Conflict of Interest or Mysogyny in Liberal Party Power Politics
Brian Loughnane and Peta Credlin are married. Brian is the Federal Director of the Liberal Party and his wife Peta Credlin is the Chief of Staff to Tony Abbott. There have been reports of a division in the Liberal Party some stating Peta is a dominant figure who has influence over Tony Abbott. That is not surprising given she is his advisor. However, her husband is the Federal Director and it seems these two people are influencing the Prime Minister. That is not surprising. However, how does that impact democracy in the Liberal Party?
I have pasted an overview of this couple from Wikipedia and an article from the Sydney Morning Herald about Mysogyny. I have to smile at the latter one given Julia Gillard’s claims now backed by Tony Abbott, mysogyny does exist in politics. Funny how karma works. Draw your own conclusions.
My question is – what is democracy in Australia in reality?
How do people determine when influence undermines democratic party discussion?
What of fundraising donors – who are they? What are their interests? Do they undermine democracy?
Why can’t the government pay for all campaigns to take influence out of politics?
How to turn politicians into democrats?
Is politics undertaken in a context of bullying?
Is politics run by agenda’s outside of Australia?
Are there individuals who seek to influence politics undermining democracy (one vote one value)?
Brian Loughnane and Peta Credlin
Matthew Knott, Friday, 23 December 2011
When it comes to wielding influence in the Liberal Party, Brian Loughnane and Peta Credlin put many well-known members of Tony Abbott’s shadow cabinet to shame. The husband and wife are two of the opposition leader’s most trusted advisers on strategy and policy, and both can take credit for the Libs’ soaring popularity in the polls.
Abbott meets with Credlin and Loughnane – as well as an inner circle of senior MPs – each morning parliament sits to plan the day ahead. Both are also reported to have played a role in Abbott’s decision to switch support from Peter Reith to Alan Stockdale in the battle for the Liberal Party’s presidency.
“Credlin, [press secretary Andrew] Hirst and Loughnane are the three people Abbott listens to most,” a Liberal insider tells The Power Index.
Credlin is Abbott’s chief of staff – a role she also played under Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull. Six foot tall, with a long face and a shock of brown hair, she’s an imposing figure with an imposing personality.
“She’s tough, she’s a player, she makes demands, she gives directions, she bawls people out,” a respected Liberal powerbroker, who rates her as more powerful than Nick Minchin or Christopher Pyne, told The Power Index earlier this year.
Credlin travels everywhere with Abbott, organises his diary, hires and fires staffers, and oversees his media appearances. She’s the one who’s kept Abbott, once regarded as something of a loose cannon, so ruthlessly on message throughout the year. The Queen of No, as she calls herself, has also cracked down on non-media staffers fraternising with the press gallery.
She’s got a lot of admirers – but also a heap of enemies. Backbenchers who have been on the receiving end of one of Credlin’s savage text messages find her overly abrasive. Party elders, meanwhile, worry she’s obsessed with short-term political gains at the expense of strong policies.
Credlin’s husband Brian Loughnane, is the less colourful and less combative of the two. Grey-haired and bespectacled, he’s one of the true stayers of Australian politics. The Liberal Party’s federal director since 2003, Loughnane is cemented in the job despite leading the party to one victory and two defeats.
“A year before the election, people were expecting a Liberal wipeout,” says a former top Liberal staffer. “To get so close to victory is an extraordinary feather in Abbott’s hat and in Loughnane’s hat … He’s the best guy going around.”
Loughnane’s credited with coining the ”L-plate” tag that worked a treat against Labor leader Mark Latham in 2004 and is skilled at building a strong campaigning team. He’s not loved – or even admired – by his conservative comrades but he is trusted and respected.
John Howard has previously described him as a ”straight-shooter, very dependable, and administratively good”.
The story of Loughnane and Credlin’s courtship, recounted by The Australian‘s Kate Legge last month, sounds like something out of a Richard Curtis rom com.
In 2000, Credlin’s mentor, former Liberal Party Senator Kay Patterson, read an article about Loughnane describing him as a man “consumed by politics” whose only hobbies, apart from horse racing, were US politics and political paraphernalia. It also explained that he had grown up in Victoria’s western district, not far from Credlin’s hometown of Colac. Patterson stuck the article on Credlin’s computer and said, “You need to marry this man”.
Patterson then engineered a role for Credlin at Victorian headquarters during the November 2001 federal campaign where she and Loughnane, 13 years her elder, worked closely together. They were married in December 2002.
Some in the Liberal Party grumble about a husband and wife holding such power, arguing it is limiting Abbott’s strategic options. How can a pollie go to Loghnane during an election campaign, for example, and complain about Credlin’s performance?
It’s not an argument Victorian Liberal Party grandee Michael Kroger accepts.
