Fisher campaign ends in acrimony
The campaign for Fisher is ending in bitter acrimony with the Electoral Commissioner chastising the Liberal Party and Bob Such’s widow Lyn lashing out at negativity.
Tomorrow’s by-election is widely considered a two-horse race between Liberal candidate Heidi Harris and independent Dan Woodyatt, who has come under heavy fire in the last week of campaigning.
Woodyatt, who has been endorsed by Lyn Such, was the subject of a Liberal flyer which made a list of allegations against him, including that “he claims he’ll stand up for the community, but he wants to increase the GST and tax your super”.
As InDaily reported this week, this claim was based on a post by Woodyatt on his Facebook page in May – which Woodyatt says was not a statement of his policy position.
Woodyatt complained about the flyer and Electoral Commissioner Kay Mousley ruled in his favour because “the GST and tax on superannuation are Federal issues”.
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Mousley decided that given the election is tomorrow, the Liberal Party would not be required to publish a retraction. Rather, she requested that the party “cease further distribution of the material”.
Woodyatt has spent this morning and much of yesterday defending himself against criticisms of a song and film clip by a band, The Spooks, in which he was the drummer.
The full clip (which was removed from public view) includes images from World War II including, it is claimed, images of Hitler. An edited version shows clips from Charlie Chaplin’s anti-Nazi parody, The Great Dictator.
The key complainant, Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire, took to FIVEaa radio today to explain why he was offended by the clip.
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“I don’t know how well Mr Woodyatt knew Dr Bob Such but I joined seats with Bob for 13 years, I worked with Bob in the Parliament for 19, and Bob and I had many discussions about the war,” he said.
“… like me Bob never, ever would have glorified the war and had similar concerns about the promotion in any aspect of the Nazis. I believe in the public interest: let them decide whether this is glorifying war or the other way, but unfortunately it was all pulled down yesterday and only an edited version is available.”
Woodyatt has rejected Brokenshire’s interpretation, saying that the inclusion of the Chaplin footage proves that the clip is an anti-Nazi statement.
The debate infuriated Lyn Such, who called FIVEaa to slam Brokenshire’s interjection in the campaign.
“Robert Brokenshire, he’s just pathetic,” she said.
“He’s just clutching at anything. To say he sat with Bob for so many years it just means nothing. He’s just throwing in anything and I do feel very suspicious about the timing. Dan is a young, bright guy who’s passionate – passionate – about having Fisher remain an independent. You get Brokenshire on about this utter nonsense…
“I would never want to offend anybody. He really needs to go back to his desk and sort out a few more FOIs. It’s just laughable.”
Lyn Such said the Liberal Party had run a “disgusting campaign” against her husband before the March state election, which had offended many people in the electorate.
The negative nature of this campaign was turning people off politics.
“Instead of being so negative there are some positive aspects to this. Why not? I have my own mind, I know how important it is for Fisher to remain an Independent. I know how hard Bob fought and I know how much people appreciated that. People do want an Independent. They do not like the major parties. No wonder people turn off politics.”
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