Liberal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton made a surprise press stop to Dee Why this morning, Wednesday 4 December, following announcement of their latest Northern Beaches candidate for next year’s Federal Election.
Mr Dutton was joined by pre-selected Liberal candidate for Mackellar James Brown and the just-announced candidate for Warringah Jaimee Rogers, both speaking briefly at the beginning of the conference.
Asked if this was his first trip to the area, Mr Dutton told Manly Observer he had visited many times and foreshadowed he would be making several trips to the area as the Liberals fight to take back the Federal Seats traditionally held by Liberals but more recently claimed by Teals Zali Steggall and Dr Sophie Scamps.
“I’ll be back here a lot, because when you look at Jaimee and James and what they have to offer the community they’re genuine, they’re real, and they’re not pretending to be someone they’re not. The problem with the Teals is that they’re really Greens at heart, which is why they vote for the Greens eight out of ten times; they haven’t delivered anything to their local area.
“I think what families are voting on the next election is cost of living… People can’t afford to pay their power bills.”
“I think what families are voting on the next election is cost of living… People can’t afford to pay their power bills. They can’t afford their electricity bills under this government.”
Manly Observer Editor Kim Smee asked Mr Dutton, “The Liberals largely lost because of the local concern over climate change and also gambling and gambling advertising. Are these areas that you’re going to be focusing on in this election?
He replied focusing on Labor and Greens policy.
“The government can’t decide what it wants to do under gambling advertising restrictions, and we put forward a plan in that regard,” he explained, “We offered a bipartisan position to the government to restrict gambling advertising. The government hasn’t done that because there’s a huge fight going on within the Labor Party.
“And in relation to climate, you’ve got the NSW Labor Government and the Victorian Labor Governments now signing an extension of the coal assets in their states… So I think there’s a lot of hypocrisy from the Greens and from the Labor Party when it comes to all of these issues.”
Asked if the Liberal Party would be able to claw back political power on the Northern Beaches given the Teals won largely on the topics Climate Change Mr Dutton said he expected the cost-of-living crisis to be the more decisive issue.
“What I do know is that the Coalition can get our country back on track. Interest rates will always be lower under a coalition government than a Labor government, and will help families restore their own household budgets as much as we will the country’s budget as well.”
The conservative politician spent much of the conference denouncing a perceived lack of support for Israel from the Labor Government and criticising Hamas’ decision to set up bases in hospitals and schools – referring to it as showing blatant disregard for human life. He did not make comment on whether bombing those same locations showed greater disregard.
Zali’s right of reply
Independent Federal Member for Warringah Zali Steggall told Many Observer Mr Dutton had misread the community’s needs by failing to see the connection between electricity costs and climate risk.
“I hear Peter Dutton has been in Dee Why, but maybe disappointingly, hasn’t come and fronted up to constituents around the issues so many care about, around climate risk and how that is exacerbating the costs that everybody is suffering under,” Ms Steggall told Manly Observer.
“What we do need to look at is cheapest forms of energy. How do we reduce energy costs for household budgets? We need to look at insurance premiums. Climate Risk escalating has driven insurance premiums up by 32 per cent on average Since 2022 it’s only going in one direction. Australians really care about their homes, and if you can’t insure your home, you risk losing your castle, to borrow a phrase of a famous movie.”
When asked what the member for Warringah thinks about her newly announced opposition candidate Jaimee Rogers, Ms Steggall said:
“I don’t really know her [Jaimee Rogers], so my focus is ultimately on the community, also our new community,” she said.
“When I look at the housing crisis, there’s definitely a difference. Old Warringah has more home ownership. New Warringah has a lot more renters. And that’s why I’ve hosted the housing forum, to really focus on how do we keep chipping away at this problem? We have an issue of housing affordability and availability, and so we need to tackle both those issues. No one really has the golden solution. We need to keep tackling the problem from all angles.”
Introducing Jaimee
Ms Rogers, who is a boradcast journalist and endurance swimmer, said at today’s press conference: “In Warringah, we’re the same with issues of the cost of living crisis, housing in terms of letting the next generation down, if they can’t afford to live within the area they grew up in and move away from their family and their support.
With Warringah, we’re a new electorate so we actually now take in 70 per cent of North Sydney. So we feature places like Luna Park and North Sydney and Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden, the Spit Bridge, Mosman and then head over here to the Northern Beaches, where we take in Manly, Freshwater and Curl Curl. So we’re a big electorate, we’re a beautiful electorate, and I’m really, really honoured and excited to be the Liberal candidate for Warringah because I think right now we need a Liberal Government to be back in place to get this country back on track.”
Ms Rogers, who we understand lives in the former North Sydney electorate with husband and two boys, has most recently worked as a Journalist for ABC radio but has largely worked with Tabcorp and racing industry as a spokesperson and employee.
The candidate, who was preselected unopposed, competed at the 2000 Olympic swimming trials, which later led to her becoming an ambassador for the mental health charity, Gotcha4life, and undertaking a 35km swim across the English Channel in 2022 to raise funds and community awareness of mental health issues.
A date for the federal election is yet to be announced.
