Funding one or more test cases to displace the legal case of Cameron v Hogan.
A legal case endorsing blackmail
In 1932, the then Premier of Victoria, Edmond Hogan, was being blackmailed by faceless power brokers into opposing the Premiers’ Plan, a policy being proposed in response to The Great Depression. He was told that he must give his personal assurances he would oppose the Premiers’ Plan or any future nomination for preselection would be rejected, and he would be expelled from his political party. Mr Hogan, a man ahead of his time, refused. He cited his duties to the people as a Minister of the Crown and pointed out that the power brokers had no power under the rules to reject his nomination or expel him.
Mr Hogan supported the Premiers’ Plan and the power brokers carried through with their threats. Mr
Hogan sued, and the case went all the way to the High Court. The High Court agreed that the power brokers had no power to reject his nomination or expel him but refused to intervene. The High Court said that it did not have jurisdiction because the rules in that case did not amount to a contract.
Political parties are lawless
Political parties are now relying on Cameron v Hogan to avoid all established principles of Administrative Law in the way they conduct their internal affairs. Political parties deliberately remain unincorporated and therefore the courts will not force them to follow their rules or apply the Administrative Law standards of procedural fairness, natural justice, not acting for an improper purpose and not misusing power. Your local bowling club is held to these laws/standards in their internal affairs but not political parties! Did you know that you, the taxpayer, pays more than $60 million to political parties to contest federal elections yet don’t hold them to any internal standards? This brings into question whether taxpayer funds are appropriately spent.
Impacts on you and democracy
The key indicator of these lawless regimes is that, whilst required by the rules, ballots by local party members in pre-selection contests are rare and haven't been held for 10 years in some parts of Australia. The effect on democracy and the the standard of representation in Australia is catastrophic. The people who choose the MPs are the vested interests/faceless power brokers, not the voters/party members. This is why MPs rarely show any interest in meeting with and serving the people. They serve the power brokers instead. The power brokers put them in office, not you.
Time for change
A flurry of legal cases on all sides of politics in recent times has highlighted the need for legislative change (mandatory incorporation/regulation of political parties). Given that this is unlikely to occur, we wish to run test cases to the High Court to overturn the authority in Cameron v Hogan and make political parties and their officers subject to the laws of our nation. Funds raised will go towards the past and present legal costs and costs orders of our test cases.
We are a bipartisan group who want to create a better democracy. Perhaps our kids may want to run for parliament. We want them to get a fair go, not face the sort of egregious, unfair treatment which befalls all but those who are handpicked by the faceless power brokers.
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