“I think the evidence is it works tremendously effectively,” he tells The Power Index. “You just need to look at Tony Abbott’s performance and the party’s performance federally. It’s not an accident.”
And they’re only just getting started. If Abbott sweeps to victory at the next election, as the polls suggest he will, Credlin and Loughnane could well become the most powerful political couple this country’s ever seen.
Wikipedia profiles as follows:
Brian Loughnane
Early career
Commencing his career with Shell Australia in 1982, Loughnane was responsible for industrial relations at the Geelong oil refinery during the introduction of enterprise bargaining.[1]
Political career
In 1992, he was appointed as an advisor to Vin Heffernan, the Minister for Small Business in the Kennett government and in 1994 he became Chief of Staff to Alexander Downer, the federal Leader of the Opposition. When John Howard succeeded Downer as opposition leader in early 1995, Loughnane was appointed as Howard’s Chief of Staff, serving until May 1995, before appointment to a senior executive role with Gas and Fuel Corporation for twelve months. He returned to politics in 1996 and served as Chief of Staff to John Moore in his capacities as Minister for Industry, Science and Tourism and as Minister for Defence.[1] However, Loughnane and Moore fell out badly with Paul Barratt, the then Secretary of the Department of Defence. Barratt later accused Loughnane of having a propensity to “talk across the minister.”[2]
Between October 2000 to February 2003 Loughnane was State Director of the Victorian Division of the Party. He was campaign director for the 2001 by-election for the federal Division of Aston (Liberal retain) and the 2002 Victorian state election (Labor returned).
Upon his appointment as Federal Director of the Liberal Party, Loughnane has served as Campaign Director for the party at the federal elections held in 2004 (Coalition returned), 2007 (Labor win), 2010 (Labor returned) and 2013 (Coalition win). Considered a classic “backroom operator”,[2] in 2010 Loughnane had a rare public dispute with his deputy, James McGrath; thought to relate to the party’s level of finances,[3] with others believing that Loughnane feared that McGrath had ambitions on his job.[4] McGrath was recruited from Britain’s Conservative Party by former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull.
Loughnane is credited with inspiring the L-plate tag that hit the former Labor leader Mark Latham during 2004.[2][5]
Personal
Loughnane is married to Peta Credlin, the Chief of Staff for Tony Abbott, the current Prime Minister of Australia.[2] They married in December 2002 after the 2001 federal election where they worked together in the Victorian office of the Liberal Party in a move engineered by Senator Kay Patterson.[5]
NB>interesting connection to the energy industry!
Peta Credlin
Career as advisor
After working for several years on Patterson’s staff, Credlin moved to become an advisor to Senator Richard Alston, the Minister for Communications in the Howard Government.[5]
She then left politics, and worked for three years as public relations manager for Racing Victoria. Tired of the commute between Melbourne and Canberra, where her husband Brian Loughnane was based, Credlin returned to her career as a political staffer, working for Senators Robert Hill and Helen Coonan.[5]
When the Howard Government was defeated at the 2007 federal election, Credlin moved to Sydney to work at the Jockey Club until she was asked by Brendan Nelson, who had been elected federal Liberal leader and Leader of the Opposition, to join his staff. When Malcolm Turnbull challenged Nelson for the party leadership, Nelson counselled her to join Turnbull’s team and she was appointed his chief of staff, although she was demoted to deputy during this tenure. When Turnbull himself was challenged and defeated by Tony Abbott in December 2009, Credlin joined Abbott’s staff.[5]
Personal life
Credlin has been married to Brian Loughnane, federal director of the Liberal Party of Australia, since December 2002. They had worked together in the Victorian office of the Liberal Party during the campaign for 2001 federal election.[6] In 2013, Credlin pleaded guilty to a drink driving offence but did not have conviction recorded against her.[7][8]
Credlin is Roman Catholic.[9]
Below are articles on the mysogyny issue. Perhaps this has arisen because of a threat. Ultimately it is about perceived power over. Perhaps the same applied to Julia Gillard. I just smile at Tony Abbott being the one to raise it. I wonder what the real issue is?
http://www.news.com.au/national/tony-abbott-is-crying-sexism/story-fncynjr2-1227153420145
PRIME Minister Tony Abbott has accused his colleagues of sexism in a move that has stunned many.
Amid reports of growing tensions between his powerful chief of staff Peta Credlin and his senior ministers, Mr Abbott has made it clear he thinks there is at least some sexism at play.
“Do you really think that my chief of staff would be under this kind of criticism if her name was P-E-T-E-R as opposed to P-E-T-A?” Mr Abbott told ABC television.
When asked whether this comment was directed at his colleagues, Mr Abbott said: “I think people need to take a long hard look at themselves with some of these criticisms.”
Some MPs have accused Ms Credlin of micro-managing, with a former key adviser to Defence Minister David Johnson this month accusing the Prime Minister’s office of running Australia’s defence policy by stealth.
