Tips and rumours

From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

No little curtain for you. If you’ve voted in Australia before, you know we don’t have modesty curtains around our voting booths to ensure the secrecy of our vote. That’s not without trying, however. In a last-minute High Court hearing yesterday, Dieter Horn argued against the Australian Electoral Commissioner that the Commonwealth Electoral Act required a door or cover on the front of the voting booth.

Horn has repeatedly refused to vote because he believes the booths need curtains, and the government has prosecuted him for his failure to vote in the past.

The case that a voting booth needs privacy was first rejected back in 2007. Chief Justice Robert French dismissed the current case on the grounds that it was an abuse of process.

“There has been no relevant change in the factual circumstances. This litigation is the latest episode in a long-running campaign in which, as the plaintiff acknowledges, he has in various ways sought to invoke the courts in order to obtain the result he seeks … This is not an appeal against that decision. It is really an attempt to have another bite at the cherry.”

On the question of a plebiscite. If the Coalition wins tomorrow’s election, according to ABC’s Fran Kelly, the plebiscite for same-sex marriage will be held in November. Kelly made the prediction on her election podcast, The Party Room. Of course this relies on the plebiscite legislation passing the Senate, and the wording and timing getting through the Coalition’s party room and cabinet before that. Turnbull has told The Australian that there will be funding for the yes and no campaigns, so we can potentially look forward to Lyle Shelton getting to talk all about how gay couples aren’t as good as straight couples on the taxpayer dime. We have a freedom of information request filed with the Attorney-General’s Department for communication between the Australian Christian Lobby and the government about the plebiscite. It was due tomorrow, but because of the election, the department has declared George Brandis’ office too busy to deal with FOIs, so we will have to wait at least until the end of next week. How convenient!

Call off the turkeys. As this unnecessarily long election campaign draws to a close, residents in the seat of Brisbane are looking forward to getting their letterbox space back after two months of party propaganda. A tipster in the affluent suburb of Hendra received this letter from Labor candidate Pat O’Neill spruiking his party’s policies on marriage equality disguised as a love letter complete with love hearts drawn in crayon.

Pat O’Neill might be trying the “why can’t we all get along” method of schmoozing voters, but his opposition is having none of it. A couple of Brissie tipsters got in touch to let us know they’d received this letter (also uploaded to Reddit) in their mailboxes, saying a vote for Pat O’Neill is a vote for killing Brisbane’s night life:

(Click to enlarge)

But who is this person, why do they hate lockout laws, and why are they trying to swing federal votes on what is actually a state government issue? Our tipster went on the hunt for more information at the address listed on the letter, and despite having a nasty run-in with a territorial bush turkey in one of Brisbane’s leafier streets in the process, managed to dredge up who was behind this.

“Rose Stunzer” is a real person (although her name is misspelled on the mailout), who appears in a video on the Facebook page of the No Curfew campaign, which is fighting against the lockout laws Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government is bringing in. “A. Ghicelscu” (also misspelled) is Alex Ghiculescu, the co-founder of a payroll start-up called Tanda and regular authoriser of political messaging put out by the No Curfew campaign. Interestingly, No Curfew co-ordinator Roderick Schneider, a former Queensland Young LNP president, former national Young Liberals president and former participant on SBS’ Go Back To Where You Came From, is listed at the same address as Ghiculescu.

Perhaps next time the No Curfew team should refrain from putting their home addresses on their campaign material.

Robo Q&A. It seems the Liberal Party likes Q&A after all. At least on its own terms. In a strange pre-poll tactic new to Ms Tips, a Melbourne Ports voter tells us he was patched into a live forum with the Libs’ local candidate, financial trader Owen Guest, and Environment Minister Greg Hunt from the comfort of his couch. The call came on his mobile at 7.30pm, with an automated message saying he was being inserted into the forum and could ask a question by dialling *1. A moderator led the discussion and coaxed no doubt carefully selected listeners to ask their questions, from local business types who sought Dixer-esque assurance on the state of the economy to a pre-teen who quizzed Hunt on what he was doing about coral bleaching. By 8pm it was all over and the phone went dead. But how many callers would have made it that far?

How do you do, fellow kids? And finally, the Liberal Party of Australia have managed to become trailblazers in the social media world, creating the first animated political Snapchat filter, allowing users to film themselves with a ballot paper that says “vote Liberal” and send it to their friends. If you are unsure of what Snapchat is, here’s the Australian Financial Review‘s description from earlier this week: “The app most commonly used by young people sending self-destructing nude pictures to each other in a strange 21st century courtship ritual.” The app also allows people to add filters, sometimes geographically focused and others that include puppy ears and noses. The Greens launched geo-filters last week in selected Melbourne electorates, but this one from the Libs is something new. We have already had some fun with the filter, here:

Surprise anti-vaxxers. Australia’s anti-vaxxers have taken to bombarding minor parties with requests for policy information in a move that has resulted in a confusing and damaging messaging from the Arts Party. The Arts Party was forced to make a statement regarding vaccinations by the Australian Vaccination Skeptics Network with an opening line that reads:

“The Arts Party recognise that the science on vaccination is not certain. Specifics of whether an individual may, or may not, have an adverse reaction to any medication is never definite.”

It goes on to say:

“The Arts Party believe that the weight of evidence is in favour of universal vaccinations; that universal vaccination does more good than harm and that it has been shown to be of overall medical benefit to everyone in society,” somewhat contradicting the opening line. While being pro-vaccination, The Arts Party said they are against the No Jab No Pay policy, on the basis it is “an overbearing and improper way in which to coerce individuals”.

A tipster told Crikey that she would no longer be voting for the Arts Party because of the statement, which the AVSN has trumpeted as a victory. The Arts Party Leader, PJ Collins, told Crikey the statement was prepared by someone in the party after they were flooded with emails last week from the anti-vax group, asking what their position was. Collins said they would never have commented on the issue if they hadn’t been a target of mass emailing. It seems the party was baited in an attack on minor parties.

Since the initial statement, The Arts Party has clarified its position on its website, to reiterate the stance of pro-vaccination, though remaining concerned the public are being forced to vaccinate their children “at the barrel of a gun”. Instead of being penalised, Collins believes parents should be encouraged and shown the value of vaccination. The leader says the last few days has been “painful”.

*Heard anything that might interest Crikey? Send your tips to boss@crikey.com.au or use our guaranteed anonymous form