By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
LA TROBE sitting MP Jason Wood, whose probable election win has yet to be announced, has dumped on the Coalition’s “stupid” federal election campaign.
He said he intends to take the issue up with the Prime Minister.
Mr Wood holds a 2809-vote lead on ALP rival Simon Curtis with less than 8000 postal and pre-poll votes to be counted, according to Australian Electoral Commission figures on 12 July.
The Coalition has declared it has won 76 seats, allowing it to rule Parliament’s lower house with a dramatically reduced one-seat majority.
Mr Wood told Star News that he thought the Coalition should have done more to counter Labor’s Medicare-privatisation “scare campaign” and ran harder on “unions and law-and-order”.
“We ran a positive campaign on the economy, technology, innovation. A scare campaign kills a positive campaign every day.
“We need to be more focused on families and their concerns, and countering scare campaigns.”
Mr Wood said some of the government’s controversial superannuation changes needed to be changed, as did the way Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s office operated in campaigns.
Mr Wood said the office was a “closed shop” that overruled him on a “common-sense” election commitment – to match Mr Curtis’s $1 million pledge in May for a community learning and support centre at Berwick Secondary College.
It would tackle domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, suicide prevention and respectful relationships.
“It was a worthwhile project and sadly the PM’s office didn’t have the heart and the political brains to support it.
“I’ve never experienced that before. In years gone by, under Howard, that would have been approved straightaway.”
Mr Wood said the “bucket of money” for election commitments was controlled centrally in Mr Turnbull’s office, but government ministers should have had more of a say.
“I was dark that up at the PM’s office, it was such a closed shop. That’s something the office has to change.”
Mr Wood praised “fantastic” people in the office who backed his call for a ban on cosmetic testing on animals and funding for a Monash Freeway upgrade.
Mr Wood said there was “no leadership talk” about Mr Turnbull’s position. He said Mr Turnbull had “my full support” and he just wanted “our government to do well”.
“I’ve known him since 2004. He knows I’ll raise this stupid campaign with him and I’ll be demanding changes.
“I’ve no doubt, knowing him, that when we get back things will change. Things have to change.
“I’ll be saying the same thing to all of my colleagues. It sadly needs to be made public otherwise nothing will change.”
With the Coalition returned to government, the south-east was set to benefit long-term from the government’s positive election pledges such as tourism, the O’Shea’s Road extension and technology and business hub, Mr Wood said.
“My role has been always to stick up and fight for my local community.”
After a 12-month sabbatical from work to contest the election, the ALP candidate Simon Curtis said it was “disappointing” to probably come up short.
Mr Curtis’s achieved swing is about 2.26 per cent on two-party preferred votes.
“You go in with a view to winning, knowing it had to swing 4 per cent.
“We did everything we could have possibly been done in this campaign. No stone was left unturned.”
Mr Curtis said if Mr Wood was elected he should be held to his pledged Monash Freeway upgrade and tourism package for the electorate.
“I’ll be watching this space at a federal level and local level.
“There’s been lots of promises been made in this election. I’ll make sure we hold them to account.”
