Gunfight looms as candidates surface
WILL the major political parties behind the scenes become involved in the independent council poll? This is being talked about around council and State Parliament.
The answer is the LNP is dipping a toe in the water on the Gold Coast.
All of this talk has been sparked by a rookie candidate being exposed for posing with a gun in support of farmers and talking about cuts to the ABC.
As a northern Coast resident remarked, being able to handle a gun up around the snake-infested canefields is probably a vote winner.
But there is something more to this story.
Labor ministerial heavy hitter Kate Jones targeted Broadwater MP David Crisafulli in State Parliament when she tabled a Bulletin report showing social media photographs of former Young LNP leader Alec Pokarier holding a rifle.
Mr Pokarier worked in the Broadwater office after Mr Crisafulli moved here from Townsville. “He must have got some advice that you can just change locations, change your values, change what you stand for,” Ms Jones said, taunting Mr Crisafulli.
In the first instance, this shows Labor is keeping a close watch on the Gold Coast. None of their young guns have yet surfaced as council candidates.
“He (Mr Pokarier) is a cowboy. There seems to be a genuine trend there of Young LNP moving to the far right,” an ALP strategist said.
Talk to older LNP members who are standing and they are funding their own campaigns, getting help from friends and at a distance to the party and its officials.
But ask around enough and it becomes obvious Mr Pokarier will not be the only Young LNP member running in the March 20 poll. Another LNP member working for one of party’s MPs is planning to stand in a more central division, where he will be opposing a more senior and experienced female LNP campaigner. The cost of a divisional campaign is at least $20,000, and more likely to top $50,000 if you want corflutes. You will need at least 50 supporters to hand out at booths.
Labor regards Hermann Vorster in Robina as setting the template for the next generation of 20-something LNP Coast members to enter politics.
The former Young LNP leader had an army of young supporters in the past poll, and his Facebook focus on the street and crime – which stretch to state issues – proved effective.
Mr Pokarier’s campaign is strikingly similar. He is yet to remove bongs from parks or rescue abandoned shopping trolleys, but he videos himself investigating dangerous manholes.
Veteran councillors Gary Baildon and Dawn Crichlow are retiring. Both have been independents, and protective of their patch and keeping the “local” in local government.
In the chamber, Cr Vorster is not shy about stepping forward and criticising the Palaszczuk Government.
Labor strategists believe the next council could take a sudden turn to the right of politics.
“At Gold Coast City Council, the vast majority of councillors have been independents and hyper locals. Do we want council to be a testing of ground of young upstarts like it is in Brisbane?” the Labor strategist said.
Then there is the added benefit for both Cr Vorster and planning committee chair Cameron Caldwell, a strong LNP identity in the city’s north, of a growing caucus behind them.
Both are considered the next most likely deputy mayor, depending on where and whether Cr Donna Gates stands again. Surely Mr Pokarier’s supporters would hope she stands in another division.
For the deputy sheriffs-inwaiting, having a couple of young guns by your side can be handy when leadership positions and committee chairs are considered after the gunfight.