Day 32 cont 
Some of the hijinks reported in #Melbourne today and yesterday. Too many to quote, but it gives you a taste of what is going on in contested seats in #Kooyong, #Wills, #Bruce, #Goldstein and #Macnamara.
It reads like a Ballroom Dancing contest. 
#AusPol <https://archive.md/V5dhT> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/victoria-s-hot-seats-live-updates-cost-of-living-in-focus-in-final-week-of-campaigning-20250425-p5lu8k.html>
Oz media and the LNP are claiming Teal Monique Ryan (#Kooyong) & Labor’s Clare O’Neil have election volunteers with links to the Chinese Communist Party.
LNP candidate for #Bennelong Scott Yung under fire over links with the CCP.
Day 31 cont 
The LNP has a candidate problem cont:
“The #LiberalParty plans to take the #BoroondaraCityCouncil to court to stop it from removing the signs of #Kooyong candidate #AmeliaHamer, the second sign-related squabble to erupt in the affluent Melbourne seat.
The #escalation comes after a #worker from the council, which the #Liberals say is friendly to #independent MP #MoniqueRyan, was filmed confiscating a Liberals sign reading "Monique, please DO NOT take this sign!".”
#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #extremism <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-30/kooyong-monique-ryan-amelia-hamer-sign-injunction/105233842>
Day 30 cont 
The Liberals have a candidate problem continued:
“A legal stoush is brewing over the arms race of #corflutes and #signage proliferating at a pre-polling centre on High Street in #Kew, with the #LiberalParty now threatening to take #BoroondaraCouncil to court.”
The number of corflutes? 50. The candidate? Amelia Hamer.
#AusPol / #LNP / #Coalition / #Lawyers / #AmeliaHamer / #Kooyong <https://archive.md/IspsW> / <https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/victoria-s-hot-seats-live-updates-cost-of-living-in-focus-in-final-week-of-campaigning-20250425-p5lu8k.html> (paywall)
Day 30 cont 
️
“A separatist #ChristianSect which tells its members to hate the world and which objects to voting is campaigning for the #Liberal and #Nationals parties ahead of Saturday’s federal election. The #PlymouthBrethrenChristianChurch, formerly known as the #ExclusiveBrethren, has dispatched hundreds of its members to pre-polling booths in #MarginalSeats while instructing them to keep secret that they are members of the controversial #religion.
Workers in five marginal seats in Victoria and NSW told this masthead they had encountered 20 or more Brethren members wearing #Liberal or #National campaign T-shirts handing out how-to-vote cards, some of whom identified themselves as members of the sect. The seats – #Kooyong, #Gorton, #Hawke, #Gilmore and #Calare – are held by #Labor or #independents.
The accounts were backed by #LaborParty campaign sources, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak publicly, who claimed the Brethren members were active in seats in #NSW, #Victoria, #Queensland and #Tasmania, including #Bennelong, #Parramatta, #Whitlam, #Macquarie, #Paterson, #Lyons, #Reid and #Blair.”
#AusPol / #extremism / #RightWing / #LNP / #Coalition / #voting <https://archive.md/osEeV> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/exclusive-brethren-don-t-vote-but-are-secretly-campaigning-for-the-coalition-20250428-p5luny.html> (paywall).
Day 30 cont 
“I don’t want there to be any concerns about this, and in the interests of full transparency, I’ve contacted the #AEC and the Department of Parliamentary Services and given them the details that I gave to #TheAge yesterday about my #relationship with those #volunteers and with Mr #JiJianmin I’ve said, look, if you’ve got any concerns, please investigate.”
cont
“[They’re] people who attended a dinner where a community leader [JiJianmin] said that he supported me and he supported my #values, and thought that I’ve been very #supportive of the community in recent years, and for that reason he thought people should #Support me now. I’m grateful for the support the Chinese Australians have given me in the last three years.”
I’ve got the nod from the #CCP.
#AusPol / #Independent / #ASIO / #ForeignInterferenceOperation / #HubeiAssociation / #Teal / #Kooyong <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/29/australia-election-2025-live-peter-dutton-anthony-albanese-campaign-polls-economy-costing-credit-labor-coalition-ntwnfb?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with%3Ablock-681006e58f08212bfafe1327#block-681006e58f08212bfafe1327>
Day 26 cont 
“#Kooyong MP #MoniqueRyan had just remarked that the national broadcaster’s annual budget was “about as much as we spend on keeping 100 refugees on #Nauru and #PNG” when a man’s voice suddenly bellowed from the back of the room.
“We’re just here to ask about immigration and crime,” he said.
…
A meeting of Kooyong candidates led to a heated confrontation between agitators and other attendees.
In a room at the #KewLibrary filled with #CivicMinded locals waiting to hear from the Kooyong candidates about the state of the media, the arrival of the three unexpected men disrupted the calm.
Leading them was a bald man with a #goatee, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the logo of the “#AustralianWorkersAlliance” – a self-described nationalist organisation whose mission includes the “preservation of #WesternCulture and identity”. One of the other men wore a leather jacket and filmed the room with his #phone – a dead giveaway that the goal was to capture a viral “gotcha” moment. The third man, dressed in a grey hoodie and sneakers, loitered nearby with his hands in his pockets as back-up.”
The old LNP, Advance create scene, capture distribute trick.
#AusPol / #Independent / #Kooyong / #FarRight / #extremism / #Advance / #SandraBourke / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals <https://archive.md/V3knV> / <https://www.theage.au/politics/federal/victoria-s-hot-seats-live-updates-federal-election-2025-continues-muslim-lobby-group-rolls-out-attack-ads-against-labor-20250421-p5lt3t.html> (paywall)
#Auspol #PunchingNazis #Kooyong #MoniqueRyan
i guess monique had to play mum in that situation, though a little more outrage would have been acceptable to me
that woman who smacked the nazi
and f*** the nazi. there are situations where polite calm is not required.
here is a clip from The Good Fight, not because the nazi-punching message needs amplifying, but because the whole episode is brilliant.
