{"id":22553,"date":"2014-10-05T16:16:43","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T05:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=22553"},"modified":"2022-02-01T10:20:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-31T23:20:47","slug":"sour-grapes-of-liberal-wrath-as-murdochmafia-target-indivotes-jansant-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/sour-grapes-of-liberal-wrath-as-murdochmafia-target-indivotes-jansant-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"Sour grapes of Liberal wrath as #MurdochMafia target #Indivotes: @jansant comments"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ken

Ken Jasper, former National Party Murray Valley state MP of 34 years, incensed Liberals by joining the hundreds who campaigned for Cathy McGowan MP. Photo: Wayne Jansson<\/p><\/div>\n

Every now and then in the life of a nation, there’s an event that threatens to change the status quo, bringing the old tired establishment out swinging. You and I, the punters, will be led to believe the assault is for our own good and the sanctity of our institutions.<\/p>\n

Sophie Mirabella’s (@MirabellaSophie<\/a>) defeat at the 2013 federal election by Cathy McGowan MP (@Indigocathy<\/a>) sent a shiver up the spine of the old major parties. In one of the safest seats in the country, the electors worked together to oust one of the most fierce operatives of Australian politics.<\/p>\n

On 27 September, 2014, The Australian after an “investigation by The Weekend Australian”, ran a story stating<\/a>: “A SPATE of allegedly false voter enrolments in a key seat in last year\u2019s federal election contributed to the surprise defeat of the Liberal Party\u2019s Sophie Mirabella”.<\/p>\n

Surprise defeat?<\/p>\n

In my first Indi seat report of the 2013 campaign proper<\/a>, I suggested there was a “perfect storm” brewing over Indi. Around two weeks out from election day, No Fibs<\/em> editor Margo Kingston asked who I thought was going to win, I said McGowan.<\/p>\n

The only thing that suprised me was how long it took Mirabella and the Liberal Party to see the dark clouds forming.<\/p>\n

Indi was won by McGowan with a margin of 439 votes. Since The Australian’s original story, 27 electors have been referred to the Australian Federal Police (Australian Electoral Commission has no investigative powers) to determine if any laws have been breached. Not much of a ‘contribution’ to Mirabella’s defeat as suggested by The Australian’s\u00a0Hedley Thomas, even IF all 27 allegations are proved.<\/p>\n

But lets look at what the word “SPATE” actually means:<\/p>\n

A large number of similar things coming in quick succession.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So 27 “allegedly false voter enrolments” out of\u00a093,817 total votes are describe as “A SPATE”. REALLY?<\/p>\n

University of Queensland\u2019s Graeme Orr, an expert in electoral law, told The Border Mail<\/a>: “there was little precedent to dictate what the likely penalty would be because enrolment offences are so rarely prosecuted, partly because they are so widespread”.<\/p>\n

It would be a safe-as-houses bet that younger voters are over represented within this group.<\/p>\n

Orr also said “the bigger problem was the number of Australians who were not enrolled at all”.<\/p>\n

McGowan intentionally engaged young voters, encouraging them to get on the electoral roll regardless of who they may have decided to vote for, she still does.<\/p>\n

I personally talked to large numbers of young people around the electorate who said they had enrolled to vote for the first time ever, because it was the first time a\u00a0politician had bothered to engage and listened to them.<\/p>\n

On 29 September, 2014, the first business day after the story broke, Mirabella made a public appearance<\/a> with Sussan Ley MP (@sussanley<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Delighted to be in NE Vic representing @BriggsJamie<\/a> to announce 1.8 mil in roads funding secured by Sophie Mirabella pic.twitter.com\/UlWTXLIf9P<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sussan Ley (@sussanley) September 29, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n