[box]A lot of what is said in State Parliament never gets reported beyond Hansard, the official record. One of the more intriguing speeches that passed unnoticed was by Labor MP Don Nardella, who gave his assessment of the in-fighting and chaos within the local branch of the Liberal Party leading up to the South West Coast by-election.

If you want a take on what really went on, this is it.[/box]

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A5CECD;”] M [/dropcap]r NARDELLA (Melton) — Today I grieve for the good people in the electorates of Polwarth and South-West Coast for having to undertake a by-election due to the resignations of Mr Mulder and Mr Napthine. These two by-elections are quite bizarre. Let me start. We had, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, can you get me a seat in Parliament please?’ from Tom Napthine, asking his daddy to propel him into Parliament to replace him in South-West Coast. Tom Napthine stood for preselection. Unfortunately he did not get it, because the whole preselection process was quite bizarre, including the intervention of Mr Michael Kroger.

Mr J. Bull — Oh!

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, Michael Kroger; it was extremely bizarre. He had a go at the preselection. I will explain what I am talking about. About 18 months ago, Michael Neoh joined the Liberal Party in South-West Coast. He was the anointed one to replace Denis Napthine, and he was supported by Denis Napthine. Everything was set up. Michael Neoh was a councillor, and he represented the people of Warrnambool. He was in all the photos with Mr Napthine. He was Mr Napthine’s bestie — they were joined at the hip for 18 months. These two gentlemen had cheesy smiles, and they were synchronised every time they smiled. They gloated at each other. They were best of friends but then Exhibition Street stepped in — that is, Liberal Party headquarters in the middle of Melbourne.

Michael Kroger, the president, the saviour of the Liberal Party, decrees a couple of weeks before the close of nominations that there has to be a woman preselected for South-West Coast because the Liberal Party does not have enough women in the Parliament. That is absolutely true. Michael Neoh was snookered. He had spent 18 months in the party. They are very loyal, these people in the Liberal Party. He had a massive 18 months in the Liberal Party because he was the anointed one. He had the cap and the baton. Denis was running behind him and putting the baton to him, and he grabbed the baton. Then Michael Kroger whacked it out of his hand. He could no longer have the baton, and he was snookered by the people in Melbourne. He was absolutely going to lose. He was done for. What did he do?

He did not even nominate for the Liberal Party. He did not even put in his form because he knew that he was done over by the city folk on Exhibition Street. So much for democracy — this is a long-term member of the Liberal Party. He was in there for 18 months! He is nearly a lifer — he had nearly been in there for life — but he has been snookered. What happened next? The Leader of The Nationals went, ‘Knock, knock, knock. Michael, we want you. You’ve been so loyal to the Liberal Party and they’ve knocked you off. You’ve been in there for 18 months. We will have you now’. What did Michael Neoh do? He said, ‘Thank you very much. I’ll be your bestie now, Leader of The Nationals, and you’ll be my bestie. That naughty Denis Napthine — we don’t want him anymore. I want to be to be in the National Party’. So he has become The Nationals candidate for South-West Coast and we have this immense chasm — this division, this animosity — between the two parties.

 The ex-Premier of Victoria, Denis Napthine — this bloke who was going to save the Liberal Party after the disaster of the two and a half years of the Baillieu premiership in this state — was then steamrolled by the Melbourne-centric head office. His hand-picked candidate was poached by the VicNats, or the National Party, or the Country Nationals or whatever they call themselves today; they are still trying to make up their minds about where they are going. That is when Tom Napthine stepped in. He said, ‘Daddy, please give me a seat. I really want to be a member of Parliament. I am so loyal to the Liberal Party. I have just joined, so please, Daddy, please, Denis, make me a member of Parliament’, but the former Premier could not do that either because Michael Kroger said it had to be a woman.

This stalwart of the Liberal Party, Tom Napthine, had actually paid his money to become a member of the Liberal Party the day that he put in his nomination form — and he probably paid his own money — but he was snookered as well. He could not get his daddy’s seat anymore. It gets more bizarre. A woman candidate had to be preselected because Mr Kroger, the doyen of Toorak, had decreed that the candidate for South-West Coast, for Portland and Warrnambool, had to be a woman.

