By Alasdair Black
The media is trying to explain the Liberal Party’s failure in South Australia, in response to Vincent Tarzia stepping down as leader on Friday – a move that will see him personally dodging the drubbing the Libs are about to face in the upcoming state election.
That loss would be suicide to his political aspirations; he is literally chickening out. Simple.
It probably also explains why no one has put their hand up to challenge, and why Vincent stepped down – the constant whiteanting and undermining made the job impossible. Again, simple.
ABC News 24 has been commenting about the situation of the party and why it’s on the nose with the SA electorate.
Again, it couldn’t get any simpler:
The amount of corruption we’ve seen from the Liberal MPs in the last five years or so might be the elephant in the room, which the national media is contorting itself inside out to ignore. Maybe?
There have been four Liberal MPs caught out defrauding the state and one Liberal Opposition Leader breaking the law with drug usage and supply.
Former Liberal leader David Speirs’ career ended with the edifying video image of the State’s opposition leader snorting a line of drugs on his kitchen bench, for which he was fined $9,000 and ordered to complete 37.5 hours of community service. Speirs pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine to two men.
Troy Bell, the Liberal member for MT Gambier, has just been sentenced to five years jail for defrauding the state in a corruption saga that’s been bubbling along for a couple of years, back to 2022 or thereabouts. It may even have been lingering longer. I can’t remember a time in the last five years, there hasn’t been a Liberal Party scandal going on in SA.
His crime was stealing more than $430,000 in public money meant for not-for-profit education organisations.
Then there were the three Liberal MPs caught defrauding the state in the country allowance funds in 2020. They resigned their ministries. Two of them were charged.
At one stage at least nine were under investigation for improper claims under the The Country Members Accommodation Allowance, later cleared of wrong doing.
Five years of Liberal MP corruption scandals, so not so puzzling or a mystery after all?
Either one of these three scandals alone would have obsessed the national media for months if they’d occured in the eastern states.
Even Tasmania’s political shennanigans get more attention than SA. The national media is all over the long-running stadium saga, and before that, their leadership speculations. But SA politics always receive scant attention on the National stage. Oddly.
So, dear national media, ponder no longer, five years of Liberal MP corruption and law and order scandals is the answer you are looking for.
Five years of scandals – skimmed over and practically ignored by the national media as though it’s South Australia’s best kept secret.
If you weren’t so obsessed navel gazing on the eastern seaboard, you might have a clue. We’re used to the right-wing bias of the media, but come on, ABC you are national public broadcaster, you should know more and you should be doing better.
Just to reiterate, for all to know, it is repeated corruption by Liberal Party MPs in the last five years that have placed the Liberals in a precarious position in regards to electoral support, It is no mystery that the state party is a moral vaccuum and until they address that, they will always be the bridesmaids and never the bride in South Australian politics.
Fortunately South Australians – unlike trends around the world – don’t reward corrupt and opportunist politicians.
I know it’s rather sweet and quaint these days, but there you go.
Personally, I say pat yourselves on the back, SA, you still hold propriety higher than political affiliation in this sceptical apathetic world, where great democracies seem to be atrophying and forgetting to hold rank opportunist and corrupt politicians to account. Especially in a one newspaper state, with that newspaper being a Liberal-foaming Murdoch rag.
Is that us or is it more of an indictment on the status of legacy print media?
Another discussion for another day, perhaps.
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That’s a great summary of the situation in Sth Australia, and no doubt of some significance, but the fact there are Liberal leadership problems in other states and at the federal level, means that the Libs have worries far deeper than S.A. corruption.
Liberalism was only able to maintain the illusion of working for the common good on the back of the post-war boom.
But the good times are over, the flow of wealth has slowed to a trickle, the elite class has no interest in sharing the trickle so it’s the end of the trickle-down lie.
Simply put, liberalism itself has run out of steam.
And because liberalism itself has become impossible to justify, Liberal leadership is no longer a glittering prize.
It’s almost a poisoned chalice.
They’ll have an occasional win, but far less often than we’ve seen in the past.
There’s a danger for Labor in this.
Labor has a foundational commitment to the social good that has put them in a healthy position at the moment, but if the neo-libs in the party (yes, there’s a few) weaken that commitment, we’ll see more teals and independents elected, and the death of the two-party system.
Which should be a blessing.
If only that propriety would manifest in Canberra and the other States.Is there any jurisdiction that isn’t beholden to fossil fuel and big business? Our political class are a national embarrassment.
The next SA state election will see a nail in the coffin of liberalism that was promoted by Scott Morrison. The electorate has had enough of the Liberals Australia wide. Morrison, Abbott and Dutton destroyed the conservatives’ image forever.
Can I suggest that that State of Affairs regarding Liberals overall from Local, State and Federal goes as far back as Alexander Downer and Amanda Vanstone?
Steve:
A few neo-libs in the ALP? Virtually the entire parliamentary ALP is full-on neo-lib and they don’t even disguise it any more.