Hillary Bray previews the Victoria Liberal’s AGM


“Liberal Party members were told for years to shut up, leave it alone, leave it up to us and we’ll take you to the promised land – the wasteland of opposition, a fractured and divided Party, and a membership which has collapsed from 35,000 to 10,000….” Senior Victorian Liberal



The Spoils Of Defeat

For the first time since 1990, Victorian Liberals meet for their Annual General Meeting next weekend not in government or not a dead cert to win the next election.

Less than six months after the slow execution of the Kennett Government, concerns are being publicly raised over the performance of opposition leader Dennis Napthine.

The dissent has reached such heights that the most senior Victorian Liberal, Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, has been forced to tell his state colleagues that squabbling and leaking to the media has to stop.

The next week should be fascinating as Victorian Liberals squabble over the spoils of defeat.

Form guide

President

There is a four-way contest for Party President following Joy Howley’s decision to stand down after the state election loss. Metropolitan Vice President Ian Carson – Ian Menzies Carson, to use his full name) is her preferred candidate. Other candidates are Cate Dealher (who put together the Liberals for a Republic website), businessman Milton Holmes and Bev Davis, wife of the former Member for Essendon, Ian Davis.

Carson, a 42 year old Collins Street accountant, is notorious for trying to be the Party’s everyman. Detractors claim he seems to be away whenever there has been a difficult pre-selection or contentious Administration Committee decision to be made – a practice that has become known as the “Singapore Option”. Carson was apparently away on business for the bitter Senate preselection ballot in 1999 between the outspoken incumbent Karen Synon, and the invisible Tsebin Tchen.

Carson, however, did make an appearance in the seat of Brighton recently. All four Presidential candidates were invited to speak at the Goldstone Branch AGM, and Carson turned up in jeans and a crumpled old shirt. His speech was described by onlookers as being marginally better than his attire.

The following day the State Secretariat issued an edict gagging all candidates from speaking at Liberal branches – so much for the grass roots.
Cate Dealher is seen as the main challenger. A qualified lawyer, 41 year old Dealher is an executive director of Compucost – Australia’s second largest legal costing company. Dealher was a candidate in the 1998 pre-selection for the seat of Casey – the seat vacated by former Speaker Bob Halverston. However, when Michael Wooldridge decided he would loose his then electorate, Chisholm, and contested Casey, Dealher’s candidacy came undone.

Treasurer

This is a nasty one!

Gil Hoskins, chairman of Sausage Software and creator of the highly successful jeff.com.au website, is the establishment’s preferred candidate. His backers include Rob Maclellan (Stephen – don’t spell his name wrong, the former Planning Minister was rumoured to have rang up a constituent and abused him for spelling his name wrong) who gave an impassioned – and unprecedented – 10 minute speech in the Party Room endorsing Hoskins candidature saying it “was vital to the future of the Party”.

Opponents say the most interesting parts of Hoskin’s CV are those that are missing. They allege he is trying to hide his troubled times on the Board of the Hawthorn Football Club – a time which almost saw the club go bankrupt and merge with Joe Gutnick’s Melbourne Demons – claiming Hoskins was run out of the club – possibly forever – by Hawthorn’s powerful anti-merger group.

However, they believe Hoskins can be forgiven for not going into detail in his CV about his 18 months as CEO of National Mutual in the leas up to its absorption by French multi-national AXA.

Hoskins is on the Board of four public companies, including Sausage Software, Bourse Data, Challenger International, and Media Entertainment Ltd. What will the shareholders of these four company’s think about Hoskins devoting so much of his time as Treasurer of the Victorian Liberal Division? As a senior Liberal source said, “Hoskins will either fail his shareholders or fail the Liberal Party”.

Some sections of the Party are still concerned by the secret terms of the “great deal” alleged to have been struck between the State Secretariat and Sausage Software. The official word from the Secretariat was that it was a cheap deal – but some members are wondering if it was such a great deal then why aren’t they telling the members how much it cost? Some even claim that Sausage Software was the only big winner in the Victorian Liberal Party in the state election.

