The turmoil generated in the Victorian Liberal Party by the sacking of hewhostandsfornothing bloggers Simon Morgan and John Osborn is threatening to engulf figures beyond the warring Kroger/Costello and Baillieu/Kennett factions in the Victorian party.
Former Howard chief of staff and incoming Victorian state director Tony Nutt is conducting an investigation into the scandal, overseen by president David Kemp. The target of the blog, Ted Baillieu, is talking about excising the “cancerous elements” of the party.
But the complicating factor, senior Liberal insiders say, is that one of the original sackees, Osborn, has kept more or less every email he has ever received during his time in the party, and has enough ammunition to scare plenty of people – and not just former factional colleagues and rivals in Victoria.
Osborn in effect executed Baillieu supporter Susan Chandler earlier this week by releasing an anti-Semitic email. Chandler was a relatively junior, and expendable, player. Insiders say that, apart from inflicting some damage on the opposing Baillieu faction, that this was intended as a powerful demonstration by Osborn of what he could do.
Casual, poorly-expressed or racist emails, bad jokes or narky comments on reply-all look bad enough when taken out of context months or years later. But it is said that Osborn has plenty of more damaging material, involving not merely factional operatives but Liberal senators and, in one case, a likely candidate for a former federal Minister’s seat.
The fear level is so high that one deeply-worried factional player – identity unknown, but they’re evidently a Federal staffer – has started systematically leaking to an ALP-linked website, and yesterday issued a thinly-veiled threat to David Kemp to call off the dogs lest Kemp’s own involvement in old issues, such as the political execution of Ian McPhee back in the 1980s, be brought to light.
Problem is, Tony Nutt, who is actually conducting the investigation, is not known for his easygoing nature. “He’s ruthless,” said one insider. “And he’ll want this all over in one hit. They don’t want this dragging on into the Gippsland by-election or the preselection for Higgins, if Costello leaves.”
If Nutt lays hands on the material held by Osborn, there could be a real night of the long knives in the Victorian Liberal Party.
This might go some of the way toward restoring a party that currently seems more obsessed with infighting than taking on the real enemy on the other side of politics.
Victoria, like every other state, needs the Liberals to get their act together and start seriously competing with Labor. One look at NSW demonstrates what happens when there is no credible opposition. There is no one except the media to keep incompetent or visionless Labor governments accountable, and the community directly suffers.
It’s time Liberals understood that they’re also serving the community while in Opposition. They have a critical job to do, and it’s not playing blog wars with their factional opponents.
You are suffering denial, Dave Liberts. No question but Mark Latham was the media’s great hope until he self imploded. They had clearly championed him. They hated Howard then and you would be forgiven for thinking that he was still a political force the way that he is still decried. Enjoy the show! Your man is in power. Learn to enjoy it!
And you reckon the media keeps Labor honest? Dream on!!! Most of the media is nothing more than an extension of the ALP Comms machine. Remember, the media got is man in Canberra after failing to get Latham past Howard. Now we’ve got a wooden bloke who delivers nothing but motherhood statements while talking about hiow fiscally conservative he and his party is, and then rolls out the old socialist agenda in a budget. Where were and the question Bernard? Haven’t seen any hard questions being asked by you!
I feel sure that one of the driving forces of this mass sepuku in a Party that always had the moral values of a non-neutered tom cat. (The refrain from the late Henry Bolte ran like this. “No! I’ve got enough Persian rugs. You’ll have to do better than that”.) would be Julian Sheezel. He who keeps a v.low profile indeed. Prior to the last Fed. election the voters in Higgins received an incredibly expensive, ultra-environmentally envelope which made people think it was from The Greens. If the Greens could have afforded such a luxury-I’m talking $6-$10 dollars a throw.. In it was an even more expensive letter to the effect that the Greens were urging people not to vote for the Labour Party. Having a nasty, suspicious mind I put on a v.strong pair of magnifiers which I use for photography. There was a tiny, tiny little note at the end saying; “Authorized by Julian Sheezel, the Victorian Liberal Party, followed by an address in the CBD. At least they’re running true to form.
Andrew, I’d personally be delighted by ‘the old socialist agenda’, but I can assure you it’s nowhere to be seen from my lefty point of view. Your recollection of Latham is also fascinating, as I clearly recall the media taking delight in bashing him as he went down with pancreatitis (although this was assisted by Latham imploding in front of the cameras). From where I sit on the political spectrum, Rudd is a centrist with middle-of-the-road policies and Nelson is deeply confused about whether he continues in the Howard opportunist tradition or develops a new, genuinely liberal position. This article, about personality disputes overriding political common sense (not dissimilar to some of the issues the ALP faced in the ’90s) describes indefensible actions by those focussed purely on divvying up the spoils of defeat. Indefensible, yet here you are purporting to defend them (without even referring to them – probably a good tactic in the circumstances).
Mr. Keane is quite correct but the possibilities are so delicious! It is breathtaking to see a once great political force commit harikari. There are presently no creditable political opposition across the country. There are only small sections of the media not still gloating at Rudd’s success. The country relies on YOU, Bernard!