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Gavan O'Connor - independent candidate for Corio
- Thread starter Dry Rot
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A mere nuisance in Corio. Labor will hold the seat and O'Connor will poll less than the Libs.
The real concern is elsewhere. His selfish bitching* may damage the Labor brand in Geelong enough to prevent Labor winning the neighbouring seat of Corangamite.
*Isn't it funny how MPs suddenly become proponents of party democracy after they lose their preselection?
The real concern is elsewhere. His selfish bitching* may damage the Labor brand in Geelong enough to prevent Labor winning the neighbouring seat of Corangamite.
*Isn't it funny how MPs suddenly become proponents of party democracy after they lose their preselection?
Dave the Pre selection was rigged old style ALP
Branches stacked with a particular ethnic group, the actual members before the stacking voted for O Connor
Corangamite is difficult and will be fought on water and town planning as well other local issues.
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Gavan was a great local member and Tricky Dick Marles is a tool - Labor deserves what they get served up in that election
He is a strong local candidate but, he's likely to finish behind Labor. It is a relatively safe Labor seat.
Meh, no doubt he'd join a Labor government if required.
My grandparents live in Corio and they've never been a huge wrap for O'Connor, but I don't think Marles is being particularly well received. But I'd be massively shocked if Labor doesn't hold - it's a very traditional Labor area.
I live in the seat and the points raised by O'Connor re 'regeneration' are fair and valid.
What I'm more interested in is the lack of real party democracy, not just in Corio but an all seats across the country where 'celebrity' candidates have been parachuted in with no regard whatsoever for the concerns of local members, be they of the Labor or Liberal parties.
How can people not become cynical when they really have no outlet except one vote every three years?
What I'm more interested in is the lack of real party democracy, not just in Corio but an all seats across the country where 'celebrity' candidates have been parachuted in with no regard whatsoever for the concerns of local members, be they of the Labor or Liberal parties.
How can people not become cynical when they really have no outlet except one vote every three years?
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O'Conner is a joke with no principles.
Is the pre-seelcton process any different to what it has been for decades. He was happy with it when it suited him (ie he was pre -selected) but now all of a sudden he doesn't like it.
Pre-selection by both parties is a joke and has been for years.
Is the pre-seelcton process any different to what it has been for decades. He was happy with it when it suited him (ie he was pre -selected) but now all of a sudden he doesn't like it.
Pre-selection by both parties is a joke and has been for years.
camsmith
Brownlow Medallist
I'm more worried about this quote:
Rudd to O'Connor; 'Gavan, I don't have the power to stop them dumping you'
Rudd to O'Connor; 'Gavan, I don't have the power to stop them dumping you'
camsmith
Brownlow Medallist
Sorry I usually supply a link, must have forgotten this time.
Original quote must have come from somewhere else, its close enough.
Fair enough. If you want to believe a quote from a disgruntled former candidate with an obvious agenda to push, you go for it. I'll wait until this quote is confirmed by an independent source.
camsmith
Brownlow Medallist
You must admit though, it sounds like it would be true.
Rudd hasn't said otherwise (I know that doesn't automatically mean its true) but Rudd did have nice things to say about him yesterday etc.. I think inside he feels bad for O'Connor, but really as the quote says.. cant do much.
By the way, it was likely a private conversation so I doubt you will ever get an "independent source".
Rudd hasn't said otherwise (I know that doesn't automatically mean its true) but Rudd did have nice things to say about him yesterday etc.. I think inside he feels bad for O'Connor, but really as the quote says.. cant do much.
By the way, it was likely a private conversation so I doubt you will ever get an "independent source".
Its true no one want Marles. The existing member by a large margin voted for O'Conner. They are the ones supporting an independent
Typically, foreign affairs spokesmen don't have a lot of clout in party preselections. (Save, perhaps, for their own seat.)
Of course Rudd had no power to intervene. Duh. The preselection took place in March 2006.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/natio...s/2006/03/10/1141701659360.html?page=fullpage
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opini...1192301099005.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
More than he can chew
Jason Koutsoukis
October 21, 2007
Illustration: Matt Davidson
THE vote was unanimous. The inaugural winner of the Mal Colston Medal for Treachery has gone to … Gavan O'Connor.
Liberals everywhere have been falling over themselves in the stampede to congratulate O'Connor, the venal hypocrite who waited until last Thursday to rat on his party and do the most damage possible to those friends and colleagues he has worked alongside for the past decade.
In case you've never heard of O'Connor, he's the erstwhile Labor MP who is now the independent candidate for Corio, which covers Geelong. Launching his campaign last week, O'Connor accused his former party of branch stacking, money laundering and of making grubby political deals.
O'Connor's transformation from a man of principle and integrity to one deluded by self-interest and greed is a salutary lesson in how politics can corrupt. Make no mistake, O'Connor destroyed himself last Thursday, and everything he once stood for.
He has chosen a road at the end of which he will find only bitterness and misery.
