It was decided today that Katter’s Australian Party will not be allowed to use our legally registered name. We will be forced to use “The Australian Party” which the Federal Electoral Commission has determined is illegal. Since it does not differentiate out or delineate, it is an indeterminate appellation. In simple language the Australian Electoral Commission says “the people” will have no idea who The Australia Party is, nor what it stands for. This is not our opinion but that of the Federal Electoral Commission’s formal ruling.
We do not resolve from stating clearly that this is a most damaging blow to our electoral chances.
We must hope and pray for the famous “Wally Lewis effect” when he was disgracefully sent off the field and the injustice so enraged the team that they played with such righteous rage that they actually went ahead.
This decision does serious damage to the peoples’ faith in democracy. It would be naïve in the extreme to see this decision in isolation. It comes after the jailing of Bjelke-Petersen and his attempt to secure real change. Also the subsequent jailing of Pauline Hanson when she attempted to secure real change.
The two major parties preach competition but they are the arch proponents of a “Woolworths & Coles” political firmament. The colossal damage done to peoples faith in democracy by this decision will be ongoing and the rise of a very dangerous cynicism in a State where may be a quarter of the entire population is on struggle street.
The overriding principal above all else is that the voter knows who they are voting for. If they don’t an election cannot provide a truthful outcome. The Australian Electoral Commission says it can’t.
For further information, contact Scott Barrett on 0434 740 698 or Bernard Gaynor on 0413 722 995