Former LNP candidate for Barron River and newly independent Wendy Richardson, is still to make up her mind if she will join a new political party, that will announced this morning.
Fellow LNP defector, Member for Beaudesert Aidan McLindon, will this morning lodge an application for the registration of The Queensland Party with the Electoral Commission of Queensland at.
“Over the past four weeks it has become very clear to me that Queensland is crying out for a new political dynamic. The hundreds of emails and phone calls I have received since becoming an independent have overwhelmingly suggested that a new political party be established by Queenslanders for Queenslanders” Aidan McLindon said.
“It is time for Queensland to be the first priority – this is what is needed, and this is what The Queensland Party will deliver.”
The Queensland Party will not run candidates against the five independent Members of Parliament, including Rob Messenger, who resigned from the LNP at the same time as McLindon. Messenger has confirmed he will not form party of the newly proposed party. The other Queensland independent MPs are Dorothy Pratt, Liz Cunningham, Peter Wellington, and Chris Foley.
“These independent members are already in a position to best serve their communities by representing them without fear or favour in the Parliament,” Aidan McLindon says. “We do, however, intend to run in each of the remaining 84 electorates."
McLindon has assumed the de facto role as co-ordinator of the new party, however Jim Nichols of Mt Isa who has drafted the constitution, is expected become the party's inaugural chairman.
“Over the past four weeks it has become very clear to me that Queensland is crying out for a new political dynamic. The hundreds of emails and phone calls I have received since becoming an independent have overwhelmingly suggested that a new political party be established by Queenslanders for Queenslanders” Aidan McLindon said.
“It is time for Queensland to be the first priority – this is what is needed, and this is what The Queensland Party will deliver.”The Queensland Party will not run candidates against the five independent Members of Parliament, including Rob Messenger, who resigned from the LNP at the same time as McLindon. Messenger has confirmed he will not form party of the newly proposed party. The other Queensland independent MPs are Dorothy Pratt, Liz Cunningham, Peter Wellington, and Chris Foley.
“These independent members are already in a position to best serve their communities by representing them without fear or favour in the Parliament,” Aidan McLindon says. “We do, however, intend to run in each of the remaining 84 electorates."
McLindon has assumed the de facto role as co-ordinator of the new party, however Jim Nichols of Mt Isa who has drafted the constitution, is expected become the party's inaugural chairman.
Wendy Richardson has been in Brisbane with McLindon over the last few days, finalising details for the new party, is yet to confirm committing to the new force. Nine people were at the meeting, that, according to Richardson, included former Australian Labor Party members.
"There is dissatisfaction with the Labor party as well, probably more than with the LNP, it's huge," Wendy Richardson said. "I believe that a lot of people want independent representation, but not necessarily want independents," Wendy Richardson told CairnsBlog overnight. "A number of people have said to me... 'is it worth voting for you, because unless you've got the balance of power, can you do anything for us?' "
"It's going to be a tension for me. If I think I can truly act independently, and sensibly and strongly for the electorate in that [new party], and it looks like doing everything that I think it's going to do, then I would support it and go with it," Richardson said, acknowledging that they are building the new party from the ground up. "We're informed people, not just naive bunnies."
However it's likely Richardson will join the new Queensland Party, and has called it a positive new step for Queensland politics, and says it will succeed for two reasons.
"This party has been born out of the community's immense dissatisfaction with the two existing parties and their lack of real representation," Richardson says. "Secondly it will succeed because it will be founded on a commitment to integrity and ethical behaviour. It represents the people before the party."
"People often misunderstand what value a party has, but to me it has to be a team, with individuals taking responsibility for portfolios. A lone independent has to try to be across all issues, which really is a very difficult task. However this value is negated when parties demand strict unrelenting blind adherence to policies that the people are opposed to, and it becomes dominated by a few power-hungry individuals," Wendy Richardson says.
Following the party's registration in the next few weeks, following the mandatory objection process, a major policy announcement will "be put to Queenslanders for their consideration and input." McLindon says it will ultimately become the Party’s election platform.
“This is a unique opportunity for us all to change the political landscape as we now know it in order to see this magnificent state at its full potential. Queenslanders have been tolerant of a tired parliamentary machine that is characterised by apathetic policies that too often push Queensland down the priority list," Aidan McLindon said. "At the next election, from the South-East to the Far North, everyone will have a real choice at the ballot box”.
“This is a unique opportunity for us all to change the political landscape as we now know it in order to see this magnificent state at its full potential. Queenslanders have been tolerant of a tired parliamentary machine that is characterised by apathetic policies that too often push Queensland down the priority list," Aidan McLindon said. "At the next election, from the South-East to the Far North, everyone will have a real choice at the ballot box”.
Today's announcement comes just two weeks after allegations of financial mismanagement in the Cairns LNP, and stunning allegations of a Federal LNP candidate in the marginal Queensland seat of Wright Logan. Councillor Hajnal Ban has been accused of misusing the funds of a vulnerable elderly man in a nursing home, according to VexNews.
A recent decision of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal – where the parties are not named – exposed suggestions that Ban Hajnal transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of a house to a joint bank account with Ban, that is controlled by her.
There's definitely no plain sailing ahead for the LNP, or Labor for that matter.
3 comments:
Ahhhh, Wendy, just when we thought you had got the 'representing the community', 'independent' thing sorted, like a moth to a flame - another political party.
I think Freud would have a field day with your cathexis to political organisations in terms of Bob Norman Sr, your father. Not much of our lives are not lived consciously or sub-consciously within family structures, but darls, you are becoming a Serial Campaigner.
Lillian
It has been said that all human beings are compelled to create a ‘story’ to explain everything that they experience or witness.
And so they search for the reasons things happen until, in their mind, they devise the most likely scenario.
Your ‘story’ about my political direction is unclear to me, but no doubt it makes perfect sense to you.
I have been told by someone who knows your real identity, that I know you, yet I wonder what you presume to know about me and my relationship with my father that drives your comments.
I suggest that you really have no idea on that score, but do invite you to reveal yourself so we can have a meaningful conversation, hopefully with a useful result.
Meanwhile I am still looking closely at the creation of the Queensland Party; with no definite commitment on my part. Of particular interest is its stated intent that all MP’s in the party would have a responsibility to oppose party platform if it contradicted the wishes and needs of an electorate.
I will be putting out my thinking on this very soon.
I find the concept of being a member of a political party that decrees that its members “would have a responsibility to oppose party platform if it contradicted the wishes and needs of an electorate” a tad silly.
One only has to look a current topical issue – social housing. So this “new” party can have a policy that actively supports the overall concept of social housing but then gives the green light to its members to oppose that policy if it’s the wishes of the local electorate. NIMBY’ism is alive and well in Queensland and I serious doubt any community would openly welcome social housing development. Bluewater, Palm Cove, Yorkey’s Knob all spring to mind.
Sometimes being a politician is all about having to make the tough decisions that may inconvenience the few in favour of a greater good. It’s called responsibility; standing up for what is right. This “new” party wants all the benefits and perks but none of the responsibilities.
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