Kooyong shenanigans

May 4, 2025

As Sonia Randhawa writes, we need to re-imagine and strengthen our democracy. It is certainly needed in Kooyong. We’ve had legal battles between the Boroondara City Council and the Liberal Party over signage; neo-Nazis and Brethren trying to pass themselves off as Liberal Party volunteers; and one male Liberal voter taking a Monique Ryan handout from an elderly, female volunteer, tearing it up in front of her face, and throwing it on the ground. He refused to apologise.

After taking the prized Liberal seat in 2022 from the previous Coalition Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, the Libs have had Ryan in their sights. While denouncing Climate 200’s funding of independent Ryan, the Libs have been aided by the right-wing lobby group, Advance, which has funded Repeal the Teals and Better Australia.

While Ryan has refused to preference, the Libs have preferenced a motley crew: the Libertarian Party, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and Family First. John Howard excommunicated Hanson from the Liberal Party in 1996 because of her extreme prejudices against Indigenous Australians and migrants. Family First has been described as “One Nation with Bibles”. Liberal voters who followed such a hideous how-to vote card should hang their heads in shame.