(If you have paramount/ stan it’s season 3 episode 5. the Blum character is a haemorrhoid, but the rest of it sparks joy)
Day 21 
“A #Melbourne #surgeon has admitted tearing down a Dr Monique Ryan election sign before tutoring men in how to “bury the #body” in a video that has outraged #AntiViolence campaigners and politicians.
A video circulating on #SocialMedia shows #Professor #GregMalham praising US President Donald Trump after tearing down the teal #Kooyong MP’s #corflute before bundling it into the boot of a car and addressing “the boys”.”
How many women have been killed in Aus this year. This will be a Police matter and Professional Standards hearing.
#AusPol / #DV / #violence / #PoliceMatter <https://archive.md/55hjq> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/chilling-video-captures-surgeon-tearing-down-monique-ryan-corflute-before-stomping-on-it-and-burying-it-20250418-p5lst4.html> (paywall)
Day 19 cont 
“Documents have revealed #Liberal candidate for the seat of #Kooyong, who has campaigned on the rising cost of living, is a #beneficiary of a $20 million #FamilyTrust.
The documents were posted to social media by a volunteer for Ms #AmeliaHamer's main rival in the seat, incumbent teal MP Monique Ryan.”
#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Coalition / #wages <https://abc.net.au/news/2025-04-17/amelia-hamer-trust-fund-monique-ryan-kooyong/105185290>
Day 12 cont 
The #Liberals have a #candidate problem continued:
“The #Coalition’s (#LNP) election campaign is being dogged by a lengthening list of #CandidateIssues, the latest revelation that the contender (#JeffreyKidney) for the #Melbourne seat of #Wills pleaded #guilty to obtaining financial advantage by #deception and was ordered to pay #fines and #compensation worth more than $10,000.”
The poor quality of candidates is beginning to bite the Liberals.
#AusPol / #PeterDutton / #Leichhardt / #Bradfield / #Kooyong <https://archive.md/V0FK2> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/another-liberal-candidate-under-pressure-as-candidate-vetting-questioned-20250407-p5lpw6.html> (paywall)
Day nine cont
AFR, MAR27th, “Oxford-educated renter brings #Millennial edge to Kooyong battle”
#Kooyong / #Liberal / #rent / #property / #housing <https://archive.md/VNpTL> / <https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/oxford-educated-renter-brings-millennial-edge-to-kooyong-battle-20240326-p5ff8y> (paywall)
Day nine cont: The Opposition has a #candidate problem.
Not enough diversity. Amelia is a good candidate, The #AFR describes Amelia as bringing, a “#Millennial edge”. Right pedigree (Dicks Grand niece), #OxfordUniversity educated, lives locally. The problem, I’m a renter …and I’m also a home owner that I failed to disclose.
#Kooyong / #Liberal / #rent / #housing <https://archive.md/zspBW> / <https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/amelia-hamer-pitched-herself-as-a-renter-she-owns-two-investment-properties-20250404-p5lp8f.html>
how it started… how it’s going… two elections in a row, the liberal candidate has been a last minute no-show for the #kooyong climate forum. too afraid to address the community in the town hall where sir robert menzies once proudly stood.
Josh Frydenberg says he won't try to snatch Kooyong pre-selection from Liberal woman
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-03/josh-frydenberg-wont-try-kooyong-political-comeback/103928038
It's telling that Josh Frydenberg thought about it. For a moment, he thought he had a chance of returning to politics, the chance that he'd have a shot at his dream of a LibSpill that would make him leader of the Liberal Party, and a chance of being the next PM. He didn't dismiss the thought the moment it ricocheted between his two braincells. Frydenberg's loyal lackeys told the media to gauge sentiment within the party and the community of Kooyong and let the "What if?" float around for 24 hours like the stench emanating from an unflushable turd.
After Candid Self-Reflection, Liberal Strategists Say Best Person to Replace Rejected Kooyong MP Josh Frydenberg Is … Josh Frydenberg
https://theshovel.com.au/2024/06/03/liberal-strategists-say-best-person-to-replace-rejected-kooyong-mp-josh-frydenberg/
Another kerb-kicker from @theshovel.
In all seriousness, this it a trial-balloon being sent-up to test people's opinions. This kerfuffle shows how divided the Liberal Party are. Factional infighting presents party members with two choices:
- Sexist, racist, old-boys-club, RWNJ wing.
- Old-school Conservative, generational privilege wing.
Those calling for Josh Frydenberg to replace Amelia Hamer as the Liberal candidate for Kooyong think it's okay to break their own party's preselection process, and are harkening-back to the "Good ol' days" of Scott Morrison. They've forgotten that Josh Frydenberg was one of the worst Federal Treasurers in living memory under the leadership of ScottyFromMarketing.
Those calling for Amelia Hamer haven't heard her say a word about policy, but they like her posh Oxford-educated credentials and good family-name. She gets to ride on the coat-tails of her grandfather, Rupert Hamer, the Premier of Victoria from 1972 to 1981.
Neither group is in touch with reality. Dr Monique Ryan won the seat of Kooyong in 2022 with a 2.9 per cent margin. The seat of Kooyong has been considered a safe Liberal seat for generations. It's why it's given to people in important roles such as Treasurer. Monique Ryan beat Josh Frydenberg because he's a fucking idiot and nobody liked his bootlicking of ScottyFromMarketing.
♬ 
x8 
simon holmes à court 
𓅠