Economy
Erich, you have passed your used-by date, you are off, you are on the nose mate …
… just ask the Three Amigos …
If below the line voting is how thinking people, rather than form-fillers, indicate the relevance of those who represent them, then the following results as of yesterday morning are of great interest …
[i]Votes below the line …[/i]
Colbeck: 4345
[i]The Liberal pro-Abetz faceless team …[/i]
Abetz 2839
Parry 613
Bushby 428
Duniam 189
Total: 4069
Colbeck, placed at number 5 on the ticket by Abetz, will probably lose his seat for supporting Turnbull against the wishes of the dreadful Abetz, yet he has scored more votes than all the hand-picked, dead-weight, faceless men in the Abetz Liberal team put together.
So Abetz by his patronage has gifted three no-hopers a six-year job at a $250,000 a year; deadbeats who could barely muster a thousand votes between them.
Jacqui Lambie who currently has 3555 votes is apparently far more popular in the public’s estimation than the much-despised team assembled by you, Uncle Erich.
Do you get the message?
Erich, you have passed your used-by date, you are off, you are on the nose mate – just ask the Three Amigos.
The Tasmanian voters have seen through you – but the system has saved you from obliteration.
Will we get you again in three years after the next half-Senate election?
*John Hawkins is a Sandhurst-trained former British army officer, now an Australian resident of almost 50 years. For the past 14 years he has been enhancing the Bentley landscape in the Chudleigh Valley, Tasmania. He is well known for his two-volume standard reference on Australian Silver, and for his knowledge of the Life and Times of Erich Abetz.
• John Hawkins in Comments: AEC today (July 18): Singh 8762. Colbeck 5872. Lambie 4770. W _ Wilson 3546. Abetz 2839. McKim 2328. Now Colbeck has lost his job in Cabinet. So it now looks as though the Liberals have lost all three of their Lower House MP’s and their only Cabinet Minister who may even have lost his seat. Now that is a result. Where to now Senator Erich Abetz? Or is this all Malcom’s fault?
• Ben Lohberger in Comments: Eric Abetz has claimed during an interview on ABC Radio National that Malcolm Turnbull should listen to Abetz’s post-election advice, because backbenchers such as Abetz doorknocked “hundreds, if not thousands” of homes during this year’s federal election campaign. Doorknocking takes significant time and effort, and to doorknock up to 2000 homes would have taken the Senator more than a month of full-time work. So where did Senator Abetz doorknock in Tasmania, when did he doorknock, and can he actually prove it? Surely someone in the state must have seen him at their door? …