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Lover of cringe politics rejoice: former Liberal MP Tim Wilson is going to be back on the campaign trail.
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Tim Wilson, the former “freedom commissioner” — and serial poster of things that both definitely absolutely happened and things you assume he’ll delete but never does — has secured preselection in his old seat of Goldstein ahead of the next election. In so doing, the “moderate Liberal” helped the Liberals’ “woman problem” by beating out Stephanie Hunt, a former adviser to Julie Bishop and Marise Payne; and Colleen Harkin, chief Voice opponent at Wilson’s old employers the Institute of Public Affairs.
If nothing else, it’ll clarify whether it was a good decision for him to retain “MP” at the end of his X handle following his loss in Goldstein to Zoe Daniel in 2022.
So, what has he been up to since then? And what clues does that hold for the campaign to come from the man once celebrated in these pages as “the antithesis of what anyone with a skerrick of blood in their veins feels life is all about: the rent-a-blazer with a nine-dollar smile”?
Announcing his return as a Liberal candidate, the Nine papers said Wilson is “studying for a PhD in economics”, possibly because saying he’s studying “alternative models for carbon markets through tokenisation and the development of derivatives markets” would raise more questions than answers.
As with many races that saw “moderate Liberals” turfed from their blue-ribbon seats, the contest between Wilson and Daniel was bruising and bad tempered. Who can forget the libertarian champion of private property encouraging his constituents to go to teacher over “unlawful signs” in support of Daniels?
Wilson also obviously didn’t share the predominant view that his campaign ended with Daniel’s victory. In April 2023, at an Anzac Day ceremony in Goldstein that Daniel was absent from on account of a personal commitment, Wilson pointedly laid an Anzac wreath at the local RSL, presumably stopping to look to the sky, hand hovering over his heart while surrounded by baffled locals.
Daniel, however, had sent a volunteer called Peter to lay the wreath in her absence, who was captured on video calling Wilson’s actions “very inappropriate” and “ridiculous”. Daniel’s people claimed Wilson had usurped Peter when the call had been made for a volunteer, and then refused to let go of the wreath when Peter had identified himself. Wilson retorted that he was asked to lay the wreath by an RSL staff member and that Goldstein’s MP wasn’t “at an Anzac Day service in her community”.
Meanhile, this past February he displayed his utter genius for hernia-inducing cringe by responding to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s announcement of his engagement to his long-time partner with…
Congratulations @AlboMP & Jodie. Marriage is a fundamental good for society. It promotes mutual dependency and support. And with home ownership first, and superannuation second, you have the foundations of prudence, responsibility & security for life. Congratulations. https://t.co/Rk1bTCgFv0
— Tim Wilson (@TimWilsonMP) February 14, 2024
With this kind of understanding of how normal people react to things added to Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s explicit strategy of dragging the Liberal Party even further away from anyone who would vote for a Liberal like Wilson in a seat like Goldstein, 2025 promises to be interesting.
About the Author
Charlie Lewis
Tips and Murmurs Editor @theshufflediary
Charlie Lewis pens Crikey’s Tips and Murmurs column and also writes on industrial relations, politics and culture. He previously worked across government and unions and was a researcher on RN’s Daily Planet. He currently co-hosts Spin Cycle on Triple R radio.
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