Sophie Mirabella being 'thoroughly outgunned' in election, her aide warns


Leaked email warns of challenge from independent candidate and urges party members to write to papers praising Mirabella

Sophie Mirabella is being “thoroughly outgunned” in her bid to retain her seat of Indi, according to a leaked email from a member of her staff, with her main challenger claiming the support of several former Coalition MPs.

Mirabella, the shadow science and innovation minister and a leading figure on the right of the Coalition, holds Indi with a notionally safe margin of 9%.

But the incumbent is facing increasingly stiff competition from popular local independent Cathy McGowan, who could topple Mirabella if she is preferenced strongly by Labor, the Greens and minor parties.

A leaked email from Mirabella staffer Adam Wyldeck, published by Crikey, admits that the Liberal candidate is being “thoroughly outgunned by the McGowan camp” and urges party members to write letters to local newspapers praising Mirabella.

Wyldeck said McGowan supporters were “flooding every single one of the local papers with vitriolic letters of hatred towards Sophie”.

McGowan told Guardian Australia that there was strong support for her campaign from outgoing independent MPs Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor and even from former Coalition MPs.

Windsor – who has labelled Mirabella “nasty” – publicly offered help to McGowan and may even make a campaign appearance, despite recent poor health.

“Lots of independents have been very helpful and offered personal support, including Tony Windsor,” she said. “But it’s much wider than Tony. Politicians from all sides of the political spectrum, including former Coalition MPs, have said, ‘Well done Cathy, we hope you get there.’

“This is a traditional conservative seat where rural people want something better from their politicians. They want good government but also good communication, where their MP engages properly with them.”

McGowan, an agricultural consultant, said the National Broadband Network was a key election issue in Indi, claiming that constituents were unhappy with the Coalition’s alternative.

The independent candidate said she had 360 volunteers working on her campaign, although she had not discussed preferences with Labor or the Greens and would not be distributing her own preferences.

The division of Indi is a sprawling rural electorate in Victoria that includes the towns of Wodonga and Wangaratta, as well as the mountainous Falls Creek and Bright.

Conservative politicians have held the seat since 1931, with Mirabella the incumbent since 2001. Her primary vote has fallen from 62.6% in 2004 to 52.6% in 2010.

A spokesman for Mirabella said she was unavailable to comment on her campaign.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/08/sophie-mirabella-thoroughly-outgunned-election

I've just come back from a business trip down that way last week. It seems that the word around town is that Mirabella will find it very tough to hang on. Hardly anyone down this way likes her but vote her in because of the conservative nature of the seat. Another conservative steps up to the plate and looks like she will give it a real shake. Of course it would be a delight to see the most obnoxious MP in the parliament booted out the door.

crocodile wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 12:36pm:

I've just come back from a business trip down that way last week. It seems that the word around town is that Mirabella will find it very tough to hang on. Hardly anyone down this way likes her but vote her in because of the conservative nature of the seat. Another conservative steps up to the plate and looks like she will give it a real shake. Of course it would be a delight to see the most obnoxious MP in the parliament booted out the door.

Oh yes!!! I find her one of the most offensive of MPs

Sophie is in real strife. 

People dont rate her at all, she isnt seen as a regional represenative, and has recently been smacked for claiming recognition for the Cancer Centre and a Headspace Centre which she had nothing to do with it.

Why is she so hated?

I don't know much about her to have an opinion either way, but I have a mate in the neighbouring electorate of Farrer, who says that people complain to him about how good a member they have (Susan Leigh, I think is her name), compared to Mirabella.

Mirrabella is as vile and bitter a woman as you are ever likely to see.

yep Bob Katter is in trouble as well... so is rudd ::)...just in case you have forgotten...LOLOL

cods wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 2:50pm:

yep Bob Katter is in trouble as well... so is rudd ::)...just in case you have forgotten...LOLOL

You may be in for a bitter disappointment if the strong conservative independent did get up in Indi on Saturday.

Elections always throw a few surprises. Not many would have predicted before the 2010 election that Wilkie would win in Denison or Tuckey would be winkled out of O'Connor after holding it for 30 years.

A failing of modern politics is that the major parties only offer one candidate in each lower house seat. With proportional voting, they could easily stand two or three candidates with little risk of losing if the seat was safe to begin with. It wasn't always this way. In the early days of Federation, it was fairly common for a political party to stand multiple candidates.

Examples:
Warringah (Abbott's seat) - 1931: the only candidates were two candidates from the United Australia party.
Adelaide - 1937: four candidates included three from Labor.

If parties had multiple candidates (especially in safe seats), it would make representatives in safe seats more accountable and allow removal of dead wood like Tuckey at little risk of losing the seat.

cods wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 2:50pm:

yep Bob Katter is in trouble as well... so is rudd ::)...just in case you have forgotten...LOLOL

Do you try to be irrelevant in a thread or is it something that comes naturally.

Verge wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 4:06pm:

cods wrote on Sep 3rd, 2013 at 2:50pm: yep Bob Katter is in trouble as well... so is rudd ::)...just in case you have forgotten...LOLOL Do you try to be irrelevant in a thread or is it something that comes naturally.

She has a gift

Hi Sophie

---

Poor form smithy.

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2013 at 4:47pm:

Poor form smithy.

Yeah I know, but I couldn't find the right Goats Arse picture so had to go with the deformed head ;)

Sophie Mirabella, I hate that smug bytch!!!!!!!!!!

The liberals needs the labor health minster to switch sides, she is being wasted in the labor party.

Will the real Sophie Mirabella please stand up...

http://filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsM/tve11081-5-41.jpg