A new party desperate for credibility and three defectors desperate for revenge. When ego’s collide…
Yesterday I broke the story of three members of the Morrison government that were looking to defect to The New Liberals Party.
The article was met with both hope and glee that this could spell the end of Morrison and his regime of rorters extraordinaire. It was also met with a healthy dose of scepticism and doubt.
I have to admit when I was first informed of the intended defection I had to check that it wasn’t the 1st of April, so I completely understand those who didn’t believe.
Fortunately, the Leader of the New Liberals, Victor Kline, last night confirmed the story via Twitter.
This is true. Or at least it was true. I made the mistake of telling Tony Bourke in an attempt to get the ALP to change their mind on supporting the Bill to deregister us. He has obviously leaked it to Wicks. #TNL https://t.co/VLTuUzNOt8
— Victor Kline (@victorklineTNL) August 20, 2021
Not only did he confirm the intentions of the three unnamed Liberals but he also confirmed that he had been talking about it with Labor’s Tony Burke by falsely claiming that Burke had leaked the story to Wixxyleaks.
As much as I appreciate Kline’s confidence in my reach I’m reasonably certain that if the Leader of Opposition Business was aware of three defecting members of the government and the possibility of the government collapsing he might aim just a little higher than a blogsite with a few followers.
So where does that leave things?
According to Kline, who has yet to respond to my queries, he is now attacking Burke and myself for apparently sending the whole thing down the gurgler.
Kline seems to be of the frankly bizarre belief that three Liberals who were so disgruntled at their own party they would bring down a government in order to defect, have suddenly fallen back in love with their party in the last 24 hours and will continue to serve and support the party they hated yesterday. And this abrupt change of heart was brought on by a blog that did not even name them.
Pick the defector amongst the rorters
For what it’s worth here’s what I suspect.
Never underestimate the power of a politicians self-interests.
The Liberal Party is in a state of internal chaos, the wheels are falling off the Morrison Marketing bus, and lurking in the shadows are Josh Frydenberg and Peter Dutton. With an election looming there is likely a lot of manoeuvring going on within the party by leadership contenders to shore up support for their bid. This may also include Morrison who is no doubt keen to hang on as leader.
So we know that there are three disgruntled Liberals looking to do damage.
I suspect these three have been targeted locally by branch stacking that will see them lose their endorsement after a pre-selection they are aware they can’t win.
Their best chance of winning is by cutting and running early so that they have time to make their electorates comfortable with their decision. It would also be advantageous come election time to have their name attached to a party with the word ‘Liberal’ in its name.
It would also screw over those that are currently screwing them over. Although I’m sure in politics ego never comes into the decision making process. Much.
The same self-interest logic applies to the New Liberals. Many have queried why a left-wing party like the New Liberals would endorse three former conservatives.
It’s simple really. Ideology and principles be damned, endorsing the three defecting members would have given the New Liberals three sitting members without even running a campaign.
Kline on Twitter talks about how he was offering to “deliver government to the ALP”, a big claim from someone who is yet to even have a member elected to local council. It’s also a demonstration of someone with limited political knowledge, as only voters can deliver a government, the best he could hope for would be that the three defectors trigger an election. I suspect he saw this apparent defection as being ‘delivered’ three MP’s.
In what will no doubt come as a blow to his new members Kline has confirmed his lack of principles by openly letting his left wing supporters know he’s happy to endorse conservatives.
With this demonstrated lack of integrity and willingness to embrace opportunism perhaps the New Liberals are the perfect fit for three disgruntled former conservatives.
Follow @madwixxy
Gee Peter you’ve spat the dummy out there haven’t you? It is possible that there is 3 LNP backbench Politicians that are actually have a streak of integrity and want to make a decent contribution to Australia so see the positives in joining TNL.
It’s also possible that they are not feeling pressured by the PMO after being outed (albeit anonymously). I’m sure it wouldn’t take much for the PMO to work out.
Allegedly Mr Kline only told Tony Burke (no one what) and only in confidence. So we must assume Mr Burke (even if m not directly) has leaked the information.
Keep up the good investigative Journalism and don’t make the story about you.
*It’s also possible that they are feeling pressured by the PMO after being outed (albeit anonymously).
The story certainly isn’t about me…
Mr Kline said he had only told Burke. Then he said he only told Burke and his entire Party executive… obviously the 3 Liberals in question knew. So if they discussed it with anyone who knows how many people knew.
I don’t reveal my sources (note the use of a plural), but Tony Burke wasn’t one of them.
Thank you for both of these articles. Politics is always, always, always, a dirty game. Telling the truth with a clear conscience is not. After all, you cannot con your own conscience – – – well, lets qualify that shall we. Not unless you are a career politician, that is 0:)
Billy Hughes made for fun times? (chopping and changing Parties) ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Party#Background
And Cheryl Kernot certainly spiced up political life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Kernot
So it is possible for a politician to change to a different Party, just like a CEO can change to a different business. They need to prosecute their parties’ policies and agenda and represent their electorate and LEAD society to a better place. If their OLD party is no longer right for that, and they are genuine, then of course they need to find a NEW home/party.
