Right priorities

Now that the Right is firmly in control of
the NSW Liberal Party Women’s Council, it’s good to see that they’re getting
their priorities in order. While the moderates were busy with mentoring
programs and getting women into parliamentary and leadership roles – people
like the newly installed federal party president Chris McDiven – look what the conservative
have got going:

Women’s Council are collecting items to be
distributed to drought-affected women and their families. Boxes where you can
leave contributions will be located at the next Women’s Council meeting on July
27th at Parliament House, Macquarie St. Items such as cosmetics, hand creams,
etc, are appreciated. For more information please contact…

What next? A surplus twin set and pearls
garage sale?

Young Turks and turkeys

Everything’s hunky-dory in the Victorian
Libs, with Young Turk Michael Gidley now installed as candidate for Mt
Waverly. Or is it?

Liberal insiders say Gidley only won the preselection
28 votes to 25. Then there’s the allegation that sh*t sheet smearing contender
Marie Davenport was dumped 24 hours before the ballot, too late to respond.

The Age claims today “Opposition Leader Robert Doyle and Liberal state president Helen Kroger have
had an important victory.” An important personal win, too, we understand.
Liberal sources say that their two votes, plus that of the electorate committee
chair Noel Pink (who’s an ally of Doyle chief-of-staff Ron Wilson), gave Gidley the
win.

The Mt Waverly option emerged when a stack
in the seat of Scoresby against opposition police spokesman Kim Wells by Gidley
threatened to spread higher and undermine the underwhelming Doyle.

The Mt Waverly outcome shores up the
opposition leader – for now. But it could turn out to be an own goal. The close
result leaves the Mt Waverly Liberals divided, and unlikely to threaten Labor’s
Maxine Morand. Great things are not expected from the Liberals at the 2006
poll, and wannabe Ted Baillieu would much rather pick up the broken pieces
after then than take the poison chalice from Doyle beforehand.