Fisher campaign turns nasty
The major parties have switched to negative mode in the seat of Fisher, with the Liberals launching a wide-ranging attack on independent candidate Dan Woodyatt.
A flyer authorised by the Liberal Party (scroll down to view) paints Woodyatt as closely aligned to Labor and questions his connections with the late MP for Fisher, Bob Such.
It is similar to the campaign run by the party against Such himself in the lead-up to the March state election. The risks of the move were highlighted this morning with Such’s widow Lyn publicly endorsing Woodyatt again, and decrying the negativity about him.
Labor has also rolled out the negativity ahead of Saturday’s byelection, attempting to link Prime Minister Tony Abbott with the campaign after the party’s Victorian strategists claimed some success in using Abbott’s image in their successful election campaign.
Flyers and posters featuring a large photograph of Abbott highlight Defence Minister David Johnston’s comment that he wouldn’t trust the ASC to build a canoe. It then says: “Don’t trust the Liberals. Vote for local jobs, vote Labor”.
Woodyatt said he had complained to the Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley about the Liberals’ campaign material.
Among other claims, the flyer says Woodyatt is a “Labor Government adviser” and points out that he doesn’t live in the electorate.
Woodyatt, who is a lawyer in the Crown Solicitor’s office, argues he is not a political adviser. He lives just outside the southern suburbs electorate, as does Liberal candidate Heidi Harris.
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The flyer says that Woodyatt wants to increase the GST and “tax your super” – a claim flatly rejected by the candidate earlier today, but which appears to be sourced from a post on his Facebook page on federal budget day.
Commenting on a Guardian newspaper online interactive which challenged readers to balance the budget, Woodyatt posted on 13 May: “I think tax trusts and super. Broaden the GST and increase welfare with the money left over.”
When asked about this by InDaily, Woodyatt said he was responding to the interactive task rather than putting a policy position.
“How is that something that I can, will, or do want to do? It’s just a small throw-away comment in a particular context.”
The flyer also points out that Woodyatt was a member of the Labor Party and had endorsed Jay Weatherill’s leadership after the state election. Both claims haven’t been denied by Woodyatt.
In a risky political move, the flyer invokes the name of the late Bob Such, who died in October after representing Fisher for 25 years.
The Liberal flyer says that despite Woodyatt’s claims that he would continue Such’s legacy, he never met him.
Woodyatt has admitted he never met Such, but he has spent time with the long-standing MP’s widow Lyn, who today repeated her endorsement of Woodyatt.
Bob Such was furious about a Liberal campaign linking him to Labor ahead of the March state election.
Echoing these concerns, Lyn Such today decried the negative treatment of Woodyatt.
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She told ABC 891 breakfast that Woodyatt had approached her about running as an Independent and badging himself as the candidate to continue Such’s leagcy.
“I probably had a few weeks to think about it and I thought – why not? He’s bright, he understands the political system and I know for a fact in Fisher people are looking for an Independent. They’ve had 14 good years, Bob believed in them and they believed in Bob. I’m not saying that he’s another Bob but he’s giving it his best shot.”
She said she met Woodyatt and his wife Lydia at their home.
“We spoke for hours. He has very similar views; passionate about some of the issues Bob was trying to follow up. I just can’t believe how the media can be so negative towards Dan.”
She rejected the idea that she’d been taken advantage of as she grieved her husband.
“It’s just not true. I’m of my own mind. I didn’t have to say yes to any of it. I’m a realist. I was out in the office. I know life goes on and I saw it as an opportunity. Both Labor and Liberal came in very early and they were working it very hard and I saw that and I thought, well, why not endorse Dan. He was passionate and I guess the important thing was timing, but I do not feel I’ve been taken advantage of.”
On the question of whether Woodyatt’s candidacy was a front for the Labor Party, Lyn Such said: “I know Dan was a member of the Labor Party for a few years but so what? People either grow up or move on. It means nothing; it really means nothing.”
Woodyatt looms as the biggest threat to a widely expected Liberal win, but he will need to poll more first preference votes than Labor – a point he has been emphasising during the campaign.
Adelaide University politics professor Clem Macintyre said that while the Liberals were most likely to win the seat, the negative campaign against Woodyatt showed they were concerned.
He said there were risks that the Liberal attack might promote Woodyatt’s name and the fact he was running as an independent.
He also noted the parallels between the Liberal attack on Such during the state election campaign and this week’s move against Woodyatt.
“And we saw how well that worked,” he said.
Liberal Party state director Geoffrey Greene said he had not received a complaint from the Electoral Commission about the material.
“In that regard though, we are confident that the material we have published is properly sourced and supportable,” he said. “In the event that we do receive a complaint from the Electoral Commission, we will fully cooperate, as is our standard practice.”
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