8 June 2007

A Liberal by any other name?

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One of our readership forwarded on a scanned pdf of a flyer he had received in the mail yesterday that quotes Stanhope and other sources to imply Rudd will be bad for the ACT. Although the pdf would be too large to put up, the web address, www.jobcuts.info provides exactly the same info but without the lovely photo of Kevin Rudd. Our reader states that the flyer came from Liberal candidate for Frazer Troy Williams and even though neither the scanned flyer nor the website state as such a quick search of the authorising address reveals it to be so as it is the same as that of the ACT Division of the Liberal Party of Australia.

But I ask this; although I applaud anyone out there throwing their hat into the ring should not political advertising clearly state who they are a mouth piece for (and not just provide a tiny address as reference) and does anyone really believe anti ALP propaganda will make a lick of difference in a Labor stronghold like Canberra?

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Obfuscation is lying, irrespective of how you might like to finesse the facts.

Given that it’s politics the presumption would have to be malice, not incompetence.

Jesus Christ, Troy Williams has Gary Humphries in his sights, the Liberals are being dishonest despite not lying (being misleading and being dishonest are two different things), Troy Williams is a real knockabout guy AND a faceless hack.

This is the best discussion I have ever seen, so far none of it is right.

And as a wise man once said, never attribute to malice what can be easily apportioned to incompetence.

I suspect that political advertising material that does not have its source correctly identified may be .. ummm .. problematic in terms of s 328 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act. Unlike some other provisions, s 328 is not obviously linked to the “relevant period” leading up to a specific election. But I’m sure a big grownup party would know enough to check this stuff out.

And omitting to mention that it was produced by the Liberal Party was purely an oversight? ie it wasn’t intended to mislead readers into thinking it came from and independent source?

It’s bulllshit. The Liberal Party may formally comply with the requirements of the Electoral Act but in substance their intention was to deceive Canberra’s voting public.

How can the Liberal Party expect us to take their allegations seriously if they can’t even put their name to them?

This is a brilliant example of the contempt that the Liberal Party has for the concept of honesty and of the electorate.

Avacry: can you read? Or do you fire off responses with the same two second spasming motion you attempt to pleasure women with? I was responding to some of the conjecture above about Williams taking over from Humphries…

And it is identified material as per the requirements of the Commonwealth Electoral Act which states to the effect that name and address of authorising person appear at the end of the document. The ad does comply with legislative requirements. Suggest you guys have another look.

The information in the message should be of concern to all ACT residents as it has the potential to impact our local economy.

The cat did it10:28 pm 09 Jun 07

Election-related material HAS to be identified- the Law says so and there are penalties for failing to do so . It’s an elementary mistake and any political machine with half a gram of competence wouldn’t be dropping the ball like this so early in the campaign. Do they seriously want their candidate looking like a prat on the TV news when he appears in court to answer charges?

Nemo

The issue absolutely is who wrote the information, your disregard for the concept of honesty is illuminating.

And if you are referring to me as a Labor type, you are mistaken, I aint voted for Labor in years.

Whats the real issue? well its certainly not who wrote the information, it’s whether the information contained in the material is correct.
I dont think Labor types have a handle on common sense.

What’s the real issue Troy?

It seems to be that the Liberal Party is engaging in dishonest behaviour by distributing electoral material that is designed to appear like it comes from an independent source, when in fact it is produced by the Liberal Party.

The inference is that you are happy to deceive the electorate when it suits your political aims.

You Liberal Party types don’t seem to have a solid handle on the truth/lie distinction do you?

Ant Pant wtf you on about? Gary and Troy are going for completely different houses of parliament. Please educate yourself before posting stupid comments.

“Al: NOT HAPPY about your stickers plastered up on every damn street sign around the place. Do you not understand the meaning of vandalism?”

Despite living in Troy’s electorate, I have never seen one of his stickers. On the other hand, this morning without looking hard I walked past at least 5 “your rights at work” stickers plastered on light posts, traffic lights and parking vending machines.

If you are going to object to stickers – object to everyone’s stickers not just ones that suit your agenda.

Ralph, that’s a description, not a criticism.

Try harder…

Hehehe, nice one Caf – tho I was thinking more along the lines of that greatly-underrated ABC show ‘The Games’: Politician: “Kevin Nara has my complete support”, Staffer: “Shit, Kevin’s toast, get his security pass!”

Seriously though, they’d better not axe Gary – he may be a Lib but at least he’s shown that he’s not one of those right-wing, bible-beating fascists of the ‘inner-circle’. Having encountered him around town, he seems like a pretty ok guy who is actually interested in doing stuff for Canberra (gasp! I know, bizarre huh?)…lets not forget he is the only Lib to ever cross the floor in Howard’s time, and on a contentious issue like civil unions too – I doubt the unsmiling Mr Williams would have had the ‘stones’ to do that! Surely the Libs aren’t stupid enough to replace a moderate like Gaz with some factional hack like Mr Williams in a town like Canberra???

Spake the socialist.

