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- Minister apologises for 'boisterous' comment
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- Local MP urges PM's carbon tax tour to visit Riverina
Greg Smith calling - or is it?
About half an hour ago my home phone rang and my wife answered it to hear the voice of Greg Smith, the Liberal candidate for Epping. No, he was not calling to have a conversation - rather he was using an automatic dialling system to deliver a prerecorded message. Knowing in this day how sick people are of being subjected to marketing on their own telephone, this is a move you would not normally expect of any candidate, let alone one who thinks they are safe.
Most people seem prepared to deal with political material in their mailbox. Most do not even mind a candidate knocking on their door because it gives them an opportunity to share their own views with the candidate. But when it comes to a telephone call from a machine that talks at &emdash; rather than with &emdash; the voter, the practice is likely to turn away at least as many voters as it attracts.
I am torn. The privacy advocate in me wants to get stuck into him for engaging in such an intrusive means of self-promotion, but the liberal in me wants him to keep doing this so he alienates as many voters as he possibly can.
The major parties have the benefit of polling that gives them a fair idea of how they are performing in each electorate. You have to wonder what the Liberal Party's polling is telling them about Epping for them to be undertaking such a risky strategy.