Social commentator tells independents in ex-PM’s seat that whoever their candidate, they must not split the vote
Jane Caro, the social commentator and possible independent candidate
in Warringah, has made a pitch to voters by outlining her views on
climate change, representation of women in parliament, strengthening
democracy, and treatment of refugees.
But she stopped short of announcing that she would be an independent candidate against the sitting member Tony Abbott at the next election, telling the Voices of Warringah campaign group that it was important not to split the vote.
“Whatever you do, don’t split the vote. I think you have to find the
person that you think represents you the best. You want somebody who
believes in things,” she told about 150 people at a meeting at the
Freshwater Literary Institute on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.But she stopped short of announcing that she would be an independent candidate against the sitting member Tony Abbott at the next election, telling the Voices of Warringah campaign group that it was important not to split the vote.
To an audience suggestion that maybe Alex Turnbull, the former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s son and ferocious critic of the government on social media, was going to fund the independent campaign in Warringah, Louise Hislop, from Voices of Warringah, said he had offered but had not yet made a donation.
Caro vowed to help any other candidate chosen by the group, saying there was much at stake in Warringah and she was happy to lend her marketing expertise.
“You have to give credit to Tony Abbott, he’s been the most effective opposition leader we have ever had. He has brought down four governments including his own,” Caro quipped.
“We need someone who looks to the future, rather than tries to return us to the past.
Speaking about Abbott’s stance on climate change, she said: “It’s a stupid thing to defy facts and evidence, because they come back to bite you on the bum.”
Caro told how she had grown up in a family of Liberal voters and was possibly the only person interested in politics at Forest High.
Her mother had run for preselection in the Senate, only to be defeated by Bronwyn Bishop. Her father had been defeated by one vote in a preselection against Nick Greiner, who went on to be premier of New South Wales.
But she said her parents – both immigrants from Manchester – had stopped voting Liberal (and refused to vote Labor) because of the major parties’ stance on offshore detention.
“That’s because they said they would not stand by after what happened during the second world war. We are not running death camps, but we are running camps like the concentration camps we saw in Britain.
“Its not a crime to seek asylum,’ she said. “Its legal.”
Caro praised the newly elected independent member for Wentworth, Kerryn Phelps, saying she had hit the ground running.
Despite the setback for Phelps of having the her legislation blocked on Thursday, Caro predicted she would get laws through that would make it easier to remove children and sick people from Nauru.
Caro herself had handed out how to votes in the electorate aged 16 for the Whitlam government. “I got yelled at as it was a conservative seat. But mostly I think there is very little aggro in australian politics, and I think that’s partly due to compulsory voting,” she said.
She said because it was compulsory , it had become a community event and governments had attempted to make it easy to vote.
She criticised the recent moe by the Morrison government to insist on identification before you can vote.
“There is not much evidence of voter fraud, so that makes me suspicious about why they want this rule. She said it would tend to harm the.homeless people and the marginalised might not have ID.
Caro also revealed she was a dual citizen, due to her parents being immigrants.
“Isn’t that a great rule in a country where 50 per cent of us are migrants, or our parents were migrants!” she said tongue in cheek.”
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