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Other Parliamentary SpeechesThis page is dedicated to Peter's speeches during parliament that do not fall under Questions or Questions without notice. They range from debating legislation, reporting on events or issues in his seat of Southport and his Ministerial Statements.
Coalition Preselection Process |
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| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Sep 30 2005 |
| Other Speeches >> |
Mr LAWLOR (Southport-ALP) (4.22 pm):
Once again it is necessary for me and other members of the government to defend the rights of rank and file members of the Queensland Liberal Party living on the Gold Coast. The legalities of the bizarre joint preselection process have been addressed by the Premier and other members, but it is the morality, not the legality, of the process that concerns Gold Coast Liberals and, frankly, ought to concern all fair-minded Queenslanders.
Under the joint preselections there will be an equal number of National and Liberal members taking part in choosing a candidate for Broadwater, Gaven and Mudgeeraba on the coast. The gerrymander introduced by the Country Party more than 40 years ago has returned with a vengeance, but this time it targets the Liberal Party more than the Labor Party.
The National Party is close to extinction on the Gold Coast. Most of its branches are no longer constitutional, yet it will have the same voting rights as the Liberal Party, which holds all the Gold Coast based federal seats and three state seats to the National Party's zero. Rank and file Liberals on the coast have been shafted once again by their party leaders. The member for Robina has abandoned them; it just got too hard. The member for Chatsworth has no interest in them unless they belong to his faction.
I would imagine that there are several hundred Liberal Party members in the Broadwater, Gaven and Mudgeeraba electorates. There are probably no more than a couple of dozen National Party members in these seats, but the Nationals have been given equal representation on the preselection process with the Liberals. That means every National Party branch member will get a vote and up to 90 per cent of the Liberal Party members will not. They have been robbed of their say in choosing candidates by an agreement and a process that is a 21st century gerrymander.
Why has the Liberal Party dumped from a great height on its own branch members? The answer is that the majority of the members of the branches of these electorates do not belong to the ruling Santoro-Caltabiano faction. One of the most important rights held by the members of any political party is the right to take part in selecting candidates for political office, yet several hundred Gold Coast Liberals are having that basic right taken away from them. The member for Robina, the member for Surfers Paradise and the member for Currumbin are too busy saving their own political careers to defend the rights of those branch members.
The member for Chatsworth told the House just yesterday why he signed up to the agreement with the National Party. 'Raw ambition' was his excuse and explanation. His ambition will be closer to being fulfilled if the candidates chosen in the six joint preselection seats belong to either his faction or the National Party and not the minority faction led by the members for Robina and Moggill. To achieve that, the rights of the rank and file Liberals have been trashed.
Of the 30 Liberal Party members who will take part in each preselection process up to half-yes, half-may be nominated by the Liberal Party state executive, leaving just 15 places for branch members. As a modest punter, I am prepared to have a wager now that if the Liberal side of the nomination process looks like being won by a Quinn faction member then the Liberal executives will ensure that the National Party nominee wins. That is why the member for Chatsworth agreed to a process that is a total sellout of the rights of Gold Coast rank and file Liberals. It is an effective way to block candidates from the rival faction. Even in seats where the rival faction has more members, raw ambition has triumphed over a fair and reasonable go for the rank and file. It is a sad day for the Liberal Party. As Senator Joyce said, it is not the Liberal Party; it is the Caltabiano party. Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 12:00 AM
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