Liberal party will not contest Hunter byelections as 'an act of atonement'
Quote:The Liberal party will not contest the seats of two MPs who resigned from New South Wales parliament last week after revelations they accepted illegal donations from a property developer.
In what the NSW party director, Tony Nutt, described as “an act of atonement”, the party has announced it will not field candidates in the byelections for Charlestown and Newcastle, the seats of former Liberal members Andrew Cornwell and Tim Owen.
On Saturday the premier, Mike Baird, apologised to the people of the Hunter Valley in an open letter.
‘‘The revelations have disgusted the honest, law-abiding parliamentarians, elected office bearers, members, donors and supporters of the Liberal party,’’ Nutt said in a public apology to the people of NSW.
“The recent revelations ... require more than this apology or remedial action to prevent past problems in the future. Accordingly, as an explicit act of atonement, the Liberal party will not contest the Newcastle and Charlestown byelections.
“The Liberal party organisation is now putting its house in order, so that at the next general election it can in good conscience ask the people of NSW to again give us their trust and complete the task they gave us to do.”
A date is yet to be set for the byelections and on Sunday morning Baird did not rule out contesting the seats at next year’s state election.
The deputy opposition leader, Linda Burney, said the decision was “astounding” and not a real act of atonement.
“It would have been a show of ‘we’re going to regain the trust of the people of Newcastle’,” she said.
“A notion of some act of atonement, I’m afraid, leaves me fairly cynical.”
In his public apology, published in the Newcastle Herald on Saturday, Baird took aim at Labor saying they took the people of the Hunter Valley for granted.
“I am deeply sorry for the way the Liberal party has let down the people of Newcastle,” he wrote.
“What hurts me most of all is that the actions of a few have tarnished the wonderful achievements of the Liberals and Nationals in the Hunter Valley since 2011.”
Baird listed the state-funded projects taking place in the area and said the government remained committed to them all.
“I will visit the region repeatedly – between now and the election, and beyond – to reinforce my regret at the behaviour of some of our former MPs, and to recommit to the transformative projects we are funding,” he said.
“We will keep delivering the projects the city and its people need and deserve. And above all, while I lead this state, we will never again let the people of Newcastle down.”
Owen accepted a $10,000 donation from property developer and now Newcastle mayor Jeff McCloy in the lead-up to the 2011 state election and admitted to lying to Icac about it.
Political donations from property developers were banned at the time.
Owen originally told the corruption commission he had returned some of the money to McCloy but then admitted it was rolled into his campaign .
Cornwell admitted to receiving $10,000 in a brown paper bag from McCloy before the 2011 election and using $10,000 from the sham sale of a Rex Newell painting to a property developer to pay his payroll tax bill.
Cornwell has been called to appear at Icac again this week.
Icac hearings have led to the resignation of Liberal premier, Barry O’Farrell, and forced six state MPs, including two sitting ministers, to move the crossbenches this year.
Winning margins for Liberals in 2011:
Charleston - 9.9% margin
Newcastle - 2.6% margin
Looks like the Liberals are conceding these elections. They were on the cards to get record byelection swings against them and they clearly don't want to set an unwanted record. Going from a 2PP of 60% to 30% would have been embarrassing.
Better save the baseball bats for next year, eh!
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