Latest news with #MoniqueRyan
ABC News
2 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
Neurosurgeon Greg Malham accused of 'sexist' and 'unprofessional' behaviour by colleagues and patients
It started out as one of those odd stories you sometimes see in the rough and tumble of a federal election campaign — a viral video of a man tearing down a female politician's campaign corflute, talking about burying the body under concrete. The vision of a surgeon smashing Kooyong independent Monique Ryan's election sign into a rubbish skip and saying "always gotta bury the body" went viral in a week when multiple women were allegedly murdered by men. But for many of the former colleagues and others who spoke to Four Corners for our investigation into this man, the video was telling — not just about his attitudes about women, but also the position he occupied as a surgeon at the apex of the private hospital world. A surgeon who left behind uncomfortable nurses, crying radiographers, patients who thought him like an egotistical character out of Mad Men, and a devastated, grieving family. Greg Malham was a renowned neurosurgeon at Epworth ― Melbourne's largest private hospital. When the corflute story broke in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, Epworth's CEO, Andrew Stripp, issued an unusually robust statement to staff, saying the hospital was "deeply concerned by the unacceptable behaviour displayed by the surgeon" and he personally found the content of the video "abhorrent". Within weeks, Greg Malham resigned from the hospital. Mr Malham was encouraged to report himself to the medical regulator, AHPRA, which commenced an investigation, but he is still operating. An investigation by Four Corners has discovered a string of people from Mr Malham's past who were not shocked by the video because they had seen what they described as sexist and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace by the neurosurgeon. "I wasn't surprised, because that's how exactly how he would carry on in theatre," said Katie, a former Epworth nurse who worked with Mr Malham in theatre and in the hospital's recovery rooms, who told Four Corners she found his behaviour with women "uncomfortable". Maddison, a former Epworth radiographer who also worked with Mr Malham, said he and other surgeons at the hospital had a "God complex". "They did see themselves as more important and better than anyone in the room," Maddison said. The phrase "God complex" was often volunteered to Four Corners about Mr Malham, whom many of his former colleagues thought was a prime example of the problem with some egotistical surgeons in the private hospital system. Former patient Annie Sargood and her husband Randall Cooke described Mr Malham as "probably the most egotistical person [they had] ever met". "[He was] absolutely, completely arrogant, like a character out of Mad Men," Ms Sargood, who had a spinal fusion operation with Mr Malham, told Four Corners. Mr Cooke said there were "flirtatious innuendos" in the way the surgeon behaved with his wife. "He was so up himself, he was so full of himself," Mr Cooke said. Four Corners has spoken to many staff who worked with him at Epworth and before that, at The Alfred public hospital, who felt uncomfortable about his behaviour. Recovery and theatre nurse Katie, who left Epworth in 2021, remembered often feeling uneasy around him because of the "inappropriate" way he would speak — this was something volunteered by many other nurses Four Corners spoke to. "He'd come into recovery and say, 'hey spunky'," Katie recalled. "[He] could be quite crass with some of the remarks he made, particularly around women. "He would make a lot of the nurses in recovery quite uncomfortable when he came in to hand over his patient." One memory that stood out for her was how, she said, he would "sometimes put his hand on your back and just leave it there that little bit too long". "There was sort of a vibe in the recovery room … 'Oh, here comes Greg. Let's get ready to feel awkward'," Katie said. She said that when she worked in Mr Malham's theatre, he would "really let loose in terms of his inappropriate behaviour". "Comments about women, about their tits ― just really crass, vulgar comments," she said. Maddison is a former Epworth radiographer who left the hospital largely because she could no longer bear working with surgeons in theatre. She said the neurosurgery department where Mr Malham worked was particularly toxic. "Radiographers would be crying because of the way that they'd been spoken to by the [neurosurgeons]," Maddison said. "A big reason for that stress was the stress that was put on us in theatre and just being scared every day." Two weeks before she left Epworth in January 2021, Maddison made a written complaint to human resources at the hospital about Greg Malham's behaviour in theatre. She said the radiography department was understaffed, and radiographers were often stretched so thin they would be late to theatre. On one of the occasions she was sent to Greg Malham's theatre, she said her heart sank because she assumed from previous experience he would get angry. She said he was "standing at the end of the corridor just glaring at me the whole journey up to the theatre". She wrote to HR that when she walked in, "Mr Malham … was yelling 'f***, f***, f***! This is f***ing ridiculous, having 12 people standing around doing nothing while we wait for an X-ray'." She wrote that Mr Malham then "aggressively un-scrubbed and stormed past me". "I felt uncomfortable, intimidated, scared, stressed and embarrassed," Maddison, who was worried she would make a mistake in the theatre, wrote. "I completed the imaging and left the theatre and burst into tears." Epworth's chief executive, Professor Andrew Stripp, who was not at the hospital at the time of these allegations, cannot speak about Greg Malham for legal reasons. But he does have a message for surgeons in his hospital more generally, saying they should be "mindful of the environment you are working in, be mindful of your team". "If people have felt uncomfortable about raising concerns or addressing issues, I'm very sorry to hear that," Professor Stripp told Four Corners. "It's essential that we create an environment at Epworth HealthCare where people can come to work, feel confident that they can deliver the care that they trained [for], that they aspired to do, and feel safe in doing so. "And when that's not living up to expectations, that they can take action, that they can be heard, and that those issues that are raised will be taken seriously, the concerns will be respected, and they will feel safe in doing so." The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) has strict guidelines for its fellows that go beyond their technical skills in the operating theatre. The College's Surgical Competence and Performance Framework says it is "poor behaviour" for surgeons to "repeatedly display a negative attitude towards junior medical staff, nurses and other health care professionals". It also says it is poor behaviour if a surgeon "berates and humiliates others" or "makes unwelcome comments on the appearance on the appearance of others". The College put out a statement condemning Mr Malham's behaviour in the corflute video after it received multiple complaints. RACS president, Professor Owen Ung, agreed with Four Corners that his behaviour in the video may also breach other competency guidelines, including those that said it was poor behaviour if a surgeon "lacks awareness that certain behaviours are disrespectful towards others" and "participates in or makes derogatory jokes." "We made it clear that we denounce any of that sort of behaviour," Professor Ung said. "Surgeons are held to high standards, as they should do in the community, and we take it very, very seriously. Neurosurgeon Ruth Mitchell, who worked at The Alfred with Greg Malham, preferred not to say what her thoughts were about him, but she did comment more generally about what she saw as a very sexist surgical culture in the field of neurosurgery. Of the roughly 300 neurosurgeons in Australia, only 16 per cent are women. "What I worry about is like a generation of female surgical trainees … who've had to do the emotional labour of tone policing or, you know, behaviour managing, managing up their seniors who really aren't behaving professionally," Dr Mitchell said. "The impact that has on the rest of your learning. You're meant to be learning how to operate. You're meant to be learning how to manage complex conditions." All of the 25 neurosurgeons at Epworth are men. When Andrew Stripp was asked if this was acceptable in 2025, his response was a very curt "No". "We'd like to see that improved," Professor Stripp said. "It is not OK," said Dr Mitchell. Yumiko Kadota is now a cosmetic physician, but she did several rounds of training in neurosurgery and left surgical training because of the toxic, male-dominated culture. She posted on Instagram about the corflute video being reminiscent of the "toxic dude-bro culture" she had witnessed in her training and was flooded with responses from "disgusted" women, including some who had worked with Greg Malham. "And the stories are sad, but not at all surprising to me just because I have seen similar behaviours in the past," Dr Kadota said. "It's a typical locker room chat where you can get away with saying misogynistic things to the other lads in the locker room and get away with it because there's no one holding you accountable. "And when you work in a male-dominated speciality like neurosurgery, there aren't that many people around who put you in your place." Warning: The following sections contain references to suicide. There was an incident that current and former Epworth staff repeatedly raised in relation to Dr Malham: his relationship with a 34-year-old nurse at the hospital who suicided in September 2014. The nurse's name was Laura Heffernan, and in her suicide note, she blamed Mr Malham for her decision to take her life. The note formed part of a coronial brief that has not been made public until now — the entire brief was released to Four Corners because the Victorian State Coroner accepted it was in the public interest. Apologising to her parents, Laura wrote in the note that she loved Greg with all her heart and could not "believe it was all lies and fake". Laura had been contacted by Mr Malham's ex-wife to say that he had been sleeping with both of them and lying to them. "I feel disgusting & used & humiliated & ashamed," Laura wrote. "I don't think the pain of how someone could be so hurtful & f***ed up & totally made me think they loved me & wanted a life with me will ever go away. It just hurts so much." Laura was very popular at the hospital, and Epworth nurses who worked with her felt uncomfortable about the power dynamic between the star neurosurgeon and the much younger nurse. Some told Four Corners that Mr Malham