The Liberal Party had one in the field. She was very experienced. She had been a member of Parliament and a country mayor, so she had represented country Victoria not only in the local council but also in the Parliament. This is a bit bizarre. She was actually a long-time member of the Liberal Party. It was not just a case of her saying, ‘I’ve paid because I want preselection’, or ‘I paid 18 months ago because I am the anointed one’. This woman was a long-time member of the Liberal Party, but unfortunately she was not wanted; Michael Kroger did not want her. Donna Petrovich, the perennial candidate, was dumped.

Ms Spence — The failed candidate.

Mr NARDELLA — The failed candidate, the perennial candidate, was dumped, so they had to find another woman who had to beat Donna Petrovich in preselection. They had no-one locally, so those opposite went out and talked about how the Liberal Party is the biggest volunteer organisation in Australia. They got this woman, Roma Britnell. Was she a long-time member of the Liberal Party? Before she put in a form for preselection she actually had to join the Liberal Party! This loyal member of the Liberal Party had to join the party before she could actually run for preselection. She joined to become a parliamentarian. She tried to get on a farmer board to increase her off-farm income but was not successful. Now there was an opportunity.

I will tell you a secret, Speaker, about why she wants to become the member for South-West Coast. She wants the off-farm income. That is right; she went for a position on a board but did not get it, and this is her way of getting that off-farm income. She is only after the money. Further, she was not even wanted by the local members of the Liberal Party. There were the three councillors who had knocked off Michael Neoh from Warrnambool City Council, but the Warrnambool branch of the Liberal Party supported the country person out there. She might be the perennial candidate but she is a hard worker, Donna Petrovich —

Ms Edwards — Who?

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, ‘Who?’. We know who she is; she was a member of this Parliament. However, the good people of the Warrnambool branch did not want Roma Britnell at all; they wanted Donna, but she got knocked off by the city-centric Melbourne head office of the Liberal Party. Who are The Nationals running for these two seats? Mr O’Brien is running.

Ms Edwards — Not another O’Brien!

Mr NARDELLA — Yes, David O’Brien. He used to be in the upper house. This bloke ran for the South-West Coast electorate at the 2006 election. He went really well. The Nationals vote in South-West Coast in 2006 dropped by 7.3 per cent! That is how bad this bloke was. They did not even want him. Later he got into the upper house, but he was defeated by one of the following three groups: the Shooters and Fishers Party, Vote 1 Local Jobs or the Greens political party. He was not even good enough as a standing Nationals member to get re-elected.

Why is David now running for Polwarth? Because The Nationals have lost party status. As a bit of a refresher for members, you need 11 members in this house and the other house to have party status, but The Nationals party is on the nose. These are the people who do not believe that country townships and cities should be joined up with water pipelines and channels, like the super-pipe to both Bendigo and Ballarat.

The Nationals leader opposed the super-pipe to Ballarat during the 13-year drought. He wanted everybody to leave Ballarat and Bendigo. That is the lunacy of The Nationals, and that lunacy meant that in Shepparton they actually lost a seat after the intervention of federal Nationals member Barnaby Joyce. He went to SPC and said, ‘That’s a Liberal Party problem for Sharman Stone from the Liberal Party to deal with. I’m from The Nationals party. I don’t want anything to do with saving SPC. It’s irrelevant to me’.

That is the reason the member for Shepparton is in this Parliament today. The Nationals are just hopeless. They do not represent country Victoria whatsoever. There has been a reversal of roles. The Liberals have preselected a farmer candidate, and The Nationals have preselected a city candidate. We see a war between the Liberal Party and The Nationals. When Robert Doyle became the Leader of the Opposition back in 2002 he said, ‘Hang onto your hats!’Remember that? And we are all hanging onto our hats because of the division between the Liberal Party and The Nationals. They might all skip down the road holding hands, but the division is there and it is real. They have running partners, they have dummies, out there at South-West Coast. They really are concerned about losing that seat to an Independent. Swampy is running out there at the moment. (An honourable member interjected).

Mr NARDELLA — From Oddball. I reckon Swampy would be a fantastic member of Parliament. He would come in here without any fear or favour and represent those good people of South-West Coast. If they make it marginal and get rid of the Liberals, who have done nothing for years, then they might have a chance. That is why I grieve.

• Reproduced from Hansard, Victorian Legislative Assembly, October 9, 2015.

Comment – Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]here is a great line floating around about the South West Coast by-election this Saturday (Oct 31) – don’t keep voting the same way and expect things to be different!

Yet so many south-west Victorians do just that: keep voting the same party back in year after year and then complain that things don’t change.

You only need to look around our beautiful corner of the world to see the hazards of living in a super safe seat and when it comes to the condition of our roads they are, quite literally, hazardous.

