A host of government MPs fighting to hold on to their seats have erased the Liberals’ name and logo from campaign material, sparking Labor claims that the party’s brand is “toxic”.
As the Coalition struggles to lift its standing among voters in the lead-up to next month’s poll, MPs across the country appear to be relying on their personal standing to counter any backlash against the Liberals’ brand.
Victorian MPs Jason Wood, Sarah Henderson, Michael Sukkar and Russell Broadbent are among the state’s MPs who have chosen to drop the party’s branding from campaign material, relying instead on personalised campaign messages.
Scott Morrison was campaigning in government-held marginals in Victoria on Monday, where the Coalition fears up to six seats could be at risk.
Labor is confident that it can pick up the seats of La Trobe, held by Wood, and Corangamite, held by Henderson, as it exploits residual anger in the state about the removal of Malcolm Turnbull as leader.
Conservative MPs including Sukkar in Deakin and Nicolle Flint in the South Australian seat of Boothby have been targeted in their electorates for supporting Peter Dutton to become leader last August.
In Western Australia, conservative MP Andrew Hastie is running a presidential-style personal campaign, with the former SAS soldier’s Facebook page featuring a “Fighting for You” tagline alongside an image of an Australian flag.
It appears Liberal MP for La Trobe, Jason Wood has followed the lead of other Victorian Liberals in dropping any reference to the party name on his corflutes and supporter paraphernalia @politicsabc #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/KxGKu9LuR4
— Matthew Doran (@MattDoran91) April 22, 2019
Labor’s campaign spokesman, Jim Chalmers, said that Liberal MPs were trying to escape their party’s record and were “standing on a platform of cuts”.
“Liberals like Sarah Henderson know that their own party brand is toxic and will damage their chances of re-election,” Chalmers said. “But you can’t just airbrush out six years of cuts and chaos. Voters will remember that Scott Morrison betrayed his former leader, Malcolm Turnbull. And they know that the Coalition has $40bn in secret cuts to come.”
PM says Bill Shorten has “vanished” from Labor pamphlets and candidate materials. It appears even the name “Liberal” has vanished from this advertisement in Deakin. pic.twitter.com/bcC7lHMkY0
— rob harris (@rharris334) April 22, 2019
The comments came after the Australian reported on Monday that the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, had been “airbrushed” from campaign material in at least 27 different electorates.
Morrison yesterday said Shorten was “vanishing from Labor pamphlets and posters around the country”.
