Have Libs flown white flag in Werriwa and Macarthur?

Now that the ballot draw has been completed for the May 18 federal election, it would be fair to ask if the Liberal Party has flown the white flag in two South West Sydney seats, Werriwa and Macarthur.

Their young warrior Riley Munro, fresh from a heavy defeat at the March 23 state election, is backing up as their candidate in Macarthur.

By any measure, the 24 year old is going to have another tough day at the office against the sitting member, the hugely popular Dr Mike Freelander.

The Liberal Party – which has been in power in Australia for the past six years – looks like it has given up hope of winning seats around Macarthur and Liverpool.

Maybe they have forgotten that before Dr Freelander won Macarthur at the 2016 election, the Liberal Party held the seat for many years thanks to Pat Farmer and Russell Matheson.

Macarthur is based around the state seat of Campbelltown and it could be argued it is now a safe Labor seat – but against that is the fact that in the 2011 NSW election it elected a Liberal, Bryan Doyle.

Further north, in the federal seat of Werriwa, won in 2016 by Anne Stanley, the former Liverpool councillor, the Liberal Party have preselected a complete unknown candidate, Shayne Miller.

Werriwa is based around the state seat of Liverpool, with parts of north Campbelltown included.

Labor can tick this one, as well as Macarthur, as being in the bag.

Further south in Hume, which contains parts of Macarthur such as Camden and Cobbitty, the sitting member, Angus Taylor, the energy minister, should not have a problem holding on to the seat.

Having a United Australia Party candidate in Lynda Abdo running will help his cause now that it looks like the Liberal Party and Clive Palmer will do a preference deal.

To make a formal vote on a House of Representatives ballot paper, a voter needs to number every box with a series of consecutive numbers according to their preference.
On the white Senate ballot paper, you need to either:
number at least six boxes above the line for the parties or groups of your choice, or
number at least 12 boxes below the line for individual candidates of your choice.

This is how the ballot paper will look for the three local House of representatives seats:

MACARTHUR:

1. GENT, James

Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)

Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

5. MUNRO, Riley

Liberal