Will Gulaptis lose the Nationals' family jewels?

National Party candidate for Page, Chris Gulaptis, should be having restless nights in the run-up to Saturday's election. The prospects of Page falling to Labor must be causing Gulaptis and his supporters, who include former Deputy Speaker and experienced head kicker Ian Causley, to have grave concerns. The Nationals have bankrolled Gulaptis's campaign to an incredible extent. Nightly commercial television news has had an appearance that it's been the filler between a steady stream of ads for Gulaptis and his counterpart Sue Page, who is contesting Richmond for the Nats. Some locals in Page have been on the receiving end of three, four and in some cases five direct mail outs from the Gulaptis team.

On top of the direct cash funding the Nats have thrown Gulaptis's way, there's been no shortage of Government members visit the electorate and throw their weight behind Gulaptis. Locals have lost count of the number of times National Party leader Mark Vaile has visited the electorate. Local wags reckon Vaile will soon have to notify the AEC of a change of address to one that's in Page. Pity he didn't do that before the rolls closed - that would have allowed him to vote for Gulaptis who resides in the electorate of Cowper and doesn't get to vote for himself.

In a move that shows all the signs of desperation Vaile, speaking at the coalition's corporate lunch in Sydney, said that Labor was a bunch of burglars intent on stealing the coalition's family jewels.

Vaile said, "We cannot allow this to be put at risk. We cannot allow a bunch of burglars to slip through the side window and steal the family jewels now that we have created them."

Who does Vaile think he is?

A local in Page remarked, "I think the biggest issue for The Nationals is that the seats they hold tend to be the poorest seats in the country. What has been happening for the last 11 years? It is only now the money has started flowing because they are desperate."

The local resident added that the issue most concerning to him was the prospect of a nuclear reactor on the NSW north coast.

AAP reports that Gulaptis's son had this to say about his father:

"He is my Dad. How embarrassing."

For further details, read AAP's report at: http://milton.yourguide.com.au/news/breaking/general/strong-economy-taken-for-granted-vaile/1090648.html

How I see the day I quit or John-in-Wonderland

These days John Howard's view of his world is a wonder to behold.

 

Howard in The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday.

"Mr Howard yesterday said Treasurer Peter Costello would replace him unopposed as Liberal leader when he steps down, even though the choice is ultimately up to the party room.

The prime minister today defended that statement and offered a candid insight into what would happen on that fateful day.

"I will go into the party meeting and say I hereby resign as leader of the Liberal Party, and everybody will sort of say 'right o', they'll know it's coming, then I'll sit down and say 'does anybody want to nominate'," Mr Howard told reporters.

"In our party you nominate by standing and people will stand and in my view nobody else will stand, and he will be elected unopposed."

 

Who is he kidding? If the Howard Government fails to win re-election this Saturday, John Howard will be lucky to survive his concession speech without multiple bloody knives in the middle of his back. If the Coalition regains government by a severely reduced majority, John Howard will face leadership challengers aplenty before his preferred time to resign.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald articles:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/how-i-see-the-day-i-quit-howard/2007/11/20/1195321765417.html

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/not-faking-pm/2007/11/20/1195321747836.html

Punters odds still set for major Labor victory on NSW North Coast

Sportingbet at 3.23pm today.

 

PAGE

Janelle Saffin (ALP)   $1.53

Chris Gulaptis (NATS) $2.35

 

RICHMOND

Justine Elliot (ALP)     $1.80

Sue Page (NATS)        $6.00

 

COWPER

Not found but Centrebet has Luke Hartsuyker at 1.41 and Paul Sekfy at 2.70

 

It appears that Australia-wide more punters are betting on Labor to win government.

 

The Northern Star today:

http://www.northernstar.com.au/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3755933&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=

Nats' Chris Gulaptis promises $300k to catch a crook and Clarence Valley cracks up

The irony of today's The Daily Examiner frontpage headline was not lost on Lower Clarence residents - "Nat's $300k to catch a crook".

 

Chris Gulaptis' problematic voting record on the former Maclean Shire Council is well documented, and even though Clarence Valley Council has always been careful not to leave any printed or taped evidence of how individual councillors vote, many are still watching Cr. Gulaptis' performance on this council.

 

If the Nats want to catch law breakers they should look to their own ranks.

This party should also consider if promising money will be delivered to the Page via a specific program, the National Community Crime Prevention program, might be as dodgy as Mr. Vaile's recent promise to deliver more funds to another electorate from the now notorious Regional Partnerships program.  

In case of fire, break glass and vote Greens

In an effort to keep-it-simple-stupid the media rarely presents an Australian national electoral race as anything but a battle between two giants, and the Liberal Party will never call attention to the fact that it is not strong enough to govern without its mini-me Nationals.

 

Of course the major parties have been quite successful in convincing us all that this two-horse race call is all but ordained from on high. The reality of power and how it is exercised does lend some weight to this view.

 

However, other aspects of reality are also valid. Right now we voters can use not only our personal primary vote but also our preferences to strengthen or weaken the major parties' hold over our lives and futures.

 

So if you are fearful of another three years under an increasing right-wing Coalition government; if you worry that a Labor government might fall into complacency over issues like the economy, foreign policy, social justice or climate change; remember that there are still two parliamentary parties out there with track records and experience in the Senate - The Greens and the Australian Democrats.

 

So on 24 November if you are still consumed by fiery doubt, remember that breaking from the herd might be a better option - and vote for The Greens on the Senate ballot paper.

 

The Greens:

http://greens.org.au/intro/

The Australian Democrats:

http://www.democrats.org.au/

Exclusive Brethren - serial offenders, yet again!

The ever-so-exclusive Exclusive Brethren has made yet another underhand attempt to influence Australian politics. This group, whose access to the PM and government ministers is way out of proportion to that of similarly sized lobby groups, has decided its pay back time in Tasmania and is targeting the Greens in general, but Senator Bob Brown in particular.

The Sydney Morning Herald (November 21) http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/sect-back-in-fray-with-blast-at-greens/2007/11/20/1195321782667.html
reports the religious sect has dramatically intervened in the federal election campaign with a letter sent "To the citizens of Tasmania" warning about the "anti-development and immoral policies" of the Greens leader, Bob Brown.

The letter refers readers to a number of websites, including an anonymous, US-registered blog at www.greenswatch.com. This site makes wild accusations about the Greens. It would have readers believe the Greens started the 2004 race riots on Palm Island. And, get this, the site reckons the Greens are have been plotting to infiltrate the Exclusive Brethren.

Senator Brown's response: "I think the church's members are pouring hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars into this campaign … and under the Government's new electoral laws, an individual can put in $100,000 around the country without any disclosure being made."

Not unexpectedly, the Brethren denied any input from the Liberal Party.