The roads are dreadful and the train service is old and inadequate.

The local job market – especially for young people – is shrinking as traditional industries close down or dry up, with few adequate replacements.

Portland should have, by now, been sitting at the forefront of the state’s renewable energy industry, but has been hamstrung by the poor policies of the conservative parties at both a state and federal level.

Our key tertiary institutions, South West TAFE and Deakin University, are struggling to either get back on their feet (as in the case of TAFE which was gutted under the Napthine Government) or to keep upright, as in the case of Deakin-Warrnambool.

Warrnambool used to be a humming university town: it is no longer, as bit by bit tertiary courses are shut down, relocated, or moved online.

Mainstreet is struggling, shops sit empty and fibs are told – such as the fib about the number of jobs that would come from a largely automated powdered milk factory and cold store in Merrivale – to make it look like change is happening.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T [/dropcap]he people living in the south-west are not suckers, yet every election that comes along, be it state or federal, I believe we act that way.

We forget all that has gone before and fall for the glossy, big-faced posters that are strung up on fences, even if, in the case of Michael Neoh, they only joined their party (the Nationals) minutes after it became clear they were not wanted by their first party (the Liberals).

Or we are bombarded by advertising from deep-pocketed parties like the Liberals, who have long treated this seat like a personal fiefdom.

And, sure enough, the same party wins each time, and nothing actually changes.

So the roads get lumpier and bumpier, the old train with its old carriages still runs late, and more young people slip into a zone where they leave school, jobs are harder to find and things like “ice” become a way out of reality.

This Saturday, things can be different.

We can make a change – a real change – by voting for an independent, and that independent is Warrnambool legal aid lawyer Roy Reekie.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] B [/dropcap]luestone is backing Roy for this election because we believe he has the experience, commitment and creative thinking needed to put the south-west back on the electoral map.

We want to live in an electorate that is no longer taken for granted, and attracts as much attention from Spring St as the other marginal seats around Victoria. As an independent, Roy can make a lot of noise and he can make it now – not stuck on the Opposition benches.

Roy has a range of creative and interesting ideas (you can read more on his by-election Facebook page and his open letter to voters) and, above all, he has shown a unbendable commitment to representing this corner of the world – even at his own expense.

Why else would anyone run five times against formidable odds?

The odds are still formidable – former Liberal Premier Denis Napthine pushed the seat out to an 11 per cent margin – but we are hoping that, this time, the south-west is ready to back a different runner in Roy Reekie and come home a real winner.

[box]A forum featuring all candidates will be held at the Lighthouse Theatre, W’bool, tomorrow (Monday Oct 26) at 7pm. The candidates are: Roy Reekie (independent), Thomas Campbell (The Greens), Roma Britnell (Liberal), Michael Neoh (Nationals), Michael McCluskey (independent), Swampy Marsh (independent), Pete Smith (independent), Jim Doukas (Country Party), Rodney Van De Hoef (independent), Jennifer Gamble (Animal Justice Party), Lillian Len (Australian Christians).[/box]

 You might enjoy these related stories…

Michael McCluskey on education

Roy Reekie on rail

McCluskey endorses marriage equality

By-election: Are we on a road to nowhere?

Comment – Carol Altmann

It is a question that has been swirling around Warrnambool for a fortnight – now that Mayor Michael Neoh has been preselected to run for the National Party, why is he still Mayor?

It is more than two weeks since Mr Neoh switched parties from the Liberals to the Nationals so that he had a clear run at the October 31 by-election for South West Coast without having to endure a potentially bruising preselection battle inside the Liberal Party.

In that one move Mr Neoh revealed many things, not least that – like any politician in the making – he will use whatever political advantage he can to boost his chances of election, even if it means swapping parties.

His refusal to step aside from his role as Mayor is another such move.

For no matter how you look at it, staying in the mayoral role for as long as possible is all about gaining a political advantage.

By wearing both hats, as a mayor and as a National’s candidate, Michael Neoh doubles his public profile.

Sometimes he is out and about as the Mayor, other times he out and about as the candidate for the Nationals, and sometimes he swings between both and – for the average person – it can be hard to tell the difference.

It also means Mr Neoh – as Mayor – has access to opportunities and information that would not be available to him as just a member of the public.

I am not suggesting Michael Neoh has improperly used these opportunities for his own political gain, but the fact is that when he now attends any public event, he is seen as both the mayor (not the former mayor) and the Nationals candidate.

