THE Liberals will be relying on disenchanted National voters to return to the Coalition fold in order to win Indi, Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger says.
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And should that occur, the party is “quietly confident” of former MP Sophie Mirabella gaining back the seat.
Meanwhile, The Nationals’ state director Jenny Hammett warned it was “dangerous” to predict what voters may do by way of preferences, but reaffirmed her party’s commitment to a Coalition victory.
The comments follow the Liberal Party electing Mrs Mirabella as their candidate for Indi for the next federal election, giving her a second chance to win back the seat she lost by just 439 votes on second preferences in 2013.
With the Nationals also fielding a candidate in 2016, preferences will again be key; pundits have predicted that, with Nationals’ preferences, the Liberals could win.
But underlying tensions in the Coalition could affect the result.
Several high-profile Nationals members publicly backed independent Cathy McGowan over Mrs Mirabella in 2013, and there have been reports that local members still don’t want to see her return.
But Mr Kroger, during a press conference on Sunday, said he was looking forward to seeing a Nationals candidate run.
“The Nats didn’t run last time and a lot of those National party members went away from us, and we expect a very large majority of those votes to return home, which is why we are quietly confident we can win this seat back,” he said.
Ms Hammett said there had been no conversations with the Liberals yet.
“Lots of discussions are happening all over the place in regards to Indi as a seat, and for The Nationals, we want to give people a strong choice and be able to support the Coalition through a strong candidate,” she said.
Asked if the Liberals’ desire for preferences gave the Nationals an upper-hand in any negotiations, Ms Hammett said: “I think it’s dangerous to predict what voters might do, given what happened in Indi in the last election ... those comments take voters for granted and we’re not interested in taking voters for granted.”
“We have a strong relationship, we respect what they bring to government and know what we bring to government,” she said.
Liberal federal electorate conference chairman for Indi Tony Schneider said he had no concern about rumoured tensions locally.
“We’ll be going into negotiations when the time is right, but I think at the moment we’ve got to consolidate our position, and when an election is called we’ll be talking to all parties,” he said.
