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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned his Coalition colleagues that there are no more safe seats and tough battles defending heartland electorates is the "new normal". Mr Frydenberg, who holds his seat of Kooyong in Melbourne's inner east by a commanding 12.8 per cent, says large margins are no longer enough to protect seats, with voter loyalty to the two main parties less consistent. But the Treasurer, facing a determined challenge in Kooyong from The Greens and an independent, says he expects to see a battle on policy in the campaign's final stages after the scandals, resignations and sackings that dominated last week. Mr Frydenberg is among several senior Liberals facing fights in this election to hold seats once considered impregnable. Former prime minister Tony Abbott is battling for his political life in his North Sydney seat of Warringah, while Health Minister Greg Hunt is having to work hard in the face of a challenge from his former Liberal colleague Julia Banks in the notionally safe Victorian seat of Flinders. Higgins, another 'blue ribbon' Liberal-held Melbourne seat, is considered 'in play' and former health minister Sussan Ley is in trouble in the NSW country seat of Farrer despite her margin of more than 20 per cent. In Kooyong, a Liberal bastion since 1945 when it was held by the party's founder Sir Robert Menzies, voters are seeing the unfamiliar spectacle of an intense, marginal seat-style campaign. Mr Frydenberg, whose campaign is reportedly spending more than $1 million in its effort to see off his opponents, told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that his constituents should get used to the high-intensity treatment. "In today's political environment, there is a greater number than ever before of uncommitted voters and that means that there is no such thing as a safe seat any more, not even on 12.8 per cent," the Treasurer said. "In a competitive contest such as the one we've got, I think you'll see all political parties invest significant resources into their campaigns. "It's going to be a fact of life from here on that campaigns will be heavily resourced and multi-faceted. "I think it is the new normal." During the campaign, Mr Frydenberg has made a series of small announcements for initiatives normally associated with local or state governments. These include $65 million for car parks across the electorate, $1.1 million to upgrade local sports clubs and $200,000 for closed-circuit television cameras in Hawthorn and Camberwell to tackle crime. Mr Frydenberg faces two high-profile challengers: barrister and human rights activist Julian Burnside for The Greens and former Liberal Oliver Yates running as an independent on a climate change platform. The contest has forced Mr Frydenberg to devote more time to defending his home turf than is usual for a government's economic spokesman during a campaign. But he says he was not surprised to see serious competition emerge for the seat after the heavy defeat his Liberal colleagues suffered in November's state election. The fate of the local state seat of Hawthorn, considered safe Liberal territory but falling to Labor with a swing of 9 per cent, was a warning of things to come, Mr Frydenberg said. "After the state election, I think the other parties saw an opportunity," he said. "The state experience in Hawthorn was that [Liberal member] John Pesutto lost and that was unexpected. "Many people have approached me since then and said 'we thought we'd give the Liberal Party a kick but we didn't know we were gonna kick him out'." Mr Frydenberg conceded the removal of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister in August 2018 was still on the minds of many traditional Liberal supporters in Kooyong as they voted three months later. "That election result has given a lot of people an opportunity to reconsider how they cast their vote because while they may be philosophically committed to the Liberals and to a number of their policies, they also might not have been happy with certain things and thought they might send a message," he said. "But unfortunately that message was sent so strongly that we lost the member for Hawthorn. "Certainly the state election being so close to the federal leadership change, it certainly was something that was on people's minds." Mr Frydenberg is urging traditional Liberal voters to think carefully before lodging a protest vote on May 18, saying there was a real possibility his seat could be lost and pointing to the serious campaign efforts under way from his opponents. "In terms of The Greens, they're probably spending more money on Kooyong than all their other seats combined, with mailouts, permanent offices, electronic billboards," the Treasurer said. "[Oliver] Yates too is spending a lot of money, the Labor Party less so." The Greens claim they are being outspent by four-to-one in Kooyong while Mr Yates' campaign said they had a constrained budget but had received a lot of small community donations. Kooyong hit the headlines on the weekend for the wrong reasons with some of Mr Frydenberg's campaign posters defaced with Nazi symbols. Mr Frydenberg, who is Australia's most prominent Jewish politician, described the vandalism as "an insult to every victim of the Holocaust and Australian servicemen and women who fought against Nazi tyranny". The outrage followed a difficult week for the Liberals in Victoria who were forced to sack two of their candidates after homophobic and anti-Muslim material they posted online came to light. The party faces renewed criticism over its organisational efforts. But Mr Frydenberg says any problems will be resolved after the election and that he expects the next phase of the campaign to move away from candidate vetting "issues". A Labor candidate was sacked last week over lewd Facebook posts. "Ultimately the election is about the competing policy platforms being put to the Australian people and as we get into the final couple of weeks, that focus will sharpen and the differences will crystallise in the public's mind," he said. The Treasurer says his party is primed for a fight over policy. "The election came in the immediate aftermath of the budget and the budget had 700 measures in it," Mr Frydenberg said. "That was our key document and the announcements throughout the election are just building on those foundations". - SMH/The Age

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