Federal Government

GAME ON: Victorian Liberal Senate fight night looms

 Friday night’s hotly contested Victorian Liberal Senate preselection race is too close to call, with insiders supportive of Ross Fox, Julian McGauran and the bemused Baillieu faction on-lookers professing confidence and uncertainty for their favoured candidates in equal measure.

THE RONNO PHENOMENON
Fox is certainly likely to be the beneficiary of the big man Senator Michael Ronaldson’s big organisation, once the faction that was at the heart of Peter Costello’s Victorian powerbase. As we canvassed earlier this week, they now appear to be enthralled by that paragon of all things Sydney, Malcolm Turnbull.

Turnbull is an impressive performer so we understand the affection.

One VEXNEWS commenter was sufficiently worried about Fox’s prospects to post a scathing excoriation and character assassination of Fox questioning his honesty, credentials and moral fibre. Naturally we’ll be re-posting it in full below for the edification of Policy Assembly patriots as they consider the vexed question of who should be #3 Liberal Senate candidate.

It follows a week where there has been much loose talk about the sexuality of one of the candidates, with this rather sadly used as a battering ram against them in dozens of phone calls directed to members of the Policy Assembly.

Excluding people from public office because of their sexual preference is a bigotry that we’ll all look back on one day with considerable shame. We are slowly growing out of it. We look down our nose with bewilderment at the generations that precede us about their sectarian obsessions, their anti-Semitism and their moving gaze of concern at the newest folks off the boat. But are we really any different?

Down to business. Most think the contest is now a battle between Ross Fox and Senator McGauran, with two female candidates Cate Dealehr and Caroline Kenny behind the pace.

A FIX FOR THE PROCESS JUNKIES AMONG YOU // WE KNOW YOU’RE OUT THERE
The process goes something like this. There’ll be a vote whether to have the preselection. Very quaint and polite. No such niceties are observed in the brutish ALP POSC, after they’ve slaughtered the goats they get straight into it.

The Policy Assembly is big, with two from each FEC or federal electorate (thirty nine in the People’s Republic of Victoria last time we looked), a goodly ten from Admin Committee, and thirty-two from State Council representing in equal measure Metro Males, Metro Females, Country Males and County Females. Country members are well represented. Yes, we remember, goes the Sir James Killen joke.

Next time you hear Liberals prattling on about the evils of quotas and affirmative action, ask them about their own internal party structure negotiated between Sir Robert Menzies and some very large women’s groups at the time of party formation. They supplied many tens of thousands of members and they insisted on an equal say for women across all structures of the party, long before Joan Kirner had ever read Female Eunuch.

Usually there’s a question about turn-out but not on this Friday night, this is full court press time with Ross Fox not wanting to become the serial candidate, an incumbent Senator fighting for his political life and two other quite serious and good quality candidates not that far behind them who at the least will be wanting to stake their claim for another time. Kenny is a dead cert for state preselection, one insider thought this morning as she has impressed many in this preselection process and is expected to present herself very well on the night.

And of course it’s the dreadful randomness of how people speak and what they say that has far too much influence on Liberal preselections. So anything could happen.

NO MAN. NO LAW. NO WAR CAN STOP THE RONNO
After the vote to have a vote there will be the election for the #1 spot on the ticket, Ronno is expected to win that and if he doesn’t will transform into a rampaging Rhino and start mowing old biddies down at will. Such is his power.

After that, there’ll be an exhaustive process where each member of the Assembly will write the name of the chap or chapette they are supporting. The one with the least votes is eliminated and then a fresh vote each time until there are two left standing.

The principal reason why ALP preselection processes are not done in that incredibly time consuming way is the very real prospect of eye gouging, head-butting and bouts of Hoppo Bumpo among the AMWU delegation.

It isn’t easy to figure out who will win these contests partly because of the quaint and polite Liberal custom of never divulging one’s intention prior to hearing all the speeches. Speeches can be barely heard at ALP preselections over the belching, snoring and farting of the CFMEU construction blokes.

Deahler will attract quite a bit of support from within the Kroger-Costello camp. She enjoys the backing of powerbroker femme fatale Kelly O’Dwyer and also of many old dears in the Women’s section who strongly support a woman candidate replacing a female incumbent, in the form of Liberal lefty Judith Troeth, mama of Red Ted Baillieu’s hard-pressed sec Simon Troeth.

