Liberal leadership crisis: disaster looms for NSW, Tony Abbott should stand aside, says former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett

Date
    February 4, 2015 - 3:21PM
    Sydney Morning Herald



Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett: "In terms of domestic politics, it's a shambles.


The federal government's poor standing may propel the Baird government out of power and Prime Minister Tony Abbott must relinquish the leadership for the good of the Liberal cause, former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett said.   

 

The outspoken Liberal party elder said rather than spruiking Team Australia, Mr Abbott should spare a thought for "Team Liberals", saying domestic politics was "a shambles" and the federal government's misery may trickle down to NSW and cause an electoral rout.   

But former NSW Liberal Premier Nick Greiner begged to differ, saying the fallout in NSW would be minimal.


Premier Mike Baird dodged questions on Wednesday over whether Mr Abbott would be invited to campaign with him during his re-election bid, saying: "I will do whatever is required to win this election".

The NSW election is less than eight weeks away. As Fairfax Media reported on Monday, Liberal internal polling showed the party's primary vote in NSW lost two percentage points in the week after Mr Abbott's decision to grant a knighthood to Prince Philip.

Mr Kennett praised Mr Baird's "sound leadership", personal values and economic nous, but feared if the federal problems persist "there will be people who for a whole range of reasons want to use the [NSW] election to send a message to Canberra".

A Baird government loss would be "a disaster for NSW" and Mr Abbott should "accept what is happening" and stand aside, Mr Kennett said.

Just as the federal government's performance severely eroded the electoral chances of the Queensland Liberals, which appear set to lose power, the NSW government was also at risk, he said.

"At least 10, 20, 25 per cent of the [Queensland] result was caused by the reputation of the federal government and/or its leader, and that could actually be the case in NSW," Mr Kennett said.   

"Whereas Tony Abbott continually talks about Team Australia, I think he should also be thinking very seriously about Team Liberals."

While Mr Abbott worked hard and performed well on the international stage, "in terms of domestic politics, it's a shambles".

"Not in the same way that the Labor government was a shambles, but a shambles in the way that there is no certainty of policy," Mr Kennett said.

"You can blame the Senate as much as you like, but that is part of the challenge of leadership - to understand where the opposition lies and to be able to find a way through".

The federal government's problems were self-inflicted and the public was confused and "lining up with baseball bats", he said.

WHY would anybody ask Jeff Kennett?    The MSM is getting desperate.

Bam wrote on Feb 4^th, 2015 at 5:47pm:


The "right wing" aren't bothered with politics ..... it's only the left-wing that relies on Government hand-outs..

Kennets nweds to check NSW pplls. Libs are safe.

Doctor Jolly wrote on Feb 4^th, 2015 at 6:10pm:

We used to think the LNP were safe in Queensland. Then they LOST.

Having said that, the Coalition are looking okay in NSW despite their ICAC troubles. They will give up a large swing to Labor, but that is to be expected given the very large margin they had in the last election.