Thirty year old David Stevens is the other candidate for Treasurer. His detractors claim he is too young but as a Director of KPMG some people clearly have faith in him. Stevens was also a senior advisor under Michael L’Estrange in the Federal Cabinet Office from 1996-99. However, some of his Young Liberal antics in the early nineties – such as the claim that “right of conquest” overruled land rights – are still remembered in the Party.

VP Metro Male

There are two contenders for this position.

Peter Clarke, a former executive officer of Property Council of Australia now at LendLease, has been described in the media as a “Party machine man”. Some Liberals prefer to describe him as a “serial board appointee”. Clarke is fond of reminding people of his access to John Howard, Peter Costello and, er, Jeff Kennett.

He is up against Bernie Finn, the Former Member for Tullamarine. Finn gained legend status in the Party after holding his seat with a swing to him in the 1996 election against former Cain-Kirner minister, David White – but his star began to fall coincidentally almost after he became the first Liberal Member to stand up to Kennett in the Party Room over – of all things – Kennett’s move to ban paintball at the time of the guns debate.

VP Metro Female

This is shaping up as a one horse race. Carson acolyte Helen Kroger – still licking her wounds after being beaten by no-hoper Lana McLean for the Burwood preselection – pulled out of this race once she realised she was no match for Wendy Spry, daughter of Joy Mein, the first ever female President of the Victorian Liberal Party.

The other candidate, Helen Friedman, is not expected to threaten Spry.

Country Female VP

Also known as the contest between the current MP’s wife and the ex-MP’s wife…

Lyn Bowden is the Chair of the influential Women’s Section of the Liberal Party. Her husband Ron was the Member for South-east province who was challenged for pre-selection in 1999 by the Howley-Kennett forces after Kennett ordered Ron to retire at the election.

Her opponent, Ruth de Fegely has been on Administration Committee since 1988, and her husband Dick was the Member for Ballarat province until the 1999 state election. As the member of Administration Committee for the area, it was Ruth’s job to co-ordinate the campaign to hold all the four Coalition lower house seats and two Coalition upper house spots in Ballarat.

Ruth achieved a unique result – the Liberal Party lost all six for the first time ever.

Country VP Male

Peter McWilliam won this position in controversial circumstances in 1999 when he was elected unopposed after President Joy Howley announced the last minute resignation of the incumbent Bill Dobson.

His detractors claim McWilliam is the invisible man of the Party – neither seen nor heard before, during or after the Liberal’s disastrous performance in the bush at the last election.

He is up against party stalwart John O’Rourke, a former Deputy Mayor of Werribee who was ostracised for his vocal opposition to Kennett’s ill fated plan to build a toxic dump in the municipality. Organising a community protest group against the Toxic Dump also put O’Rourke at odds with Party heavyweights Joy Howley and Ian Carson.

Other challengers include young up and comer Simon Price, the 24 year old policy officer for the Victorian Farmers Federation and was formerly a President of the hallowed Monash Liberal Students Club, Bill Wall, a Liberal stalwart and the dark horse of this contest and rank outsider David Williams.

Policy Assembly

Two Policy Assembly candidates have one issue hanging over their heads – Jane Howley, Joy’s daughter and a staffer to Collingwood-based Senator Tsbien Tchen, and Di Rule from Ted Bailleu’s office are both running for the PA through rural electorates – even they both appear to live and work in Melbourne.

And The Issues Are?

Number One issue in the Victorian Liberal elections will be which Presidential candidate will choose to re-appoint Peter Poggioli as Director.

Carson is a long-term loyalist – while every other candidate has said they will have no truck with Poggioli – and there has been early controversy following the decision by party HQ that they, rather than the candidates will appoint scrutineers for the AGM.

There are a few other questions that have to be answered:

* What was the cost of the election and how much was diverted to jeff.com:

* What payments were made to organisations associated with key Liberals – such as Gill Hoskins; and

* What allowances and / or benefits were paid to Joy Howley as President? The position has previously been voluntary but there is speculation that the Party has picked up some of her accommodation costs in Melbourne and that she has even been receiving some form of salary. Is that so?

Delegates, have a great weekend.