Liberal Senate candidate Jacob Vadakkedathu says auctioning the cricket bat at his fundraiser was never an issue – until now. Photo: Facebook.
The auction of a cricket bat at a Canberra Liberals fundraiser could be what finally brings the party’s embattled ACT Senate candidate undone, but Jacob Vadakkedathu insists he is being set up by those who want to take his endorsement.
A Liberal Party divisional council meeting has been set for 1 February to consider the future of Mr Vadakkedathu’s candidacy over allegations of branch stacking.
But it’s a cricket bat signed by three former Australian test captains that could actually bring him unstuck.
The problem for the Liberal Party is there are two versions of the cricket-gate story, which saw the bat being auctioned last year for a tenth of the price it might have otherwise attracted.
One version is that Mr Vadakkedathu had no authority to take the bat from the party’s division headquarters and sell it – and the other version is exactly the opposite.
With the party’s membership confused over the whole matter, Canberra Liberals President Nick Tyrrell emailed a lengthy letter to the party’s management committee to “make sure whatever your view on the situation, we are not contributing to the misinformation, even unintentionally”.
Region has been handed a copy of the letter and has confirmed its authenticity.
In it, Mr Tyrrell paraphrases questions he says are circulating about Mr Vadakkedathu’s treatment and then answers them with considerable detail.
“Why was Jacob not disciplined for removing the valuable signed cricket bat from Division and auctioning it off?” he wrote in bold.
“[Answer]… I understand the cricket bat was signed by three former Australian captains, and Jacob had asked a Division staff member if he could take it. He was told in no uncertain terms ‘no’ and that it was Division property.
“I understand the records show that the bat had been auctioned or raffled at Jacob’s fundraiser on 17 Aug 2024 for $1050 and that this was allocated to his fundraising balance.
“While it is unfortunate that the bat was removed without permission, and was auctioned for less than its replacement value (let alone its potential value at an appropriate event), by the time the circumstances were understood it was too late to do much about it, beyond keeping valuables more securely stored at Division.”
When Region asked Mr Vadakkedathu about the allegations, he said it was “total nonsense” and added that he was being set up and defamed.
“It was the day of my campaign launch, and I went to the division office late in the morning to collect campaign materials like balloons and banners, etc,” he said.
“I saw the cricket bat and said to the division staff member, ‘oh that’s a nice bat’, and they said, ‘take it and auction it’.
“I repeatedly asked if that was OK and was repeatedly told yes, it was, and to take it.
“Why would I steal it? We raised money and it went straight into the campaign’s account, not my personal account. We should be happy we raised the money.
“And I have not had a single call about it until now. It hasn’t been an issue.
“I’m being set up by those who want me replaced, and it’s defamation if this is being circulated to members.”
Region also contacted Mr Tyrrell, who said he could not comment on internal party matters.
Neither would Mr Vadakkedathu comment on other parts of the letter in which Mr Tyrrell suggested there was a confession, of sorts, about branch stacking.
“The issue of Jacob’s paying for memberships was discussed in the context only of what allegations might be made as part of the inevitable robust discussion after the Divisional Council was called,” the letter says.
“To that end, Jacob admitted (for the first time to my knowledge, and in the presence of myself, Martin and Adam W) in that meeting that he had paid for memberships for people outside his family, but that they had ‘paid him back’.”
Martin is Martin Dunn, the division’s honorary general secretary and Adam W is Adam Wojtonis, the Canberra Liberals director.
The letter canvasses a number of interesting issues, including that Mr Vadakkedathu was instructed to undergo “comprehensive media training” which was delivered by “long-serving Liberal Party campaign hard-head lan Hanke, a veteran journalist, and media adviser back to the Howard days”.
Mr Hanke is indeed a “hard-head” Liberal Party campaigner – and is known for shaving his head (ready for battle) each time a federal election is called.
While pressure is mounting within the Liberals to choose a woman to replace Mr Vadakkedathu if he is disendorsed, there is also speculation Mr Tyrrell might throw his own hat into the ring for consideration.
But Mr Vadakkedathu is standing firm and refusing to step aside voluntarily.
The Canberra Liberals were hoping to win back the ACT Senate seat it lost at the last federal election when independent David Pocock was elected.
With the Coalition polling well nationally, the Liberals have their sights on Labor Senator Katy Gallagher’s ACT seat.
But their campaign is unravelling before the election has even been called.
“I hope we can all aim to resolve this situation as quickly and decisively as possible in order to get our campaign Back on Track and take the fight to Labor,” Mr Tyrrell wrote.
“Katy in particular, who we should be putting under pressure but is having a field day.”
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