Arthur Sinodinos & The Sophisticated One Nation Party

Barrie, the One Nation of today is a very different beast to what it was 20 years ago. They are a lot more sophisticated, they have clearly resonated with a lot of people.
~ Senator Arthur Sinodinos, Insiders (ABC), February 12, 2017

With the WA state election less than a month away, the Tories are shitting bricks over the prospect of hemorrhaging votes to Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party, and have stitched up a deal to preference Our Pauline above their coalition partners in the Nationals. (See : Liberal Party to direct preferences to One Nation above Nationals in WA, Matthew Doran and Chris Uhlmann, ABC, February 13, 2017.) Two ONP candidates, Dane Sorensen (North West Central) and David Miller (Collie Preston), have made some squawking noises in protest at the deal — they apparently didn’t get the memo that Our Pauline runs the show — and it’s a reversal of previous Tory policy, but it comes with John HoWARd’s blessing, so s’all good.

As for Sindonis’ allegation of sophistication, it’s laughable, but presumably intended to make (liberal) Tories feel less bad about supporting openly racist, homophobic and xenophobic candidates. And as Stewart Lee has observed, ‘if political correctness has achieved one thing, it’s to make the Conservative Party cloak its inherent racism behind more creative language’.

Anyway, here’s to sophistication.

QUEENSLAND

• One Nation Queensland candidate Andy Semple withdraws after inappropriate tweets, Melinda Howells, ABC, December 20, 2016
Undeterred, poor old Andy continues to tweet words of wisdom.

• Shan Ju Lin dumped as One Nation loses another Queensland candidate, Gareth Hutchens, The Guardian, January 8, 2017; Dumped candidate Lin claims Ashby threat, SBS (AAP), January 30, 2017
Shan Ju Lin remains Founder and President of World Harmony Society Inc..

• One Nation candidates push anti-gay messages and Port Arthur conspiracy theory, Joshua Robertson, The Guardian, January 13, 2017
Tracey Bell-Henselin was the Rise Up Australia Party candidate for the federal seat of Fisher at the 2016 federal election. She received 2,210 votes (2.64%).

• One Nation candidate Peter Rogers dumped over blog, warns of revolt against Pauline Hanson, Francis Tapim, ABC, January 28, 2017
This One Nation Candidate Suggested The 9/11 Terror Attacks Were Faked, Alice Workman, Buzzfeed, February 2, 2017
Peter Rogers was the ONP candidate for the federal seat of Leichhardt, Queensland in 2016, where he received 6,775 votes (7.63%).
John Cox stood for the Mature Australia Party in Wright at the 2016 federal election, gaining 902 votes (1.0%).

• One Nation disendorses candidate for not paying $2,400 upfront fee, Paul Karp, The Guardian, February 10, 2017
Elise Cottam ran as the ONP candidate in the Queensland seat of Wide Bay at the 2016 federal election, gaining 14,022 votes (15.60%).

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Above : United Patriots Front’s Perth leader Dennis Huts with Our Pauline.

The 2017 Western Australian state election is scheduled for Saturday, March 11, 2017.

Polling indicates the Turnbull government’s fortunes have slipped since the election, and the Senate success of One Nation has seen the party re-emerge as a real player for the WA state election. For several decades there has been a clear trend for federal governments to damage their state brethren’s election prospects, and the Barnett government will be contemplating the role played by Federal politics in the [defeat] of state conservative governments in Victoria in 2014 and Queensland in 2015.

See the ABC guide for further details.

