{"id":9594,"date":"2013-09-02T21:50:30","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T11:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nofibs.com.au\/?p=9594"},"modified":"2022-05-02T00:33:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T14:33:56","slug":"fisher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.nofibs.com.au\/fisher\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Brough really a Fisher shoo-in?"},"content":{"rendered":"[clear]\n
\"abbott-slipper\"

Mr Abbott and Mr Slipper in happier times<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Rodney Edwin Lever<\/a><\/p>\n

2 September 2013<\/p>\n

\u201cLiar, liar, pants on fire.\u201d\u00a0 When Archie Cameron was Speaker, the word \u201cliar\u201d was considered un-parliamentary and the use of it brought summary ejection from the House.<\/p>\n

Never in my history of elections has the word \u201cliar\u201d been bandied about so frequently in Australian politics as in\u00a0 the current scramble for power.<\/p>\n

Peter Slipper, the two-term serving member for the Queensland electorate of Fisher, brought Archie back to my mind when he briefly introduced some old-fashioned dignity back to the Speaker\u2019s role.\u00a0 Archie reminded me of Hanging Judge Jeffries of an even earlier era.<\/p>\n

Slipper, did not, however wear the shoulder-length wig and the swirling robes that covered all but Archie\u2019s face and hands. But he did show some solemnity in the role, and a firm grip of the rules.<\/p>\n

Peter Slipper has thrown his hat into the ring again in Fisher as an independent, scrambling up enough signatures from loyal local supporters to become one of the ten candidates – yes, 10! – at least twice the number in every previous Fisher election. (The electorate was named after Andrew Fisher, an early prime minister and one of the founders of the Australian Labor Party.)<\/p>\n

Slipper\u2019s entry was a deliberate decision to ensure that the LNP candidate, Malcolm Brough, could not win. It was Brough who worked in the background after the 2010 election to bring Peter Slipper undone, an attempt to disgrace him in what has become known as Ashbygate or the Ashby Affair, trumpeted in the newspapers but thrown out with considerable irritation when taken to court.\u00a0 No one came forward with the money to challenge an appeal and no one appears to have paid for the original case either.<\/p>\n