Josh Frydenberg is in danger of losing his Melbourne seat, according to a poll. A UComms poll of 847 people in his electorate of Kooyong gives climate, or teal, independent Monique Ryan a 59-41 lead.
Kooyong is perhaps the ultimate Liberal heartland seat, having once been held by the party’s founder Robert Menzies. And Frydenberg’s defeat would deprive the party of the most obvious candidate to succeed Scott Morrison as party leader.
No sitting federal treasurer has lost his seat since Labor’s Ted Theodore in 1931, and that was during the Great Depression. Considering the general state of the economy, Josh might feel a bit hard done by.
But the support flowing to the independents in Liberal heartlands shows that voters in the nation’s prettiest seats are in an ugly mood. Even if this poll exaggerates the swing, the Treasurer is in trouble.
The poll was reported in The Canberra Times and other outlets.
Mark Sawyer is a journalist with extensive experience in print and digital media in Sydney, Melbourne and rural Australia.