Thursday 2 February 2012

LNP's King and Trout look like a no show at Sunday's election debate

With only 3 days to go to the Cairns City Forum in City Place this Sunday, two LNP candidates have no confirmed their participation.

Of the 15 State Candidates, nine have confirmed, two have been unable to attend, and four have yet to decide.

The debate that will be chaired by Cairns Toastmasters from 2.30pm, will see a line up of candidates contesting the 24th March State election.

One Nation candidate Jim Evans has also confirmed he will make the trip down from Chillagoe to participate in the forum, bringing a total of nine candidates speaking at the first in a series of three debate events.

The only major political party who has not yet confirmed any candidates to participate is the Liberal National Party. However, organiser Angus Gasson remains hopeful.

“The invitation is still open to Gavin King, Michael Trout and David Kempton, if they would like to be a part of this important event," Angus Gasson says.

King says he can't make it to the forum as he will be having family time.

"Sunday, like every Sunday from now on, starts at 9am with a supermarket stall, followed by door-knocking from 11 to 1pm," Gavin King said. "From 4pm, I am hosting an LNP function. In between, I block out a couple of hours to spend time with my family. I have an 18-month old baby and Leah, my wife, is due to have our second child in early April."

"Election campaigns are rather hectic, so any small windows of time I can spend with my family is paramount. Sunday afternoons provide a rare moment in my week to spend time at home," Gavin King said.

Beside the North Queensland Party and One Nation, Katter’s Australia Party and the Australian Labor Party, will also be well represented.

“We especially would like to encourage young people to come along and ask questions to the candidates," Angus Gasson said. "It doesn’t matter if they are not old enough to vote, the decisions made by politicians today will affect their future tomorrow."
CONFIRMED
Brendan Fitzgerald (Katter’s Australia Party) (Barron River)
Curtis Warren Pitt (ALP) (Mulgrave)
Damian Byrnes (Katter’s Australia Party) (Mulgrave)
Darren Hunt DJ (Katter’s Australia Party) (Cairns)
Jim Evans (One Nation) (Cook)
John Piva (North Qld Party) (Cairns)
Kirsten Lesina (ALP) (Cairns)
Lachlan Bensted (Katter’s Australia Party) (Cook)
Steve Wettenhall (ALP) (Barron River)

HAVEN'T CONFIRMED
David Kempton (LNP) (Cook)
Gavin King (LNP) (Cairns)
Michael Trout (LNP) (Barron River)
Mike Squire (North Qld Party)

UNAVAILABLE
Jason O’Brien (ALP) (Cook)
Robyn Quick (LNP) (Mulgrave)

5 comments:

Terry Vance said...

"Can Do King" no can do until "Can Do Newman" says he can do.

VickieF said...

How strange that not one LNP candidate has accepted the invitation so far. Could it be that they are treating the others with contempt or that they just don't have any policies in place. Maybe the "powers" that be in the LNP don't think this area is worth the effort.

Alison Alloway said...

There is a certain tactic that some politicians use with public meetings. They procrastinate with a definite answer so that the organisers just don't know if the polly is coming or not. Then when the meeting begins, and the MC starts delivering the apologies, hey presto! almost like magic, the polly rushes in, totally interrupting the MC, loudly apologising and talking about all his "other appointments etc", thus commanding the full attention of the audience. If he cracks a joke on the way up to the stage, the audience love it. It is all done deliberately to attract audience sympathy and provides the polly with the means to dominate and take over the meeting if the MC is not experienced enough.
Just thought I would alert people to this little tactic.

Syd Walker said...

I hope CamCorders will be rolling so the historic event is recorded for posterity - including for those of us who probably won't attend.

Gavin might be nervous about confirming his participation - fearing he may get pelted with rotten jackfruit by irate residents of the Myola Valley with long memories? If so, this may help put him at ease. I plan to stay at home all weekend as a personal protest against the dismal state of public transport in FNQ.

The biggest immediate issue for people in FNQ, in my opinion - is the same as the biggest issue for decent, sane people everywhere. How do we stop the maniacs in Tel Aviv and their sockpuppets and lackeys throughout the western world in their latest push for war - a war this time likely to be utterly disastrous with dire consequences for the global economy and hence the livelihoods of ordinary people even as far away as this.

I doubt any of the candidates will mention this subject. Anyone asked would probably say, with a patronizing smile, that it's a "Federal issue". The Cairns Post and ABC will, on past excperience, continue to spin this story as though it's a possibility we can't conceivably influence but merely endure (as bystanders cheering on the worse-than-apartheid, nuclear-armed, serial aggressor state of Israel).

So it is that cruise-ship earth sails ever closer to the whirlpool, while we debate the lunch menu, the scenery, the price of fish - anything that distracts us all from underwater currents that are "none of our business".

Janine Aitken said...

Great news Syd, it appears the organisers have set up a live fed via justintv on the web (details on their FB page).

Alison if that's the case & they don't RSVP beforehand they shouldn't get a chance to speak. It's plain bad manners & shows lack of respect for the other participants, organisers & audience!