But most suspect it won’t be enough. Many of Cate Dealehr’s votes will end up with Fox. Certainly the younger ones. McGauran has made an aggressive play with some of the oldies and will pick up some.

ANOTHER LAWYER IN PARLIAMENT – JUST WHAT THE NATION NEEDS
Caroline Kenny SC regarded as potentially good candidate talent is a political green-skin who is learning rapidly along the way. Like many at the bar, she probably looks at some of the hacks who are more actively involved with derision and thinking she could be so much better. Of course like any profession, the best at it make it look easy. For every Neville Wran QC who was one of New South Wales greatest Premiers and a master politician, there are many more from the Bar who simply don’t cut it. You’d think barristers would make great communicators, often that isn’t necessarily so. 

Anyway, she’s been working the phones like a speed-dial demon and has mostly made a very favourable impression. She’ll receive strong support from the Baillieu faction, with current indications being that many of them will favour Fox ahead of McGauran ultimately partly because they perceive him as being far more National Party than truly Liberal, according to the human rights McPerton legacy or whatever it is our favourite commenter is always going on about, in their deliciously mocking way.

Fox has been making the argument it’s time for generational change, that McGauran has been in the Senate for more than twenty years and he’s never going to be a minister. Implying that Fox will be. McGauran saying he represents an important socially conservative constituency, that he can deliver DLP preferences which could be crucial to getting #3 elected. Implying that if they don’t select the right candidate, the DLP could do a deal with Labor, of the kind that no doubt ALP State Secretary Stephen Newnham would dearly love to do.

Because of the number of factionally and fractionally non-aligned folk on the large Policy Assembly and because many sit there earnestly evaluating which chap has the better tie or sounds better in their speech, the result in this contest could still go anywhere.

Fox certainly has an advantage among the younger folks. And McGauran some advantage with those who still have a picture of our Sovereign Lady Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on the wall, usually for some reason near the kitchen table.

But beyond that, it’s hard to know. Clearly there is a need for the Liberals to change and grow for them to be ready to govern in 2010 or 2013. The times – a deep and ugly recession with the prospect of big government debt and an inflation crisis – could suit them. But only if they’ve made the changes they know they must make to be credible.

How hungry are they to win government back?

We’ll know on Friday night.

After that slightly coded endorsement, we share a vicious attack on Ross Fox in the form of a series of questions proposed by a clearly very well informed critic. Enjoy. Of course, the views of VEXNEWS commenters are not necessarily the views of the management.

WILL THE REAL FOX PLEASE STAND UP?
I have just received a copy of Ross Fox’s application for the Senate pre-selection for this Friday night’s extravaganza and have forensically analysed the information he has provided.

Boy has this guy gilded the lily or what? He has more front the Myers!

For any budding delegates at this Friday night’s convention here are some curly questions and background information you might want to throw at the ‘star’ candidate Mr Fox.

I have also included other question marks over Mr Fox’s run for Parliament for your information.

But first the ‘raw’ application data -
FOX HISTORY AFTER GRADUATING FROM ENGINEERING IN 1998 (11 YEARS AGO)
Age 22 – Business Analyst, McKinsey & Co.  Why did he leave?
26 months – a real paid job!
Age 24 – Helping out in WA aboriginal community on a contact.  Why do this?
4 months – a real paid job!
Age 24 – Improvement Consultant, Pasminco Smelter
6 months  – a real paid job!
Age 25 – Adviser to Federal Member for Macarthur in NSW.
4 months – a political staffer!
Age 26 – (Senior) Policy Adviser to the NSW opposition leader.  Senior?
12 months – a political staffer!
Age 26 Business Improvement Manager, Emoleum Road Services.
6 months – a real paid job!
Age 26 – Fox paid for a place to attend an Oxford Bachelor of Arts Degree
24 months – no job
Age 28 – Research Fellow (part time), IPA
7 months – not a real job.  A small token salary!
Age 29 – Chief of Staff (read office manager) for Ronno.  Boy was this a setup!
6 months (Fox was preselected for Isaacs in July 2007 while the office manager) – a political staffer!
Age 30 – Liberal Candidate for the Federal Electorate of Isaacs
16 Months – no job
Age 31 – Research Fellow (part time), IPA
15 months – not a real job.  A small token salary!
Age 32 – Director of Public Affairs, Association of Independent Schools of Victoria
9 months – a real paid job!
So now we have a better picture of the last 10 years….
Real paid jobs  = 3 years and 9months
Political staffer positions  = 1 year and 10 months
Part time IPA researcher = 1 year and 10 months
Liberal Candidate = 1 year and 4 months
Student = 2 years

QUESTIONS FOR MR FOX
Ross in your application under the heading ‘Employment History’ you talk about being ‘Chief of Staff’ for the Office of Michael Ronaldson for 6 months.  Really?  This does sound impressive but we all know that Ronno was a backbencher at that time. Surely you mean ‘Office Manager’.

