Red-tie day: @stephaniedale22 reports belatedly on the shadow treasurer’s visit to Forde

By Stephanie Dale

23 August 2013

Oh look, page 6 of the Albert & Logan News – it’s Bert!

Bert van Manen with the biggest watermelon smile of the campaign, arms over shoulders with the would-be treasurer, Joe Hockey, who must have coincidentally been in the neighbourhood.

Unlike the rest of the candidates in Forde, I simply cannot get Bert’s campaign to take me seriously. Clearly, Bert is a man who likes to work only with those with whom he is familiar, those he already knows he can trust.

Consequently, in the interests of fair play, I have to rely on local reports by those who have already won his affections to cover Bert for  No Fibs.

He is, after all, a) the sitting member and b) the primary obstacle to former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie’s federal parliamentary ambitions.

Now to the story: what is most odd about the photo in the paper is that Bert is wearing a red tie.

Joe, naturally, is sporting Liberal ‘campaign blue’ – but why is Bert, the party loyalist, wearing red? Or it could be brown . . . I wasn’t invited along to Beenleigh’s Luv a Coffee to see for myself.

According to the report, Joe called Bert a ‘Beattie beater’ – and Bert reckons unlike Peter, he’s not one to beat his chest for the media. To be fair to Peter, he hasn’t beaten his chest once in my presence – just responded straight up to requests from me.

Like most Forde candidates, Bert lists ‘jobs’ as a priority. Which is wise, considering he represents one of the highest youth-unemployment regions in the nation.

The front page of the paper sums up the issue for the people of Forde: one casual job in a chocolate shop – 350 applicants.

Palmer United Party candidate Blair Brewster pointed out yesterday that the major parties have had decades to deliver on jobs for the people of Forde. And 26,000 people a day are travelling up and down the M1 to work – in Brisbane.