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Surprise at the draw for ballot places
During the draw for positions on the ballot paper for Bennelong today, we were surprised to discover a seventh candidate. Before they announced who it was, I thought that One Nation must have found somebody to run.
To our collective surprise, the seventh candidate was announced as "Gary Hannah, Independent". Nobody had ever heard of him before, and a Google search for him proves somewhat fruitless, since the name is common. Narrowing it to Australia reveals somebody who has made a few posts to Whirlpool.
He listed his occupation as "Computer Operator", and his address as "Glebe", although the postcode on the nomination form was wrong and was not even a valid postcode. We all wondered why somebody who does not even live in the electorate would run as an independent. There were a lot of people suggesting he may be a Liberal Party stooge.
So I called him. He turns out to be 22 years old, and says the postcode could well be wrong because he just moved into Glebe and did not know what the postcode was. He says he has no policies, but would be preferencing Liberal (although he seemed to think there was some way he could register preferences).
I was going to update this story with information gleaned from his Whirlpool comments, but going to Whirlpool I found that there were no comments of substance. With only one exception, the comments were all less than a sentence long. The remainder yielded no useful information, leaving Hannah an entirely unknown quantity.
The order on the ballot paper is:
- HANNAH, Gary (Ind)
- ROLLO, Troy (Ind)
- WILKIE, Andrew (Grn)
- LEVICK, Ray (CDP)
- CAMPBELL, Nicole (ALP)
- HOWARD, John Winston (Lib)
- GOLDFINCH, Peter (Dem)
If only I had known in 2004
This web page could have told me plenty about Gary Hannah. Take the following extract, from Hannah himself:
I also found this comment from a workmate of Hannah's interesting:
So here we have a fairly clear measure of the man - somebody who ran as a joke candidate. A pity the joke was not funny. I wonder how many of the abusive comments from his supporters were really from him - his obsession with hating "hippies" is certainly reflected in at least one anonymous comment.
But more seriously, the comment above reveals he received a $200 donation. This should have been disclosed twice - once on Gary Hannah's candidate return (which still has not been lodged!), and once by a third party donor return by the donor (which also appears to have not been lodged). The deadline for these was 24th January 2005 - over a year ago. Those are offences punishable by a $1,000 fine for each of them.
With that liability hanging over them I suspect they may be a little more hesitant to front up to the AEC office to put in a nomination form next time, but Hannah's failure to comply with the financial disclosure requirements - the importance of which is not adequately demonstrated by the paltry $1,000 fine and which in my view merits a term of imprisonment - is further evidence of his lack of respect for the law, the system, and the voters.
If I had this confirmation that he was an immature joke candidate at the time*, he would have gone in position 6 (of 7) on my how-to-votes, and I would have put an earlier stop to his attempts to disrupt this site.
* When I indicated that I thought his behaviour suggested he was not taking things seriously, he lied point blank, saying that he was a serious candidate.
Election results are in !
After 80% counted
Gary Hannah 670 votes
Troy Rollo 356 votes
Looks like we have a new main Independant candidate for Bennelong !
Do you find it odd, Mr Rolo, that someone who had NO political experience, NO platform, NO website, NO campaign / NO money spent on his campaign (except the Keg of beer) has managed to achieve 314 more votes than you currently ? What does this tell you about your campaign ? It tells me that a campaign based on slandering the opposition may not 'sit well' with the voters, it tells me that people obviously trust Gary Hannah more than you, it tells me you dont need swish websites, money spent (except on beer), polictical platforms, experience to acheive over 1% of the vote !!!
Bit embarrasing isn't it ?
In writing this, I would like to admit, I am a Liberal Party stooge, and its great to see Howard in for another term, quite convincingly too!!! Ever thought about switching preferences Mr Rollo ?? You might get a few more votes next time !