was inappropriately persistent in his attentions. "We found out that Laura was with Greg, and honestly, it was a little bit of a shock given his reputation," Katie said. "She was quiet, you know, quite dainty and just a nice sort of girl. And he was this outspoken, powerful, sort of obnoxious man." Katie remembered how, before they started dating, he would check the roster to see what time Laura was starting and finishing and leave chocolates for her, which none of the other surgeons would do. Another former Epworth nurse, Ruth, who was close friends with Laura and was a key coronial witness because she was one of the last people at the hospital to speak to her alive, said that in the early stages, Laura found Mr Malham's attentions "quite claustrophobic". "She was really professional and really good at what she did, and I think she probably felt that that, at times, was a bit intense," said Ruth, who left the hospital in 2015. "I think a lot of us were thinking, 'why is she with him?'" Katie remembered. Ruth, Katie and the other nurses noticed a sudden change in Laura after the relationship with the powerful neurosurgeon abruptly ended — Ruth remembers hugging her and recoiling because she was so thin. "And following that time, she just became really depressed," Katie said. "She'd lost a lot of weight. She pretty much looked as if she'd lost the will to live." The coronial brief shows Laura discovered Greg Malham cheated on her with the second of his now four wives and lied to both of them for months. She sent her girlfriends a distressed email: "I wanted you girls to know how f***ed up Greg is … I spoke to his ex-wife today … She knew that we were both being totally duped. Greg's told me lie after lie and is unable to give the truth when face to face … She thinks he has Narcissistic Personality Disorder … I'm so ashamed, embarrassed and humiliated … He is such a bad person. How can you think you can know someone when they can be that evil?" A supportive doctor offered to accompany Laura to complain to Epworth management about Greg Malham, but Laura told the doctor words to the effect of "no, he's too powerful". In September 2014, eight months after she started dating Greg Malham, Laura pulled up next to a park near her home in Thornbury in Melbourne's inner north and killed herself. "The last text she sent to me was just hugs and kisses," a tearful Ruth said. "As time went on, I was just angry, I suppose, that he could treat someone as lovely as Laura the way he treated her." Laura's mother, Christine Heffernan, said she did not understand why her daughter loved Greg Malham so much, but that Laura had blamed her decision to kill herself on him. "So, to me, to this day, it's just a waste of a beautiful life," Ms Heffernan said. Greg Malham never contacted the Heffernan family after Laura's death. He never responded to investigating police, despite repeated requests and the fact that he was not under suspicion. "People were angry, really angry at him," Ruth said. Katie was one of the nurses who refused to work with Greg Malham after Laura's death, and she remembered how one nurse left Epworth because of it. "One of the nurses sort of spoke up for Laura, and there were some interviews with her, with management, and soon after, she had left," Katie said. "Her concerns were Laura's mental health was deteriorating as a result of being with Greg, and she felt like there were some people that needed to be more accountable for that. There should have been a bit more of an intervention before she died. Many people told Four Corners that these types of surgeons brought in so much money for hospitals that management was loath to intervene when there were red flags about their behaviour. "They're the top of the food chain," said Ruth. "They are seen as almost untouchable. "I think in that culture, it's expected that you are going to get treated not well at times — you know, yelled at, you know, spoken down to." Professor Stripp can't address Greg Malham's treatment of Laura for legal reasons, but he had a personal message to any man in a position of power at the hospital who behaves inappropriately. "I think it important to understand such behaviour is unacceptable at Epworth Healthcare and will become known and we will address it," Professor Stripp said, agreeing that this meant "zero tolerance". The staff who worked with Greg Malham over many years are speaking out because they say change is desperately needed. "The system's so broken," Maddison said. Greg Malham did not respond to any of Four Corners' detailed questions, but in a preliminary call, he said the corflute video was intended as a joke amongst a small group of friends and that his fondness for mobster movies had been misinterpreted. Mr Malham pointed to his long and successful career at Epworth. Despite the scandal following the corflute video and his departure from Epworth, Mr Malham is now operating at Melbourne's Warringal Private Hospital, whose code of conduct says it has zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour. Warringal's owner, Ramsay Health Care, said in a statement to Four Corners that Greg Malham has "temporary credentialling" and his application for full credentialling was "currently progressing". It said all practitioners seeking to work there must agree to uphold its code of conduct and values. Watch Four Corners' full investigation, God Complex, tonight from 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.