ENDORSED WA STATE ELECTION CANDIDATES
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
Anthony Griffiths (Albany); John Zurakowski (Baldivis); Michelle Meyers (Bateman); Julie Mitchell (Belmont); Sam Brown (Bunbury); Susan Hoddinott (Butler); Rozane Bezuidenhout (Cannington); Terry Popham (Carine); Shaun Reid (Central Wheat Belt); David Miller (Collie Preston); Sharon Polgar (Darling Range); Lawrence Shave (Dawesville); Jenny Bennett (Forrestfield); Warren Duffy (Fremantle); Wayne Martin (Geraldton); John Murphy (Jandakot); Ray Gould (Kalamunda); Richard Bolton (Kalgoorlie); Keith Wright (Kimberley); Tim Taylor (Kwinana); Doug Shaw (Mandurah); Tony D’Angelo (Midland); Jim Kelly (Moore); Ross Slater (Murray Wellington); Dane Sorensen (North West Central); David Archibald (Pilbara); Tshung Chang (Riverton); James O’Malley (Rockingham); Eketerina Zacklova (Roe); Margaret Dodd (Scarborough); Sandra Old (Swan Hills); Sandy Baraiolo (Thornlie); Joe Darcy (Wanneroo); Alex Scholz (Warnbro); Greg Moroney (Warren Blackwood).
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
AGRICULTURE: Rod Caddies, Craig McKinley, Emma McKinley; EAST METRO: Charles Smith, Christopher Fernandez, Lloyd McIntosh; MINING/PASTORAL: Robin Scott, Justin Keating, Janine Varley; NORTH METRO: John Bombak, Ian Hamilton; SOUTH METRO: Philip Scott, Richard (James) Eldridge, Ekaterina Viktorovna Andreeva; SOUTH WEST: Colin Tincknell, Sean Butler, Cameron Bartkowski.

• Here’s WA’s Federal election candidate who received just 37 votes, Phoebe Wearne, The West Australian, July 14, 2016
A big swing towards maverick Queenslander Bob Katter has failed to translate into electoral success in WA, where his party’s candidate battled to win even 40 votes. The wooden spoon for the least votes won in WA at this month’s Federal poll is expected to go to the sole WA Senate candidate for Katter’s Australian Party, Susan Hoddinott, who attracted 37 of a possible 1.5 million votes to date.

• One Nation: a party that knows how to pick ‘em, Gary Adshead, Natalie Richards and Daniel Emerson, The West Australian, January 22, 2017
Christian Pastor Lawrence Shave, ONP candidate for Dawesville, digs chicks in bikinis: What might have taken One Nation by surprise was a recruitment advertisement the pastor placed on a backpacker website in 2015. “Now hiring bikini baristas in Perth,” it read. “Wanted for a coffee/tea drive-through shop establishment. Uniform is a one or two-piece bathing suit and shorts. Must be 18 years or older! No exceptions!”

• Dumped One Nation candidate plans to send ice addicts to ‘uninhabited island’, Catherine Healey, Yahoo7 News, January 24, 2017
Brian Brightman was dumped by ONP as the party’s candidate for Joondalup not because of his ice plan but on account of the fact that he ‘confessed to a 23-year-old conviction for [the] theft of $1100 worth of departure tax stamps when he was a customs officer at Perth Airport’.

• WA election 2017: Pilbara One Nation candidate says taxpayers should not fund ‘lazy’ single mums, Joseph Dunstan, ABC, January 31, 2017
David Archibald has authored dozens of articles for neo-con zine Quadrant, all along the lines you’d expect (climate change denialism, racism, advocacy of genocide, etc.). At the 2016 federal election he was the Australian Liberty Alliance candidate in Curtin, where he received 1,544 votes (1.8%).

• WA One Nation candidate under fire over ‘sexually explicit interests’, Brendan Foster, WA Today, February 3, 2017
Cameron Bartkowski liked some sexually-explicit pages on Facebook … which is apparently A Big Deal.

• One Nation candidate is a South African model and TV presenter who wants a ‘separate state for white people’, Stephen Johnson, The Daily Mail, February 6, 2017
Rozane Bezuidenhout migrated to Australia from South Africa in 2008.

• One Nation candidate linked gay marriage to polygamy, Kylar Loussikian, The Australian, February 14, 2017
Ross Slater writes (August 31, 2016) : Legalising same sex marriage will open the door to compulsory homosexual teachings in homes, schools and churches, thereby confusing children, students and congregation because heterosexuality will not be recognised as normal. Eventually legalising polygamy, multitudinous marriages, sibling marriage and reducing the age of consent will follow because identical, naïve arguments used for legalising same sex marriage will be used for legalising the others.

• One Nation candidate says gay activists are using ‘Nazi mind control’, Michaela Morgan, SBS, February 15, 2017
Michelle Meyers is a … brilliant candidate with lots of well thought-out, practical, ideas. She is ensuring the financial security of this country for years to come.

