Wentworth by-election: Alex Turnbull calls on voters not to vote Liberal
The Australian
October 11, 2018
Malcolm Turnbull’s son, Alex Turnbull, has recorded a message on Facebook calling on voters in the former Prime Minister’s Wentworth seat to vote against the Liberal Party in next Saturday’s by-election.
Mr Turnbull, in an explosive intervention, said a federal election was due anyway and the party needed to be sent a message.
The extraordinary message from the former PM’s son is a boost for Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, with the seat said to be on a knife edge and the government seriously worried it will lose it — and its majority on the floor of federal Parliament.
“We’ve had yet another leadership coup and we’ve lost another prime minister . the Liberal party has been taken over . . by extremists on the hard right . who aren’t particularly motivated to serve the general public,” Mr Turnbull said on the message posted this afternoon.
“Don’t vote for the Liberal party in the Wentworth by-election . . this time, don’t give the Liberals your vote.”
Mr Turnbull argued that a federal election was due shortly anyway so even if the Liberals lost the seat and their majority in the federal Parliament, it would not make much of a difference and the party needed to be sent a message.
Scott Morrison, speaking on Sky News, said he believed Malcolm Turnbull was supporting Dave Sharma, the Liberal candidate and his son’s views were completely separate.
“I separate people’s family from the individual. I do,’’ Mr Morrison said. “Our kids are entitled to their own views and their own lives and I would draw no connection between Malcolm’s son.
“He’s an independent person in his own right. He’s entitled to his own views, he’s entitled to be wrong too, which I believe he is.’’