Meet The Woman Who Wants To Win A By-Election And Take Down An Entire Government
She's a same-sex marriage campaigner that's pro-clean energy, for improving Medicare and for increased university funding. And she could be in federal parliament in a few weeks.
Kerryn Phelps has worn a lot of hats over her life — doctor, author, media commentator, Australian Medical Association president, same-sex marriage campaigner, professor, deputy lord mayor of the City of Sydney — but she is now aiming for a gig that would be even more high-profile and high stakes.
She wants to be the next politician to take a seat in federal parliament.
Already, Phelps is facing criticism from the Liberal party, who see her as a threat to the seat they hold on a 17.7 percent margin.
Christine Forster, who briefly contested the Liberal’s preselection for the seat of Wentworth, criticised Phelps for hiring political operative Darrin Barnett, who recently worked on a Labor election campaign.
“We only started to put this campaign together three weeks ago when Malcolm Turnbull was unceremoniously dumped from the prime ministership,” Phelps told Junkee.
She explained that she asked her long-term friend, businesswoman and activist Wendy McCarthy to head up her campaign.
“I asked her if she knew of anyone with experience running a by-election,” Phelps continued. “Darrin Barnett was recommended to her.”
Chris, you have sat at the table with me at @cityofsydney for 2 years and you know what I have gone through to maintain political independence. A vote for @drkerrynphelps is a vote for community representation #WentworthVotes https://t.co/FkWAhMM6tV
— Prof Kerryn Phelps AM (@drkerrynphelps) September 17, 2018
And it’s likely that Phelps will need all the experience she can get to win this by-election campaign.
So far, there have been a few signs that could give her hope. An early poll put the Liberals primary vote at a surprisingly weak 39.6 percent. Against PM Scott Morrison’s wishes, a woman was not preselected by the Liberal Party. And the Liberal’s candidate, Dave Sharma, has had to fend off criticism of an op-ed he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald, in which he suggested that teachers could work longer hours in an updated schooling structure.
Re my SMH oped on schools: I owe all teachers an unreserved apology. My main point was to Q whether school as structured serves needs of modern society. Comment about teachers unfair & unwarranted. I benefited from many hardworking + great teachers, as do my daughters. Mea culpa.
— Dave Sharma (@DaveSharma) September 18, 2018
ABC election analyst Antony Green has also pointed out that the Liberal party’s 17.7 percent windfall may look safer than it actually is, as a lot of that could come down to personal support for Turnbull, who was a prominent local figure.
“Malcolm Turnbull has developed a huge personal vote in Wentworth since he has been the member. So the odds are on a big swing against the Liberals at the by-election,” Green wrote on Twitter.
But Phelps knows that this is a contest that will likely come down to preferences. And she’s faced with a tricky choice: does she double down on her independence and refuse to direct her preferences to either Labor or the Liberals, or will she risk coming off as partisan by requesting her voters to preference her biggest rivals last?
Phelps has found a stance somewhere in between those two. She said her intention was not to hand out how-to-vote cards on election day, but she would recommend that voters punish Liberals for the recent leadership spill chaos in Canberra.
“It’s absolutely obvious to anyone who knows the slightest thing about Wentworth that this is likely to come down to preferences. My intention is not to direct preferences, but if people are wanting to send a message to the Liberal party, it’s pretty obvious the thing to do.”
As for how Phelps would act if elected, she said that she would remain independent and vote from her conscience.
“I value my independence,” Phelps said. “Party members have to stick to party speaking points, but I will be voting from conscience on every issue.”
So what is her conscience?
Perhaps a result of campaigning on short notice, Phelps is yet to lay out exactly what her positions are on many current, contentious policy issues.
In the first few days of the campaign, she’s referred back to her five key pillars: better health, strong economy, clean energy, social justice and lifelong education.
She expands on her website. She’s for a “simplification” of Medicare, against the My Health Record system as it stands, for a reformation of Australia’s child protection system, against new coal fired power stations, for protecting the pension, for improved city planning to aid housing affordability, for restoring university and TAFE funding, for a second public school in Wentworth, and against inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.
And we’re off! Look out for our volunteers in purple shirts around #Wentworth #Wentworthvotes.
You can join us https://t.co/cJAR2ghvfb pic.twitter.com/vW40AHMAmJ— Prof Kerryn Phelps AM (@drkerrynphelps) September 16, 2018
But large parts of her platform are unknown. Junkee prepared 18 policy questions for Phelps to answer, but she requested to answer them via email instead. Despite repeated requests, Junkee did not receive an answer from Phelps before publishing this article.
Voters don’t yet know whether Phelps would vote for a motion that refers Peter Dutton to the High Court over s44 complications, or whether she supports a range of other policies: a tax on carbon, funding to the ABC, increasing social security, a national anti-corruption watchdog, changes to income tax, the company tax rate, constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians, penalty rates for retail and hospitality workers, and the question of live animal exports.
We’ll likely hear more about those policies over the next four and a half weeks.
It would be extraordinary if Phelps won a seat that the Liberals have never lost. One reason is that it would put the government into a worrying 74-seat position ahead of an upcoming federal election. But it would also signal to other politicians that voters don’t have confidence in the major parties.
If a strong, local independent candidate takes down seat on a 17.7 point margin to join an ever-expanding crossbench, where else could it happen?