• One Nation candidate advocated killing Indonesian journalists, attacked gays, Muslims and blacks, Michael Koziol, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 16, 2017; One Nation deal defended by WA Premier despite candidate’s homophobic, anti-Muslim tweets, Andrew O’Connor, ABC, February 17, 2017
Real estate agent Richard Eldridge was previously a candidate for Bob Katter’s party in the WA seat of Canning in 2013. He got 776 votes (0.88%).

See also : Dear Arthur, please explain One Nation’s sophistication, Bernard Keane, Crikey, February 15, 2017 | Making sense of Hanson, Bernardi and the New Right, Karen Middleton, The Saturday Paper, February 11, 2017.

Carry On DOCTOR Nelson : Handbags @ Dawn in Bradfield

A man named Brendan Nelson (did you know he is a DOCTOR?) has decided to retire from his comfy chair in the Federal Parliament.

This is News.

Other News is that various Tories are jockeying to become his replacement. According to a source in a corporation owned by foreign billionaire (Sir) Rupert Murdoch:

DOCTOR Nelson was elected to federal parliament in 1996, the same year the HoWARd government came to power. He entered parliament after serving three years as the president of the Australian Medical Association. DOCTOR Nelson experienced a meteoritic [sic] rise through the government ranks, taking on the role of education minister in 2001 and defence minister in 2006. His time in office will be be remembered for overseeing the bungled return of soldier Jake Kovco’s body, the introduction of voluntary student unionism and as opposition leader, polling only seven per cent as preferred prime minister.

Big (medical) shoes to fill, obviously. Note that the The Devine Miss M disagrees with this rather harsh assessment of DOCTOR Nelson’s career as a politician (Dare not sip this poisoned chalice, Sydney Morning Herald, August 27, 2009):

[DOCTOR] Nelson is one of the best. As a minister, he was admired by his staff for his ability to inhale information quickly and distil its meaning. He is mocked for his empathy but that was his greatest strength. As education minister, for instance, when advocating a more rigorous phonics-based program for teaching reading, or strategies to support excellent teachers, he never forgot the 12-year-olds he met who had never been taught properly to read. In every portfolio, he identified the essential moral dimensions and had the ability to achieve consensus through arguments based on logic.

LOL.

According to William Bowe:

By all accounts the two front-runners will be Arthur Sinodinos, legendary [sic] former chief-of-staff to John HoWARd, and Tom Switzer, former opinion page editor for The Australian. However, other names were recently put forward by Phillip Coorey: Menzies Research Centre executive director Julian Leeser; Paul Fletcher, director of corporate and regulatory affairs at Optus; and David Coleman, an executive with the Packer family’s Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (last I heard) who is associated with the Left faction and the other side of the town, having run for the federal Cook preselection and been mentioned in connection with the state seat of Cronulla.

Well, that was Tuesday (August 25). Since then, Arthur has been scratched from the race. Now, supposedly, “Up to 20 Liberals are expected to slug it out for preselection for [DOCTOR] Brendan Nelson’s north shore seat of Bradfield” (Scratching brings more for Bradfield preselection, Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald, August 27, 2009).

The seat of Bradfield is full of Aussie battlers. Christian (The Christian) Kerr reports in another publication owned by foreign billionaire (Sir) Rupert Murdoch — called, ironically, The Australian — that one battler lining up to sit in the comfy chair is John Hart, CEO of Restaurant and Catering Australia (Rudd IR critic John Hart launches Bradfield bid, August 27, 2009).

John is renowned for his efforts to protect innocent bosses from greedy, elitist workers and their thug unions.

So:

~~DOCTOR Brendan Nelson~~;
~~Arthur Sinodinos~~;
John Hart;
David Coleman;
Paul Fletcher;
Julian Leeser;
Tom Switzer;
and perhaps as many as 15 other businessmen and law-talking guys may be expected to nominate for pre-selection for the seat of Bradfield.

Back to The Devine Miss M:

[DOCTOR] Nelson sees his successor as a necessary injection of fresh blood for a party in a rut, and the field of eight or so candidates mooted is impressive.