I think you may end up eating your words about Mr Kline and his Party. It has strong foundations.
Thanks Brian, I don’t think I’ll end up well-fed if that’s the case.
The New Liberal Party policy statement says “We have a policy of endorsing ‘non-politicians'” where I’m from sitting Liberal MP’s are certainly ‘politicians’ and doing the exact opposite to your own parties policy setting does not count as a ‘strong foundation’.
Klines prediction that the New Liberals will have 80 seats in the House Of Reps by 2028 sounds less like strong foundation and more like something strong in the pipe he’s smoking.
kline says the only person who knew about this was Tony Burke. That then changed to Burke and the entire NLP executive. Then of course the three Liberal MP’s themselves. Kline then said that the deal was going to fall through because after it leaked, the Prime Ministers Office put pressure on the three members to stay. So he’s clearly saying that the Prime Ministers’ office knew who they were too. That’s an awful lot of people.
I think Kline could dine out for a week on his words.
Peter, thanks for your reminder about the policy setting. Please ignore my idea to encourage existing politicians to move away from parties that no longer reflect their values. It is NOT my call.
Victor did nothing wrong, the system is a mess and it needs to be cleaned up. I understood that he only presumed what had transpired.
Thanks for your ‘food for thought’.
Never been to wixxyleaks before and won’t be again if this is the ‘content’ you put out.
There is no ‘conservative’ vs ‘progressive’, ‘right’ vs ‘left’ or whatever other spin you want to put on it.
There is simply ‘in the public interest’ and ‘against the public interest’.
If these three people, whatever the reason, were willing to work in the public interest, even if only because it benefits them personally, Kline would be crazy to deny their help.
Thanks for your feedback Clark.
I’m sorry you don’t think that the possibility of a government crumbling is ‘content’ worth publishing.
Conservative, and right and left are not spin, they are political positions from which policies are developed.
Public interest is dependent on who you are. For example, many in the public, like myself, think cutting back on coal is in the public interest, those in coal mining towns think it’s against the public interest.
If Kline wants to take them in, that’s great, however, if there’s one thing people want in their politicians it’s honesty. Promoting yourself as a left-wing party and recruiting from the right sounds unusual at best, dishonest at worst. As for his public attacks on Tony Burke, they are false, have no merit, and do his credibility no favours whatsoever.
I hope the three Liberals do leave. After this episode, they may be more inclined to sit as independents rather than New Liberals. Based on what I’ve seen from Mr Kline and his candidates since this was made public, frankly, I wouldn’t blame them.
Nevertheless, I hope I’ve explained myself and I genuinely appreciate feedback whether I agree with it or not, so thanks for taking the time.
I’ve been taking an interest in comments made by the “New Liberals”. With a degree of scepticism.
Obviously the first thing I noticed was the large divide between some of its policy aims and their name “Liberals? Really?”
As time goes on my suspicion grows.
I frequently like what I hear. Yet I suspect
Marcus Tullius Cicero maybe a strong influence “Endorsing Non Politicians” sounds like something straight out of the Trump playbook.
The announcement a private prosecution of Christian Porter would take place. Has the aroma of a “Political Stunt”. One that totally disregards what’s best for the family & friends of the alleged victim. If that’s what it is.
Personally I don’t give much credence to the claim of 3 defecting LNP MP’s.
Any moderates within the party are long gone. A move for anyone remaining. To the New Liberals is a bridge to far.
It wouldn’t be unbelievable these days to call yourself a conservative party and still be far to the left of Liberal and Labor
Well said Clark. Seems Peter can’t differentiate between good & bad and someone being dishearten because there’s no good in their particular Party. It’s not always black and white Wixxy.
Whereas you and Clark appear to be saying that at the most opportunistic moment, bad can actually be good.
Good/bad luck with that
Something tells me these “3 Liberals” exist only in the minds of certain people
Peter on August 23, 2021
“Whereas you and Clark appear to be saying that at the most opportunistic moment, bad can actually be good.”
Good/bad luck with that
That’s ridiculous, it’s actually pretty clear what I’m saying but you’re refusing to acknowledge it, that’s how Scumo handles things, so don’t be a Scumo.
Again I’m saying that People join Parties with the best of intentions. The Parties can either corrupt those good intentions or the Member can see the writing on the wall and leave. It would seem these 3 Members want to uphold their principles so make a decision to leave the Party they’re disillusioned with. There’s nothing opportunistic about it other than an election in on the horizon.
You can try and justify a left leaning party saying they’ll endorse 3 conservatives all you like, if it sounds like shit, looks and smells like shit, I reckon it’s not the apple pie and cream you and the New Liberals are trying to tell us it is