GetUp can claim just one scalp
GETUP failed to rob the Coalition of a victory despite amassing a $13 million war chest and thousands of volunteers in the last year alone.
Donations for the activist lobbyists were still flying through as the polls came to close with almost $1.7 million donated throughout the campaign.
The activists, who waged a war on the Coalition to remove the “hard right’s divisive grip on power”, knocked on the doors of 36,315 houses, recruited 9433 volunteers and made 712,039 unsolicited phone calls.
But in the end their only scalp was former Prime Minister Tony Abbott who political experts say may have lost his seat regardless of the GetUp campaign.
GetUp national director Paul Oosting yesterday attempted to spin his failure to dethrone Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton from his Brisbane seat of Dickson in a positive light, saying his organisation loosened Mr Dutton’s grip on the electorate.
“People talking to other people to cut through Tony Abbott’s cashed-up smear campaign is what helped topple the most powerful climate denier in the country,” he said.
“The hard work of so many GetUp volunteers ensured that Peter Dutton failed to benefit fully from the statewide trend.
“We had 1556 people give their time to Ditch Dutton. These same people will be working hard to hold Peter Dutton and his colleagues to account in whatever form this new parliament takes.”
However, Sydney University’s Policy Lab director Marc Stears said Mr Abbott’s loss was probably more due to “generational issues” and the changing demographics of the Warringah electorate.