Oh for godsakes. First class tragedy. I wonder if he’ll actually move to warrnambool, hamilton, ararat, colraine, casterton and portland as promised.

that beer ad has no relevance at all. swan lager? and tehan hasn’t “made it through” anything yet

Well he did win the preselection for a safe Liberal seat, that’s not such a bad effort, don’t you think?

[deleted - disgusting]

anon Sept 13th 22:34

Shows how gutless you are! You weak prick.

Just shows the morality of the ALP these days.

Vex, excellent coverage today. Good work. But in the interest of decency, please remove anon 22.34. Noone needs to see that, not least Dan. Please.

Today’s result is bad news for Nick “UN” McGowan and Tudgey le Fudgey.
Dan the Man is a Conservative that supports VSU and that opposes UN corruption.

Has Alan Al-Age taken one for the team and bowed out yet?

Its a completely dissapoiting result.

I was talking to so many people today. Yes I am well connected.

David Koch, John Vogels, David Kemp, the two country VP’s Robyn and Andrew. Ahhhhh painful!

How can us Wannonites be so damned stupid! I am not coming up north to hamilton to see this wanker. EVER. I may even consider my membership in this once great party.

TEHAN!!!! most of those people have mush for brains!!!!!

Helllooooo people????

Dan the Man secured Dr Dennis’ support, which was crucial to ensuring that Louise Staley did not win preselection. PS- Dr Dennis is a patriot, and should be given another shot as leader.

That is Dan’s legacy, and we should be forever grateful to him.

People now need to have a long hard look at the IPA, especially its chief John Roskam and his sidekick Timmy Wilson, and its role as employers and boosters in chief for Louise.

Congratulations to Dan, and everyone else who sent Louise a powerful message – 3 times aint a charm.

Mitchell was the stand out performer. Tehan simply had more powerful support and is willing to be molded to suit the Naptine/Hawker/Lyons needs.

I agree Dark Horse, in fact I’ve agreed with most of you commentary. (You’ve never declared who you actually wanted to win though. Prey tell!)

I was going for Mitchell because I think he was a strong innovator, had ACTUAL real world experience and also for the good of the party longevity. Libs need fundraising dollars and like it or not Mitchell was the only one who could deliver results in Wannon. I think within 10 years our elections and preselections will be Americanised and you’ll need big dollars to get any kind of cut through. So fundraising with corporates and on a bigger scale will be essential.(Proven already by Tehan who clearly had professional PR people – perhaps at Melb City Council – put together his direct mail which is unconstitional and not surprisingly no-one at 104 or M.Lyons did anything about it. I bet if Staley got PR professionals on board Lyons would have eliminated her from the race. It’s clearly so hypocritical it’s sickening! State council party reforms are just in place to crap on people they DON’T like)

If Dan thinks he’s going to secure a cutting edge multi media campaign by getting the old folk to sell scones and raffle tickets, he’s kidding himself. Yesterday he spoke of the “fantastic fundraising systems that are already in place in Wannon”. What crap! He clearly has NO CLUE about Wannon and the fact that memberships are at a record low with 95% of local party members being aged 65 or more (don’t ask what i think membership levels will look like in 5 years when buckets start getting kicked).

Under Hawker, nearly every Liberal voter I know under 35 has stopped paying their membership fees. Wannon has seen a dramatic slump in Gen X participation because it’s too damn boring driving 100km to attend a branch meeting at a dusty old house, drink god-awful International Roast while eating gherkins with kabana on cruskets and listen to the control freak branch president who’s been in the role for 30 years. Get a life!

Has hawker ever held young lib events? Cocktail parties? Concerts? Guest Speakers for youngies? Maybe even a comedy night to bring young members together? Nup. Nothing. Zip. Zero. The Hawkers/Lyons camp only have themselves to blame for the mess that is Wannon.

There is no renewal in Wannon whatsoever and young supporters who’ve dropped their memberships (you know who you are) would have signed up if a candidate without factional ties was chosen. Dan was simply THE choice of 104. Lyons, Thomas, Hawker, Napthine should have done everyone a favour and said that they would support and endorse Tehan, save everyone else the anguish and effort. I’m no Staley fan but she did put in a great deal of effort for the Party and for her own campaign, the powers should have let her know she had zero chance… at least she now knows to stop listening to Howely..

