Giving it away
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday March 25, 2011
Giving it awayOnce open to all, privacy concerns turned electoral rolls into closed books. But the private dick Frank Monte, pictured, has found a novel way of getting access to such an indispensable tool of his trade. Standing as an independent for the upper house, NSW has been turned into his constituency so he gets access to everyone on the roll. A grateful Monte has come up with an interesting way to get elected: working free. "I have been very fortunate in my life, and today my needs are smaller," he said. "If elected I will donate my $170,000-a-year parliamentary salary to the Cancer Council, Catholic Church charities, Breast Council Australia. The rest will go to the AIDS Council of NSW."Lost causeHow not to win friends and influence voters: An elderly Hornsby shopper was stopped by a Greens campaigner handing out electoral material yesterday. When told "no thanks", the campaigner asked why and was told mainly because of the Greens-controlled Marrickville Council boycott of Israel. The campaigner clicked heels, threw a Nazi salute and uttered "Heil Hitler".Read all about itThe advent of a new newspaper is cause for joy. But not in Port Macquarie, where a battle between the sitting independent MP Peter Besseling and the National Party hierarchy has witnessed the birth of the Port Paper. Complete with stories, ads, TV guide and crossword, it looks the real McCoy, but there is no editor nor, in a time of election, any political authorisation. "I can't say anything about who runs the paper," said Andrea Schulzer, a staff journalist. David Shepard of Johns River said the paper's attacks on Besseling and Rob Oakeshott indicated it was a political pamphlet in disguise. Broadcasting live in Port Macquarie yesterday, the radio jock Ray Hadley praised the Port Paper as a fine journalistic publication.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
