The political “circus” unfolding in Canberra was diluting the impact of democracy for Bendigonians, according to Federal Member Lisa Chesters, who called for a immediate general election.
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Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday emerged as a third contender to replace Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ahead of a likely Liberal party room vote on Friday.
Ms Chesters said regardless of who becomes next leader of the country, they should “do the right thing and call a general election”.
Some commentators have suggested an election – with various state elections on the horizon, including a Victorian vote in November – would be impractical before May 2019, which is the deadline for a federal vote.
“The problem is, will the Liberal Party be able to come back together and govern - it's not about the practicalities of when an election could happen. The people need to have a say on who they feel should be in government,” Ms Chesters said.
The incumbent Labor MP is the only obvious candidate for Bendigo’s federal seat should a snap election be called.
Former Liberal candidate Megan Purcell ruled herself out of another tilt, while the Nationals said they did not have anyone lined up at this stage and the Australian Greens said they were running a process where all local members get a vote on their candidate.
A motion to adjourn the House of Representatives until September in order to resolve the Liberal leadership crisis was successful on Thursday.
“We're not getting on with tackling the federal issues we need to – there’s no action on the energy market. We were due to debate the modern slavery act today,” she said.
La Trobe University honorary associate of politics Ian Tulloch said the government was likely to face electoral wipe out regardless of who was prime minister.
A uniform swing of four per cent against the government could see it lose as many as 20 seats, giving the Labor Party a huge majority in the next parliament. Mr Tulloch said the only way to end the instability that has plagued federal politics since 2010 was to have a government with a large majority.
“If a government has a 15 seat majority, they would be unassailable and this instability would be over,” he said.
“Gillard was just hanging in during her prime ministership. Turnbull has a one-seat majority.”
Mr Tulloch said, if successful, Peter Dutton could go to an early election to try to limit the damage to the Liberal Party, or change policies and try to fight a long campaign. Neither option was likely to result in a Coalition victory, he said.
Bendigo creative writing and editing teacher and former Liberal Party member Peter Wiseman said the party needed to focus on policy over personality.
“MPs are not removing their support from Turnbull because they don’t like him personally, it’s that they don’t like the policy direction,” he said.
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