Sincerely
J.D
Do you find it odd, Mr Rolo
Do you find it odd, Mr Rolo, that someone who had NO political experience, NO platform, NO website, NO campaign / NO money spent on his campaign (except the Keg of beer) has managed to achieve 314 more votes than you currently ?
Not really. He had the first position on the ballot paper. The votes he has correspond pretty much with the donkey vote figures for Bennelong, added to the figure for those who put independents first without caring what their policies are and just number independents down the paper. I even mentioned to Gary before the election that he would get a significant number of votes just because of that. On the plus side I know that the votes I did get were from people agreeing with my position.
The results reflect a number of problems that occurred during the campaign, and I will comment on that later.
Why was Gary Hannah behind a Liberal stall on Sunday?
Gary Hannah phoned me on Friday afternoon, saying among other thing that he thought neither major party had much to offer, and that he was definitely not a Liberal stooge. He also said he might not produce a "how to vote" card at all, which was a change from his earlier position of leaning towards preferencing Liberal. That all sounded promising, but...
More interestingly, Nicole Campbell claims she saw Hannah behind the counter of the Liberal Party stall at the Ryde Aquatic Festival on Sunday. While she says that she does not know how or why he was there, that is an entirely inappropriate place for an independent candidate to be. Yes, an independent should enter into discussions with other candidates, and the discussions do not have to be at neutral venues, but being behind the counter of the stall of a major political party at a public event can only contribute to the perception that he is not genuinely independent.
Gary Hannah
This is an outrageous, salacious and sladerous comment by Nicole Campbell, claiming "she saw Hannah behind the counter of the Liberal Party stall at the Ryde Aquatic Festival on Sunday"
Perposterous.
How do I know this? Because Gary Hannah was with me all day Sunday. First thing we went for our morning prayer service. Then we went out to distribute clothes and food to the needy. Needless to say Gary was ever popular with the people.
After this we did our first 'door knock' trying to rally support for Gary. Letting people know what he was all about. His ideas, his agendas. People really seem to like Gary.
Around lunchtime we then went to the hospital to pose with children and old people for photos and helped them with some of their daily activites.
The road is tough, but Gary Hannah has an iron will and I know he's already making a difference in the community. Just today he helped an old lady cross the street and rescued a cat from a tree. Some might say he goes beyond the call, but for Gary it's serving the people and the smiles on their faces that make it all worthwhile.
I've known Gary for many, many years and I know how committed he is and the vision he has for the community.
Look Gary has a few nutbag supporters out there, I've read some of these posts, but Gary truly is a compassionate, honest individual. Committed to strengthening and serving our community needs.
Mr Rollo, Gary certainly is a first class candidate and one I'm sure you'd be proud to associate with. After all, he too loves chocolate bars with little bite sized pieces filled with yummy caramel called "Rollo's". And he too loves Ned Flanders and right at this moment is trying to culivate a Ned Flanders look a like moustache just like you Mr Rollo chocolate bar.
Mmmmmmm Rollo's
Jesus.H.Christ.
You realise you are not as anonymous as you may think?
Look Gary has a few nutbag supporters out there, I've read some of these posts, but Gary truly is a compassionate, honest individual. Committed to strengthening and serving our community needs.
You do realise that even though you post "anonymously", the web site records logs showing the "nutbag" posts and this post come from the same BigPond cable modem?
Apology
Dear Mr Troy Rollo,
Troy once I again I just want to reinterate my apologies (posted as a comment in reply to Mr Gary Hannah's post today) for the stupidity I displayed by posting ridiculous comments on your website earlier today.
I sincerly apologise.
Thank you.
My Apologies
Posted by Gary Hannah the somewhat ashamed Independent Candidate for Bennelong
I would like to first thank my somewhat misguided supporters for their support here, I do not wish to sound ungrateful for your somewhat colourful attempts to show support for my campaign.
From the beginning my dealings and conversations with Troy have been friendly and courteous.
