Lawyers limber up
Is this election destined to end up in the courts? Are we on the verge of a Florida-style legal bust-up… a stoush… a barnie... a blue?
Certainly, the Liberal Party appears to laying the groundwork for a possible challenge should it lose Saturday’s election.
So into the "inbox" drops a pre-emptive strike from CHQ – that’s Coalition Campaign Headquarters in Melbourne for the uninitiated (John Howard, for the even more uninitiated, leads a coalition of Liberals and Nationals). An email questioning the eligibility of 13 Labor Party candidates to contest this election. That's almost a 10th of its candidates.
Coalition enemy number one is George Newhouse – you remember, the fella who is trying to unseat the environment minister Malcolm Turnbull in the "soapie" constituency of Wentworth (his ex-girlfriend is standing against him).
His high crime and misdemeanour? An alleged violation of election law which states that candidates must give up "any office of profit under the Crown" prior to submitting their nomination papers.
George was apparently a member of the New South Wales Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. Sounds to me like the sort of body from which you’d be in a hurry to resign. But the Liberals allege he left it too late, which disqualifies him from running for parliament.
A lawyer himself, George denies this. A barrister himself, Malcolm Turnbull thinks his opponent should be deemed ineligible. Much is at stake, of course. Wentworth in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs is the jewel in the Liberal crown. Since Federation, Labor has never won it.
Some Labor candidates alleged to occupy "an office of profit under the Crown" are university lecturers. Mark Reynolds, who is contesting the safe Liberal seat of Tangney in Western Australia, is still allegedly an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at the University of Western Australia. Bet he never calculated this would happen.
And what of Tony Zappia, who’s contesting the Liberal marginal of Makin in Adelaide. Get this. He might face a legal challenge because he is still allegedly a member of the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary Advisory Board.
Are we on the verge of a global first? Is Tony Zappia about to become the only politician in the world ever to be disqualified from office because of his love of aquatic mammals?
I'm 
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Reeks of desperation, doesn't it?
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Between this and the 'fake flyer' incident, allegedly conceived after a few beers, you have to wonder at the level of desperation in the Liberal party.
Dolphin-gate anyone?
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MARINE mammals, not AQUATIC mammals
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Lil' John's threat of using lawyers to overturn any decision made by the Australian people in this election (only if he loses of course), combined with the race-baiting, islamic-bashing political tactics that he has allowed in his party - shows how desperate the Liberals are to stay in power.
They have no new policies.
They have no new ideas.
They only hope to stay in power through the use of scare tactics, fear mongering and through dividing the Australian people.
Get ready for a 'Florida' style recount when Kevin Rudd finally wins this election from the arrogant and corrupt government this coalition has become.
We've been waiting 11 years and we don't want this bull**** anymore.
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The rules are there for everyone to follow. You can't just deem certain rules "unimportant" or "irrelevant" (even if they are so) if you simply do it because it suits your political stance. The ALP would be whinging just as loudly if Liberal candidates were similarly suspect, because you attack your opponent with every percieved advantage you can find. To call it desperation reeks of ridiculous partisanship ignoring basic facts.
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Perhaps the Labor Party can sue the little lying rodent for being in the PM's job under false pretenses, too.
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Yes, I am partisan. However, would the liberals be pursuing this if they were winning? I doubt it. Do these charges look serious? Not at first glance - Universities, for instance, are independent bodies. It sounds like "any office of profit under the Crown" is being stretched to it's limit. Will it have a serious effect on the outcome? I personally don't think so. That's why it seems desperate.
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G'day Nick,,,,do you know how many time zones we have in my stupid country,,Queensland 6am,NSW 7am,Victoria 7am,Tasmania ?,and so on,
SA,WA,NT,ACT, LABOR only needs 16 seats to win government,those Cockroaches in NSW,had better not ruin the night for us,Canetoad Queenslanders,,
or i will be going to bed half hit and happy.
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Your title says it all Nick. And who will foot the legal bill for these latest shenanigans?
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This is a very undignified end to John Howard's premiership.
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WATCH this Space,,,,Labor will win 16 plus seats,,note 16+,,,,and the seat of Bennelong will also fall for Labor.
Then JH can retire to Texas,we hope..
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Well, they were closing the gap. But I think it is now all over. Yeah yeah not until the fat lady sings but seriously this was a complete own goal. They looked up candidates on websites which hadn't been updated. Now the letter hoaxes (which is worse) and it is all over.
If it was actually true, and the Libs had done some actual checking of their facts then Ok. But looking up your opposing candidate on wikipedia...just stupid.
The whole saga takes away from the potential problems of Mr Newhouse in the "soapie" electorate.
I think the only chance little Johnny has is WA coming up big for him. I don't think it will be enough.
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It may stink of sad politics however, I agree with John, rules are rules and are there for a reason, however trivial and silly they are. The question seems to be whether they broke the rules or not regardless of who made the complaint.
And to Scott, The Liberals will win man, - look at tonights Galaxy poll. It won't be an endorsement of Mr Howard but he'll win by 1 or 2 seats - the east coast are fogetting WA. The Liberals look likely to gain seats there making the hill even higher for Kevin to climb. 2 weeks ago eveyone wa saying ALP needed to win Bennelong to form a govt, now the commentators are farily sure Maxine won't win. Things have changed this week - you can feel it. Australia isn't quite sure about Mr Rudd I believe.
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Not sure what Jamie is referring to. The latest polls (Friday morning Aus time) have Labor at 57% to Libs 43%. NOt very close at all.
A landslide against him? Couldn't happen to a more deserving bloke
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The Australian Elect.Commission has cleared all Labor Candidates,,
so there you go,,,you still with us Nick,,,wake up !!!!!!
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Just hope Australia doesn't make the same mistake as Britain and vote Labour out of boredom. The grass isn't greener as the Brits have found out.
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Nick Bryant, at least don't teach cricket rules to Indians sir!!
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