SBS Australia
4 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
The UK just gave 16-year-olds the vote. What would the same change do in Australia?
The United Kingdom government plans to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote in all elections — reigniting debate about whether Australia should do the same. The UK will join countries like Austria, Germany, Argentina and Brazil, who have already lowered the voting age to 16. Supporters say it's a long-overdue expansion of democratic rights — and many Australians support the idea of making the same changes to voting laws. Independent MP Monique Ryan said lowering the voting age would be "beneficial to young people and to the future of the nation", pledging to introduce another bill to parliament that would "I believe enfranchisement should be extended to as many Australians as reasonable, including young people, to ensure that those impacted by government decision-making have a say in those decisions," Ryan told SBS News. "Early participation in the electoral process has been shown to improve political engagement. Young people can leave school, get a job, and pay taxes. They should have a say in who represents them and their interests in government." In Australia, lowering the voting age would require federal legislation to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1917. That means it would need support from the federal government — something the Albanese government has said it is "not open" to at this stage. What would happen if Australia lowered its voting age? The move has prompted many to question whether lowering the voting age would influence electoral outcomes or increase the political representation of young people. But a lack of comparative data makes it difficult to fully understand the potential impact of the change. Critics of the UK's recent move have said the change could benefit left-wing parties due to younger voters' political tendencies. Across the democratic world, there is a trend that young voters tend to prefer left and centre-left parties and candidates more than older voters. The Australian Election Study, undertaken after each federal election, has found the same trend from 1987 — the younger voters are, the more likely they are to be left-leaning. As age increases, so too does Coalition support. In the 2022 election, around one in four voters under the age of 40 voted for the Coalition, while 38 per cent of voters in the same age bracket supported Labor. Among gen Z voters — born between 1997 and 2012 — 26 per cent voted for the Coalition, while 67 per cent voted for either the Greens or Labor. The study found that no other generation included in the research had such a strong political preference at the same stage of life. However, the political impact of giving 16 and 17-year-olds the vote may not be significant enough to decide elections. According to 2021 Census data, 16 and 17-year-olds in Australia make up a small proportion of the population — around 2.31 per cent of the total population — with experts saying their impact on results is likely to be negligible. Christine Huebner, a lecturer in quantitative social sciences at the University of Sheffield, said her research indicated that including 16 and 17-year-olds in UK elections would not change election outcomes or make elections less representative. "They will have a very small impact on vote shares [in the UK] — and only in the most extreme (and improbable) scenario that all 16 and 17-year-olds turned out to vote and decided to vote in the same way," she wrote in The Guardian. Are there problems with lowering the voting age? Dr Sarah Cameron, a political scientist at Griffith University, said most Australians don't support lowering the voting age. "The Australian Election Study has been asking whether the public supports lowering the voting age to 16 in various surveys over the last ten years," she told the ABC. "What this shows is that it's about 15 per cent who believe that the voting age should be lowered to 16." "Whereas the vast majority of about 85 per cent think it should stay as it is now at 18 [years old]," said Cameron, who is also a researcher for the Australian Election Study. She said support is slightly higher among young people, but still a minority, at 20 to 30 per cent in favour. Cameron's statements contrast with a 2024 study from the Western Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People, which surveyed almost 2,000 young people across Australia about lowering the voting age. It found more than half of the participants aged 15 and under would like to vote, including 49 per cent who said they'd like it to be optional and another 12 per cent who said they supported it fully. However, 39 per cent said they did not want to vote at 16. Young people aged 16 and older were more evenly split — 52 per cent said they thought they should have been able to vote at 16, while 48 per cent said they should not have been able to. A 2024 study from the Western Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People found overall support for lowering the voting age in Australia among those aged 15 and under. Source: SBS News A key point of contention is how the policy would be implemented, with debate around whether 16 and 17-year-olds would be subject to Australia's compulsory voting laws. Cameron said making it voluntary for that age group could undermine long-term youth participation "by setting a habit of being able to not vote as opposed to setting a habit of voting and having it be compulsory". Making it compulsory would mean that eligible younger people could be fined for not voting. Ryan said she is in favour of compulsory voting for those aged 16 and above, but would support waiving fines for those under 18. Independent MP Monique Ryan has been advocating for the voting age to be lowered since before she was elected and says young people should "have a say in who represents them". Source: AAP / Diego Fedele Where do the pollies stand on it? It's not the first time the subject has been brought up. Ryan pushed for a similar move in 2022. The Greens have long called for lowering the voting age. In 2018, Western Australian senator Jordon Steele-John introduced a bill to lower the voting age, resulting in a Senate inquiry . The