Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes’ endorsement of Josh Frydenberg upsets donors
Campaign Confidential: The CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria is herself in the doghouse after she publicly endorsed Josh Frydenberg.
Federal Election
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Dopey campaign tactic
Greens leader Adam Bandt has given a strange, none-too-subtle shout-out to dope smokers on social media. In a Twitter post on Wednesday afternoon, the MP for Melbourne wrote “How good are kebabs? Also, happy 420” and included a picture of himself enjoying the meal of choice for all late-night revellers. The number 420 is a popular slang term for marijuana, and April 20 (4/20 in the American style of recording dates) is recognised internationally as a day for the celebration of all things to do with smoking pot.
While the Greens have long called for the legalisation of cannabis, this is not the first time Bandt has referenced smoking dope. In a post directed at students finishing year 12 last December, he advised them: “It doesn’t matter what your ATAR is, or what your next plans are. Whether you want to be a lawyer, artist, miner, or just smoke weed for a year or two: I’m proud of you. This has been a bloody tough year. Props for making it.”
The post was slammed by other Twitter users, who said marijuana was linked to psychosis and the emergence of schizophrenia, and that recommending young people smoke it was profoundly irresponsible.
According to the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 41 per cent of Australians support the legalisation of cannabis, but 37 per cent are opposed.
Election posters and the wrath of Edward Scissorhands
Campaign corflutes are going up all over the country … and being defaced, damaged, stolen and covered up almost as quickly. On Melbourne’s Chapel St, somebody’s been busy with a texta on the corflutes for sitting Liberal Member for Higgins, Katie Allen, and her Greens challenger Sonya Semmens, while in the Sydney seat of Fowler, the fight is getting fouler indeed. Fairfield Council Mayor Frank Carbone took to Facebook to decry the systematic destruction of campaign posters advertising his council deputy, Dai Le. Carbone unleashed, saying hundreds of Le’s posters had “suffered the wrath of Edward Scissorhands” and been “mutilated” overnight. Carbone also noted the culprit was “allergic to Communist red,” having spared posters belonging to Kristina Keneally, which is a little bit cute, given he’s a former Labor Party member himself. Meanwhile in Wannon, Climate 200-backed candidate Alex Dyson has taken to TikTok to show examples of the United Australia Party partially or fully covering up his signs with their own. Can’t we all just get along?
Hounded by controversy
Katherine Devesmay well survive the election campaign without being dumped, but will Karen Hayes? The CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria is herself in the doghouse after she publicly endorsed Josh Frydenberg in his battle to retain the seat of Kooyong. “Josh has been an amazing supporter of Guide Dogs Victoria,” Ms Hayes cooed in a now-deleted campaign video for the Treasurer. “We absolutely would not be doing what we are today without the level of support he has provided.” That may well be so, but the endorsement has plunged the organisation into crisis mode, with long-term donors threatening to stop giving money in protest over the apparent politicisation of an apolitical charity. The Board of Guide Dogs Victoria announced they were investigating, said they had no prior knowledge of the campaign materials, did not endorse them, and requested they be removed. In a statement, the board said they “fully understand” community sentiment on the matter, but it seems the reputational damage may have already spread. Vision Australia Seeing Eye Dogs took to Twitter on Wednesday to stress they were “not associated” with Guide Dogs Victoria, and they most definitely “do not provide endorsements for political parties or individual candidates”.
Mind your language
The campaign has already yielded some phrases that deserve a lasting place in the lexicon of Australian politics, from “the real eel” (Scott Morrison) to “Google it, mate” (Adam Bandt). Now Labor’s Penny Wong has given us another pearler. After the Solomon Islands inked a security deal with China, Ms Wong slammed the government for sending a “junior woodchuck” in Senator Zed Seselja to negotiate in Honiara, rather than a heavy-hitter. For those not in the know, the Junior Woodchucks were a slightly ridiculous global scouting organisation that featured in the Donald Duck comics, and Huey, Dewey and Louie were members. With two daughters aged 11 and seven, we’re not too surprised Penny Wong is up on her Disney references, but deploying said reference in the context of a sensitive foreign affairs issue is seriously next-level.
Phoning it in
Campaign Confidential bets there was a huge sigh of relief at the Australian Electoral Commission on Wednesday when the NSW and Victorian governments announced they were relaxing restrictions for household contacts of Covid cases. The AEC plans to make telephone voting available for Covid-affected voters on May 21, and there could be massive demand for this service if current rates of transmission continue. With the household contacts of the Covid-positive in our two biggest states now free to get out of the house and vote on election day, the demand for phone voting shouldn’t be quite as massive. Telephone voting for people with Covid-19 will be an emergency measure for the final three voting days only, the AEC stresses on its website. More details will be released closer to May 21.
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