Federal MP Fitzgibbon threatens to walk from Labor after Upper Hunter defeat
Federal MP Joel Fitzgibbon has threatened to quit Labor following his party’s heavy defeat in the Upper Hunter by-election.
Mr Fitzgibbon said the Labor Party is losing New South Wales voters in coal-rich areas of the state as a consequence of pushing a message it is tough on climate change.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese dismissed concern about the Upper Hunter result on next year’s federal election, calling for “perspective” and insisting his party had proven appeal and electorate success in resource-laden Queensland and Western Australia.
But Mr Fitzgibbon, a Labor backbencher, described his party’s defeat in the state by-election to Nationals’ Dave Layzell as a wake-up call.
“I plan to run for Labor at the next federal election,” Mr Fitzgibbon said when asked by 9News reporter Jonathan Kearsley if he, hand on heart, remained committed to Labor.
Mr Fitzgibbon said he was working “as hard in my electorate” as he had ever been.
“But I will say this, I won’t stick around if the Labor Party doesn’t wake up to itself,” he said.
Labor’s primary vote fell by seven per cent, against expectations of a swing against the government in the Upper Hunter, the same region as Mr Fitzgibbon’s federal seat.
NSW Labor leader Jodi McKay is now under intense pressure, and Mr Fitzgibbon told Ben Fordham on 2GB the Labor brand was “in trouble”.
Mr Fitzgibbon appeared out of step with his leader, Mr Albanese, who when speaking with media today pointed out Labor had not held the Upper Hunter for nine decades.
He also claimed Labor’s view on climate change was “based upon what every single expert in the energy sector” was advocating.
“Let’s get a bit of perspective here, quite frankly,” Mr Albanese said.
“This is a seat that Labor has not held in the last nine decades at any time, at any time whatsoever.
“This is a seat where, frankly, a couple of elections ago we would have struggled to find people to hand out how-to-vote cards.”
Mr Albanese said Prime Minister Scott Morrison was ignoring Labor success in Queensland and Western Australia, the two most resource-rich states in the country, if he wanted to hold up the Upper Hunter as an indicator for a federal election.
“The biggest two resources states in this country have seen Labor win seats in Queensland and become almost a one-party state in Western Australia.
“If Scott Morrison wants to argue that there are federal implications behind a by-election result in one seat in New South Wales, then he should apply that to Western Australia and to Queensland.”