The body language of the Hawkers was quite telling yesterday – VERY uncomfortabe and condescending around Staley and Mitchell. This was not a fair fight, this was a group of washed up, outdated Wannon leaders who made a choice to put someone in who they can ‘mold’ into shape. This will not wash with the Genx/Geny potential members.

And, further to that, the old leaders of Wannon have no clue that elections will be won and lost via internet and TV. The Wannon head honchos wouldn’t know a Facebook from a chequebook, a Myspace from outta space, a Tweet from a well, tweet… (Has anyone seen Tehan’s awful attempt at Twitter, he has no clue how to utilise the medium)

Pathetic and selfish factionalism has won the day in Wannon. The washed up leaders should be ashamed of their underhanded and covert endorsement of Tehan.. not very above board. Makin would have been better that Tehan, he’s all for modernisation and innovation.

Tehan doesn’t want to move to Wannon. He wants to be in Camberra. He has had his wish granted and now the Wannon libs will continue to struggle with renewal.

If anyone – who actually knows Wannon – disagrees with me, just try and list more that 10 party members under 35.

My final recommendation is that in rural communities the Party allows ‘members at large’. You will never get Genx/y going to branch meetings, just not going to happen! We need regional conference meetings on Skype and bring some balance back to tired, old Wannon.

Sorry Tehan, you won’t have my vote. In fact I’ve lost faith in Wannon leadership and like all my under 35 friends, we’re burned out and over trying to negotiate change with the oldies who refuse to look at membership trends across the board and take responsibility for them. A sad day for Wannon.

Dan Tehan was the stand out candidate. He will make an excellent member for Wannon.

Tehan couldnt be much more useless than the man he is replacing

wannon fan is right about elderly control freaks. it’s not just wannon. the septagenarians who maintain a deathly grip on state council & state assembly delegateships should look around them & ask where the next generation is coming from. it’s not, unless they step aside & give what young people are left a go. not sure wannonfan is right about dan tehan though. he may just have learned a few lessons from marie’s something less than spectacularly successful career

The Wannon gang can have only hold themselves responsible for this result. Over 90% of the 350 delegates who voted were Liberal members from the Wannon electorate. They can’t blame the so-called “State Council delegates” from “104″.

I am simply astonished that the Wannon people, given at LEAST four other very good candidates who already have lived and worked in REAL life (not pseudo-politics and the public service) in Wannon practically all their lives were overlooked for a looks-good, feels-good “name” from Hawthorn. I’ll wager that up until three months ago, he would have struggled to name more than five towns in Wannon of less than 1,000 population, far less attended more than five meetings of the Liberal party in the electorate, and I’ll bet ODDS ON he’s never had to make a hard-nosed business decision EVER in his life.

Still, the “Warriors of Wannon” have made their call, and they’ll have to live with it from here on in. I’m just extremely sorry for a couple of the other VERY good candidates from WITHIN Wannon who could easily have done the job – either of two small business owners and operators as farmers/vets, or a hard-nosed businessman could have done the job easily. The final decision sends a terrible message to long serving and hard working local members who’ve given their political lives to the Party, and then just get completely snubbed for someone from “outside”.

So much for devolving democracy to the grass roots of the Party! Ah well! What might have been.

Cheers,
Observer.

Tehan won because he was tough on the ETS and tough on China. He was thrown curly hostiles and answered them well. He just did well because he demonstrated some passion and consistency.

I am not sure but I think Howley and co left after Staley’s elimination. can anyone confirm this?

Witness 13:16, you are correct – the Witches of Wannon left before the final round of voting, after conspicuously caucusing around a bubbling cauldron at the back of the hall during the earlier rounds.

Louise Staley moved to Wannon as part of the ‘brilliant strategy’ by Joy Howley to take control of the largest electorate in teh party. Joy and Lou Lou were aided and abetted in this ultimately doomed and flawed strategy by John Roskam, who had her on teh payroll at the IPA until these masterminds felt it was time for her to stand for the seat. Howley was there, barking instructions at people, telling them how to vote, while Roskam was also there as Lou Lou’s scuitneer. They all left early

Doesn’t surprise me at all that john roskam was part of the joy howley strategy, and that he was lou lou’s scrutineer. this is teh same guy who says that Bill shorten is the best MP in the federal parliament.

roskam plays both sides. to be well regarded by the victorian government is not a state to which liberals should aspire. patriots will recall that rosky’s mate timmeh teamed up with labor in the melbourne city council elections. these people should just join the alp & be done with it

Dan Tehan looks like he has the Yooralla smile.

