Federal Liberals continue to behave badly in 2018 - Part Two

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull still continues (as late as Wednesday 28 March 2018) to deny any part in the Barnaby Joyce scandal…..

The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2018:

A key adviser to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull helped to formalise a job transfer for the partner of Barnaby Joyce, according to new details about the controversial decision to secure the new position in a ministerial office.

The letter from Mr Turnbull’s senior governance adviser was signed on May 9 last year and gave official clearance to the new role for Vikki Campion, who was in a relationship with Mr Joyce at the time and is due to give birth to their baby next month.

The role played by the Prime Minister’s office triggered detailed questioning in Parliament last month amid an uproar over the relationship and the way the government moved Ms Campion from one office to another to manage the matter….

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said on Wednesday, "The email simply confirms what we have always said: as is usual practice, the PMO performed a purely administrative role passing on the documents to the relevant department."

The extent of Mr Turnbull’s knowledge of the affair and the job transfer has been the subject of furious debate for weeks, given reports that Mr Joyce’s former chief of staff, Di Hallam, took steps in late 2016 to inform the Prime Minister’s office of the romance and arrange a job transfer for Ms Campion.

Sacked former Australian Prime Minister and Liberal MP for Warringah,Tony Abbott, doing his best to ensure Malcolm Turnbull leads the Coalition to defeat at the forthcoming federal election. Rumour has it that he sees himself as Leader of the Opposition for a second time around.......

The Conversation, 27 March 2018:

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has said that if people had been more willing to heed the message of those like Pauline Hanson over the last two decades, “we would be a better country today”.

In a speech loaded with praise for the controversial One Nation leader, Abbott described her as “a remarkable and a resilient presence in our public life for more than two decades”.

He also said the only way the Coalition could win the next election was to harvest Hanson preferences. “If I can make that more likely, that is a very positive contribution that I can make to the prospects of the Turnbull government.” He said the Coalition should preference One Nation above Labor and the Greens, because the government had been able to work constructively with it in the Senate.

Launching a book of her speeches, Pauline: In Her Own Words, Abbott referenced a “lot of dirty water under the bridge” between them in the past. When he was a member of the Howard government, Abbott was involved in moves that ended in Hanson being jailed for electoral fraud. She said after she was released: “Heaven help this country if Tony Abbott is ever in control of it. I detest the man.”

At the launch Abbott praised Hanson’s “willingness to let the past be the past”.

While over in Western Australia a nasty Liberal mano a mano war has erupted.....

The West, 28 March 2018:

A factional war inside the WA Liberals has boiled over with Federal MP Ian Goodenough suggesting a rival should face criminal charges for misleading the Australian Electoral Commission.

The AEC confirmed it had removed long-time Liberal player Simon Ehrenfeld from the electoral roll after complaints from Mr Goodenough and his allies about Mr Ehrenfeld not actually living at the address he had registered.

Mr Ehrenfeld is the vice-president of the party’s Moore division and president of the Liberals’ Hillarys branch.

Mr Goodenough claimed Mr Ehrenfeld could face investigation for misleading the AEC.

He said other senior Liberal Party members could also face action for giving statements to the commission asserting Mr Ehrenfeld lived at the Kallaroo address.

“The AEC should take steps to prosecute him if they deem it necessary,” Mr Goodenough said.

“Obviously it is more serious if two or three people have conspired.”

PHON and Pauline Hanson attempt a Trump

As West Australians vote on Saturday, keen attention will be on a woman who isn’t a candidate, knows little about local issues, and lives a continent away. She is Pauline Hanson and her week-long campaign on the ground in Western Australia has demonstrated why she has stood for election 10 times since 1998 — six federal polls, two in NSW, two in Queensland — with just one victory. It has been a chronicle of chaos. [News.com.au, 10 March 2017]

A minor political party riddled with conspiracy theorists, climate change deniers and other right-wing ratbags, cursed by bad candidate selection, suspect staffing decisions and erratic leadership, now makes yet another mistake – its leader alienates an entire national media platform by banning ABC journalists from its post-election event in Western Australia.

Apparently failing miserably as a de facto Liberal Party partner at the 11 March 2017 state general election was just not enough for Pauline Hanson and sidekick James Ashby. They decided to take a leaf out of Donald Trump’s crazy political playbook.

Response from the ABC has been restrained but firm.

Australian Broadcasting Commission, ABC media release, 14 March 2017:

Statement from ABC Editorial Director: exclusion of ABC journalists by One Nation officials

The ABC is deeply concerned at the decision by One Nation to single out and exclude ABC reporters from its official election night function in Perth on Saturday night.

I have been in communication with One Nation officials since early Sunday seeking an explanation.

Despite the fact that One Nation has claimed that all media were treated appropriately and obtained material from a pool camera on the night, the facts remain that:

*Other media representatives from a range of organisations attended on the night without any prior arrangements or permission being required.

*Those other media representatives, who included broadcasters, agencies and newspaper reporters from inside and outside Western Australia, were granted immediate access to the event.

*The ABC was denied access, and was treated differently to all other media.

Throughout the Western Australian election campaign, the ABC has provided accurate, impartial and independent political coverage and all political parties have been the subject of appropriate scrutiny and questioning.

If the ABC has been denied normal access to political events for simply doing its job, then that is an attack not just on the public broadcaster but on the fundamental role of the media in a democracy.

We will continue, as we always have, to report without fear or favour.

Alan Sunderland

ABC Editorial Director

ENDS

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BACKGROUND - WA GENERAL ELECTION

On 14 March 2017 with 75.92% of Lower House ballot papers counted PHON only had 4.83% of the primary vote with no seat gained and with 67.66% of Upper House ballot papers counted PHON had only 7.95% of the primary vote with one seat gained to date.

Updates can be found at https://www.elections.wa.gov.au/elections/state/sgelection#/sg2017.