NATION Liberals, Phelps hit out at email
INDEPENDENT Wentworth candidate Kerryn Phelps said an email suggesting she’d been diagnosed with HIV and was pulling out of the by- election race was a homophobic attack designed to hurt her campaign.
Dr Phelps yesterday insisted she would rise above the dirty tricks after it was revealed on Wednesday that an email was being circulated urging voters to back Liberal candidate Dave Sharma over Dr Phelps in Wentworth.
“Please DO NOT vote for her, just choose Sharma as your top choice only,” the email stated.
“Kerryn was diagnosed with HIV yesterday so no chance she will be running for election.”
The former Australian Medical Association boss, who is married to ex- teacher Jackie Stricker- Phelps, yesterday stated: “The whole email is definitely not true.”
Dr Phelps told ABC TV: “Just when you think we’ve come so far in destigmatising HIV, for somebody to use this as a slur in an email in a political campaign shows we’ve still got a long way to go.
“There’s no question there’s a homophobic element to it.”
Dr Phelps said there was no evidence the Liberal Party was behind the email and Mr Sharma insisted it was “despicable”.
“I condemn it for its smears and dishonesty,” he wrote on Twitter. “And I condemn it for its stigmatisation of people living with HIV.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: “That is the ugly side of Australian politics and it has no place in any contest.”
Former prime minister John Howard weighed into the debate while appearing in support of Mr Sharma in Wentworth yesterday, saying the email message was “disgusting” and “deserves our contempt”.
Mr Howard was in the seat to urge Wentworth voters to support the Liberal Party, saying if they don’t vote for the party’s candidate in tomorrow’s by- election they risk “robbing” the Morrison Government of its parliamentary majority.
“If enough people decide to register a protest vote, then the seat could go to an independent and that will rob the Morrison Government of its working majority and make the remaining months of this term of office very difficult,” the former Liberal leader said.
“There’s no such thing in modern politics as an unlosable seat.
“Every election and every by- election is different.”