Ahhhh Wannonfan. We’ve probably met somewhere. The convention at Cavendish? I was there. The Grange Burn Inn, in march? I was there aswell.

I agree with Wannon Observer that the 104 delegates didn’t have the swaying influence. BUT, it was the 104 party machine itself that wanted Tehan there. They kept the nominations period open for an extra two weeks, allowing Tehan to resign and nominate (leaving a mess for whoever takes over the state conventions).

I Blame Dennis Napthine, Hawker, Maralyn Lyons & Co. Especially Dennis Napthine. Factionalism at its hight. Borders on being as bad as the ALP. Infact no this is worse. The ALP branch members know they are getting conned. Our omembers got the wool pulled over their eyes while the knife wnt in the back. And Napthine was a key part of that. And his little sidekick Nathan too. (Podgey whimp)

And Yes Wannonfan, I am one of those under 35 delegates.(Just?)

Its just so dissapointing. I’m sick of traveling up to Hamilton and seeing David Hawker, but we’re just elected the younger version, with a slightly rural, less toff accent.

I think the rest of those fools in Wannon got what they deserve, and the membership will slump even further because of it.

I hear Dan the Man won comfortably by 44 votes. Go Dan!

Just you wait and see – the National Party will now run a candidate and win the seat.

They wouldn’t have run if I had been preselected.

Maybe the Nats might preselect me one day. Where do I join?

Dark Horse, I don’t know who you actually are, but I reckon you’ve read the scene pretty well.

You say:-

“It’s just so disappointing. I’m sick of travelling up to Hamilton and seeing David Hawker, but we’ve just elected the younger version, with a slightly rural, less toff accent.

I think the rest of those fools in Wannon got what they deserve, and the membership will slump even further because of it.”

Yep! And I won’t bother travelling from the NE of the electorate either. Why should I? To meet someone who knows NOTHING about Wannon, who knows NOTHING about REAL rural issues, and who wouldn’t even know how to find his own way from Hamilton to Stawell and Ararat etc. let alone from Hawthorn!!!

I don’t know about what will happen to membership numbers for the Liberal party in Wannon, but I DO know that the electorate is now wide open to a three cornered contest with the NP preferences split between themselves and the ALP. Only the Nats can benefit from that in first preference terms, AND that means the ALP will benefit after distribution of seconds. REAL smart!!!!

And, as for the “slightly rural, less toff accent” – let me tell you, the Liberal Party has always in recent years been accused of the “born to rule” belief; the result in Wannon is simply the most eloquent manifestation of that statement that I can’t believe that the party is so bloody stupid! Right name, right pedigree, right fix – yep! OUR right to rule. What electoral rubbish. Disaster.

Well done Wannon Libs! You are so, so bloody foolish! You could have made a quantum shift in that perception, but you passed it up – actually you buggered it up!

As someone said earlier, I hope you find out eventually that twitter and e-elections is not just a 2009 invention. Just like ethics, Joy and Lou, aint an English county!

Cheers.
Observer

It sounds as though you are from Ripon, Observer?

Are there any candidates up that way who are actually good? Or future candidates? How are you going to get rid of Joe Helper? The likes of Dan Tehan certianly won’t help.

I remeber, Ripon is the only state seat within Wannon that is held by the ALP. I hope Southwest Coast soon falls. Re-newal. Good bye Dr Dennis. A lethal dosage is required.

I think we need somebody REAL. Not a toff. This is SO dissapointing.

im confused … all these people crying about the choice of dan tehan … who then amongst the rest of the field would you have liked to have seen win? wasnt exactly a great field to begin with

It sounds like another dubious election.

What about Western Region? The Colac Herald has Illingworth and Ramsay standing for pre-selection.

I dont think either of them will win. (western region)

Anyone would have been better than tehan.

Mitchell. Makin. Rainsford. Koch.

I’d even prefer Stayley over Tehan. yes. STAYLEY!

Dark Horse, you must be a gelding because you are clearly shooting blanks.

Rainsford over Tehan! Staley over Tehan!

WTF????

Your political judgment is appalling.

Your just saying that because you’re a Dan supporter.