major parties did not support the change and it failed to progress. Again in 2023, Greens MP Stephen Bates introduced another bill to lower the voting age, but it did not progress to Senate consideration. Just this week, Greens MLC Robert Simms called for the South Australian state government to lower the voting age for state and local elections. Labor has also previously been in support of the move. In 2015, then Opposition leader Bill Shorten vowed to lower the voting age to 16 or 17, saying it was important to "tackle the apathy and cynicism of young people towards politics". But on Friday, Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite rejected the idea of the Albanese government pushing for the change, telling the ABC: "We are not open to it at the moment, it is not our policy." He said that, while it was "good to see young voices heard", many nations would be looking to see how the UK's change played out. Ryan said she had some support from crossbenchers and noted previous support from senior Labor politicians, including Shorten. "With the decision by the UK government to lower the voting age, there should be a strong impetus for us review the issue in Australia," Ryan said. "We're similar countries with similar values and should look to other countries for how they keep their democratic process fair and inclusive."
ABC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Independent MP to push a lowering of Australia's voting age after UK decision
Independent MP for Kooyong Monique Ryan has vowed to introduce another bill to parliament pushing for a lowering of Australia's minimum voting age, after the United Kingdom reduced its voting age from 18 to 16. In the UK, the move would see an additional 1.6 million young people allowed to cast their ballots in the next election, in the biggest electoral reform in more than half a century. Ms Ryan told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing that she would be supportive of Australia implementing a similar move. "Around the world, there is a global move to lower the voting age," Ms Ryan said. "The fact is, in democracies we see that fewer and fewer young people feel they are actively engaged and supported by government and they're turning away from politics and what we want to do is bring them back. Ms Ryan said that she planned to introduce another private member's bill during the upcoming term of federal parliament, after an initial bill in 2018 failed to pass. "When the parliamentary committee looked at this in 2018, Labor was supportive of lowering the voting age. "Where things fell down was whether or not 16- and 17-year-olds should be forced to vote, whether it should be compulsory, or whether it should be voluntary at that age," Ms Ryan said. "I'll be pushing it because young people in my electorate tell me that it matters to them." The independent believes that, if the voting age were lowered, an inclusion in the bill that would rescind any potential electoral fine issued against young people who refuse to vote may help gain parliamentary approval. "If we think 16- and 17-year-olds are fit to vote, that they have the cognitive and emotional maturity to do so … then they should vote," she said. "The fallback option is that you don't enforce any fines on young people who don't turn up the first time round. "That would be a reasonable meeting point where we don't put too much pressure on young people, but we give them this universal enfranchisement and treat them as adults." Young Australians and some politicians are hoping this plan will have a snowball effect in Australia. Amelia Condon-Cernovs was 15 when she started advocating to lower the voting age with the Foundation for Young Australians. Now 18, the Canberran campaigner said young people wanted a voice and a chance to be involved in democracy, with the cost of living, education and climate change fuelling the change. She said that, much like driving a car, young voters should learn the political system bit by bit. "You don't go from not knowing how to drive to having your full licence," she said. The voting age has not always been 18 — roughly 50 years ago, it was 21. In 1973, the federal government moved to lower the age of eligibility amid the Vietnam War. Political scientist at the Australian National University Jill Sheppard said that change followed a social understanding that if young people could die for their country, they should be able to vote for it. And at the time, like today, not everyone was happy. Greens senator Jordon Steele-John introduced a bill to lower the voting age in 2018 and recently said Australians needed to think about who they wanted to influence policy. "I know who I would trust, out of those two groups. "We've got around half a million Australians who currently are prevented from having their say about policy decisions that will affect them for the longest." For the voting age to change, the federal government would need to pass legislation to amend the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1918. If Senator Steele-John's bill had passed, he said it would have been compulsory for those 16 or 17 years old to vote. However, it would have introduced a clause in the Electoral Act to would allow electoral officers to consider waiving a fine if someone 16 or 17 years old did not vote. Dr Sheppard researches voting behaviour in federal elections and says parties fear lowering the vote will open "Pandora's box". "Labor probably wouldn't be any worse off if they allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote, but that fear of opening Pandora's box is always a worry for parties of government," she said. "What may happen in this parliament, though, because the Greens have the balance of power in the Senate, is that they put that on the table as a bargaining chip. Austria, Germany and Brazil have already changed the voting age to 16 and Scotland allows voting at 16 in local elections, although the UK general election is run under UK law. Dr Sheppard said while compulsory voting was one key difference between the Australian and British electoral systems, she believed the evidence found in other countries would also flow on to Australia. "It is time for Australia to follow suit. If the UK can do it, so can we," Senator Steele-John said.
