By MICHAEL SLOVANOS
ANOTHER day and another by-election, and micro parties again assure the Uniparty of a seat – this time in two Victorian by-elections last weekend.
The provisional results had the Liberals winning the inner-city Melbourne seat of Prahan from the Greens, thanks to the preferences of an anti-Green former Labor MP for the seat, who ran as an independent.
At last count Labor and Liberal were neck and neck in the western-urban electorate of Werribee, despite a large swing against the State’s Labor government. An independent named Paul Hopper won an impressive 14.7%, double the Greens vote. Note his very bland appeal to local needs.
Hopper was effectively a third party candidate, but as usual micro parties diluted the non-mainstream party vote. Hopper did not direct preferences.
Serial political candidate Aidon McLindon, who is Mayor of Whittlesea Council, stood, only to receive 236 votes. What was he thinking?
Below are the provisional results for Werribee after counting closed over the weekend. Both major parties each had less than 30% of the vote, but one of them will take the seat after preference distribution.
| Candidate | Party | 1st pref. votes | % votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| RIFAI, A. Raheem | Australian Greens | 2977 | 7.47% |
| MURPHY, Steve | Liberal | 11578 | 29.04% |
| EMERSON, Matthew | Family First Victoria | 1738 | 4.36% |
| MENTA, Xavier | Legalise Cannabis Victoria | 2198 | 5.51% |
| JOSHI, Munish | 334 | 0.84% | |
| MUNRO, Sue | Victorian Socialists | 2902 | 7.28% |
| MANSOURI JAJAEE, Shohre | Animal Justice Party | 365 | 0.92% |
| MULCAHY, Kodei | 81 | 0.20% | |
| McLINDON, Aidan | 236 | 0.59% | |
| HOPPER, Paul | 5859 | 14.70% | |
| LISTER, John | Australian Labor Party | 11448 | 28.71% |
| MOINUDDIN, Aijaz | 153 | 0.38% |
If a strong independent like Hopper or well-known third party other than the Greens was able to gather 20%+ of the vote they would stand a good chance of election in a preference swap.
Below are the provisional results for Prahran, where the Liberal Party candidate Rachel Westaway has been called the winner on 36.24% of the vote, just ahead of the Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo on 36.18% of the vote.
| Candidate | Party | 1st pref. votes | % votes |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHISHOLM, Nathan | 1585 | 5.30% | |
| WESTAWAY, Rachel | Liberal | 10829 | 36.24% |
| HENDRY, Janine | 471 | 1.58% | |
| GILBERT, Genevieve | Family First Victoria | 318 | 1.06% |
| MENADUE, Alan | 120 | 0.40% | |
| LUPTON, Tony | 3835 | 12.83% | |
| DESSAU, Mark | Libertarian Party | 276 | 0.92% |
| DI CAMILLO, Angelica | Australian Greens | 10813 | 36.18% |
| BILIC, Dennis | Sustainable Australia Party – Stop Overdevelopment / Corruption | 394 | 1.32% |
| BILLMAN, Buzz | 428 | 1.43% | |
| FUHRER, Faith | Animal Justice Party | 815 | 2.73% |
The seat’s former Labor MP Tony Upton stood as an independent after cutting up his Labor Party membership in protest over the party’s decision not to contest the seat, potentially leaving it as a win for the Greens.
Upton is anti-Green and as reported by The Age newspaper, has “gone as far as attending a campaign meeting with volunteers backed by right-wing lobby group Advance, which has narrowed its target on the Greens but has previously campaigned against federal Labor in the Dunkley byelection and helped defeat the Voice referendum.”
The by-election demonstrates the fruitless efforts of micro-parties and unrealistically hopeful and unknown independents. In Prahran, some outfit called Sustainable Australia Party, which claims not to be left or right and opposes “overdevelopment and corruption” got 1.32%. Family First did even worse with 1.06%.
If there’s lessons to be learned from these two by-elections it’s the importance of people putting aside ego and working with someone else or simply not wasting time and resources based on the unrealistic expectation that large members of the public will vote for you.
How a third-party can work is demonstrated, unfortunately, by The Greens, who are essentially the communist wing of the Labor Party, yet have consistently gained seats in Australian parliaments to the detriment of the nation.
Cairns News is supporting One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts as No. 1 on the Queensland Senate ballot paper at the next Federal election followed by Gerard Rennick No. 2 and Susan McDonald No. 3. The trio have demonstrated an unwavering pro-Australian anti-globallist stance in addition to exposing the corrupt Covid-19 plandemic operation.
