Canning is a marginal seat with a deceptively safe Liberal Party majority due almost solely to the former member, Don Randall. If Labor can’t win this in a byelection there is something drastically wrong with them.

Not only are the numbers their way, but the Liberal Campaign looks decidedly bone-headed if this article in The Australian is anything to go by.

Its headline claims “Canning by-election in hands of those who can’t stand either leader.” Another way of reading this is “A decent independent would poll really well in this election.” And there is a slew of independents putting their hands up.

Yet what is the Liberal candidate saying, presumably under direction from central office?

His message to voters is that, with Liberal governments in both Western Australia and Canberra, he is the man who can carry on Randall’s legacy of standing up for their interests.

“I’m in a position as the Liberal candidate for Canning to engage with federal and state ministers to deliver for the people of Canning,” Mr Hastie says.

So let’s get this straight, in an electorate which is in reality a swinging electorate, where electors want none of the above, and given the general tendency of by-elections to deliver anti-incumbent government swings, the Liberal candidate is appealing for votes on the basis he is a member of the machine who can fix things for voters.

Not only does it run against the sentiment of the electorate, but it sounds like they are being threatened – elect someone other than a Liberal and the Liberal governments won’t look after you.

We saw a similar line run in Queensland by the LNP with disastrous results as it reinforced the potential for a protest vote and alienated minor party voters whose preferences were vital to counter the Green/ALP alliance. Seems the Libs are slow learners.

Bill Shorten ought to have this one in the bag, and if he doesn’t win it, then the blow torch ought to be applied to him by his colleagues.