Don’t go for Daz

WHAT happened in Wentworth, stays in Wentworth.

A solid 17 per cent margin was whittled away by Independent Kerryn Phelps.

The Libs lost the safest seat in the country, but have celebrated the loss like a victory.

It’s a strange time in politics, and there are a lot of commentators suggesting that this could be a new dawn for Independents. But reality is a long way from this anomaly of a result.

Wentworth is totally down to the treatment of Turnbull.

The by-election was the byproduct of a coup that didn’t need to happen. That’s why Morrison and company threw the kitchen sink at the confrontation.

They promised millions for new surf club facilities; they promised to move the Australian Embassy to Jerusalem.

They promised whatever they thought was going to get the Conservatives back into the sensible Liberal fold. They presented a white male in a tie as their candidate and the electorate reminded them who is boss.

Phelps was a significant candidate. An independent woman, a political threat, she’s not a wrecker. She is a face that Liberal or Labor would have been happy to have on their how-to-vote cards.

A reasoned and recognisable voice in the community and a former leader of the AMA. A significant campaigner and advocate in the marriage equality debate and a prominent Sydney councillor.

She can handle a press conference, make promises that she knows she can keep and she doesn’t dip into personal abuse as a tactic.

Yes, the voters chose the independent of the two majors. But Phelps was the sensible centre, not the radical disruption.

Wentworth now has a local member who reflects their con concerns on the ‘big issues’ s’ that matter to them; Nauru and d Manus Island and climate change. ange.

Wentworth is not a place where people are worried ried about penalty rates or Medicare. care.

They have private health cover. They have the financial inancial luxury of being able to care about the “important things”. ”.

They are fiscally conservative nservative and socially liberal, just st like, well, Malcolm Turnbull, ll, and this is why Wentworth h is not a template to determine ne what is politically possible ible elsewhere.

Just calling yourself f ‘Independent’ doesn’t mean you can talk across the aisle.

Negotiation is deterrmined by volume. It is a social skill and a capacity city for nuance. It is an ability lity to think about others before ore you think about yourself. elf.

Wentworth is not Geelong.

In the forthcoming State election Christine e Couzens is facing a fight.

The most vocal opposition is not coming from Freya Fidge and her Liberal Party but from sacked mayor Darryn Lyons (pictured) and his sloganeering about thinking ‘different’.

Lyons is no Phelps. He will not be able to reach across the aisle. He is standing to get even.

By his own admission he hates the Andrews Government. If Lyons wins and Andrews is returned, Geelong will be the biggest loser in the State.

Our local prominent Independent is a former Liberal Party member who stood for mayor as a disrupting force after Keith Fagg was bullied from office.

He marketed a slogan: ‘Vision, Passion, Change’. But instead of change and cleaning up the bullying he became embroiled in controversy.

His short time in local government demonstrated an inability to save his own job.

He lacked the capacity to negotiate with Spring St and he has spent the last few years wailing about his own demise. He has not demonstrated a sense of selfawareness or a willingness to rise above the politics of personal.

In the last week of the Wentwor worth by-election an email was circ circulated suggesting that Phelps was HIV-positive. wa The words were lies, designed to d damage her chances of winnin ning and cripple any chance of a co comeback.

But Phelps took it on the chin. She isn’t taking legal action. She is d demonstrating a commitment to t the sensible centre.

I If independents are going to attrac tract major swings in the Victori torian State election, they need to dom do more than just articulate sou sound and fury. Revenge is not a fou four-year plan.

V Voters were attracted to Phe Phelps because she could create a coh cohesive argument and detail wha what she was going to do in order to g guarantee supply.

S She was an attractive candidat date because she is not a patsy for am a major. She knows that holding the balance of power is not the same as being in power. sa mI

It is a lot more work — and not nea nearly as much fun — as pretending to be the boss. Ross Mueller is a freelance playwright and director