TV personality takes on Tony Abbott in federal election
Ex Australian Idol host James Mathison has confirmed he is running against former prime minister Tony Abbott for the seat of Warringah in the 2016 Federal Election.
The television personality will run as an independent candidate against the former prime minister using social media as his central campaign platform with a series of prerecorded videos targeting the political stalwart's 22 years 'of broken promises' as the electorate's MP.
Despite Tony Abbott holding the seat with a 15.4 per cent margin, the 38-year-old host is confident Warringah wants to see a change.
"I don't think his stance and the stance of the far right of the Liberal Party reflect the community and that's what we're going to try to tap into," Mathison told The Daily Telegraph.
“When he said ‘we’ll fix Brookvale Oval, we’ll fix public transport’ something in me said ‘hang on, I think you said that three years ago.’ So I looked up online and in 2001 he was saying these things and I just thought, ‘who is holding him to account?’ No one, because it’s a safe seat.”
Mathison, who lives in Frenchs Forest with his wife and two kids, will use the hashtag #TimesUpTony and slogan Our Chance For A Change, crowd-funding his run against Abbott using Pozible.
He's planning to get his Uber license as part of his non-traditional campaign approach.
“I am there for the electorate and if that means I’m out at 4am, outside The Steyne, outside The Boatshed,” he said, laughing, “I’ll be there. If I served kebabs instead of mints, imagine that?"
"While the media circus is following Shorten and Turnbull, you have to play a bit off Broadway," he said.
The proud environmental activist and social justice advocate, who was manhandled by police during a Save Our Trees protest at Moore Park earlier in the month, says the people of Warringah are used to 'sleepwalking' into the poll booth with the usual Labor and Liberal candidates.
"The Greens are too extreme. People here don’t overly trust Labor but they can’t stand Tony, so what do they do? They just sleepwalk into the polling booth and do what they’ve always done," he said.
“We’re asking them to think ‘what if there was another option? What if there was an alternative to those three?’ Someone who grew up in the community, lives in the community and is prepared to listen to your needs and not just jet around the country, jet around the world and promote their own agenda?”
News break – May 28
