Wikileaks' WA preferencing decision could give Abbott control of Senate
Posted by on Monday, August 19, 2013 Under: Preferencing
Wikileaks has been courting the climate movement vote with a recently strengthened climate policy (which includes some policies related to phasing out coal but has a puzzling lack of content on leaving gas in the ground). However, their unprincipled decision to preference the WA Nationals ahead of one of Assange's strongest Australian supporters, Greens senator, Scott Ludlam, may possibly deliver the sixth WA Senate place to the Nationals and help Abbott get the majority he needs to wind back action on climate and renewable energy.
From Bernard Keane at Crikey:
The fledgling WikiLeaks Party has inflicted major damage on itself after a disastrous preference allocation that saw it preferencing far-right parties, apologising for an "administrative error" and preferencing the WA Nationals ahead of Julian Assange's strongest political supporter, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
From Bernard Keane at Crikey:
The fledgling WikiLeaks Party has inflicted major damage on itself after a disastrous preference allocation that saw it preferencing far-right parties, apologising for an "administrative error" and preferencing the WA Nationals ahead of Julian Assange's strongest political supporter, Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.
The Senate preference allocations revealed yesterday showed, in New South Wales, WikiLeaks had preferenced the right-wing Shooters and Fishers Party and the extreme-right Australia First Party, run by convicted criminal and former neo-Nazi Jim Saleam, ahead of the Greens and the major parties. Australia First wants to end all immigration and to restore the death penalty.
... One party source told Crikey the "administrative error" in NSW was quite intentional and aimed at the Greens....
[T]he decision reduces the chances of the Greens' Scott Ludlam, who faces a challenge to hang onto his Senate spot, being re-elected.
Ludlam has been Assange's strongest supporter inside federal Parliament, hounding the government over its lack of support for him and its dealings with the US over its campaign against Assange and WikiLeaks. Ludlam travelled to Europe at his own expense in 2011 to talk to Swedish authorities and Australian officials in the UK about the case.
The decision to preference the Nationals' David Wirrpanda ahead of Ludlam, strengthening the chances of the Nationals snaring the sixth Senate spot ahead of the Greens, is thus an extraordinary betrayal. The party's WA Volunteer Coordinator, journalist and former political staffer Natalie Banks, announced her resignation after the allocation was revealed.
According to the party's campaign director Greg Barns, the decision to preference the Nationals ahead of the Greens was made by the party's main Senate candidate in Western Australia, Gerry Georgatos. Georgatos is an investigative journalist and former Greens member who broke with the party and sought to establish a party called "the Real Greens" in 2009.
Georgatos told Crikey he understood the Australian political landscape and had his "finger on the pulse": "I'm a conviction politician and we haven't done any deals for preferences. It's all merit-based. Scott Ludlam will get all these votes. Wirrpanda won't get any more than 3-4%."
Ludlam, Georgatos claimed, was a "shoo-in" for the sixth spot and might even get the fifth Senate spot; it was, he said, "disingenuous" and "bullshit" to suggest Wirrpanda -- a "good human being" -- was a serious threat to Ludlam. "He's our effective first preference. The work he's done with Julian Assange is to be commended. All power to him," he said ...
Georgatos's confidence in Ludlam's chances is shared by precisely no one else either within the Greens or elsewhere; Antony Green has explained in detail why the Nationals are a serious contender for a fourth conservative Senate spot in the west. If it's the Nationals, the WikiLeaks Party will have helped drive from the Senate the Australian politician who has done more for Assange than any other.
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In : Preferencing
Tags: wikileaks senate nationals "tony abbott"