Ten candidates have put their hands up for the Federal seat of Higgins:
- 1. Stephen Murphy — Independent [“climate sceptic”]
2. Fiona Patten — Australian Sex Party
3. Kelly O’Dwyer — Liberal Party*
4. Isaac Roberts — Liberal Democrats [“libertarian”]
5. Clive Hamilton — Greens
6. David Collyer — Australian Democrats
7. Joseph Toscano — Independent [“anarchist”]
8. Steve Raskovy — One Nation
9. Peter Brohier — Independent
10. John Mulholland — Democratic Labor Party
*Winner.
Making it a ding-dong battle for last.
See : Liberals draw third spot in Higgins, Steve Lillebuen, The Age [AAP], November 13, 2009.
The Moar You Know…
1. Stephen Murphy is a “climate-change skeptic”. In fact, he is a member of ‘The Climate Sceptics’. You can find out moar about Stephen at his blog. “I strongly believe that we have been mislead on the issue of climate change. I can find no credible scientific evidence supporting the claim that human CO2 emissions are causing dangerous global warming – can you?”
2. Fiona Patten of the Australian Sex Party also has a bone to pick — with Clive Hamilton. Not because of Hamilton’s concerns over global warming, but his ‘clean living’ and ‘nannying’ approach to the availability of sexually-explicit material (pornography): “He might have some great economic ideas but it is frightening that the Greens will endorse a candidate with such Nanny philosophies. When you consider that he joins another anti-sex campaigner endorsed by the Greens, Kathleen Maltzahn, we could be starting to see the rise of a morally conservative streak in the Greens as they increase their vote” (Clean Living Clive, fiona patten, October 25, 2009).
3. Kelly O’Dwyer is a Tory and a former adviser to Peter ‘Catch the Fire’ Costello. She is also the next Member for Higgins.
4. Isaac Roberts — Liberal Democrats. The Mystery Candidate. A Dark Horse.
5. Clive Hamilton — Greens. A well-known face, Hamilton will come second to O’Dwyer.
6. David Collyer — Australian Democrats. Yes, they still exist. “We are the voice of middle Australia, the party of moderation and progress,” Collyer said at the announcement of his candidacy.
7. ‘Uncle’ Joseph Toscano — of the Anarchist Media Institute / ‘Anarchist World This Week’ / Citizens For A Royal Commission into Corruption / Defend & Extend Medicare Group / Direct Democracy Not Parliamentary Rule (nee Vote Informal Today, Direct Democracy Tomorrow) / Libertarian Workers For A Self-Managed Society / People for Constitutional Human Rights / Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion / Sedition Charter / Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration Committee — is the go-to man for The Age‘s gossip column, and its favourite local anarchist. A one-man anarchist band, the indefatigable Doctor Toscano has been declaiming anarchy for over thirty years, and contested numerous elections, receiving up to 0.2% support in various tilts at the Federal Senate:
- YEAR : VOTE
1990 : 215
1993 : 171
1996 : 1,998
1998 : 2,173
2001 : 1,364
2004 : 3,393
2007 : 5,663
8. Steve Raskovy (OAM) is a 76-year-old anti-immigrant Hungarian migrant and former wrestler (1964 Tokyo Olympics) who lives in Ringwood. “Unfortunately Pauline Hanson made a few racist comments,” he said. “But it’s different now, our treasurer is Dutch, the state director is Italian” (Raskovy in for one more shot at seat, Bianca Carmona, Progress Leader, November 10, 2009).
One Nation is the tenth party Raskovy has joined, and he will also be failing to obtain a seat in the Federal Senate on behalf of One Nation at next year’s Federal election. He “joined One Nation because he knows the horrors of living under a totalitarian regime where only one way of thinking is tolerated [and] people can be jailed for speaking their views”.
9. Peter Brohier is a law-talking guy and a proponent of a ‘National Sea Highway’: “The National Sea Highway concept is that Tasmania should be connected to Victoria by a ferry-based surface travel option offering, all year, comprehensive National Highway equivalence for both people, vehicles and non-bulk freight.” Brohier is bursting with lots of other ideas to reform the state’s transport systems — but will the citizens of Higgins pay attention?
10. John Mulholland — Democratic Labor Party. A descendant of the party born in 1954 and dying — or at least being in extremely poor health — in 1978, the DLP was re-born/the zombie stumbles on in its home state of Victoria, and remains a home-away-from-home for right-wing Catholics and Protestants (see : Turning hard right: the battle for Right to Life, Michael Bachelard, The Age, August 23, 2009). Weirdly, the DLP website states that:
The DLP is not running a candidate for the Higgins By-election. Due to [an] anomaly in the registration of candidates with the AEC, Mr Dominic Farrell, the candidate pre-selected by the DLP executive to represent the DLP at the Higgins By-election[,] has been unable to stand. The DLP hopes to stand Mr Farrell at the next Federal election.
And yet, it moves!
See also : Clive Hamilton and Higgins & Green on The Greens in Higgins II, Larvatus Prodeo, October 26 & 29, 2009.