He may not regret his decision today, or tomorrow. But whoever wins the federal election, O'Connor will be haunted by the knowledge that he betrayed the party that made him. It will itch and scratch him like a hair shirt, one he will never be able to take off.
The best description I have ever heard of what it means to belong to a political party was given by John Howard during his 2005 Christmas valedictory speech to Parliament.
Expressing his thanks for the year's work put in by the Liberal Party organisation, Howard digressed. "We each owe our places in these houses to the support of our party organisations," Howard said.
"I have no delusions of grandeur: if I had not been the endorsed Liberal candidate for Bennelong in 1974, I would never have arrived here … I never forget what I owe to the Liberal Party, any more than anybody on the other side should ever forget what they owe to the Labor Party.
"I respect that in somebody, and I despise those people who throw dirt in the faces of the people who brought them into public prominence."
Strong words, but true, and so the Labor Party will deservedly despise O'Connor.
Way back in 1990, O'Connor was a nobody. A local councillor from Colac, he was given a job in the electorate office of then Labor senator John Button, who had an electorate office in Geelong.
With a taxpayer-funded salary in his pocket (a largesse bestowed on him by the Labor Party), O'Connor used his position to make sure he won Labor preselection for Corio for the 1993 election.
He then used that same job to make sure he won the seat itself once the election was called.
Very few first-time candidates have the luxury of being able to receive a generous salary to campaign full-time (for three whole years), but it was a luxury afforded to O'Connor and one he has conveniently forgotten.
O'Connor would still be a nobody were it not for his party and its members, who sent him to Canberra in 1993 and kept him there at the four subsequent elections.
After he loses this election, which he surely will, O'Connor will be able to retire on a fat pension indexed for the rest of his life, plus a massive lump sum up front. He owes all of that to the ALP.
One can understand the basis of O'Connor's grievance, and why he was so upset at being dumped.
A hard-working, likeable, generous person, O'Connor was a popular local member. But in the end, whatever the flaws of Labor's factional system, O'Connor lost control of his branches.
He was outplayed by a younger, more energetic and better- organised candidate by the name of Richard Marles, and he lost.
O'Connor cried foul, but when the time came to challenge the result in March 2006, he declined. O'Connor has produced not a single piece of credible evidence to support the increasingly wild claims he makes about the preselection process that claimed him.
Nor is Marles without claim to represent the people of Geelong. A talented solicitor and assistant secretary of the ACTU, Marles grew up in Geelong and has lived in the city for the past 10 years.
At 40, Marles' best years are ahead of him. Turning 60 in December, O'Connor's best years are behind him.
O'Connor may have been a perfectly able MP and a decent person, but his political skills and acumen have hardly set Canberra on fire. In 14 years, he has scored not one major political victory over the Coalition, and has made not a single policy contribution of any significance.
O'Connor knew the rules of the game when he entered politics. He has played that game willingly, being unafraid over the years to undermine those he deemed unfit for service.
Former leader Kim Beazley was one of those whom O'Connor worked tirelessly to remove almost from the day Beazley took over as Labor leader.
Nor is O'Connor the first in the history of Australian politics to lose preselection. Former federal Liberal MP David Connolly lost preselection for the Sydney seat of Bradfield to Brendan Nelson before the 1996 election.
The loss hurt Connolly, who was a friend of John Howard. But he kept his mouth shut, and Howard looked after him once he became Prime Minister, justly rewarding him with a plum overseas posting.
Such doors will forever be closed to O'Connor. The biggest splash of his political career, the only time he was ever the focus of an evening news story outside his home city of Geelong, was the way he ended it.
More than he can chew
Jason Koutsoukis
October 21, 2007
Illustration: Matt Davidson
THE vote was unanimous. The inaugural winner of the Mal Colston Medal for Treachery has gone to … Gavan O'Connor.
Liberals everywhere have been falling over themselves in the stampede to congratulate O'Connor, the venal hypocrite who waited until last Thursday to rat on his party and do the most damage possible to those friends and colleagues he has worked alongside for the past decade.
In case you've never heard of O'Connor, he's the erstwhile Labor MP who is now the independent candidate for Corio, which covers Geelong. Launching his campaign last week, O'Connor accused his former party of branch stacking, money laundering and of making grubby political deals.
O'Connor's transformation from a man of principle and integrity to one deluded by self-interest and greed is a salutary lesson in how politics can corrupt. Make no mistake, O'Connor destroyed himself last Thursday, and everything he once stood for.
He has chosen a road at the end of which he will find only bitterness and misery.
He may not regret his decision today, or tomorrow. But whoever wins the federal election, O'Connor will be haunted by the knowledge that he betrayed the party that made him. It will itch and scratch him like a hair shirt, one he will never be able to take off.
The best description I have ever heard of what it means to belong to a political party was given by John Howard during his 2005 Christmas valedictory speech to Parliament.
Expressing his thanks for the year's work put in by the Liberal Party organisation, Howard digressed. "We each owe our places in these houses to the support of our party organisations," Howard said.
