The Liberal Party
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Feb 27 2008
2008 >>

Mr LAWLOR (Southport—ALP) (11.55 am):

We have all heard about the great train robbery. Now we have a great campaign robbery—executed in a way that even Ronnie Biggs would have been proud of. The Liberal Party state council met at the Gold Coast three weeks ago. Long-suffering members were given the same old story—the party is broke and still owed three-quarters of a million dollars from the federal election.

But within three days the Liberal Party was able to pay all its debts. How? Did it find a white knight like Clive Palmer who is bankrolling the Leader of the Opposition’s repeat performance—a new
conservative party? No. The Liberal Party found its own money tree in the form of bank accounts of defeated federal members and failed federal candidates. Two weeks ago, without notice and without approval, the Liberal Party state director, Geoff Greene, cleaned out the federal campaign accounts of a whole host of campaign committees, including those of Mal Brough and Gary Hardgrave who lost their seats and those of the member for Bowman,
Andrew Laming, who staggered across the line by 150 votes, and even the member for Ryan, Michael Johnson, who is as industrious a fundraiser as he is a backbencher. Also Councillor Norm Wyndham,
who holds a marginal Brisbane City Council ward, had his account raided in the middle of the current campaign.

So well planned and secretive was the raid that the campaign office bearers who tried to pay campaign bills were embarrassed to find that their cheques bounced. This raid raises two serious
issues. We are not talking about a few thousand dollars, by the way. Several accounts were cleaned out of around $100,000. The first issue is why the money was taken without consulting the campaign committees that raised it and that are legally responsible for it. The second issue will be of particular interest to the
Liberal members opposite. I am told by rank-and-file Liberals on the Gold Coast that, ‘There is no tomorrow when it comes to the amount of money being spent on the Gold Coast City Council campaign
by the Liberal Party.’ The Gold Coast Bulletin has reported the campaign budget in excess of $1.2 million and the Australian the other day said that it was over a million dollars.

When we look at the billboards, vehicles, advertising and so on three weeks out, that might even be an understatement. What is embarrassing for members opposite is that the Liberal Party is probably spending more on the Gold Coast City Council campaign than it spent from its own resources on the last state election
campaign and certainly more than it is spending on Campbell Newman’s campaign. What rank-and-file Liberals want to know and what members opposite ought to be asking is: how much of the funds
cleaned out of the campaign accounts will be spent on the Gold Coast City Council campaign? Geoff Greene and his deputy are spending virtually no time on the Brisbane City Council campaign and are
virtually full-time on the Gold Coast campaign. The reason is quite basic. The Gold Coast team, led by Tom Tate, is aligned with the Parer-Greene-Santoro faction. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane has his own
faction.

The use of federal funds—funds given to members and candidates—and not the party organisation for a local government election may be of interest to the Australian Electoral Commission, not to mention the donors. Liberals who believe that some of the funds siphoned off from federal campaigns are for the Gold Coast campaign are probably right on the mark. When we look at the way the Liberal Party executive in Queensland operates, is it any wonder that the Leader of the Opposition believes his Clive Palmer bankroll machine can run right over them? The Liberals opposite are being heavied by the agents of the Leader of the Opposition—get on board with ‘last resort’ Lawrence or the cashed-up Springborg machine will roll them with his well-funded new party, a party which includes young modern conservatives such as we see on the opposition benches now.


The eight Liberals would be well advised to protect what remains of their campaign funds now. They will need every dollar if, as widely expected, the party factions reject out of hand the new conservative party push when the Brisbane City Council and Gold Coast City Council elections are out of the way. The Gold Coast City Council is just another desperate attempt by the Liberals to remain relevant. Just look at the new Liberal leadership. Federally there is Brendan Nelson—‘Mr Nine Per Cent’. Here in Queensland we have Mark McArdle, the Liberal investment adviser, and on the Gold Coast we have Tom Tate. You would not follow any of them out of curiosity. What a motley crew of candidates! As an example, George Frame, one of the candidates for a division, claimed to have assisted in establishing a community bank at Paradise Point as part of his contribution to the community. He had to retract that claim when it was disclosed not by the Liberal Party but by the Bulletin that it was a lie. All he had done was buy a few shares in the bank. That is what passes for community contribution in the Liberal Party.

My attention has been drawn to an article by Peter Gleeson in the Gold Coast Bulletin on 23 July 2004 which includes the statement—

Surfers Paradise wants to go it alone and divorce itself from the Gold Coast City Council ...

The secession move is being spearheaded by the Surfers Paradise Chamber of Commerce ...

President Tom Tate said yesterday that the secession move showed the desperation felt by Surfers traders.

‘We are deadly serious about this,’ he said. ‘The whole concept of secession is born out of the frustration ’...

What will he do if his motley crew get into the Gold Coast City Council? Will they divert funds from Coolangatta, Burleigh, Mudgeeraba, Robina, Nerang, Southport and so on and channel them into
Surfers Paradise as Mr Tate said should be done?

Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 2:43 AM