S.A Liberals Divided

[Sojourner]

It would appear that pretty much all Mike Rann has to do to not only win the upcomming State election, yet win it by a larger margin is simply to do nothing at all, the SA Liberals seem openly hell bent on giving Labor as many free kicks as possible to win it which seems openly ludicrous, apparently the reason the votes are split is over who is going to get what portfolio - position if they vote for a certain candidate. The needs of the party seem to be very much a distant second consideration.

Keep on this way and I do think that they will lose the next election by a larger margin after those that dont want to vote Labor go with independant candidates preferenced to Labor.

In my view Hamilton Smith needed to have stepped aside and given Vicki Chapman a go, she could hardly have done any worse, out of all the Lib elected members she is the only one that seems even close to having got hits to stick on Labor in relation predominantly to health issues!

SA Lib leader wants new vote despite win
July 4, 2009 - 4:24PM
Martin Hamilton-Smith's future as leader of the South Australian opposition remains clouded.

After winning Saturday's Liberal Party leadership poll by just one vote, he says the signal such a narrow win sends to the public is not decisive enough.

So he has called for a second vote he hopes will provide a clearer outcome.

Any chance of an early end to internal party tensions and public speculation was lost when Mr Hamilton-Smith beat former deputy leader Vickie Chapman by 11 votes to 10.

One party member abstained from voting altogether.

"I am delighted to have won the vote today, but it is not good enough for me," Mr Hamilton-Smith told reporters on Saturday.

"I feel that the outcome is not clear enough."

While earlier reports suggested Mr Hamilton-Smith held 13 out of 22 votes in the days leading up to the ballot, Saturday's close call has turned whispers into cries of disunity.

"There are some people who need to make their minds up so we can move on, in the best interests of South Australia, with a clear direction for the future," Mr Hamilton-Smith said.

"What I want is a Liberal opposition which is strong, united and going forward."

Shadow attorney-general Isobel Redmond, who defeated opposition finance spokesman Steven Griffiths nine votes to five on Saturday in the race for deputy, said the party needed to come to a clear-cut decision to enable it to get back to the job it was hired to do.

"We have, indeed, a very real chance of coming through and stealing away the next election because this government has a lot to answer for ... we should be able to get ourselves focused enough for the next election," Ms Redmond told reporters.

Ongoing leadership debates and dissent are looking more likely of overshadowing the Liberals' March 2010 state election campaign, with senior party figures federal MP Christopher Pyne and former Howard government minister Alexander Downer having warned the state members to accept the outcome of Saturday's vote and move on.

Ms Chapman said she would again nominate as a candidate for the leadership.

"I take today's result as the party having spoken, but now that the leader has indicated that he is preparing to give notice of another meeting ... we do need to resolve this as quickly as possible," she said.

She said under party rules a second meeting must be held when the elected leader "feels unable to go on", but would not elaborate on her comment any further.

Mr Hamilton-Smith said he was yet to decide whether he would stand for the leader's position again.

"I would urge all Liberals over the coming week to speak to their MPs and make their view clear," he said.

The growing dissent over Mr Hamilton-Smith's performance as leader began several weeks ago when he presented to parliament documents accusing Mike Rann's Labor government of accepting illegal donations from a group with ties to the Church of Scientology.

The documents turned out to be forgeries and Mr Hamilton-Smith was forced to make a public apology.

Defamation action has since been lodged against him.

Falling popularity in the polls also prompted the resignation of the party's environment spokesman, Mitch Williams, from the frontbench last week.

The bickering has been a blessing for Mr Rann - just days before Mr Hamilton Smith went to parliament with his allegations, the premier was under considerable heat for appointing a road safety minister found to have a record of 60 driving offences.

The second leadership vote meeting is expected to be held on Wednesday.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-na ... -d84y.html

[GWW]

Bunch of clowns.

[Dirko]

Bunch of clowns.

Yep, and I vote Liberal. How a "team" could be pulling off crap like this leading up to an election they may have had a chance of winning is beyond
thought.

They should just declare the election lost now, and get their shit together and work out what the hell they want to achieve...

[Psyber]

The Liberal Party does tend to be a bunch of ego driven individualists.
They do need to take lessons from the Labor machine about how to hide better this fact about all politicians.
[Says he who did consider standing for SA parliament back in the mid-1990s.]

[Sojourner]

In years past the Democrats would have made a massive amount of mileage out of this situation, there have to be people that have voted Labor that want to vote for someone else but perhaps not the Liberal party. Yet in there current state I cant see them cashing in on it.

With Sarah Hansen-Young starting to raise her profile as a Greens senator for S.A maybe they will skim some more votes, yet along with Family First they are at the far end of the spectrum so I don't think there gain will be all that massive, which ultimately leaves Labor to help themselves to the lions share of the votes.

Not a good situation for S.A to be in with a complete lack of a credible opposition because of peoples ego's, yet perhaps ultimately that is what politics is all about and not so much wanting to be elected to change things for the better for people in general!

