{"id":34543,"date":"2016-08-03T17:56:34","date_gmt":"2016-08-03T07:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=34543"},"modified":"2022-05-02T11:27:52","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T01:27:52","slug":"the-mundingburra-gambit-the-plan-to-recapture-herbert-qldaah-qldpol-auspol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/the-mundingburra-gambit-the-plan-to-recapture-herbert-qldaah-qldpol-auspol\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mundingburra gambit: The plan to recapture Herbert \u2013 @Qldaah #qldpol #auspol"},"content":{"rendered":"
Inconsistencies alleged by the Liberal National Party in the polling for the Queensland federal seat of Herbert echo\u00a0the 1995 legal challenge to\u00a0Labor’s victory\u00a0in the\u00a0Queensland state electorate of Mundingburra.<\/h6>\n

\"The
\n<\/p>\n

Table of contents<\/h6>\n
Jump to comments section.<\/a><\/h6>\n
Labor victory in Herbert.<\/a><\/h6>\n
The claim.<\/a><\/h6>\n
The Mundingburra by-election.<\/a><\/h6>\n
Fitzgerald critical.<\/a><\/h6>\n
The gambit in Herbert.<\/a><\/h6>\n
The cold campaign.<\/a><\/h6>\n
Further details released.<\/a><\/h6>\n
.<\/span><\/a><\/h6>\n

Labor victory in Herbert<\/h2>\n
\"7<\/a>

7 News Townsville – Cathy O’Toole officially declared member for Herbert.<\/p><\/div>\n

After 29 days of scrutineering and re-counting, Labor’s Cathy O’Toole<\/a> claimed victory by thirty-seven votes in Herbert on Sunday with a 6.2 percent swing. Incumbent Ewen Jones<\/a>\u00a0conceded defeat in a press conference the following day. However, the saga\u00a0may not yet be over with the LNP giving it’s strongest signal yet that it would\u00a0mount a legal challenge in the Court of Disputed Returns.<\/p>\n

\"ABC<\/a>

ABC News 24 – Ewen Jones claims there were a ‘number of anomalies’ in Herbert.<\/p><\/div>\n

Jones told reporters he would support a challenge by the party and it should take place “as soon as humanly possible”.<\/p>\n

“I think the party owes it to our supporters and to\u00a0the nearly 40 percent of people that did vote for us. We won first past the post vote quite comprehensibly. We lost it on preferences.”<\/p>\n

“I think we owe it to the party and we owe it to the people of Townsville (to) get a voice in government. It’s important that we are in government.”<\/p>\n

“The decision on whether we mount a court challenge to the Court of Disputed Returns is a decision of the party but I would be agreeing with it if we did take it to the Court of Disputed Returns. Thirty-seven votes, a number of anomalies in the count that we believe that would\u00a0mount a significant challenge and would mount a reasonable request to the court to sit there and say a new election should be held.”<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/a><\/h6>\n

The claim<\/h2>\n

Now that the seat has been officially declared by the Australian Electoral Commission, the LNP has up to\u00a0forty days to submit a challenge to the court.<\/p>\n

Herbert encapsulates the state seat of Mundingburra in\u00a0the North\u00a0Queensland city of Townsville. It is home to\u00a0a large number of Royal Australian Air Force and Australian Army personnel.<\/p>\n

The polling anomalies centre around claims of “an electoral commission oversight”<\/a>\u00a0that six hundred defence personnel were unable to cast their vote whilst on operation in South Australia at Exercise Hamel.<\/a>\u00a0This number was later defined\u00a0as\u00a0eighty-five defence personnel from the Townsville base in the electorate.<\/p>\n

Several Tweets from the time, including Brigadier Mick Ryan<\/a>\u00a0and Regimental Sergeant Ian D’Arcy<\/a>, show general electoral activity around polling booths and voting\u00a0preparations.<\/p>\n

\n

Members of @AustralianArmy<\/a> on #ExHamel<\/a> will vote tomorrow at polling stations set up by the @AusElectoralCom<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/e6PrJtved9<\/a><\/p>\n

— Brigadier Mick Ryan (@LearningArmy) July 1, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n