“Opposition police spokesman Kim Wells has been accused of being lazy and incompetent and unfit to hold his portfolio incompetent and unfit to hold his portfolio,” the Herald Sun reported on the weekend. “In a joint letter to party leaders, including Opposition Leader Robert Doyle and state president Helen Kroger, members of the party’s law and order policy committee chaired by Mr Wells say he has lost their support…”

Well, there seems to be another letter, too. One signed by five members of the Police, Emergency Services and Corrections Committee of the Victorian Liberal Policy Assembly and addressed to local party president Julian Sheezel has made its way to Crikey. Like the letter published in the Hun , this letter’s signatories include the secretary of the committee and its convenor, Di Livett. It seems to follow much the same text, too:

For some years now there has been disquiet in the Committee because of the failure of Mr Wells to adequately confront the then Police Minister, Mr Haermeyer. It is the widely held view of the committee that the real ‘opposition spokesman’ on police matters was the Herald Sun , not Mr Wells.

“That Mr Haermeyer was replaced was a victory for the Herald Sun , not the Liberal Party…

Mr Wells is yet to have any impact on the new Police Minister.

Of further concern is Mr Wells’ relationship with the Committee. May of the members of the Committee are high income professionals and business who give freely of their valuable time to assist the Liberal Party with their expertise. Many have attended regularly for over a decade.

On the other hand, Mr well who is paid to attend as part of his portfolio responsibilities rarely attends these meeting. Of those few meetings he does attend he usually rushes in for a few minutes at the meetings (sic) conclusion while offering lame excuses for his absence…

Ooh! Nothing like letting the cat out of the bag. What precious middle-class so-and-sos too many Liberal Party activists seem to be! But all’s well that ends Wells, it appears.