Can Macnamara remain Labor

May 15, 2019 by J-Wire Staff
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The Melbourne seat of Macnamara presents an imperative for Jewish voters to put Josh Burns and Labor first.

Josh Burns

Josh Burns is a well-known member of our Jewish community and, in running to succeed the retiring Michael Danby, he offers our community’s best chance- of strong representation in what pollsters and pundits predict will be a Labor Government.

But even putting this aside, all analysis of the seat in Macnamara shows that it is likely to come down to whoever of the Greens or Labor scores a higher primary vote.

It is an uncomfortable reality for many voters in the community, but it is clear that the Liberals cannot win. No pollster or political analyst project that the Liberals will get a swing to them in inner metro Melbourne right now. The Liberals know this as much as the punters; worried about the surrounding blue-ribbon seats in Higgins, Goldstein and Kooyong.

The Liberal candidate Kate Ashmor would need to increase the Liberal’s vote by 1.4% minimum based on 2016 figures. However, they are behind in the polls nationally and more so in Melbourne (around 2%).  Further, in the November 2018 State Election, the Libs lost 10.6% of their vote in Albert Park and 6.3% of their vote in Caulfield. Even if she has impressed some locally, in the rest of the electorate Kate’s campaign has not been effective, it is unlikely that she has done enough to win back the votes they have lost let alone win new votes in the electorate. The Liberals would need to reverse all of their loses and they won’t, not in this campaign. The Liberals cannot win.

The most generous we can be about the Greens is to say that time and time again, they have repeatedly demonstrated they are not fit to represent our community.

It was evident when David Jeffery, a staffer of the Greens candidate Steph Hodgins-May referred to Israel as a genocidal state in a recent social media post. Jeffrey was not removed from the campaign, instead an apology was issued which came with a caveat that he has serious issues with the Jewish State of Israel.

It was evident when Hodgins-May refused the community debate in 2016 due to it being in partnership with a Zionist organisation. When she did attend the debate this year she avoided answering what Zionism means to her. The only question that challenged her on her former views, and would give the community a chance to know her real thoughts.

It was evident when Richard Di Natale condemned the life of the leading peace statesman of Israel, Shimon Peres in the wake of his death.

It is evident as the NSW Young Greens continue their blanket boycott of the only national Jewish Student Union, AUJS. The Young Greens have repeatedly rejected attending events with AUJS including apolitical events set up to promote student mental health. Richard Di Natale was asked and refused to condemn them on multiple occasions. In doing so he has made it clear the Greens only see the discrimination of Jews as excusable.

And it continues to be evident as Richard Di Natale stands by candidates who describe Israel as an Apartheid Regime, deny the terrorism of Hamas and support the boycott of Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv.

As such, J-Wire urges that Liberal voters in Macnamara vote strategically. The Liberals will get a primary vote high enough that their preferences won’t be distributed, but they’ll never win.

Putting Josh Burns first and the Liberals second, if one is so inclined, will give the voter’s ballot the best chance of avoiding the Greens winning the seat and taking the representation of Victoria’s most populous seat of members of the Jewish community.

Comments

13 Responses to “Can Macnamara remain Labor”
  1. Dr.Rodney Gouttman says:

    Why might not a percentage of the former pro-Danby vote leak to the Liberal candidate given Labor’s corrosive Arab-Israel policy?

    • Adrian Jackson says:

      Perhaps they want to support the likely winner despite all the fake opinion polls saying the opposition will win.

      However sad news tonight about Bob Hawkes death at 89 but that’s a respectable age to have lived and he has not been well for a while.

      • Adrian Jackson says:

        Well Dr Gouttman it did not happen, which surprised me to, with Ashmor doing worse than the Liberal candidate did last election despite the Liberal/Nation party’s vote doing well across Australia.

        However the Ashmor primary vote is still greater than Burns but the ALP will win with preferences from the Greens as usual. The Greens were about the same with their primary votes but Labor improved it vote considerably with election day, including prepolls, and postal votes counted so far.

  2. Levi Martons says:

    Not a single word in this “article” about the most important issue of the election, climate change?
    Not a single word about the treament and incarceration of refugees fleeing brutal treatment at the hands of authoritarian regimes?
    Not a single word about the policies of the major parties that have made it near impossible to bring elderly family members to spend their final years in Australia?

    Perspective?

  3. Douglas Kirsner says:

    It would be a great pity if Michael Danby’s richly deserved personal vote transferred to the Liberals this time for the reasons outlined very well. Voting Liberal in Macnamara is a wasted vote and worse will decrease the Labor vote so that potentially Labor could come in behind the Greens (It was close last time even with Michael Danby’s significant personal vote). If that happens–and it could easily–the Greens would win the seat on Labor preferences. It’s a complex preferential system, not a first past the post voting system. Our Jewish community would then be represented in Canberra by the Green Party! It is a great pity that Labor is preferencing the Greens but that is a sad reality we have to live with in this election and voting Liberal in the lower house in Macnamara may well help elect the Greens.as would any preferencing of the Greens above the Liberals for Labor voters. As I said in AJN, Jews voting or preferencing the Greens is like chickens praying for Shabbat!

  4. Robert Weil says:

    Liat Kirby, I would have thought that if J-Wire wants to not remain apolitical, and really has the interests of the Jewish community at heart, then it should be pushing for the highest possible primary vote for the Liberal candidate whose party has the runs on the board when it comes to support for Israel. This is not to personally disparage Josh Burns in any way who is a fine person and a worthy candidate for the A.L.P. Unfortunately though, the signals coming from many senior A.L.P.frontbenchers when it comes to Middle East geopolitics are a cause for alarm in the Jewish community.
    Furthermore, the fact that we need to formulate a ‘strategic choice’ of putting one party that we don’t particularly want to vote for ahead of the party we would prefer just in order to keep out the party we detest, to my mind illustrates the absurdity and undemocratic nature of the preferential system as opposed to ‘first past the post’ voting as is practiced in many other countries.

  5. Liat Kirby says:

    J-Wire obviously has the interests of the Jewish community in the Macnamara electorate at heart, also the welfare and longevity of Israel as a Jewish State. It’s definitely not a mouthpiece for the A.L.P., but rather recommends a strategic choice that might safeguard our interests and not throw us to the wolves that the Greens have proved to be. Also, one cannot expect a news medium to be apolitical, fair and balanced, yes, but never apolitical.

    • Adrian Jackson says:

      Liat – Really, a strategic choice? Jewish constituents make up about 10% of the electorate and like the rest of the other voters vote for a number for parties and independents, including the Liberals and Greens.

  6. Michael Burd says:

    michaelburd20@gmail.com

    A vote for a left controlled Labor / Greens / Soros funded Get Up / fascist Antifa coalition backed by fellow obsessed Israel /Zionist haters Fairfax , AbC , guardian, Walleeds Project , trade Unions , academia , really ?
    Not only is this insidious mob bad for Jews of course Jews that are not progressive left but bad for business including, shares , super and overall business confidence.
    Burns mAte Dreyfus will be the most dangerous Anti free speech AG in history!

  7. Robert Weil says:

    When did J-Wire transition from a news site to a political mouthpiece for the A.L.P. ?

    • Michael Barnett says:

      Indeed, how come this publication is now politically aligned with the ALP?

    • Adrian Jackson says:

      That’s what I thought. ALP was last when I voted on 29 Apr 19.

    • David Schulberg says:

      In the media I always thought it was the done thing for the editor to make a declaration as to where they stand before an election.

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