Liberal MP Paul Fletcher criticizes independent 'teal' candidates, accusing them of being funded by wealthy individuals and linked to long-time Liberal MPs, with the aim of confusing voters.
Paul Fletcher is now among the most senior of the Liberal moderates still plugging along in a Coalition that is entirely shaped around Peter Dutton.Politically speaking, he's more of a fire blanket. Cerebral, bespectacled, considered, reliable, Fletcher has over the years periodically been sent out on morning radio to smother political crises, such is his gift for bringing a flame-retardant, "nothing to see here" effect to even the most out-of-control conflagrations.
Second, that they were funded by "Melbourne billionaire's son Simon Holmes a Court and a group of other wealthy people". He argued that the teals only got elected in the first place because of Australia's preferential voting system. The conservative vote was being split at the time by an increasingly powerful agrarian lobby. Hughes' Nationalist Party was weakly organised, and increasingly reliant for its electoral success on talking angry farmers out of running their own candidates. In a series of by-elections in 1918, the Farmers Union ran candidates that split the conservative vote, delivering the seats to Labor.
Preferential voting — a conservative innovation which worked nicely in 1919 — came back 103 years later to deliver a nasty uppercut to its designer's descendants.But this is not just a story of electoral design. It's also a straightforward one of constituency neglect, which almost always drives the emergence of fringe or third-party groupings in this country.
Paul Fletcher Teal Candidates Liberal Party Sydney Institute Political Criticism
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
MP Attacks Teal Independents as 'Green Con Job'A senior Coalition MP has criticized teal independents as a 'giant green con job', accusing them of misleading traditional Liberal voters. Anthony Albanese hints at a later election next year, while opposition communication spokesman Paul Fletcher argues that teals deliberately nominated the relatives of long-term Liberal MPs to secure seats.
Read more »
Senior Coalition MP Attacks Teal Independents as 'Green Con Job'Paul Fletcher, senior Coalition MP, labels teal independents as a 'giant green con job' targeting traditional Liberal voters, arguing their success was part of a deliberate strategy to lure voters away from the Liberal Party.
Read more »
Fletcher and Libs just don’t get it: teal voters weren’t connedReaders respond to Liberal criticisms of the teals and those who voted for them, and what the ABC can learn from Joe Rogan.
Read more »
Oldest living survivor of Tulsa race massacre casts vote for Kamala HarrisViola Ford Fletcher, 110, voted for the vice-president in Oklahoma, CNN reporter says
Read more »
Lidia Thorpe rips censure motion after King Charles protestSenator Thorpe protested against the King and Queen Camilla during a welcome reception at Parliament House in October.
Read more »
‘Throw the win away’: Skipper rips playing group amid Socceroos’ brutal World Cup realityFootball: Former Socceroo believes Australia is no guarantee to qualify directly for the World Cup, following their lacklustre draw against Bahrain.
Read more »