Ross you talk about your ‘business acumen and extensive business contacts’ gained through your fractured and mediocre work history.  Please explain how you obtained this business acumen and these business contacts?

Ross you talk about your fantastic campaign in Isaacs where you spent over $200,000 of Liberal Party funds.  Why then did you have a massive 6.21% swing against you?

Other key Labor held seats in the 2007 Federal Campaign did not have such a large swing against them when they only had a fraction of the Liberal Party funds allocated to them that you had.

In your pre-selection speech to win the endorsement for Isaacs you barked out loud that you would ‘challenge Mark Dreyfus (the Labor candidate) to debate you every day of the campaign’.  How many times did you challenge Mr Dreyfus to debate you in the Isaacs campaign?
Ross why did you lie to many Liberals in the Isaac’s electorate about your ‘independence’ when after you were endorsed it was found you were just another Costello sycophant being supported by Mitch Fifield for numbers in the Party room?

After your speech to win the Isaacs campaign you were seen violently vomiting in the toilets.  Do you really have the mettle to be a Senator?

It is noticed in your application that there is no mention of winning the next State election.  Is this because you still retain strong allegiances with Costello and will in no way help Ted Baillieu win the next State election?

Throughout your application you seem to be hanging a lot on your (only) 9 months working as a Director for the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria.  There appears to be several other ‘Directors’ at the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria.  Are you sure that this ‘trumping up’ of this short period with the organisations reflects the true picture of your involvement?   Or is this just another ‘Chief of Staff’ puff….?  After all you have included what you have done in this role in the last 9 months as one of your (two) major career achievements!

Ross you have included your second major career achievement as being the candidate in your failed Isaacs campaign. Your statistics (train station visits / media coverage etc) are not remarkable and compare with many other Liberal endorsed candidates who had a lot less Liberal Party funds to spend on their campaigns.

You talk about the ‘2nd BA’ at your paid Oxford Course that it will be converted to a Master of Arts in a few months time.  Now Ross you know that with an Oxford degree this happens automatically after 7 years not in a few months time.  Don’t imply you are ‘an exceptional student’.  Just tell it like it is.

Ross you were trying to destabilise the then Leader of the Federal Opposition, Dr Nelson last year, with your Internet antics that professed Peter Costello should come back to lead the Federal Liberals.  How do we know you wont get up to this mischief against Malcolm Turnbull?  You are simply not to be trusted.

It can be seen in your Accompanying Statement that you are playing for the Country vote that is being partially vacated by Judith Troeth.  Its great that when you were young, having a hobby of rearing a few calves, but can I be bold enough to say that this is your full extent of Country sympathy.  Lets not pretend.  You are a city dude who wouldn’t in a (pink) fit head off to live in the Country.  Nice try though. People see right through your opportunism to cash in on this Country sentiment.

Now Mr Fox.  You are a single 32-year-old male with lots of confidence (and bluff) but with limited life experiences.  You have a propensity to lie to get your own way and have been caught gilding the lily to try and get into Parliament by ‘whatever it takes’.  What do you really know about working families and what it is like to bring up children, have a mortgage and all the things important to most people in the community?  It is great to be a young ‘Turk’ wanting fame and notoriety by being a Member of Parliament, and I am sure your current salary of $70,000 going to $140,000 plus perks as a Senator would also be a buzz for you.  But look we already have a couple of young Turks representing Victoria in Scott Ryan and Mitch Fifield.  Do we really need another one?

Lets not go back to the Pre-Reform days that branded Liberal Party in Victoria as a club for the Costello boys (and Helen Kroger).  Lets elect Liberal’s to our Parliament who understand people as a result of their long and real life experiences.  Lets not have any more young chameleons professing to be something they simply are not.

Ouch. After reading that lot we’re glad we’re not running for anything except the #55 tram.

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