"I have no delusions of grandeur: if I had not been the endorsed Liberal candidate for Bennelong in 1974, I would never have arrived here … I never forget what I owe to the Liberal Party, any more than anybody on the other side should ever forget what they owe to the Labor Party.
"I respect that in somebody, and I despise those people who throw dirt in the faces of the people who brought them into public prominence."
Strong words, but true, and so the Labor Party will deservedly despise O'Connor.
Way back in 1990, O'Connor was a nobody. A local councillor from Colac, he was given a job in the electorate office of then Labor senator John Button, who had an electorate office in Geelong.
With a taxpayer-funded salary in his pocket (a largesse bestowed on him by the Labor Party), O'Connor used his position to make sure he won Labor preselection for Corio for the 1993 election.
He then used that same job to make sure he won the seat itself once the election was called.
Very few first-time candidates have the luxury of being able to receive a generous salary to campaign full-time (for three whole years), but it was a luxury afforded to O'Connor and one he has conveniently forgotten.
O'Connor would still be a nobody were it not for his party and its members, who sent him to Canberra in 1993 and kept him there at the four subsequent elections.
After he loses this election, which he surely will, O'Connor will be able to retire on a fat pension indexed for the rest of his life, plus a massive lump sum up front. He owes all of that to the ALP.
One can understand the basis of O'Connor's grievance, and why he was so upset at being dumped.
A hard-working, likeable, generous person, O'Connor was a popular local member. But in the end, whatever the flaws of Labor's factional system, O'Connor lost control of his branches.
He was outplayed by a younger, more energetic and better- organised candidate by the name of Richard Marles, and he lost.
O'Connor cried foul, but when the time came to challenge the result in March 2006, he declined. O'Connor has produced not a single piece of credible evidence to support the increasingly wild claims he makes about the preselection process that claimed him.
Nor is Marles without claim to represent the people of Geelong. A talented solicitor and assistant secretary of the ACTU, Marles grew up in Geelong and has lived in the city for the past 10 years.
At 40, Marles' best years are ahead of him. Turning 60 in December, O'Connor's best years are behind him.
O'Connor may have been a perfectly able MP and a decent person, but his political skills and acumen have hardly set Canberra on fire. In 14 years, he has scored not one major political victory over the Coalition, and has made not a single policy contribution of any significance.
O'Connor knew the rules of the game when he entered politics. He has played that game willingly, being unafraid over the years to undermine those he deemed unfit for service.
Former leader Kim Beazley was one of those whom O'Connor worked tirelessly to remove almost from the day Beazley took over as Labor leader.
Nor is O'Connor the first in the history of Australian politics to lose preselection. Former federal Liberal MP David Connolly lost preselection for the Sydney seat of Bradfield to Brendan Nelson before the 1996 election.
The loss hurt Connolly, who was a friend of John Howard. But he kept his mouth shut, and Howard looked after him once he became Prime Minister, justly rewarding him with a plum overseas posting.
Such doors will forever be closed to O'Connor. The biggest splash of his political career, the only time he was ever the focus of an evening news story outside his home city of Geelong, was the way he ended it.
camsmith
Brownlow Medallist
Fair enough on the quote when Rudd was forign affairs minister.
I haven't seen an attack article worse than the above for a fair while. Journo's getting a bit edgy after the latest opinion polls it looks like. Better step up the attacks - noticed Faine on ABC morning radio the other day got the ball rolling.
I haven't seen an attack article worse than the above for a fair while. Journo's getting a bit edgy after the latest opinion polls it looks like. Better step up the attacks - noticed Faine on ABC morning radio the other day got the ball rolling.
Monkster
Norm Smith Medallist
It's not like the ALP had a hope in hell of winning Corangamite, or is McArthur retiring?
I think much of it is quite fair. Jason Koutsoukis is on his way to Jerusalem straight after the election for three years, though, and I think he's enjoying his soon-to-be-former-gallery-journo status. Has gone the knuckle in several recent articles.
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Theres alot of hope. The Fin Review the other day had the ACTU stating that roughly 30% of unionist at the last election voted for the libs- they now say on their polling Workchoices has turned the vast majority of these back to the ALP.
The seat of Corrangamite has roughly 3000 union members in it and if those 30% or roughly 900 unionist now vote for the ALP because of WorkChoices, the seats margin would be reduced to about 2%-very winnable.
From what i was told it will only require about 30 000 voters across a range of marginal seats to change their vote, and we get a change of government.
pieblessing
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poor gavin, he has bitten the hand that fed him, from a school teacher in colac and a confused life ot the dizzy hights of opposition. Gavin get down on your knees and praise the lord for what you have achieved and move on.
Monkster
Norm Smith Medallist
You realise he's held that seat for 23 years right?
So what? Wentworth has been in non-Labor hands since Federation. Doesn't change the fact that in 2007 it is a bona fide marginal.
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