The two best are my friends. Tom Switzer, 37, is Nelson’s former adviser and the inspired former opinion editor of The Australian and the Financial Review, a fearless journalist and thinker, with a master’s degree in international relations. Unlike Simon Berger, another Nelson adviser in the running, Switzer did not squib the emissions issue last year. He urged Nelson not to take the pragmatic but irresponsible route of blindly supporting the Government and has written clearly about the costs of the new energy tax.

Then there is Sophie York, 42, barrister, author, lieutenant-commander in the navy reserves, mother of four sons. She is part of a new breed of conservative feminists, generous and warm but with courage and a steely intellect. Each is successful, normal and fun, with a fine mind, good judgment, loving family and clear moral compass.

Sophie also has the rare distinction of being a Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem — which is completely awesome, in my book, despite being rather ‘old breed’:

The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem can trace its origins to Godfrey de Bouillon of the first Crusade, who gathered around him a group of knights who were entrusted with the protection of the religious Chapter of Canons who were present at the Holy Sepulchre of Christ. For twenty years, these knights, and those who came to join their number, protected the Christian presence at the Holy Sepulchre, taking as their banner the red Jerusalem cross popularized by the crusading knights. By 1113, Pope Paschal II officially recognized their existence and purpose. It was not until 1122 that Pope Callistus II issued a bulla establishing them as a lay religious community with specific responsibilities of guarding the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and the city of Jerusalem in defense of Christianity against Muslim attack.

So that’s John Hart + David Coleman + Paul Fletcher + Julian Leeser + Tom Switzer + Simon Berger + Sophie York + maybe one dozen more (whose potential candidacy is known only to their families).

Andrew Landeryou nominates law-talking guy Mark Speakman and “local council figure Adrienne Ryan”… making it John Hart + David Coleman + Paul Fletcher + Julian Leeser + Tom Switzer + Simon Berger + Sophie York + Mark Speakman + Adrienne Ryan + 10 or so others.

As for slackbastard, in my opinion — and despite the many sterling qualities of his opponents — there is really only one choice for the Tories of Bradfield — and that is yours, mine and The Devine Miss M’s friend, Man of the People and Man of Letters, the Battler from Struggle Street, the inspired, the fearless, ladies, gentlemen, businessmen, businesswomen, law-talking guys and law-talking girls, I give you:

Tom Switzer!

See also : Bradfield by-election, William Bowe, The Poll Bludger | Nelson to Retire., Possum Comitatus, Pollytics | Nelson resigns, triggers Bradfield by-election, Ben Raue, The Tally Room | NELSON GONE NOW FOR WATERLOO: The Doctor’s revenge sets stage for bruising preselection struggle in Bradfield, Andrew Landeryou, VEXNEWS.

PS. Did you know that Brendan Nelson is a DOCTOR?

Bonus!

Adrienne ‘Sweary’ Ryan!

Swearing row: Ryan apologises
Darren Goodsir
The Sydney Morning Herald
August 25, 2004

Bowing to unrelenting public outrage, the Mayor of Ku-ring-gai publicly apologised last night for having used a string of expletives at a motivational high school address…

Michael Speakman! Youngest ever law-talking guy to be made a Senior Counsel in NSW, victim of extreme-right wing in Cook!

Simon Berger! A Ronald Reagan fan, “who also happens to be a (not so) young, feisty, colourful, agnostic, heavy-metal-loving homosexual” who breaks moulds — and the machines that manufacture them!

As a conservative, Reagan broke the mould, by: using humour, charm, analogies and anecdotes; being the first president to popularise the practice of inviting everyday people to be guests at major addresses and building speeches around their experiences, and; invoking America’s Founding Fathers more times than the previous nine presidents combined, linking their vision to one of the future which painted a picture and told a story, for which he was the curator and narrator. The result was the transformation of conservatism from a balance sheet into a romance. ~ ‘Coming Out As A Conservative Liberal’, the conservative, No.2, February 2006 (emphasis in original) [PDF]

See also : On Reagan’s Legacy, Noam Chomsky interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 7, 2004 | Resurrecting Reagan, Robert Flynn, July 21, 2009.