Scott Morrison cancels press conference gatecrashed by independent

This morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled a Sydney press conference after it was gatecrashed by independent Kerryn Phelps.

The independent candidate for the highly contested seat of Wentworth showed up at a cafĆ© where the Prime Minister and Wenworthā€™s Liberal candidate Dace Sharma were set to address reporters before the vote on October 20.

Reporters told Dr Phelps that they were ā€œexpecting the Prime Ministerā€ and that ā€œwe didnā€™t realise you were popping inā€.

Dr Phelps was recently criticised by Liberals after hiring Darrin Barnett, a Labor campaigner, to assist with her election campaign.

Dr Phleps told voters on Sunday to ā€œPut the Liberals lastā€ but revealed that she had changed her mind during todayā€™s gatecrashing, saying that she would preference the Liberals before Labor.

She said that if she had any intentions to support Labor she ā€œwould have stood for pre-selectionā€.

While Dr Phelps spoke to reporters, Mr Sharma stood awkwardly inside the cafe, and then promptly left. Scott Morrison never showed up.

The seat is held by the Liberals on a 17.7% margin; however, the Government is predicted to face a severe backlash at the voting booth.

Primarily, analysts believe Australian voters are disillusioned with the Liberal/National Coalition Government after last monthā€™s leadership crisis where Malcolm Turnbull was replaced by Scott Morrison as Prime Minister.

Malcolm Turnbullā€™s ousting and subsequent resignation from Parliament triggered the Wentworth by-election.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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