Senior correspondent Barry Everingham says twice disgraced senator Cory Bernardi should be dropped from first place on the S.A. Liberals' Senate ticket.
WHEN THE appalling Sophie Mirabella was first running for the federal Victorian seat of Indi, she saw nothing wrong in calling for the assistance of one the Liberals most disgraced and disgraceful former members — Noel Crichton-Browne.
Of course, having had the opportunity of seeing Mirabella in full flight in the House of Representatives and on national TV, it is obvious she’s from the same mould as her former mentor. In fact, I believe that if ever two people deserved each other, it’s Mirabella and Browne — two people I, and many others, wouldn’t be seen dead with. It’s interesting that Abbott elevated Mirabella to his front bench after Peter Slipper’s voted delivered him the leadership of the once great Liberal Party.
Get it? Peter Slipper’s vote delivered the leadership to Abbott!
[Read IA's full Ashbygate investigation.]
And while we're down there scraping the bottom of the Liberal Party’s barrel, whose name should again surface from the sludge?
Right on! Professor David Flint’s poster boy and fellow monarchist, the extreme right winger Cory Bernardi, who has once again caused Tony Abbott more angst, for which the community should be eternally grateful — though it won’t stop the pugilistic Opposition Leader's march to The Lodge.
Most Liberals detest Abbott, like the rest of the country, but they are Liberals who won’t stoop to vote for the ALP — a decision they, and the rest of the country, will rue after a few months of Abbott running a Government led asylum.
Readers will recall the Senator from South Australia warned that legalising gay marriage would probably end with the legalisation of humans enjoying sex with consenting animals.
And now Bernardi has been revealed to be in the thrall of the US Tea Party members and their lunatic fellow travellers NRA — who are opposed to any restriction on the sale of guns in the United States.
As though this wasn’t enough, it is further revealed he’s also connected to the pro-tobacco loonies.
Oh, and while I’m in a South Australian mindset, just how bizarre was the awarding of the highest honour in the Order of Australia to Alexander Downer — Australia’s longest serving and most ineffective Foreign Minister?
Downer is a giggling buffoon, and it will come as no surprise that senior officers in the crack Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are appalled at the awarding of the prestigious gong to Downer; many who have been similarly honoured will more than likely consider returning theirs in protest.
Back to Cory.
Brilliant Fairfax investigative journalist Jessica Wright has found that he is in breach of parliamentary rules by failing to declare his links to the far right pro tobacco groups fighting gun controls.
This is surprising, as he happens to chair the Senate’s Senators’ Interests Committee.
He says he doesn’t see a conflict of interest in being an international delegate for the American Legislative Exchange Council and a member of its International Relations Task Force.
His argument is that the organisation supports free markets and limited government.
Obviously, Bernardi supports the “right” of anyone to own a gun — even mass murderers.
Surely Abbott should bring him to heel, and the South Australian Liberals should drop him from first place on the Senate ticket to a less winnable place further down.
In other words rid the Senate of him and replace him with a decent Liberal — surely there are some in South Australia who would fit that bill.
But unfortunately, Abbott has, as he did with Mal Brough after Justice Rares' scathing judgment on him, come out reflexively in support of another disgrace to his Party.
And so it goes on.
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