ELECTIONS 2022
With Liz Bell and Keith Platt
Caught in the act POLITICAL candidates have long endured the ignominy of having their vote-for-me signs adorned with moustaches or blackened teeth, but this year’s crop of such political comment has been particularly nasty in the Finders electorate. Ten candidates are competing for the long-held Liberal seat and signs spruiking Zoe McKenzie, the party’s choice to replace retiring MP Greg Hunt, have been particularly hard hit, with sexist swear words painted across her signs and car. (“Candidates unite against sign vandals” The News 26/4/22). McKenzie posted a message on her Facebook page saying she was not surprised at the vandalism: “Women in politics cop vile abuse all too often, especially Liberal women. “I look forward to my fellow female candidates in Flinders calling out this kind of abuse. It is not enough to hope that it was not one of their supporters. This was a politically hateful act.” Labor candidate Surbhi Snowball’s signs have also been daubed with similar offensive words.
At the time of McKenzie’s comments, Snowball’s campaign manager Marg D’Arcy said defacing signs was not necessarily “a gender issue”. A picture taken by a security camera released by McKenzie’s team last week shows what appears to be a woman defacing one of her signs.
GetUp! Shows how to vote
SIGNS for independent candidate Despi O’Connor remain prominently on show despite the Australian Elecoral Commission saying her election would trigger an appeal to the High Court. Picture: Yanni
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Southern Peninsula News
11 May 2022
2024 ENROLMENTS
Open: 1 February 2022 Close: 13 May 2022
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POLITICAL activist group GetUp! sees Flinders as one of seven “marginal” Victorian seats where it will try to influence the federal election outcome on 21 May. The organisation says its how-to-vote cards preference candidates with strong policies on climate action, First Nations justice and economic inequality. Other Coalition seats targeted by GetUp! are Higgins, Casey, Chisholm, Deakin, Goldstein and Kooyong. “From seats where so-called moderate Liberals are under pressure from independents, to disasteraffected seats where communities have been left behind by the Morrison government's shameful lack of assistance, our how-to-vote cards ask voters to cast their vote for climate leadership and a fairer society," GetUp national director Paul Oosting said.