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Secret figures show Liberal party's ageing membership in freefall in NSW and Victoria
The Liberal party's ageing membership is in freefall in Australia's two most populous states, according to multiple party sources, with one claiming their branch's biggest expense in recent years has become 'funeral wreaths'. The Liberals were decimated in major cities at the federal election, losing the Victorian seats of Menzies and Deakin as well as Banks and Hughes in Sydney and possibly Bradfield, where the electoral commission is conducting a recount. The story in the other capitals was no better. Party membership numbers are closely guarded by office bearers, but Guardian Australia has spoken to several party sources in both New South Wales and Victoria, who were willing to disclosure figures on the condition they were not named. In Victoria, three sources said membership numbers were between 9,000 and 10,000, with the majority based in the federal electorates of Kooyong, held by teal independent Monique Ryan, and Goldstein, which will likely be won by Liberal Tim Wilson. A former member of the Victorian Liberal executive said the division had about 15,000 members close to 20 years ago. The party has since shed members, according to the source, and the average age of those who remain has climbed to 68. 'One of the biggest expenses we used to have [at our local branch] was on funeral wreaths,' they said. 'We'd be down at the florist every week handing over $70.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Both state divisions are urging members to renew their annual memberships after a bruising federal election loss. One Victorian source said as of mid-May, about 30% of members had not renewed. In NSW, one Liberal source said party membership dipped below 10,000 after the state election loss in March 2023, before climbing to close to 12,000 by the end of the year. Another source said the current numbers were somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000. Earlier this month, NSW Liberal officials confirmed about 5,000 people had allowed their membership to lapse in recent years. In an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review, they blamed the decline on factional fighting in branches. 'Our membership has declined by more than 1,000 in just a year, many branches refuse to support in any way their sitting MP not of their faction and we have lost successive state and federal elections,' three senior party elders wrote. Slightly more than 600 applicants have been refused membership, according to the party officials, due to concerns they may impact the power balance within branches. The NSW Liberal party's annual disclosures to the state electoral commission also show a significant drop in revenue from members. In 2018-19, the party generated $1.38m from 'paid individuals' who had either a membership, an affiliation or a party subscription. That figure dropped to $836,770 last financial year, according to disclosures. 'We need to actively go out and seek people and build personal relationships with them in an organisation that isn't transactional, but transformational,' said one NSW Liberal source. 'It's not about getting people to door knock or donate, it's about working together to help change government policy.' Several Liberal sources in both states, including federal MPs, have complained about losing volunteers and donors to third-party groups, such as Advance Australia. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion In Victoria, Advance's federal election campaign was bankrolled by a $500,000 donation from the state branch's nominated entity, the Cormack Foundation. When contacted for a response to these concerns earlier this month, Advance's executive director, Matthew Sheahan, accused 'bed-wetting anonymous Liberals' of 'looking to blame everyone but themselves'. One former Liberal, who is now involved in political campaigns for third-party groups, said they used to direct members from seats such as Goldstein and Kooyong to other electorates in Victoria. But since the rise of teal independents, they were now required in their own seats. They said as a result, the party had become increasingly dependent on 'non-cause actors', who are not party members, to support them at other, marginal polling booths. They referred to reports that members of the Exclusive Brethren religious sect were handed out how-to-vote cards before the 3 May poll, despite the church barring followers from voting. 'Labor has the labour movement, the Greens the environment, Nationals the country,' the source said. 