I wholeheartedly support anyone who wishes to make any valid arguments against Troys policies just as I equally support any similar criticisms of my own positions, this is the very essence of what democracy is all about, free and open discourse by the people.
However the pointless mudslingling that has been posted on this site is of now value to either myself or Troy.
I have a large number of supporters who have come forward to offer their support for me and whilst the majority of these are individuals of good sense, there are some whose inappropriate sense of humour reflect poorly upon me.
I ask that in future my supporters restrict their comments to valid arguments and leave the mudslinging to Troy and myself as is our rightful privilege as political opponents.
Gary Hannah
May I preface this comment by saying this is an honest and serious apology to both Mr Gary Hannah and Mr Troy Rollo.
Dear Gary,
You are absolutely right. I have been stupid and apologise. I was bored and thought I was being funny. How I was wrong. I wish to whole heartedly apologise for the ridiculous, totally untrue comments I have posted about you.
I also wish to apologise whole heartedly to Troy Rollo.
Troy, the juvenille, immature and ridiculous comments I posted today were uncalled for and I unresevredly apologise. I hope you can accept my apologies.
I have no right to make stupid comments about you. You are a hard working, honest politician and I respect you and what you are trying to achieve. I fear however this will be almost impossible for you to see, considering my earlier posts. I realise I am not as annonymous as once thought, as you have pointed out. I only hope you can forgive me for my stupidity and accept my deepest apologies.
Please do not see Gary in the same light as I have presented myself to you through my comments. Gary does not know who is writing this, but I know him and he knows me and in time I will let him know my identity. I must say however he is a well liked and respected mate and in no way does he have anything to do with the comments I have posted previously or now.
Finally I wish both of you the best of luck in the upcoming election.
Once again I would like to apologise unreservedly to the both of you, Gary and Troy. Please accept my apologies and dismiss it as nothing more than juvenille idiocy.
From the person who posted several ridiculous comments early today.
Independant Candidate Gary Hannah
My name is Alison King and I have known Gary Hannah for 10 years (yes, since he was 12 years old). I have no hesitation in recommending him as a fine young man.
If you wish to "glean" information on him there is no need to search internet forums, I'm sure he would be happy to provide any information freely if you contact him. Though it's amusing to see that our country's political future relies so heavily on google and an internet forum devoted to the quality of broadband.
Best of luck to all candidates.
Alison
Profile and Google searches
Your comment seems to suggest that you think the Internet is a mere plaything, but it is not - it is a powerful information tool.
Google searches are done because a person who runs for office will normally have engaged in some kind of public service, volunteer or public interest activity, and this will normally show up on a Google search. These will normally give a reasonably objective idea of who somebody is and what sort of things they stand for.
On the other hand, asking the person specific questions can be very misleading for what they tell you, although it can be very informative in the way they tell it. Having interviewed many job applicants over the past 10 years, I can tell you that many tell outright lies when asked directly, although this is usually something that will show up in the way the question is answered - and if somebody is trying to hide something, it will become very obvious. A lot of the time in a job interview I will ask a question and not even care about the content of the answer - it is the way the question is answered that is important.
The impression I got when I spoke to Gary is that he thought the whole thing was a bit of a joke, since he kept giggling, did not have a platform, claimed not to have a view on any of the major issues, and his answers to questions were prefaced with phrases like "I guess" and "I suppose". That is not a good impression to give, and without other public information on him, it is the most reliable impression I have.
Serious candidates need to know more than this in order to decide what to put on the "how to vote" card.
Personal references are not altogether helpful in this regard either, since anybody can find somebody to vouch for them. You must surely have heard that when serial killers are caught, their neighbours, family and friends all say how shocked they are, and that "he seemed so nice."
There really is nothing that effectively substitutes for having a public profile, which is something that all of the other candidates in the seat have. Among the other candidates, there is a certain amount of confidence that there is no hidden agenda, so that if we direct preferences a certain way, we know what we are getting.
