Throughout the first year of the pandemic, when then-opposition leader Michael O’Brien was struggling to gain political traction against a dominant Premier Daniel Andrews, Mr Smith was unrelenting in his support for Mr Guy to return to the job.
At times, Mr Smith wanted the leadership for Mr Guy more than Mr Guy wanted it for himself.
Bittersweet: Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.Credit:Eddie Jim
But having helped install Mr Guy as leader two months ago, Mr Smith couldn’t convince Mr Guy to throw his own career a lifeline.
Mr Smith lost control of his car on a Hawthorn street after abruptly leaving a gathering at the home of barrister Stuart Wood. Mr Smith failed a breath test.
He stood down as shadow attorney-general, apologised for his “serious error of judgment” and said he was surprised to be over the limit after drinking “a few” glasses of wine.
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This explanation did not square with Mr Smith’s blood-alcohol reading of 0.131, which is more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit. It also did not satisfy Mr Guy, who after sitting down with Mr Smith and listening to his account, publicly called for his friend to give up his seat in State Parliament.
“I made it clear that I didn’t want him to nominate at the next election, and that I didn’t believe he should nominate for the seat of Kew,” Mr Guy said.
Over the past week, Mr Smith sought the counsel of his supporters, influential electors and Liberal Party figures in Kew and federal colleagues including Josh Frydenberg, a political ally of both Mr Smith and Mr Guy.
Some of Mr Smith’s local backers – former Liberal Party state president Richard Alston, life-long Liberal Jane Hargreaves and the executive of the Kew Electorate Council – believed he made a terrible mistake but it shouldn’t be career-ending. Another of Mr Smith’s prominent supporters, local retailer Jolyon Edwards, told him he had to put the party first.
The hard-headed view was that, even if Mr Smith convinced enough local party members to support his preselection and the party’s administrative committee accepted his candidacy, it would be difficult for him to hold a seat made marginal by a rising Greens vote and the erosion of its traditional Liberal base.
More pressingly, Mr Guy’s public comments left Mr Smith nowhere to go. On Thursday, when Mr Guy reiterated his position, Mr Smith had no other choice.
The demise of Mr Smith’s parliamentary career brings to an end a Liberal project that began in 2007 when the former national team rower took his first political job as a part-time electorate officer for Mr O’Brien.
Schooled at Scotch College, the alma mater of five Victorian premiers, Mr Smith had given up his dream of rowing at the Olympics because of a back injury and enrolled in a Masters of International Politics at Melbourne University.
His political aspirations were sponsored and encouraged by an eclectic cross-section of Liberal figures. As well as spending time in Mr O’Brien’s office, Mr Smith worked for federal MP Bruce Billson and, briefly, Malcolm Turnbull in his ill-fated stint as opposition leader.
While studying at the London School of Economics, he was introduced to Mr Alston, who was then serving a posting as high commissioner to the UK. Mr Alston in turn introduced the young, self-described conservative to one of his political heroes, Margaret Thatcher.
Liberal MP for Kew Tim Smith with Margaret Thatcher.Credit:Photographic
At the age of 26, Smith became the youngest person to be elected mayor of the City of Stonnington. Before he turned 30, he had tilled the ground so assiduously in the prized seat of Kew that his entry to state politics was a fait accompli despite a sitting government minister, Mary Wooldridge, contesting the preselection.
To help seal the vote, Mr Smith produced two glossy brochures spruiking his credentials. The first carried pictures of him baby-faced with his parents, his girlfriend, Britain’s Iron Lady and his teammates from the Australian eight-man crew which won a bronze medal at the world championships.
The second carried endorsements from a who’s who of conservative politics including Howard government minister Rod Kemp, Liberal donor Rod Menzies and Mr Alston.
Mr Smith spent Saturday night calling supporters to tell them of his decision and apologise again for what he had done.
“It has been an honour to have served the people of Kew as their Liberal MP and the Liberal Party,” he said. “I thank everyone who has supported me in good times and bad. I have let many people down and I apologise again for causing this mess.”
Mr Smith will serve the remaining year of the current parliamentary term on the backbench. Nominations for Liberal Party preselection in Kew close on November 12.
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‘Best interest’: Tim Smith to quit politics at next election
Source: Philippines Alive
