May 3, 2019 – Table of contents
Extremist links to the Queensland LNP
UAP candidate mocked women and Muslims
Adani’s plan for the black-throated finch rejected
John Alexander tells Fijians to move to higher ground over climate change
Will the real Barnaby Joyce please show up
Extremist links to the Queensland LNP
Sarah Martin and Christopher Knaus reported, “Far-right ringleader Neil Erikson was one of three extremists who attended a “conservative recruitment event” for the Liberal National party at a private residence on the Gold Coast last year.” Neil Erikson attended Gold Coast ‘recruitment event’ for the Liberal National party.
Labor’s plan to fix the NDIS
Dana McCauley reported, “Labor leader Bill Shorten has vowed to “fix” the trouble-plagued National Disability Insurance Scheme to ensure every dollar committed to the scheme is actually spent on services for Australians with a disability.” Labor unveils plan to ‘fix’ the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
UAP candidate mocked women and Muslims
Clive Palmer says comments made on Facebook by his Bean candidate, Tony Hanley, are unacceptable and he’ll take the matter up with him.
Michael Inman reported, “A Facebook account in the name of United Australia Party (UAP) candidate Tony Hanley made posts calling Saudi Arabians “tea towel heads” and said the children of taxi drivers were “future terrorists”. Facebook page linked to Clive Palmer party candidate Tony Hanley mocked women, Muslims before deletion.
Adani’s plan for the black-throated finch rejected
Amongst all the excitement, the Queensland environment department has sent back Adani’s plan for the management of the black-throated finch because it doesn’t meet the requirements.
John Alexander tells Fijians to move to higher ground over climate change
In response to Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s plea to Australia to stop burning coal due to climate change, Liberal Party MP for Bennelong, John Alexander, has suggested Fijians move to higher ground.
Peter Hannam reported, “John Alexander, the sitting Liberal MP for Bennelong, has sought to downplay his comments that Australia’s climate policy priority in the Pacific should be helping people ‘move to higher ground’ rather than curbing coal. Mr Alexander told a forum at the Epping Uniting Church on Monday Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama recently asked Australia, ‘please stop burning coal, you know the water level’s just coming up and it’s threatening our communities’, according to audio obtained by the Herald and The Age.” ‘Move to higher ground’: Liberal MP’s climate advice to Fijians.
Herbert profile
It’s Australia’s most marginal seat. Just 37 votes gave victory to Labor in 2016 in the seat of Herbert.
Amy Remeikis took a trip to Townsville, “It’s been more than 1000 days and Townsville still hasn’t made up its mind. I don’t know,” Charlie Murison says when asked who he’ll vote for. “None of them?” At the mercy of minors: Labor and LNP wrestle for hyper-marginal Herbert.
Coal mining and protecting The Great Barrier Reef are two concerns in Townsville.
Labor’s Cathy O’Toole holds the seat on a margin of 0.02 percent.
Her main rival is Phillip Thompson who finds Clive Palmer palatable.
They’ll take our vegemite
A journalist has asked Prime Minister Scott Morrison if a Labor government would mean a change to the recipe of vegemite.
Return of the Barnaby
According to the Qld LNP MP for Capricornia, Michelle Landry, Barnaby Joyce could return to the top Nationals job in a reorganised party room in the next term of government.
Michael Koziol reported that Ms Landry said, “That’s up to the party room and the party room will be totally different this time around. We had a lot of people resigning and hopefully a lot of new ones coming in.” Barnaby Joyce could return as Nationals leader in new-look party room, says MP Michelle Landry.
Will the real Barnaby Joyce please show up
Robyn McAskill reports, “When federal Member for New England Barnaby Joyce cheated on his wife Natalie, many of his supporters maintained that it was a personal matter and not newsworthy. If the only issue with Barnaby was that he had an extramarital affair, I would agree — people make mistakes — but the enduring anger isn’t simply about the affair. It’s about the breach of voter trust, mismanagement, ignoring the law, and the promotion of mining ahead of rural community interests.” Will the real Barnaby Joyce please show up.
Candidate clear out
The vetting process of political parties appears to be less than adequate with another Liberal Party candidate and another Labor one resigning. Once again, it’s the devil’s work in Facebook that brought them down.
Liberal Party candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Lyons, Jessica Whelan, has resigned from the party. There was considerable confusion overnight in trying to establish with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) if Ms Whelan had referred allegations that her Facebook posts had been “doctored” as Prime Minister Scott Morrison had inferred yesterday afternoon.
Samantha Maiden reported, “The New Daily confirmed with AFP sources that as of 9pm on Thursday there was no referral to the relevant line area of the posts by Ms Whelan.” Liberal candidate dumped over anti-Muslim online posts.
However, by this morning Ms Whelan had offered her resignation. The PM stepped up for a press conference to confirm that one of the posts was still being referred to the AFP but other posts that surfaced last night were unacceptable.
Ms Whelan has tonight announced her continued candidacy in Lyons as an Independent.Carla Howarth reported, “Former Liberal federal election candidate Jessica Whelan insists she has changed her views on Muslims since posting anti-Islamic and anti-migration comments on social media.” Ex-Liberal candidate Jessica Whelan says views changed since anti-Muslim posts.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten also had a bad morning with Melbourne candidate, Luke Creasey. In an early morning press conference, Mr Shorten said he had accepted Mr Creasey’s apology for sharing a rape joke. However, Mr Shorten reappeared a short time later declaring further posts had been revealed and he was seeking a briefing from the Victorian Labor secretary.
Not long after, Mr Creasey released a statement saying he had resigned.
Rosemary Bolger has a list of the candidate wreckage so far. Election hall of shame: How stuff ups and social media slips cost election candidates.
Election analyst Antony Green has been peppered with questions about what happens to disendorsed or resigned candidates.