Ryan’s response laid bare the Kooyong conundrum.
When independents win seats in the federal parliament,it is usually against MPs whose images have curdled. Think Sophie Mirabella in Indi and Tony Abbott in Warringah.
Throughout the debate,Ryan showed enough to suggest she would make a good member of parliament. But is Kooyong willing to make room for her by turfing out a local boy who could one day become PM?
This is why,with pre-poll voting at the start of next week,both the Ryan and Frydenberg campaigns have become sharply personal.
Frydenberg said that despite running on a platform of integrity,Ryan had concealed her past membership of the ALP.
“Don’t look at what Monique says,look at what Monique does,” he cautioned the room of undecided voters assembled by Sky News.
Ryan implied that the federal government’s signature JobKeeper policy was corrupt and described Frydenberg as a hostage to his own political ambitions and to Coalition hardliners such as Barnaby Joyce.
She challenged his economic management and questioned his support for Victoria during the pandemic. “Mr Frydenberg,you’re the treasurer for NSW,you weren’t here.”
Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Scott Morrison.Credit:James Brickwood
Within the opulent surrounds of the hall’s chandelier room,you could feel the temperature drop. The treasurer’s wife,Amie,listening a few seats away,let out a barely audible gasp.
Turning to the debate compere,Sky News host Kieran Gilbert,Frydenberg made his indignation clear. “Kieran,I am not going to be insulted like that. I am the member for Kooyong,I am the treasurer of Australia,and I have delivered economic support for Victoria which is greater than any other state on a per capita basis.
“There was no rule book for COVID but if you look at vaccination rates,mortality rates and unemployment rates we have done pretty well.”
There were moments when the gulf in political experience between the two candidates showed. When asked about Australia’s deteriorating relationship with China,Ryan naively suggested Australia was at fault for not treating our largest trading partner with greater respect and sensitivity.
In response,Frydenberg pointed to China’s human rights abuses,punitive trade polices,suppression of democracy in Hong Kong and aggressive expansion within the region. “We have serious issues,and we can’t put our heads in the sand,” he said.
Ryan decried the absence of tax reform under the Morrison government but conceded she didn’t have a tax policy of her own. “It is not my job as an independent to come up with a fully fledged idea for tax reform for this country.”
Ryan has avoided revealing which major party she would support if elected to a hung parliament. She reiterated that her decision would be guided by her two headline policy concerns,climate action and the establishment of a federal anti-corruption body.
Loading
When the time came for both candidates to sum up,Ryan left no one in doubt about where she is leaning.
“The legacy of Mr Frydenberg’s government is going to be a toxic miasma of division,disappointment and debt,” she said. “We need to do better. This government has done nothing good for us in the last nine years.”
This prompted another gasp from Amie Frydenberg,but up on stage,the treasurer allowed himself a little smile. If they didn’t before,the voters of Kooyong now know where things stand.