2 January 2024

New Liberals Director brings digital campaign skills

| Ian Bushnell
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New Canberra Liberals Director Adam Wojtonis. Photo: LinkedIn.

The Canberra Liberals have appointed a new Divisional Director with key experience for an election year to replace Kieren Douglas, who departed the role late last year.

The party announced to members the appointment of former Deputy Director of the Victorian Division Adam Wojtonis just before the Christmas break.

The party update from Acting President Megan Fox described Mr Wojtonis as an experienced political campaigner and communications executive with over 15 years of leadership experience across multiple industries in both corporate and public sectors in Australia.

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Mr Wojtonis was Deputy Director of the Victorian Division from 2018 to 2021, including a four-month stint as Acting State Director in 2019.

As Head of Digital and Data, he established and managed the party’s data analytics and insights team, managed its digital channels and spearheaded the marketing program.

Mr Wojtonis also developed and executed a digital voter engagement strategy to connect with constituents.

“We are excited to have Adam join our team, and we look forward to the experience he will bring,” Ms Fox said.

Mr Wojtonis had a brush with controversy in 2015 when media reported that when he was a staffer for former Liberal minister Kevin Andrews while in opposition, he also ran the fundraising club that supported Mr Andrews, prompting accusations about the appropriate use of parliamentary resources.

Mr Wojtonis was secretary, treasurer and contact point for the Menzies 200 Club from 2010-11 until 2012-13.

Mr Andrews said at the time that Mr Wojtonis worked for Menzies 200 in his own time.

Mr Wojtonis has also been a Liberal candidate, running unsuccessfully for the district of Brunswick in the 2018 Victorian election.

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The Canberra Liberals will conduct its preselection contests next month – Ginninderra on 5 February, Kurrajong on 6 February, Yerrabi on 7 February, Murrumbidgee on 13 February and Brindabella on 14 February.

The ACT election will be held on 19 October.

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Canberra Liberals building on the raging success of the Victorian election to follow WAs lead and beat their record aiming for no seats after October. Good to have ambition!

What is it about these hard-right conservatives that drives their insatiable appetite for self extinction?

Well either way this is great for Canberra. Like sinking a ship to drown the rats.

I am surprised Zed wasn’t rewarded with this job considering his ongoing job prospect, but then again this guy has beaten Zed to lose more seats if that’s the selection criteria.

Adam Wojtonis is now the new Canberra Liberals Director and is an ex-staffer to ultra-conservative Kevin Andrews. Kevin Andrews is well known to Canberrans as the Federal Liberal Minister who introduced laws to remove territory rights. Mr Wojtonis is currently chief executive officer of a cybersecurity gambling platform which he co-founded. He has strong conservative Liberal connections with an ambiguous and varied background within the party.

Mr Wojtonis was a past, and unsuccessful Liberal candidate in the 2018 Victorian state election, hurriedly replacing the previous candidate who was found not to be on the electoral roll. Running on a conservative and tough on crime platform, Mr Wojtonis promised to get crime back in control, fix the crims and keep them in gaol if elected! Sound familiar? Mr Wojtonis was also acting Liberal state director at the time of a provocative and unsavoury polling exercise undertaken by the party in 2019. A few years ago, Mr Wojtonis was accused of misappropriate use of parliamentary funding and resources whilst employed for Kevin Andrews at the same time he was working as secretary, treasurer and contact point for the Menzies 200 Club! This right-wing Club was launched in 1999 by then PM John Howard to provide support to the federal election campaigns of Kevin Andrews and the Victorian Division of the party. The Club is strongly connected to right-wing media and was accused of funnelling enormous donations from the gambling industry through party associated entities including the Club. This included Australia’s most powerful gambling lobby donating a vast amount to a fundraising body supporting Kevin Andrews as he led formulation of the Coalition’s industry-backed poker machines policy before the 2013 election.

I wonder whether the newly minted Canberra Liberals are as reformed as they claim! Another seemingly far right conservative appointed to a senior position within the party in an election year. A party that appears to remain deeply divided and devoid of direction!

What a letdown for Canberra voters!

Adam Wojtonis (Director)
Canberra Liberals.
Communications and Public Afairs Consultant | Thgisni Pty Limited February 2021 – Present | Australia, USA, and Europe
CEO | Co-founder | MonkPhish 
June 2019 – Present | Australia, USA, and Europe 

CTO | dex LLC 
August 2016 – April 2018 | Washington D.C. 

Product Manager | Thomson Reuters 
April 2017 – July 2017 | Melbourne 

Founder & COO | Pacific Audiences
July 2015 – October 2016 | Philippines and Cambodia
. Product Manager | Media Group of America 
January 2014 – October 2015 | Washington D.C. 

. EDUCATION
. Bachelor of Laws University of Melbourne Bachelor of Commerce University of Melbourne
. Graduate Diploma in Arts (Political Science)
. University of Melbourne
. Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice
. Leo Cussen Institute
Sadly not a Union hack. But of course Jack D is smarter than the rest of us.

I do not doubt Adam Wojtonis’s credentials Ray Zak! What I am questioning is whether the Canberra Liberals are as reformed as they claim. Their failure to tackle the right-wing male dominance that prevails within the party and the party’s inability to nurture and promote equality for women in leadership roles is shameful!

Women including ex-Liberal leader Kate Carnell and ex-Senator Margaret Reid have been the only and most successful leaders the party has ever seen. Megan Fox who has obviously shown talent and is from the moderate wing of the party was recently elected deputy president over an empty chair. Candice Burch, an ex-MLA was relegated to deputy president the year before over incumbent and controversial ultra-conservative John Cziesla who refuses to step down.

Women inside the Liberal party continue to be subjected to ridicule for raising gender equality concerns. At the latest AGM Jeremy Hanson ran an all-male ticket. Women in the party who attempted to speak were shouted down by the old guard. Ex-MLA and deputy leader Giulia Jones was yelled at and told to “shut up” by an unsuccessful Federal party candidate and Zed supporter.

The last ACT election saw only four new women preselected to run in the party out of 11 men. The federal election saw the Liberal party record its lowest female representation in parliament since 1993. A record number of women were elected to the House of Representatives but in the Liberal party women currently have just 9 of its 42 seats.

Say what you like about the Labor party and its union movement Ray Zak! Labor is proud of and leads the way in striving for gender equality and women in parliament. The party has driven many of the reforms that continue to guide gender equality to this day. These reforms have given the party quality leaders including the ACT’s Katy Gallagher and Alicia Payne who sit in the parliament today!

And the Liberals then Senator Zed Seselja lost the party’s only seat!!

Ray Zac of Mr 26% fame, close hard-right ally of Zed who lost an unlosable seat, and a key player in the Canberra Liberals self-destruction and disastrous last election, so yes we can all see why you would look up to this embodiment of failure. Always someone else’s fault right Ray? But that’s democracy as you say 😉

I suspect the Libs will be sitting in Opposition for another 20 years unless they understand and can articulate what the citizens want.

Good to see the Liberal Party has upskilled their digital media competence. Now if only they had some winning policies to sell…and electable candidates and leadership.

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