Morrison's skills as a retail politician. Clever sound bites and stunts have a limited life. Voters want authenticity, substance and outcomes. This was a clear message from Wentworth.

Morrison’s calamitous performance wasn’t helped by Barnaby Joyce’s grubby attempt to rekindle his leadership ambitions, nor by Environment Minister Melissa Price insulting former Kiribati President Anote Tong.

Apart from denying any responsibility for all this mess, the most disturbing aspect of the government’s response to the Wentworth result has been its failure to recognise the significance of issues that dominated the campaign, such as climate change....

Robbed of a seat? No, the Liberal Party gave that seat away and the people to whom it should assign the most blame are Tony Abbott, Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison - along with every senator and MP who fell in line behind these 'gentlemen'.