If for example Rainsford got elected over tehan, I am sure she would do a better job. And She’s not a 104 hack. The only reason they left open the nominations for an extra 2 weeks is so Dan could stand. Its really quite appauling behaviour from 104. Think of the irony… a party who stands for freedom and decentralisation, and we have a central authority imposing their candidate on Wannonites.

Am I the only one who can see this is blatantly wrong?

104 talked Ramsay out of having a tilt at Wannon. Suggesting instead he go for Western Dist. in the Vic upper house. (confirmed in the Colac paper today).

“Stick to the small stage Sire”.

Simon’s ego will not survive another defeat.

Although the party does have considerable doubts about Simon’s ability to connect with the 98% of residents who a) didn’t attend Geelong Grammer b) don’t play polo in Dame Elizabeths backyard, c) dont know the difference between a 19 micron Peppin merino wether and a Border Leicster first cross ewe, and d) couldn’t give a flying flock about agri-politics.

Dark Horse, I agree, I agree and yes, I agree. It’s a miserable day for 104 and Wannon. Talk about hypocrisy!

Illingworth will win WD over Ramsay. His anti corruption platform will stand out considerably and I wish him well.

Maybe Illingworth can start by cleaning up 104 and rooting out the corrupt factionalists that extended the Wannon nomination period so Danny boy could run. (What a joke. Lyons must resign, the whole preselection was a farce)

Annon from Wannon, your numbers are incorrect, tehan did not win by 44 votes. Stop fishing for results.

Illingworth will be good for WD. Good family man with strong values and an excellent public profile. Ramsay doesn’t stand a chance, he was quite nasty during his recent divorce, made a mess of the VFF and has little respect in his electorate. This won’t be pretty.

Interesting comments here but obviously more than half the room, and if the 44 votes is correct then alot more than half the room selected Tehan…. stop whinging and just get on with the job of working toward the election. I suspect that most of the room who selected Dan don’t bother or even know about vexnews … and that is probably a good thing since I would think it would put anyone off running for anything anywhere anytime as there is so much hatred, vitrolic commentary and we ask ourselves why we don’t get good candidates!!!! Targets in the press as a politician is different this stuff is sheer nastiness and sour grapes…… always looking for someone or some body of people to blame for their candidates not getting up… for goodness sake you can’t tell me that 300 plus people were all robots and blindly followed how they were told to vote… get real!!

Dan won by 84 votes, not 44!

Annon from Wannon must be a Staley supporter trying play down the strength of Dan’s victory.

What is more remarkable is the story that when John Roskam left the convention early along with his partners in crime the witches of wannon (joy howley and co), he angrily threw his luggage into the waiting vehicle and exclaimed that he couldnt believe he was dragged all the way to Hamilton just for the sake of scrutineering 45 votes. so in her last round, lou lou got no more than 45 votes. can anyone confirm?

That makes no sense, as all good scrutineers know. You never check your candidate’s own votes, only your opponent’s. You’re not there to be a counting clerk but to get your candidate up, you do that by closely looking at everyone else’s votes and challenging anything you think is dodgy.

There endeth the patriotic lesson.

Why don’t you whingeing, carping bitches pull your heads in and get behind Dan Tehan. He is a smart and committed bloke who hits the ground running with serious chops in Canberra but with a good grass roots history.

This conversation is most interesting but isn’t there just one important thing left to be done now that there is finally some interst in the liberal party. Sign up another 500 members in Wannon right away. More members and more funds are all that we can do to enhance our position.
Oh just one more thing. If Dan turns out to be a lame duck then he should go. He deserves the right to prove himself though.

When I read the above garbage and slander, I cannot believe that grown men and women can be so petty and vicious. We all need to get behind Dan Tehan who had an enormous majority and we need to make sure that as committed Liberal voters we win the next election for Wannon.

well done Dan. Forget about the backers of the losers.let us hope they all are big enuf to now getbehind you. show us you can get 500 to rejoin the libs. work hard and be wannons next minister in the next government. We dont care if you pick your nose and scratch your bum.go hard. dont forget to have time to smell the roses
have fun nifty

One can only assume that the vitriolic comments after the Wannon preselection have come from ALP supporters. If not, it is time for Liberal voters to swallow their disappointment and get behind Dan Tehan, who won very comfortably, to ensure that we not only hold Wannon but increase our majority.

Thats Great Tyrrell…

You did a great job as membership officer. 90% of the members you signed up have already left. What you say has absolutely no credibility whatsoever.