'The Liberals aren't a movement. Maybe, back in the day, they were an anti-communist movement but there are no communists in Labor any more.' One Victorian Liberal MP downplayed the drop in numbers and said a decline in volunteers was common across almost all community groups – not just political organisations. They said the cost of living had contributed to a 'slight decline' in membership. Sussan Ley, on being elected as leader, pledged to rebuild the party in major cities and appeal to a broader subsection of Australian society. 'If we stay focused, our political movement has the foundations to rebuild and once again guide Australians toward a better future,' Ley said earlier this month. 'That starts with accepting the fact that Australians sent a clear message at the election. We must listen, change and develop a fresh approach.' With additional reporting by Anne Davies
News.com.au
29-05-2025
- General
- News.com.au
Randwick Council votes to consider ban on election corflutes on power poles
A local Sydney council has voted to consider a total ban on election corflutes on all public infrastructure, citing 'visual pollution' and a perceived 'impost on campaigns' for the move. Randwick Council voted 9-5 on Tuesday night to pass a motion from Greens councillor Masmoomeh Asgari for council staff to report on reducing election waste material and banning corflutes on council property, including parking poles. 'In the past three years we have had two federal elections, a state election and a local government election and in each case large amounts of waste have been produced in the form of corflutes and paper (how-to-votes and flyers) in order to inform voters about candidates, their policies and how they should vote,' the motion states. 'Corflute waste is a particular issue in Randwick. Ausgrid have banned them on telegraph poles, so the main display structures are council's parking poles and the like. 'This annoys residents due to the visual pollution, the inconvenience of placement and the litter, including from plastic ties. 'Informing voters is essential in a democracy but it's time to investigate how this can be done with less waste.' The potential ban follows a burst of corflute controversy in the May 3 federal election, including furious debate over where exactly corflutes are permitted. Footage of federal independent MP Monique Ryan's husband Peter Jordan pulling down a corflute of Liberal challenger Amelia Hamer went viral on social media during the heated Kooyong contest in Melbourne. The footage shows Mr Jordan walking away with the Hamer placard, with a Liberal Party supporter pursuing him. Mr Jordan claims the sign had been illegally placed on public land. 'I'm taking the sign down … it's on public land … I'm not saying who I am,' Mr Jordan says in the video. Responding to the kerfuffle, the Australian Electoral Commission said it did not regulate the placement of political signage. 'Signage on public land is generally a matter for local council,' the AEC said. Later, Mr Jordan apologised for the blow up. 'I unreservedly apologise for removing the sign. It was a mistake,' he said. 'I believed the sign was illegally placed, but I should have reported my concerns to council.' South Australia, meanwhile, has banned corflutes from public roads, trees and poles in state and federal elections. Randwick, which takes in Sydney's eastern beach suburbs, sits within the federal electorates of Wentworth and Kingsford Smith. Liberal councillor Christie Hamilton voted against the motion on Tuesday night, telling NewsWire candidate posters served an important democratic function. 'I don't think we should ban them everywhere,' she said. 'They trigger for people that there is an election coming. It is up to the parties and candidates to do all they can do to put their candidates out there and it needs to be visual. 'It can't just be words on a page, they need to see who the person is. And if they see them on the street, they can come up and talk to them. 'It's part of the democratic process.' Ms Hamilton said Ms Asgari's motion had come about because of Greens anger over their corflutes being taken down during campaigns. 'Everyone gets their corflutes taken down,' she said. '(Liberal Wentworth candidate) Ro Knox had her corflutes taken down. There's nothing you can do about it. 'She (Ro Knox) put up funny stickers saying, 'please don't steal my corflutes'. You try to combat it with a bit of humour.' A report on the motion is expected within six months and Ms Hamilton said that vote on the report's recommendation would be the crucial one to watch for. 'When it comes back with the recommendation, that's when the real fight will start,' she said. 'I don't think Labor (councillors) will do it.'
