Former prime minister Tony Abbott has pinned his re-election hopes in Warringah to the construction of a road tunnel, defying rising opposition in the seat focused on larger issues such as climate policy.
Abbott is eager to focus voters’ attention on local issues ahead of the forthcoming federal election, telling ABC’s 7:30 Report transport should be the number one issue in the minds of Warringah residents.
“What I’ll be saying to people in the local election is there is really only one issue, and that is transport,” he told ABC this week. “That’s why it is absolutely critical to get the Northern Beaches tunnel built.”
Abbott’s flagship election project would build a road tunnel under Middle Harbour, connecting to the Gore Hill Freeway and the Warringah Freeway, to better link the Northern Beaches with North Sydney, the Sydney CBD, Chatswood, Macquarie Park and Sydney’s northwest.
Sydney’s Northern Beaches region does not have a connection to the city’s rail network. Abbott, who made road building a signature of his Government and believes urban rail projects are not the business of the Federal Government, believes the Beaches Link road project can become another lasting imprint of his leadership in Warringah.
“If you look around this electorate there are all sorts of monuments – if you like – to the work I have done as local member,” he told ABC. “I’ve never been complacent.”
Abbott’s primary challenger in his bid to win his tenth consecutive election in Warringah looks to be independent candidate Zali Stegall. Stegall, a barrister and former Olympic skier, says her campaign is focused on bigger issues than what the former prime minister is willing to focus on.
“I think I’m a whole new generation really,” Stegall told 7:30. “I think he is very set in his ways and I think he is really unable, unwilling to change … I don’t think he’s particularly interested in listening to the electorate and their views and priorities. As I see it there’s a real dissatisfaction with the major parties by the Australian public – the politicians, the party politics, the behind-the-scenes deals, the hidden agendas. People are tired of it and really don’t want a bar of it.”
Abbott has urged voters to look past Stegall’s bid to be the ‘anti-party disruptor’, saying she is essentially working for the Labor vote.
“In a seat like Warringah, independents are basically Labor candidates in disguise,” Abbott said. “Over the years I’ve had some quite serious challenges, and I don’t expect it’s going to be any different this year.”
But ABC election analyst Antony Green says Stegall has a real chance to shake things up in Warringah.
“She’s not some fly-by-night candidate,” Green said. “She has Liberal credentials, conservative credentials, and she may appeal to Liberal voters to drive the Liberal vote down under 50 per cent.” Though he conceded, “it’s still a big ask for her to win a seat like Warringah”.