NSW Election 2023: Awkward moment Liberal MP’s own mother is spotted campaigning against him

A Liberal candidate in the NSW election was seen awkwardly campaigning across the street from his own mother urging people to vote for the Greens.

James Griffin is the sitting MP for the seat of Manly and, wearing a blue shirt, handed out a voting card with his wife outside a voting booth on Saturday.

But just across the footpath, decked out in a green shirt, was his mother, who has campaigned for the Greens for 25 years.

“I’ve been working on my mum’s voice for a few years now,” Mr Griffin told Sky News Australia.

“She’s pretty passionate about the environment and good for her.”

He added that it also made for “interesting conversations at Sunday dinner.”

His own mother Cathy campaigned on the footpath for the Greens

His mother Cathy Griffin said she was proud of her son, but that doesn’t mean she would give up her own political beliefs.

“He’s been environment minister for 18 months and I think he’s done a fantastic job, made more decisions that are positive for the environment than I think anyone has succeeded in doing,” she said.

“As for the family, we all do it together and we have really fun political discussions because it’s really fun, but we support James.”

Mr Griffin claimed victory late Saturday in the seat against rival Teal candidate Joeline Hackman.

“At least the teals at the federal level came in and said we’re going to do things differently. And they did,” he told his supporters at Seaforth Bowling Club.

But what we saw at the state level on all the northern beaches [and] North Shore seats were dirty politics, and I think that really damaged the teal brand.

“They’ve almost become a parody of themselves.”

While the Liberals held on to the seat, there was a 10.5 percent swing of the party, mainly in the direction of the teals.