Let’s not
forget that there were two preselections in Victoria this weekend. On Saturday, in
Corangamite,
another former staffer, Rod Nockles, gave 200-year-old man Stewart McArthur a
warning of what happens when MPs stay on too long. Nockles came within a handful of
votes of winning.

Earlier in
the week, McArthur’s mob were saying their bloke would romp home with three
quarters of the vote. He clearly didn’t have the support of his local branches
on the day. It all came down to the ex-officio vote.

Compare and contrast the way the Liberals handled their Victorian
preselections to the bloodshed and humiliation vested on the ALP in the brawls
over Hotham, Corio and Maribyrnong. (Mind you, the Prime Minister may have made an interesting concession to
stroppy backbenchers when he said on the Gold Coast on Friday “Well this is a free country and I lead a free
party.”)

It all suggests that the Liberals have a much better approach to
generational change than the Logan‘s Run model
favoured by Stephen Conroy and his chums.