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The short-lived renegade independent member for Wentworth Kerryn Phelps is reportedly planning to concede defeat today, after the votes land on Saturday’s federal election.
Analysts predict that the Liberals’ Dave Sharma will retake Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat, after Dr Phelps won it at a by-election last October.
Nearly 75 per cent of the ballots have been counted, and Mr Sharma leads by almost 2,000 votes.
Dr Phelps won booths around the youthful Bondi beach and Darlinghurst, but Mr Sharma outpolled her in the more franking-credit-centric suburbs like Double Bay and Vaucluse.
Dr Phelps’ by-election win last year was the first time the seat in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs and not been won by the Liberals, or its predecessors, since federation – after the electorate responded swiftly to the Liberal Party’s disrespectful treatment of their messiah Malcolm Turnbull.
Speaking to the Betoota Advocate from the Royal Sydney Golf Course, Point Piper-based Italian furniture importer, Clyde Botha-Paspaley, says he feels the Liberals were in need of a reality check.
“I voted Phelps in October because I was infuriated that our local member was forced into resignation by those new money bogans in the right-faction of the Liberal Party” he says.
“How dare they? Morrison revolts me. Cronulla is the Blackpool of Sydney”
However, as Mr Botha-Paspaley points out, at the end of the day, he’s just another boomer who hates paying tax and loves negative gearing.
“I feel seven months of minority government is enough punishment”
Clyde’s third wife, Annabelle, agrees.
“They’ve done their time” she says.
“After their treatment of Malcolm, I knew Sharma was just going to be put in the backbench if he did get in… And as a Wentworth voter, I would prefer to be represented by a crossbencher than a backbencher”
However, with the most recent pre-election brain drain in the Liberals – Annabelle says it’s pretty clear that Sharma is going to be one of the biggest assets to this goverment.
“He’ll be deputy this time next week. Just look at those other dead shits”