Gary has no apparent profile and after speaking to him, no apparent policies, and no apparent view on the major issues.
Now I'm not saying that means he's a raving loon somewhere to the right of the Ku Klux Klan. What I am saying is I have no idea what he stands for. I have no idea if he is capable of doing the job. I know nothing useful about him whatsoever. And that means I cannot exclude any of several unpalatable possibilities.
As I mentioned, some of the other candidates suspect he is a stooge standing for John Howard, based on the very strange circumstance that he is standing as an independent in an electorate he does not live in.
All that means that he is likely to come second last on almost all of the "how to vote" cards.
Gary Hannah
Dear Mr Rollo chocolate bar,
Who died made you the judge of what is right and wrong? Of how to run for an electorate or how even answer questions in a f#cking job interveiw.
I believe your head is so far up your own self important, self perpetuating arse, you wouldn't know your arse from you elbow.
Gary is a genuine contender for this seat. You best be on the lookout, he's gaining your votes right now!
Liberal Party Stooge.
PS - You look way too much like Ned Flanders for anyone to take you seriously or vote for you. Lose the dodgy 1970's porno style moustache and shape up man. My mother always said a man with a moustache is either hiding something or picks his nose too much!
That's about all I need to know of you
or how even answer questions in a f#cking job interveiw...I believe your head is so far up your own self important, self perpetuating arse, you wouldn't know your arse from you elbow.
I think I can safely say that I am am getting a good idea now of the kind of people who support Gary Hannah.
Gary Hannah
My I start by commending Gary Hannah on finally running for this seat of Bennelong. I know it has been a life long ambition of his and he is finally doing something about it. I've known Gary since he was in the feotus and even then he had an unquenchable thirst for politics, placentas and Chocolate bars named Rollo's.
Gary has been a fine upstanding citizen for many years. What I would call a pillar of our society. He most definitely not, a Liberal Party stooge as you have suggested Mr Rollo. How dare you make such presumptions about this fine upstanding young man? What do you base these on. The fact that he and John Howard played cards together on Friday nights? That's drawing assumptions a little to hastily isn't it?
The Gary I know is a man of the highest moral and ethical standards.
For instance, if he were married, he most certainly not cheat on his wife like serial phillanderer Ross Cameron. If he were Prime Minister, he would not send troops blindly to war on the whim of an American nutbag President. If he were Leader of the opposition, he would have man boobs and if he were another Independent candidate in the electorate of Bennelong, he would not be named after a chocolate bar that comes in many little bite sized pieces that are filled with caramel inside.
Gary might not power walk every morning in an Australian Rugby Union tracksuit. Gary might not be named after a chocolate bar or be a tree hugging hippy like Wilkie from the Greens. But what he does have is the love for Home Gaming, Beers and a dog aptly named Dog. He is an everyday Aussie, getting out there having a go. Trying to 'Squeeze the E's' out of dodgy characters at the local rave party and for that I commend him highly and hope he wins this electorate.
Garry has a many agendas and a high public profile. I think you, Mr Rollo chocolate bar, are 'Google' searching up the wrong Google.
By the way, your quote 'the Internet is a mere plaything, but it is not - it is a powerful information tool.' doesn't hold water with me Mr Rollo Chocolate bar. I know you've been secretly using it to search the interent for porn and recipes on how to make hash cookies. Shame on you.
So in summation, I'd like to say Gary Hannah is an outstanding candidate for this electorate. A breath of fresh air in an otherwise, dingy den of iniquity. He provides, fresh, new ideas and relieves us of the tired old types like Rollo the Chocolate bar, Howard the Republican party stooge and Wilkie the tree hugger. His ideas push the boundaries. I mean, only the other night he opted to have $5 hands at Home Gaming, a truly bold thing to do. With Futurebone by his side, I'm sure he'll go a long way.
Good luck Gary, see you at the next Klan meeting.
Lemmiwinks.
With supporters like these...
