Wentworth By-Election Betting on Independent Phelps to Claim the Seat from the Liberals

The blue-ribbon seat in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been a crown jewel of the Liberal party and its predecessors since federation. They have been holding the seat uninterrupted since 1944. Yet with the rising rage on the new PM Scott Morrison’s early steps to abandon government commitments on climate and energy, and with many people being disappointed of rejecting their much-loved former member Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, the seat is at significant risk to be claimed by a celebrity independent and the local professor Kerryn Phelps. According to online sportsbook sites in Australia, Independent Phelps faces little known liberal candidate Mr Sharma, therefore it would be safer to select her when placing a bet on Wentworth by-election.   

Independent Phelps Has the Best Chance

According to online sportsbook news in Australia, there are few strong independent candidates running for the Wentworth by-election, including the progressive candidate Licia Heath, and the business owner Angela Vithoulkas, but many analysts believe a City of Sydney councilor and Professor Phelps has the best chance to claim the seat and she is a considerable threat to the Liberal vote.

Professor Phelps is well-known and locally popular. She has been a prominent same sex-marriage campaigner, and her major plan is to push for action on climate change and energy policy. According to a former Wentworth MP John Hewson

“You’d be foolish to underestimate the significance of the climate issue in relation to that constituency.” 

Liberals are Losing Momentum

According to the Guardian, The new ReachTel poll funded by the Australia Institute, with a sample size of 886 residents, suggests voters in Wentworth are focused on Morrison’s early steps on climate and energy. It is no surprise as the new PM said after the swearing-in ceremony in August that his immediate priority was power price reductions. Fears of the PM Morrison to dump the national energy guarantee, withdraw from the Paris agreement, and pursue coal-friendly policies might result in losing votes in districts like Wentworth.

Another hurdle Liberals are facing in Wentworth is that people there do not know Mr Dave Sharma, who has been selected as the Liberal candidate. He spent more than a decade abroad, serving as a diplomat, and he does not live in the district of Wentworth. Yet because the seat has been one of the safest Liberal seats in the country, they are still favourites with 1.30 odds, at Unibet Sportsbook, but with Turnbull no longer representing the Liberals there’s no guarantee of success, and it could go away to independent candidate for the first time in history.