Fran fumes at challenge

MCEWEN MP Fran Bailey has slammed the Australian Labor Party (ALP) for their decision to dispute the result of the recount which saw her return to office, in the seat’s latest election twist.
Early last week, the ALP announced their decision to fight the result through the Court of Disputed Returns.
The seat of McEwen was initially won by Labor candidate Rob Mitchell by seven votes but it was later given to former minister Fran Bailey who won by 12 votes in a recount.
The ALP’s case centres on a bundle of 640 disputed ballots.
Mr Mitchell said the reason for taking the result to the High Court was because he and his party believed that the Electoral Commission wrongly excluded a number of votes from the recount because of poor handwriting.
The ALP claims that the intention of voters in many of the excluded ballots was clear even though their handwriting may have been deemed poor.
“This affects the elderly, the vision impaired, and people like me who are not very neat writers – they all have a right to have their vote counted,” Mr Mitchell said.
The dispute will be heard at the High Court which will sit as a special Court of Disputed Returns.
The court has the power to overturn Ms Bailey’s win and can also order a by-election.
Mr Mitchell said that he hoped that the court would decide that his original win would stand, but was happy to follow any decision made by the judges.
Ms Bailey is believed to be furious at the ALP’s decision to dispute the result.
In a statement released by Ms Bailey she said that the ALP’s challenge “flies in the face of their commitment to abide by the umpire’s decision”.
“The ALP can’t claim to support the professionalism of the AEC on the one hand and reject its decisions when it doesn’t favour them on the other hand,” Ms Bailey said.
Ms Bailey went on to accuse the ALP of demonstrating that it wanted to keep counting until it got the result it wanted.
“Ultimately, now it has become a matter for the High Court,” Ms Bailey said.
“Once again, I make the commitment to abide by the umpire’s decision.”
Mr Mitchell refuted Ms Bailey’s claim that he and the ALP were not abiding by the umpire’s decision, and argued that Ms Bailey’s call for a recount after his primary win could be seen in the same context.
If the Court of Disputed Returns decides to order a by-election, voters are faced with a stark choice.
Voters now know that the Labor Government won the federal election and may decide that having a Labor MP in Canberra would be more beneficial to local issues.