While today’s Crikey rather disappointingly contains no reaction from Jon Stanhope to Greg Barns’ challenge around the Haneef case, it does contain an interesting report (subscription required) on last night’s AGM of the Northern Electorate Branch of the ACT Liberals. It seems that the ACT division president Gary Kent’s man, Alastair Coe, handily saw off a tilt from one Don Graham, despite strong lobbying on behalf of the latter by “Wild” Bill Stefaniak.
However, this is where things take a turn for the comical – handing over to Crikey’s snout:
On the declaration of the vote, she demanded to see the signed attendance sheets, claiming there were more votes than attendees. As people from both sides sought to seize the sheets they were torn to pieces, effectively leaving no record of who was entitled to vote.
One long-time ACT Liberal member at the meeting said this morning it was hard to imagine the Labor Party at its worst behaving in such a fashion, and such scenes were likely to see an exodus of members — which just might suit one of the contending factions. Another said the
meeting had created a public spectacle, as it was held in a licensed club and was observed by curious spectators.
Do any of those “curious spectators” count themselves among the RiotACT’s readership?
GungahlinAl had this to say on the same story:
ACT Libs get their stoush national exposure
From today’s Crikey (not the full story sorry – I don’t subscribe):
Paper cuts sustained in civil war among ACT Liberals
A Canberra insider writes:
A little reported civil war, like a small war in Africa, continues to rage in the thin ranks of the ACT Liberals, with a branch meeting last night ending up in a melee with the attendance records being torn up.
Intriguing…anything anyone else can add??