Dan is an idiot. He lives in HAWTHORN for gods sake!

Dark Horse, not sure I follow your logic. Are you suggesting that anyone who lives in Hawthorn is an idiot?

Strange theory.

Dan Tehan deserves our support and clearly had the majority of the basketball court on his team on Sunday so in the spirit of the game why dont we all get on the right team and back the man up!!
In regard to the derogitry comments about Dan being a Hawthorn boy, perhaps you may like to know that the tehan family are inspecting houses, talking to kindergatens and early learning centres and schools, so a little more faith please and are we not a more gracious creature us Libs??

Dark Horse is obviously carrying so much baggage that resignation from the Liberal Party might be an option!!

I supported Mitchell but I am happy with my second choice.
Dan is smart and a devoted Liberal. He will raise the membership in Wannon and I will be helping him.

Perhaps Louise Staley’s demise could be Dan Tehan’s good performance as reported but also remember she nearly beat the Roman Catholic conservative MHR Kevin Andrews over 5 years ago (she lost by only 1 vote when Ian Carson and a few others defected I understand) and this could be papal payback as Dan and Dennis Napthine are both RC’s and what is the religious affiliation on Liberal members in Wannon I wonder – not Protestant, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim I bet. Lots of bog Irish in rural Victoria

Not bog Irish where I come from in rural Victoria–no way!!

My credibility has nothing to do with the fact that many members forgot to renew their membership on time and have since done so. The figure of 90% is totally incorrect so get your facts right, Dark Horse.

I don’t like the Joos or the Micks.

Father Bob in South Melbourne is OK

What an appalling thing it is, in the year 2009 to be reading such slanderous remarks from supposedly intelligent well educated folk in regard to ones denomination, sex, schooling etc call me naive but are we not all batting for the same side now or should we in good faith yellow card or indeed red card those not playing in the true spirit of the game such as Dark Horse who we would possible be better off without in this once fine political party, sad really to become so bitter and twisted down south there with very few mates left to scheme, undermine with?? For goodness sake grow up and get on with it – we have a really tough job ahead to regain a strong hold here in Wannon and the least of of our worries is Mr Tehan attending mass every Sunday, I say we need all the help we can muster and should he call on the big fella upstairs for a bit of help well I’m all for it – possible better than the non – show we have had in the past!! Can the very hard working dedicated, Mr Evans please sharpen your pencil and get that membership book out to resign the willing, however, give the southern dark horses (or washed up old hacks)a miss, apparently they don’t travel up here anymore anyway!

Wannon winner.

1. I’m glad you know what year it is.

2. I dont care what you think, my membership is going to Lapse because there is no liberal candidate standing for Wannon.

3. You’re an idiot.

A source told me today that Louise had the made speech but another reason Louise may have lost is that in some rural areas they like a man to be the MP while the women are meant to be in the kitchen making teas & scones and cutting out pictures for the Women Weekly and Country Life to stick onto the fridge door to look at. Just like Esk in Queensland (Kransky Sisters)

Opps, “the best speech” not “made” (18.10pm)

dan shold know about rurul issues he was reared on a sheep station at or near main dample

Should we continue to “play the man” or the ball ? . Or should the real question be “is Wannon getting back its share of the national pie compared to what it contributes! Is it a seat that when either party is in power, considered either to safe or unwinable? In the end the LARGE funds arnt “spent” by either liberal or Labour ! Wannon needs a more marginal result… think about why Wannon is missing out on what the other independents seats receive. look at the numbers please , its not the candidate at all Q1. Did Wannon bloom during the 12 years of a conservative govt? with the speaker as its member ?,Q2 Has Wannon done any better under a Rudd administration ,no! You see its about the PERCENTAGE of the margin THATS ALL THERE IS TO IT! , Cheers, vote an INDEPENDENT FOR WANNON and narrow the margin !Dan will still win but he will have to really work his electorate if it becomes say 3or5 margin seat.yes its possible to make Wannon work.

Dan your call your self a farmer your hands are smoother than some girls I know, mainly because some of them milk few cows before they go to school and then do the same a little while after they get home.

Dan’s are so smooth after years of masturbating with hand cream.

BAN THE DAN

Will the real Dan please stand up. Two of his two kids go to private school in Hawthorn. Will they move to the country? Hmmm.