He most definitely not, a Liberal Party stooge as you have suggested Mr Rollo.
It was not I who suggested this - I was merely reporting the expressed suspicions of others. I drew no conclusion of the sort.
That said, I honestly cannot figure out if you were trying to discredit Hannah or promote him.
You say he has many agendas and a high public profile, but if that were so you would presumably have pointed to where it can be found. Google was not the only thing I searched - it was just the only place that came up with anything at all. Everywhere else came up blank.
Regardless, your message does demonstrate a lack of maturity, which does not assist Hannah when you claim to be a close friend or when you offer your endorsement.
Look 'ere Mr Rollo Chocolate
Look 'ere Mr Rollo Chocolate bar. Da Gaz is da shit.
Gary Hannah
**All that means that he is likely to come second last on almost all of the "how to vote" cards.**
Just curious on your opinion on the recent developments in party preferencing. I noticed that Labour have given him 2nd preference and that the Liberals have given him 3rd preference.
I don't mean to bring anymore focus towards this bloke but he seems to be a bit of a Dark Horse.
The HTV cards
I noticed that Labour have given him 2nd preference and that the Liberals have given him 3rd preference.
It is not unusual for the major parties to choose somebody early who they think they might be able to influence more easily. They may well be assuming Hannah is easily influenced because he is so young. On the other hand that would not explain their putting me in the third spot against some of the other candidates. But where the major parties put other candidates is relatively unimportant, because if and when they are knocked out, there are unlikely to be that many people left that the order of the preferences matters.
That is all speculation though, and there may be some other reasons for that decision. It may be as simple as listing independents in the order they appear on the ballot paper.
For my part I did not negotiate preferences at all. My basis for determining preferences is solely based on what would be better for accountability. When other candidates have contacted me about preferences, I have told them the order and told them why it was that order.
Interestingly, the ALP card does not reflect anything even remotely resembling what the ALP candidate told me was their basis for determining their order.
What I find most interesting though is how the HTV cards already published deal with the Democrats. The ALP placed the Democrats second last - even after the Christian Democratic Party, which almost invariably supports Liberal in parliaments. The CDP, which pours a huge amount of bigotted vitriol on the Democrats, put the Democrat third, right after John Howard.
Howard's card is more predictable. The candidates endorsing the Not Happy, John position are in the last four spots in precisely the order I would expect. The second preference goes to the CDP, which is where I would expect it to go. The third to Hannah.
None of this matters though, because The CDP votes will stop when they get to Howard (who they have in number 2 position) anyway. If the ALP gets eliminated, there will only be Andrew Wilkie (Green), Howard and perhaps one other candidate in there, so the order of the second and third preferences are immaterial.
The Labor HTV card is almost a donkey vote
It occurred to me today that I missed something that should have been blindingly obvious - the ALP How to Vote card is almost entirely a donkey vote. It has the ALP candidate at number 1 and Howard last, but all other candidates numbered in the donkey order.
Note the strange sequence of 4, 5 and 6: Greens, CDP then Democrats. That sequence is completely illogical. There is no way in the world you would put CDP in between the Greens and Democrats if you are making a serious effort to rank the merits of the other candidates.
I would have expected a serious effort from the ALP to look like this: Campbell, Goldfinch, Wilkie, Rollo, Hannah, Levick, Howard (or 5, 4, 3, 6, 1, 7, 2 as you scan down the ballot paper).
Australia Has Voted....
Australia Has Voted....and Troy Rollo you have dismissed!
JF
I stand in awe of your demonstrable intelligence
Yet another shining example of the well thought out, cogent and intelligent argument from the tape monkeys at Western Union.
As a matter of simple logic, you cannot draw any conclusions of that kind unless you know that everybody in the electorate was fully informed of their options. As I have already pointed out, the result reflects a failure to get the word out, which arose from multiple causes.
It is irrelevant how many votes somebody else got for no other reason than that they were at the top of the ballot paper.