Liberal party Vice President Teena McQueen has called on the party to back conservative members over moderates in seats which have not yet locked in candidates for the upcoming federal election.
McQueen’s message to party members focused in on support for LGBTIQA+ people.
“The lefties in the party have to understand that the Mardi Gras goes up Oxford Street, not Hurstville, Homebush and other areas, outer seats that we need to win.
“Just remember that – the lefties of the party, we’ve got to please everybody.” McQueen said during a regular appearance on the Bernardi program on Sky News.
The Liberal party is yet to select candidates for several key NSW seats. Hughes is currently held by Craig Kelly but he defected from the party to become an independent, and subsequently joined Clive Palmer’s United Australia party. In Bennelong, the former seat of Prime Minister John Howard, the current member John Alexander is retiring.
There is also currently no candidate for Warringah, where independent Zali Stegall ousted former Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the 2019 election, or in the seats of Dobell in Sydney’s north or the western suburbs seat of Paramatta.
McQueen said moderate MP’s this week had “betrayed” the Prime Minister and their electorates this week by failing to support the Religious Discrimination Bill. McQueen said she was “disgusted” by moderate Liberals Dave Sharma, Fiona Martin and Katie Allen.
The Liberal Party Vice President said that while Trent Zimmerman had told the party room that he could not support the Religious Discrimination Bill, the other MPs had failed to clearly share their intentions with their colleagues.
In fact Sharma, Allen, and Martin did vote in favour of the Religious Discrimination Act, but crossed the floor to vote in favour of amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act. The amendment stooped faith-based schools from expelling transgender students on the basis of their gender identity.
They joined Zimmerman and Tasmanian MP Bridget Arthur who have both been vocal in their opposition to the Religious Discrimination Bill, and the long standing clauses in the Sex Discrimination Act that have allowed for discrimination.
McQueen said Allen, Sharma and Matin had blindsided the Prime Minister.
“I’m disgusted, I can’t believe they would do this, and abandon their base and do this to the Prime Minister.” McQueen said, claiming that she knew for a fact that none of the MPs had discussed their intentions with the PM, “This was a total and utter blindside.”
McQueen said the MPs should have supported the bill, even though she described it as “a hot mess” just last week.
Dave Sharma, the member for Wentworth has said his “conscience is clear”, while Katie Allen appeared on Thursday night’s edition of the ABC’s Q&A where she said she felt good about the choices she had made.
OIP Staff
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