Werriwa by-election
The Australian is reporting and editorialising on the Werriwa by-election.
Labor Party insiders claim recent internal polling revealed a 10 per cent-plus swing against the ALP — a result that would have delivered the seat to the Liberal Party for the first time in 70 years.
“We are in big strife — we are behind,” one source familiar with the polling said.
This is the same polling the SMH released yesterday. As always, I am just a little suspicious when a political party “leaks” internal party polling. In this case I think the agenda is obvious – it is a call to Labor voters not to punish the party for Latham’s early exit.
Whereas I doubt the Coalition will pick up Werriwa, the editorial finishes with this purple prose.
After [the] Ryan [by-election], Mr Howard worked hard to reconnect to suburban Australia, and government members now represent once-safe Labor seats around the country. Labor’s decision to run a candidate in Werriwa who is acceptable to the factional barons, but is little known among the electors, demonstrates why. With Mr Beazley’s return to the leadership, the Labor optimists may hope they have seen the end of the beginning of their party’s resurrection. But to lose Werriwa could be the beginning of the end.
Really? Surely it is a too early for rumours of Labor’s demise.
The other theme in the story, internal party resentment at Latham’s decision to resign from Parliament, is more plausible. It was a decision that will cost the party money, and it exposes the party to political risk. It is not the sort of things that mates are supposed to do.