But Mr Sharma says many Liberal sympathisers who voted for Dr Phelps will be angry she took part in defying the authority of a sitting Liberal government.
“Voters who have bought Kerryn Phelps’ assurances that she is basically a Liberal-lite candidate will have felt they have been misled,” he says.
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On the other hand,Dr Phelps can point to real-world political results.
While one indignant commentator this week labelled her a “novice” who had no idea what she was doing,the results say otherwise - Dr Phelps was pivotal in negotiating a compromise position among multiple politicians with differing agendas,in a tension-filled,high-stakes environment where events were moving quickly. If Dr Phelps is a novice,you have to say she is also a natural.
But whether or not the voters of Wentworth will reward her for negotiating with the Greens,Labor and the crossbench,is another question.
“Wentworth didn’t vote for a militant green local member,” says Andrew Bragg,the president of the Liberals’ Paddington branch,who is endorsed to run for the Liberals in the Senate at the next election.
“Yet it is emerging that Phelps consorted with the Greens during the byelection to cook up the weakening of Australia’s borders.”
Mr Bragg is referring to reports about Dr Phelps’ negotiations with the Greens for their preferences in the byelection. Phelps firmly denies doing any prefrence deals with the Greens and says they were number 11 on her How-To-Vote card,and she was number nine on theirs.
Reports of Dr Phelps hosting a champagne toast with the cross-benchers and refugee advocates following this week’s legislative victory may turn off some Wentworth voters,andnot just because the champagne was from Aldi. Phelps herself rarely drinks and never drinks at work.
The suspicion may be that if she is with the progressives on some policies,she cannot be trusted on others.
Mr Bragg says the issue of Labor’s changes to franking credits is huge in Wentworth - affecting 8000 voters. He says an independent like Dr Phelps is never going to stop that “tax” going ahead.
Dr Phelps is against the franking credit changes,along with Labor’s policies to end some concessions for negative gearing and capital gains tax exemptions. She counters that given it looks like we will have a Labor government come late May,“Wentworth would be better off with a cross-bencher who is able to get some oxygen for the issues that are important”.
Wentworth has always been a Liberal Party seat (or held by the Liberal party’s predecessors),and in this sense Dr Phelps is an aberration.
But Wentworth voters were not just blindly supporting the Liberal Party - they particularly liked Malcolm. Mr Turnbull grew the Liberal Party’s margin substantially. From his election in 2004,the former Prime Minister grew Liberal first preference support to at or above 60 per cent at the last three general elections.
The other big issue galvanising Dr Phelps,and other independent candidates including Zali Steggall in Warringah,and Oliver Yates in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s electorate of Kooyong,is the big C:climate change.
Dr Phelps will campaign hard on what she says is the strong economic case for action on climate change,and support for renewable energy.
Liberal candidate for Wentworth,Dave Sharma,will take on Kerryn Phelps again in the eastern suburbs seat.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
She will tell voters that Mr Sharma belongs to a party marching to the right,under the custodianship of the very people - Peter Dutton,Tony Abbott et al - who pushed out their Malcolm.
Dr Phelps will begin her election war-gaming after Parliament rises at the end of next week. She plans a quiet weekend with partner Jackie,full of poodle-walking,a swim if weather allows,and perhaps an outing on the paddleboard.