The race for Farrer, and a weird saga that left the Liberals in shock
If new Coalition leader Angus Taylor cares to examine his past, he may learn that strange consequences can occur when Farrer’s large constituency, which is about to be dumped by Sussan Ley, is asked to elect a new member, creating a huge shock for the Liberal Party.
The last time things got crazy for the Liberal Party in Farrer was 1984, and no Liberal who was around at the time would have forgotten it.
The Farrer by-election, precipitated by Ley’s decision to quit parliament following his defeat in the leadership, is sure to be Taylor’s first political test and is escalating into a mass brawl.
The Liberal Party and National Party can be expected to field candidates by splitting the traditional conservative vote, while a growing One Nation has announced it will enter the race and at least one popular and battle-ready independent – Michelle Milthorpe, who came second to Ley at the last election – is already out of the blocs. It wouldn’t be surprising if Labor chose to stay out of the contest and watch the feathers ruffle from afar.
Stretching along the Murray River from the foothills of the Snowy Mountains to the South Australian border, Farrer has always been a conservative region.
After the electorate was formed in 1949, it enjoyed a comfortable quarter-century in the hands of the Liberal Party’s Sir David Fairbairn, a wealthy grazier and minister in every Liberal cabinet until 1972.
Liberal Wal Fife, who was Malcolm Fraser’s minister, later held the seat from 1975 to 1984; meanwhile his home town of Wagga was removed from the electorate by redistribution and replaced by the seat of Hume, which is now held by Taylor.
In 1984, then, the Farrer election was expected to be won handsomely by Liberal candidate John Roach, the long-serving mayor of Albury.
A man called Tim Fischer was selected for the national competition, but his clumsy speaking style meant he wasn’t taken very seriously initially.
Roach was so confident that he happily took a trip to the Netherlands in the middle of the election campaign.
The reason remains surprising.
In 1934, citizens of Albury were credited with rescuing the crew of a KLM Royal Dutch Airline plane named Uiver.
The aircraft was lost in a storm above the Murray during the London to Melbourne air race; This event was followed with excitement by people around the world.
With the situation becoming more desperate, the Albury town engineer used the town’s electric lighting system to send morse code into the night sky, hoping to attract the attention of the Uiver’s captain.
Cleaver Bunton, the announcer of the local radio station, went on the air and urged everyone with a car to urgently go to the race track and line up to create a makeshift landing strip illuminated by their headlights.
Surprisingly, guided by the lights, Uiver landed safely. He fell into the swamp, but the next morning the townspeople dug him up and pushed him onto solid ground. The plane took off and won the race by handicap.
It caused a worldwide sensation.
Fifty years later, the Dutch government announced that it would introduce a medal honoring the city of Albury.
Alderman John Roach, mayor of Albury and Farrer’s Liberal candidate, left the election campaign behind and flew to the Netherlands to accept the honour.
In Roach’s absence, Fischer turned out to be a very shrewd candidate for Nationals.
He earned the nickname the Two-Minute Squad by whizzing through the electorate, meeting with voters during short stops in every small town and precinct.
He even chartered a venerable plane called the Silver City, the VIP plane formerly used by BHP executives, and filled it with journalists; Including me, I was also working at BHP. Albury Border Morning Post then – and took his campaign to the airwaves.
When Roach returned from the Netherlands, I met him at Albury airport, asked him if he had enjoyed the trip abroad and asked if he was aware that he was losing interest in Farrer.
He wasn’t happy, and it was no surprise that he scolded me for asking such a flippant question.
Sure enough, a few days later Fischer became a member of Farrer. He held the post comfortably until 2001, when he retired and Ley regained the award on behalf of the Liberal Party.
Angus Taylor, who faces a particularly awkward by-election from leader Sussan Ley, whom he defeated on Friday, may advise anyone selected as the Liberal candidate to check their travel diaries and cancel any travel west of the South Australian border or east of the upper Murray.
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Tony Wright is associate editor and feature writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
