It’s been a big day for… Listening to...

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It’s been a big day for… Listening to...

Clive Palmer

Here Is Why The Public Have So Little Time For Politicians

Homophobia! Anti-semitism! Social media posts that really should have been deleted!

Early voting is already open thus we’re in the most glorious season of all: watching parties suddenly realise too late that they should have vetted their candidates better before putting them on the ballot.

But hey, who among us hasn’t accidentally endorsed an outspoken homophobe, or put someone on the ballot with a history of racist comments online, or decided that “bankruptcy” is less a legal determination and more a state of mind?

All of us, that’s who.

And that’s why we have such contempt for parties that keep doing this same damn thing, election after election after election.

Hell, this list  isn’t even all of the stuff that’s happened this week, and we can all but guarantee that it’ll be out of date by the time your read it and some other dufus says something idiotic.

For example:

Section 44 Shenanigans!

Hey, remember how all those sitting MPs and senators were found to be ineligible under section 44 of the Constitution in 2016 and 2017 and were forced out of parliament, and how the High Court’s very strict ruling meant that this sort of expensive disruption would never ever happen ever again ever?

Weeeeellllllll, guess what?

An estimated 17 United Australia candidates have reportedly submitted questionable declarations (in one case, a blank form) about their potential dual citizenship.

Meanwhile two other candidates are bankrupts who can’t legally run. Fraser Anning’s Bendigo candidate Julie Hoskins claims that she’s appealing her bankruptcy ruling from her failed attempt to legally challenge the building of a mosque in the region, presumably in the hopes that it’s settled  in the next few days.

And former One Nation senator turned independent turned ex-senator Rod Culleton is running again in WA, despite his undischarged bankruptcy being the reason he was ejected from the senate in the first place.

While the Australian Electoral Commission has no power to prevent him running, they have taken the unprecedented step of publishing a statement indicating that they have referred him to the Federal Police for making a false declaration.

ONE NATION

One Nation discovered that the lewd filmed comments that led to the resignation of Steve Dickson were… look, not unique.

Despite Pauline Hanson’s statements that she wouldn’t stand for disrespectful treatment of women in her party, Leichhardt candidate Ross Macdonald’s Facebook was revleaed to be a cornucopia of lewd photos and horned-up comments, including one pic of him seemingly groping a woman in a Thailand bar.

But let’s focus on some people from major parties – you know, who might actually get into parliament.

THE LIBERALS

Peter Killin, candidate for Wills, has just been outed for making comments on a conservative blog about his colleague in the seat of Goldstein, the out and proud Tim Wilson, with Killin bemoaning the fact that he wasn’t at the preselection meeting to stop the party from running gay candidates. He has since resigned.

That followed Sachin Joshi, candidate for Paterson in NSW, announcing that women were paid less because of their “active interest (or lack of it) towards business skills/responsibilities” in an article on LinkedIn last October.

And just for funsies, there was also goodbye to Jeremy Hearn, Liberal candidate for Isaacs, for making anti-Muslim statements. The party, thankfully, acted swiftly to give him the boot.

LABOR

Labor, meanwhile, have a fresh scandal a-brewing over 2012 Facebook posts by Luke Creasey, the candidate tasked with winning Melbourne of the Greens’ MP Adam Bandt, which included a rape-joking rewrite of ‘Call Me Maybe’ and jokes about bogans in the Sutherland Shire.

That follows the abrupt resignation of NT Labor senate candidate Wayne Kurnorth this week after he was discovered having shared anti-semitic conspiracy theories online. Honestly, does no-one check social media?

THE NATIONALS

And the Nationals didn’t have any scandals – well, any fresh ones, at least – but leader [checks notes] Michael McCormack? That’s the person? OK: anyway, he decided that the Nationals really don’t need you stupid young people voting for them because you’re all stupid and young.

“One of the biggest problems we’ve got in this election is the fact that we’ve got a lot of young people voting for the first time – and this sounds dreadful – who have probably never known how good they’ve got it.”

Mmm, cool.

That followed his comment on the announcement of a Nationals-One Nation preference deal: “I’ll cop the criticism and I’ve copped plenty over the past few days: ‘Oh, you’re voting in racists, how can you do it?’ Well, you know what, it’s only a journalist obsession.”

Well… at least it’s nice that he’s admitted it, we guess?