Saturday, October 13, 2007
GUNNS DRAWN
The combined Greens/NIMBY/Labor attempt to beat up on Malcolm Turnbull seems to have backfired:
Opponents of George Newhouse, the Labor candidate for Malcolm Turnbull’s prized Sydney seat of Wentworth, yesterday threatened to punish him over his failure to express a clear, personal view on the Tasmanian pulp mill.
Businessman Geoff Cousins, who has championed a campaign against the Environment Minister because of his conditional approval of the $2billion Gunns proposal, said Mr Newhouse was the latest to display political cowardice on the issue.
And Greens leader Bob Brown told The Australian he would no longer urge Greens voters in Wentworth to give their preferences to Mr Newhouse unless he took a different view from that of the Government.
This unpleasantness has come about despite the involvement of ALP geniuses:
The ALP, which is throwing some of its best minds into Wentworth, is hoping Greens preferences in trendy segments of the upmarket eastern suburbs electorate could tip the marginal seat Labor’s way. For this reason, Labor minders have urged Mr Newhouse not to talk with the mainstream media on the mill issue.
Only the smart Labor people get to talk. Meanwhile, Newhouse has redefined “pro bono”; now it means $165,000.
UPDATE. ABC election analyst Antony Green, a few weeks ago:
The Labor Party is not going to make itself the issue as it did with Mark Latham in 2004 ... this election, the Labor Party has been absolutely careful that its the government’s position on forestry and the government’s position on Gunns which everyone is debating, not the Labor Party’s position.
That was before Danielle the Destroyer got involved:
The glamorous ex-girlfriend of Labor’s candidate for the prized Sydney seat of Wentworth, Danielle Ecuyer, is planning to run against her former beau.
And in the ultimate act of political sedition, she plans to direct her preferences away from him ...
Her former boyfriend, Labor candidate George Newhouse, has refused to condemn the mill. He stands to scoop preferences from Green candidates, who are running a campaign against the incumbent, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Although she has not formally registered as a candidate, Ms Ecuyer said: “I think it’s time. I’ve been approached before and I’ve backed away, but this is serious. It’s about the planet.”