Yeah good on you Ralph. Only Norway has the oil wealth – the other Scandanavian countries don’t and I havent noticed too much social destruction on my travels there. I have, on the other hand seen a generous chunk of social destruction – hordes of homeless, and strict lines of social stratificatio – in the US of A. My guess is you’d lay the blame squarely at the feet of the generous American welfare state. Maybe if they’d just eliminate welfare altogether then we’d finally have a capitalist utopia.

I also recall Howard taking out full page ads in the CT on election day 1996 saying “my guarantee to public servants of no forced redundancies” etc. I kept that on my noticeboard for a few years!

Maelinar, do you realise that Troy Williams is a candidate for Federal Parliament, not the ACT Legislative Assembly? Where carparks and public transport are Not Really Their Bag, Baby?

Oh and “…he has my full support.” – as anyone who’s watched Yes, Minister knows, the Bearded One is surely done for now.

Hrm…I seem to recall that one of little Johnny’s first acts was to slash the federal public service. By over 20,000, if the numbers I read on the web are to be believed (not all in Canberra, I’m sure, but likely the majority). Now, I’m not opining one way or the other on cuts per se, but it seems pretty damn hypocritical to be drumming up a scare campaign about exactly the thing he himself did when he first came to power…

CanberraGreen1:50 pm 08 Jun 07

Gawd you guys are a cynical bunch. For the first time in ages somebody actually wants to engage us and you shout him down. He may be just another stuffed suit or perhaps the real thing, being a Liberal hopes are not high but shouldn’t we take the time to find out?

barking toad1:20 pm 08 Jun 07

I use political advertising to light my fire (except the TV ones of course) after I have used up the canb times.

I hope there is no election before the end of winter

Yes, those Scandinavian utopias……….

Pssst, you forgot to mention their wealth built from North Sea oil reserves.

Troy: hate to state the obvious but Peter Debnam’s stance on 29,000 public servants was a little more graphic (in more ways than one if you add in the budgie smuggling incident) than any Labour policy on the issue.

http://www.nswalp.com/static/peterdebnam/

I’m still voting for ya though, on account of I’ve run out of any alternatives. Just stop selling carparks for buildings, and get public transport working, but I’m sure you’re on top of all that.

Absent Diane12:15 pm 08 Jun 07

Ralph – just to prove how wrong you are mate check out norway.. large government coupled with free market and plenty of welfare – retirement in norway is a breeze. High taxes but plenty of return. Consistently rated most livable country with a very strong economy. Low levels of unemployment, high levels of tertiary education (which is free), very high skilled worker base.

If I could get a passport for being conceived there.. would move in a flash.

> Troy: NOT HAPPY about your stickers plastered up on every damn street sign around the place.

I’ll never forget getting hassled by the police for putting up band posters…RIGHT NEXT TO A FRIGGING KATE CARNELL POSTER!

Troy: NOT HAPPY about your stickers plastered up on every damn street sign around the place. Do you not understand the meaning of vandalism?
Perhaps Mr Pratt should have a word to you…

Hi Troy. Thanks for replying, but you can’t fool me! I know you are trying to prevent a Carnell comeback!

A bit disappointed Troy.

As a Liberal I would expect you to support the notion of small government, hence job cuts.

I have long said on here that I am a supporter of small government and a lower tax base. This can be achieved through the abolition of the socially destructive welfare state.

*great*

>> I’m happy to be identified with the issue and don’t hide the fact

That’s greT Troy. The fact remains though that you DO hide the fact. If you’re happy to be identified with the issue, why do you send out flyers that do not properly identify who you are??

TroyWilliams11:32 am 08 Jun 07

Hi guys

I’m happy to be identified with the issue and don’t hide the fact, visit: http://www.troy-williams.com/media/070607-TroyWilliams.htm

Debates about the campaign aside, what’s the real issue? Labor says they will sack public servants, it’s a matter of public record. So is Jon Stanhope’s concern that a change of government at the federal level will have an adverse impact on the local economy. I welcome the opportunity for an honest and open debate on this issue.

Herbert, thanks for the laugh although 1 April was just over two months ago. Gary isn’t going anywhere and he has my full support.

All the best

Troy

http://www.troy-williams.com

‘does anyone really believe anti ALP propaganda will make a lick of difference’

No, but Williams is being groomed to take over from Humphries mid-term. It is about building a profile.

Let’s hope one of the MLAs (of either faction, as long as they’re against this sort of crap) notices this page and makes a speech about it.

This is dirty politics and although Canberrans will probably see through it, this sort of thing shouldn’t be going on.

Troy Williams is desperate to get into power isn’t he?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Williams

I recall several years back my Dad getting some anti ALP “info” in the mail, also with no indication that it was from the Libs. It claimed to be from a “concerned resident” & listed a residential address in his suburb. Dad wasn’t happy, went to this address & confronted the owner about it. Turns out he was indeed a staffer for the local Lib candidate. Personally, I think this should NOT be legal. It’s deceipt. The longer they do this stuff, the longer it will be before I ever, ever give them my vote.

I guess the point is that no, it doesn’t work here in Canberra. We’re educated enough to see through what basically amounts to lies.

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