Exclusive Brethren
Liberals
EXCLUSIVE Brethren flyers making misleading statements about the Tasmanian Greens have been linked to the Tasmanian Liberal Party.
A volunteer was distributing both Liberal Party election material and the ‘What Do They Stand For’ Exclusive Brethren flyer in the southern electorate of Franklin earlier this week.
The volunteer was seen near Kaoota letterboxing brochures for Will Hodgman, Sue Bastone and Vanessa Goodwin in addition to the Exclusive Brethren publication.
If there is no connection between the Tasmanian Liberal Party and the Exclusive Brethren then how do they explain this?
The man drove up to a Greens’ volunteer letterboxing the same area for Nick McKim, honked his horn and asked, ‘I just want to know if you are letterboxing the same area as me because we don’t want to double up.’
When the Greens supporter showed him a McKim flyer the man drove off. “I watched him going up and down the street sticking these four flyers into peoples’ mail boxes,” the Greens volunteer said.
The What Do They Stand For flyer was authorised by T. Christian, 5 Gofton St Scottsdale and its content is almost identical to a similar anti-Green brochure authorised by Liberals campaign director Damien Mantach.
Mr Mantach yesterday said he had met with the Exclusive Brethren prior to the election but declined to comment on what was discussed when quizzed by other media outlets.
Both flyers make reference to a Tasmanian Greens press release from November 30, 2005 with regard to marriage laws for same-sex couples.
Hang on here a minute … Exclusive Brethren shun technology so it’s a fair bet that they don’t have easy access to a fax or the Internet, so just how did they manage to locate an old press release that was only available to the public on the Internet?
To further highlight my point let’s compare some of the statements made in the pamphlets side by side:
Liberals
“Introduce death taxes, including on the sale of the family home.”
‘’(source: Greens Economic Policy, Tax and Revenue)’’
Exclusive Brethren
“Introduce death tax, including tax on the sale of the family home”
“Greens Economic Policy, Tax and Revenue’”
Liberals
“Full access to marriage laws for same sex couples in Tasmania”
“(source: Greens Media Release 30/11/05)’”
Exclusive Brethren
“Full access to marriage laws for same sex couples in Tasmania”
“Greens Media Release –30th Nov 2005”
But wait there’s more …
Liberals
“Increase income tax”
“(source: Greens Economic Policy, Tax & Revenue)”
Exclusive Brethren
“Increase income Tax”
“Greens Economic Policy, Tax and Revenue”
C’mon here guys, this is either the worst case of plagiarism I have ever seen or Mr Mantach needs to disclose just what his meetings with the Exclusive Brethren were about and what involvement, if any, the Tasmanian Liberal Party had with the Exclusive Brethren campaign.
Tasmanian Greens Leader Peg Putt MHA said the advertisements and leaflets were disturbing and didn’t reflect Tasmanian Greens’ policies at all.
“We can now add the Exclusive Brethren, who are on record as saying ‘we like to fly under the radar,’ to the other shadowy figures … referring to Tasmanians For A Better Future, who are still refusing to identify themselves or their funding sources,” Ms Putt said.
Perhaps even more worrying is that the Tasmanian Liberals and a far right-wing group seem to have some common beliefs.
No member of the Liberal Party was available for comment prior to publication and they are yet to deny any involvement with the Exclusive Brethren advertising campaign.
This religious sect has previously been found to have broken the electoral laws of New Zealand and the group’s spending in the last federal election campaign is presently being investigated by the AEC.
I tried to contact Mr Christian by phone and email to no avail.
Wes Young, student, author and Greens helper, is still bunkered down at 22 Wallace Av Lenah Valley.