It also means when he reads any council documents, attends any briefings, or receives any other information as Mayor, he has to be disciplined enough not to let it have any influence on his election campaign.

Again, I am not suggesting Michael Neoh has been anything but disciplined in this regard, but the potential conflict of interest looms large.

No wonder the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) describes the “politicisation” of local councils from councillors running for state or federal parliament as a “contentious” issue.

When Mr Neoh was first nominated by the Nationals on Sept 10, he said he would take leave when the election date was set (the issuing of the writ).

The election date was announced 10 days later on Sept 17, but, in the meantime, it appears Mr Neoh ran a magnifying glass over the rules and found he could stretch his time in the chair even longer.

The MAV says, as a minimum (not a maximum), a councillor running for Parliament should take leave when the electoral commission is formally notified of their candidacy. The last date for this to happen is October 2.

Again, in a smart political move, Mr Neoh is applying the bare minimum of what is required and will stay on for as long as possible to gain maximum exposure during the by-election campaign.

We did ask Mr Neoh, via email, if he was using any of his mayoral time, allowance, car or mobile phone for his campaigning. We also asked about the potential conflicts of interest as outlined above.

This was his response:

“I have a campaign car that I use and also non council equipment.

I am following the MAV policy in regards to taking leave of absence and I do not use mayoral invited functions to campaign.

If I meet with stakeholders outside of Council duties and as a candidate I make it very clear that I am an election candidate and are not representing council.”

The boundaries, in Mr Neoh’s eyes, are very clear. But I know they are far less clear to the general public, many of whom are asking why he has not “done the right thing” and stepped aside.

Guidelines are just that – guidelines – and it is up to the individual to decide whether they wish to follow them to the letter, or embrace the spirit of their intent.

Bluestone also asked Mr Neoh, straight up, why he was staying on as mayor until the final hour.

We have not yet received an answer.

Comment – Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] H[/dropcap]aving dipped out of the Liberal pre-selection race for the South West coast by-election, Warrnambool City Council Mayor Michael Neoh is tipped to contest the seat for the National Party.

Bluestone understands that Mr Neoh resigned from the Hamilton branch of the Liberal Party soon after withdrawing from the Liberal Party pre-selection – which is fast attracting as many entries as the Melbourne Cup – and is to be confirmed shortly as the Nationals candidate.

Mr Neoh’s nomination by the Nationals would give him a clear run at the highly-prized seat, without enduring a potentially embarrassing face-off against Liberal Party contenders including Tom Napthine, the son of Dr Denis Napthine, agriculture activist Roma Britnell and former Upper House MP Donna Petrovich.

Mr Neoh could not be contacted today for comment and the National Party’s Victorian head office was tied up in its national conference in Canberra.

Sources have told Bluestone, however, that Mr Neoh’s candidacy for the National Party was all but assured.

The somewhat surprising move fits with Mr Neoh’s cryptic comment after withdrawing from Liberal Party preselection earlier this week that he was “keeping his options open”.

Mr Neoh repeated the same comment to the ABC earlier today:

“I certainly would love to represent rural and regional Victoria but at this time I still want to keep my options as wide as possible,” he said.

While some thought Mr Neoh might run as an independent, Bluestone has been told that Mr Neoh decided he could only run with the support of a major party behind him.

Again, his comments to the ABC today support this view:

“I think some of the ingredients that are really important to any candidate are having full support and having a platform to do that.”

The Nationals last held what was then the seat of Warrnambool from 1985-1999 under the hugely popular John McGrath.

While this latest move may see Mr Neoh build upon his political aspirations, it will also present a major challenge to the Liberal Party by splitting the conservative vote between the two Coalition partners.

This will be music to the ears of independent Roy Reekie and Greens candidate Thomas Campbell, who will be looking for any advantage they can to pull back a seat that requires an almost 12% swing to change from Liberal hands.

Unlocked – read our earlier comment piece here: By-election: are we on a road to nowhere?

[button link=”http://the-terrier.com.au/subscribe-2/” type=”icon” icon=”people” newwindow=”yes”] Click here to become a Bluestone supporter.[/button]

You might also enjoy…

Roy Reekie’s open letter to voters

WCC wimps out on marriage equality

W’bool losing its character brick by brick

WCC Mackay trip: keeping it in the family

Comment – Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]ake a moment to watch the 49-second video above.

This footage was taken around Merino/Digby by the daughter of Kellie Donovan, whose grandchild can be heard whimpering as the car bounces along roads that can only be described as disgraceful.

