John Howard is campaigning with the Liberal MP Jamie Briggs in his South Australian seat of Mayo, in a sign the Liberals are increasingly concerned the safe seat could fall due to the rise of the Nick Xenophon Team.
Malcolm Turnbull campaigned with Briggs on Monday and Howard is campaigning in Mayo on Tuesday after a ReachTEL poll suggested the Nick Xenophon Team could capture the seat.
Briggs resigned from the frontbench in December after admitting he behaved inappropriately towards a female diplomatic staffer.
Speaking on 5AA with David Penbarthy, Howard said Nick Xenophon “had a view on everything” but noted “you’ve really got to declare yourself, you can’t have it both ways – you can’t have the purity of abstinent independence but have a view on everything”.
Howard agreed there were parallels between Pauline Hanson and Xenophon, including a “common element of dissent”.
“Some of the issues that Pauline Hanson talked about, Nick Xenophon talks about,” Howard said. “Certainly [he is] trying to whip up concern about free-trade agreements.”
Howard credited his government’s fiscal performance and trade deals with north Asian countries for Australia getting through the global financial crisis without falling into recession.
“How anybody would pussyfoot about supporting these agreements is beyond me,” he said.
Asked whether he was melancholy Tony Abbott was no longer the prime minister, Howard said: “I campaign for a Liberal government – for the rest of my life I stand for the Liberal cause”. Howard said Abbott was and is a good friend but he accepted the Liberal party room’s decision to make Turnbull prime minister.
“I know Malcolm Turnbull well,” Howard said. “I’ve known him for a long time on a friendship basis – not as close as I was to Tony [Abbott] but there was never any real hostility between us, notwithstanding our celebrated differences on such things as Australia becoming a republic.”
Howard said Turnbull understood the economy and “made a huge success of being in business”. “Isn’t it better to have that person in charge than a man who says he’ll govern like a trade union leader?” he said.
Howard praised the Turnbull government’s decision to build submarines in South Australia. He said the royal commission report into the nuclear industry “made a lot of sense” and could provide South Australia with a new industry.
“I don’t think quite enough has changed – there’s still a lot of irrational fear in the community about that ... in the long run nuclear power is part of our energy future,” he said. “The truth is if you need baseload power you need fossil fuels or nuclear power. You’re not going to get baseload power from other sources.”
Howard said “what the public wants is a bit of stability” and “there’s really only one bloke to vote for and that’s Turnbull”. Asked whether he itched to return to politics, Howard noted the public had called time on his government when he was 68 and he had supported every Liberal leader since.
Responding to Howard’s comments Xenophon said: “At a personal level I’ve always liked John Howard and I’m very grateful that he’s given the Nick Xenophon Team so much oxygen in South Australia with his attack.
“Deep down I think he must really like me, as evidenced by his comments on me following the 2013 election.
“Free-trade agreements are a good thing if they are negotiated with our national economic interest in mind. The fact that the trade deficit with China has increased at 15% a year since the Howard-era FTA says it all.”
The ReachTEL poll released on Friday showed the Nick Xenophon Team had a primary vote of 23.5% in Mayo and 21.3% in Sturt. In Mayo the Liberals’ primary vote was below 40%, suggesting Xenophon’s candidate, Rebekha Sharkie, could capture the seat on preferences.
On Monday Newspoll suggested the Greens and independents were poised to capture 25% of the vote nation-wide, including 3% for the Nick Xenophon Team.
The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, was also campaigning in Adelaide on Monday on Labor’s plan to boost apprentices on government projects.
On ABC radio, Shorten was asked about Xenophon’s popularity. He said people were frustrated with the Liberals and although Labor would seek their votes “in the meantime people may decide they may want to vote for a third party”.
“One thing I don’t ever do is blame voters,” he said. “I accept that there’s things I can control and the things I can’t. What I can control is how Labor presents its views and do our ideas actually make a real difference in people’s lives.”