[Gozu]

MHS to stand down tomorrow, leadership battle between Chapman & Redmond

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/stor ... 01,00.html

[Cambridge Clarrie]

Rabble. I hope Redmond wins. Chapman is a B grader...

[Psyber]

Rabble. I hope Redmond wins. Chapman is a B grader...

That would be a nice touch - I live in her seat.
When I lived in SA before I went to Melbourne I lived in the Premier's seat. [John Olson]

[dedja]

The Liberal Party does tend to be a bunch of ego driven individualists.

I can't believe that revenge and recrimations dating back 30-40 years still dominates the Liberal landscape ... Chapman, Evans, Hall and whoever else are involved are blindly playing in the hands of a Labor party who must think that all their Christmases have come at once.

State Liberal Party =

State Labor Party =

[GWW]

Rabble. I hope Redmond wins. Chapman is a B grader...

I agree, i couldn't imagine her as a "Premier" at all, i think she'd pretty much be un-electable. Redmond appears quite a bit more credible.

[Jimmy_041]

The Liberal Party does tend to be a bunch of ego driven individualists.

I can't believe that revenge and recrimations dating back 30-40 years still dominates the Liberal landscape ... Chapman, Evans, Hall and whoever else are involved are blindly playing in the hands of a Labor party who must think that all their Christmases have come at once.

State Liberal Party =

State Labor Party =

Very observant dedja, I hadn't noticed it til now - offspring of the original combatants - I actually feel naive for a change

[dedja]

Don't worry J, Chwistofer has it all under control ... get it all sorted by Friday he said.

[Jimmy_041]

OK - time to have an intelligent discussion without the left lads throwing their views in (ie) stay out of it and observe for a change - Gozu et al - that means you - we've heard you views

To me, the Liberals were making seriously inroads into exposing the Rann Govt for what they really are, and putting forward an alternative government
MHS was a Leader and it appeared that they were a cohesive force
One e-mail; regardless of who sent it, it was bad judgement
Is it going to take the novelty of a female leader to get them back to where they were?

[mick]

The only losers out of this apalling situation will be the people of SA, condemmed to at least 8 years of un-accountable government by the ghosts of past Liberal disunity. The only thing that could cause the wheels to fall of the Labor juggernaut is Foley getting ideas beyond his station.

[Sojourner]

Is it going to take the novelty of a female leader to get them back to where they were?

It may help to shift a little of the focus, yet I dont think it will be a major winner of new votes,

On 5AA this morning they said officially that Isobel Redman, Mitch Williams and Vicki Chapman are the Candidates and they want a strong victory for one of them in an effort to try and give an outlook of the party being in some form of unity. Martin Hamilton Smith is supposed to be supporting Isobel Redman.

Personally I think that Vicki Chapman is the only one that can show that she has got any hits onto the State Labor Goverment in her term in Opposition, what have the other two achieved? I doubt either of them would be recognised by the majority of the public in S.A if asked who they were.

[Dogwatcher]

The Liberal Party does tend to be a bunch of ego driven individualists.

I can't believe that revenge and recrimations dating back 30-40 years still dominates the Liberal landscape ... Chapman, Evans, Hall and whoever else are involved are blindly playing in the hands of a Labor party who must think that all their Christmases have come at once.

State Liberal Party =

State Labor Party =

I had noticed those names too and found it interesting.
I wonder what MLC John Dawkins thinks about all of this

[Dogwatcher]

Leadership resignation announced.

I don't mind Marty.
At another time, with a stronger party, he could've taken the Liberals to power. Seems a very honourable man.
However, those Dodgy Documents signed his death warrant.

[wycbloods]

Will a new contender now stand up?

Or will it be Chapman V Redmond.

Will the libs be lead by a woman ?

[shoe boy]

OK - time to have an intelligent discussion without the left lads throwing their views in (ie) stay out of it and observe for a change - Gozu et al - that means you - we've heard you views

To me, the Liberals were making seriously inroads into exposing the Rann Govt for what they really are, and putting forward an alternative government
MHS was a Leader and it appeared that they were a cohesive force
One e-mail; regardless of who sent it, it was bad judgement
Is it going to take the novelty of a female leader to get them back to where they were?

Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy so much crap in one post!

[blueandwhite]

As someone who usually swings a little to the left in an election I find this whole affair a huge embarrassment for the state. I mean this factional war has been simmering along in the background for 30 yrs and just when we need a credible opposition to put some heat on the government, the liberals go and shoot themselves in the foot. I mean what happens on Wednesday if Chapman defeats Redmond by 1 vote, where do they go from there?
As someone who has met Mitch Williams and knows him personally,I find he is just too decent a fellow to get wrapped up in the argy bargy dog eat dog of day to day politics let alone worrying about who is going to knife him in the back.
re dodgy documents fiasco; could it be that a factional opponent with an axe to grind from within the party "set up" MHS.?
Lets hope there is a solid resolution on Wednesday and that the liberal opposition can step back up to the plate and give Rann, Foley and Co a few smacks around the ears because by hell they need it.