Kellie uploaded this footage to Facebook (Fix Our Rural Roads), together with photos of other local roads that have potholes so large, you need to drive on the wrong side of the road to avoid them.

Merino/Digby is just west of Hamilton, but anyone who has driven around the roads in south-west Victoria – including portions of the M1 Princes Highway – will be able to relate to it.

We have all gripped our steering wheels that bit tighter as we bump and slump our way across the dips and potholes that have turned our roads into dangerous obstacle courses.

Why do we have to put up with it?

Below is a photograph taken last Thursday of the archaic Warrnambool-to-Melbourne train service chugging its way toward Melbourne: it is slow, the carriages are old and often unsuitable for people with disabilities, and it is always crowded. Even the food is terrible.

Why do we have to put up with it?

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]he third-world condition of our local roads and major train service are just two of the symptoms of living in a seat that has been taken for granted for decades.

Like Russian dolls, we live in a safe Liberal seat (the state seat of South-West Coast) within a safe Liberal seat (the federal seat of Wannon) and, in my view, this has bred contempt for the locals.

This contempt has been shown not only in the years of neglect of basic infrastructure such as safe roads, but in how our little patch is now treated like some personal family company by the Liberal Party.

We saw this played out in full colour this past week.

The retirement of long-serving South West Coast MP Dr Denis Napthine has seen the nomination of his 24-year-old son, Tom, as heir apparent and I can’t help but think of Rupert Murdoch passing the baton down to his golden sons.

Tom, despite being a novice, will no doubt have the full backing of Wannon MP Dan Tehan who owes Denis one for helping him get elected to a plum Liberal seat that he had never even lived in.

Dan, as he reflected last week, was mentored by Denis who, in turn, was mentored by Dan’s mother, the late Marie Tehan, another Liberal MP. See how it works? You look after my family, I look after yours.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] T[/dropcap]his neat succession plan, however, hit a hurdle when another arm of the Liberal Party decided to push its own candidate – Donna Petrovich.

If this name doesn’t ring a bell, don’t worry, it shouldn’t: Donna is a former MP who represented the area around Macedon, north of Melbourne.

That’s right: another Dan Tehan moment, where a candidate is dropped out of the sky into the south-west in the hope of winning a comfy, safe seat.

Three other Liberal hopefuls have also emerged in Warrnambool Mayor Michael Neoh, farming advocate Roma Britnell and Glenelg Shire councillor Anita Rank. (The Liberal Party will preselect its candidate on Sept 20 – update Michael Neoh has since withdrawn and will now run for The Nationals).

And where is the Labor Party in all this?

Despite it being a rare opportunity where the sitting MP is retiring, they have flip flopped all over the place as to whether they will even bother to run a candidate.

As it stands, the ALP’s Roy Reekie is gearing up to contest the seat for a fifth time, but this time as an independent. (Michael McCluskey is also running again as an independent, while The Greens are yet to select a candidate (update: The Greens will again be represented by Thomas Campbell.)

And somewhere in the middle of all this internal squabbling and manoeuvring and climbing over each other for pre-selection is…you.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] S[/dropcap]o what do you want?

I know what I want.

I want our seat to become marginal, where no party, or person, can ever assume that they will be in power for year, after year, after year.

Instead, every election should be a hard-fought battle, rather than a fait accompli.

I also want a candidate who has principles and sticks to them.

Just last week we saw Michael Neoh say that he supported marriage equality, only to run the other way when he was asked by the Byron Shire Mayor to formalise that support. (Mr Neoh has not only since changed his stance on supporting gay marriage publicly, but changed political parties!)

And I want a leader who loves our part of the world and will fight for it, without becoming blinded by their own ambition to be a Minister, or Premier, or the well-paid chair of some parliamentary committee.

Is it too much to hope for?

I hope not, because without these things, I fear that we will continue to be the poor cousins of the state, rumbling along on our slow trains and broken roads to nowhere.

[box]The State Government is undertaking a state-wide review of its public transport systems, including for the south-west. You can also have your say online via this link here. [/box]

[button link=”http://the-terrier.com.au/subscribe-2/” type=”icon” icon=”people” newwindow=”yes”] Click here to become a Bluestone supporter.[/button]

You might also enjoy…

Roy Reekie’s open letter to voters

WCC wimps out on marriage equality

W’bool losing its character brick by brick

WCC Mackay trip: keeping it in the family