The battle for the electorate of Indi was one of the big tense moments of the 2013 federal election, with independent candidate Cathy McGowan unseating longstanding – but somewhat loathed – Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella. Mirabella is known for her confrontational manner, which is why she was always one of the Coalition‘s bomb throwers.
She’s back in the race for this year’s election, hoping to reclaim her throne in the rural Victorian electorate, and she’s already courting controversy. She was accused of literally pushing McGowan out of the way for a photo opportunity that the latter was likely entitled to as, you know, the sitting MP. She denied that.
Now she’s put her foot in it again. At a Sky News event in Wangaratta featuring both candidates, Mirabella made an admission which, while pretty startling in how candid it was, might not come across that well for people in the electorate or, uh, anyone.
Basically, she says that $10 million in spending that was allocated to the hospital in Wangaratta was withdrawn after the election because Mirabella wasn’t elected – even though the Coalition under Tony Abbott was.
So basically, a significant rural health investment was ditched entirely for partisan reasons – not uncommon, but bloody uncommon for a politician to say in front of a crowd of people from the electorate itself. Mirabella now says she’s the only one who can deliver that kind of spending.
Naturally, people are kinda baffled she would even say it, with News Corp political editor Samantha Maiden thinking it’s proof she was pre-selected so she’d stuff up majorly and end her political aspirations:
Other Twitter users are similarly up in arms over the blatant callousness of the remark:
Welp. It’ll be interesting to see how the people of Indi react come July 2.
Source: Sky News.
Photo: Sky News.