There were also reports, which have never been comprehensively denied, that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop “went bananas” after she was told that the Prime Minister’s Office wanted Trade Minister Andrew Robb to “chaperone” her to this week’s climate change negotiations in the Peruvian capital of Lima.
PM Tony Abbott confers with his chief of staff Peta Credlin during Question Time. Source: News Limited
Mr Abbott told ABC that if people had a problem with his office then they should bring the complaints to him.
“This is the same office which ran a very effective opposition, it’s the same office which has got an enormous amount done this year sometimes under very difficult circumstances.”
Mr Abbott was famously criticised for being a misogynist by former prime minister Julia Gillard. At the time Ms Gillard was accused by fellow Liberal MP and current speaker Bronwyn Bishop of using the gender card to ‘play a victim’.
Mr Abbott also said in a speech to the Food and Grocery Council that: “Alas, we have a government which … tends to play the gender card to try to deflect what is legitimate criticism.”
The fact that Mr Abbott is now calling out sexism has been greeted with disbelief among many Aussies, including his colleages. A Liberal parliamentarian told Fairfax that MPs would not take too kindly being labelled sexists.
“This has all the hallmarks of Julia Gillard’s paranoia,” the source said.
Oh my God! Abbott now using #sexism to defend #Peta. You boundless hypocrite!
— Just a Dame (@muso1947) December 11, 2014
hey Abbott, it’s ok for a man to call out sexism, but if a women does she’s just making excuses hey #auspol #GotIt
— Jansant (@Jansant) December 11, 2014
PM suggests his CofS might not have been as criticised were she a man. Apparently this didn’t apply to Gillard. http://t.co/5KxFUObx2C
— Malcolm Farr (@farrm51) December 11, 2014
And maybe you @TonyAbbottMHR would have behaved quite differently to @JuliaGillard if the PM’s name was Julian, not Julia @BreakfastNews
— Dame Ann McGlynn (@anncherie49) December 11, 2014
@mjrowland68 @BreakfastNews Abbott’s sudden “recognition” of entrenched sexism will get no sympathy when he has been so offensive for years
— beigewash (@beigewash) December 11, 2014
@latikambourke Big noise you heard was Aussies spitting out weetbix when they heard @TonyAbbottMHR imply Libs sexist! #auspoI #whodathought
— Veronique Bouchamps (@VeeVeeBooch) December 11, 2014
I don’t think it’s sexism causing criticism of Credlin. That’s just a typical distraction technique often used by Abbott.
— WomanOfWesternSydney (@SElizaP) December 11, 2014
Abbott trying to play the sexism card on behalf of Credlin. Repulsive.
— Emilie Barton (@emiliebarton_) December 11, 2014
Abbott accusing others of sexism. “Hi kettle. This is the pot…” #auspoI
— Kel (@kelmareeb) December 11, 2014
When I say ‘You’re right and you’re a hypocrite’ all at the same time. http://t.co/OvtqfXC1bc
— DeeMadigan (@deemadigan) December 11, 2014
I actually agree with Abbott that the Credlin stuff is sexism and I’ve said as much before. it still wins the hypocrisy award. #auspol
— Dame Holly Has A Hat (@Lee_Tennant) December 11, 2014
Others questioned why Mr Abbott couldn’t call out sexism:
Oh okay, so Julia Gillard can cry sexism but Tony Abbott can’t make the same comment about CoS Peta Credlin’s recent treatment?
— Adam Smith (@rightway2govern) December 11, 2014
There has been a number of reports this month suggesting that the working relationship between Ms Credlin and Ms Bishop had broken down.
“They are like two Siamese fighting fish stuck in the same tank,” one frontbencher told The Australian.
RELATED: Bishop v Credlin. Blame Tony Abbott
It’s been speculated that Ms Bishop has shone as foreign minister while Mr Abbott and others in the cabinet have struggled this year, prompting Ms Credlin to want to “clip her wings”.
Now Ms Bishop is believed to have made the decision that she will no longer take orders from Ms Credlin, and she is not the only one.
“It’s not fair to give the appearance it is only Julie who has a problem with Peta — lots of other ministers do as well,” one Liberal MP told The Australian.
Gillard takes aim at Abbott
But both women have denied suggestions of a rift. “There is no rift between Peta and me. I have never had a cross word with her. The Prime Minister and I are working as a team, I do not covet anybody else’s job,” Ms Bishop said.
However, the tension has fuelled speculation that Ms Credlin, who is married to the Liberal Party’s federal director Brian Loughnane, could leave Mr Abbott’s office and take up a seat in the House of Representatives or Senate at the 2016 election. Ms Credlin has denied she is looking at taking up a seat.
Mr Abbott has been under pressure with opinion polls showing support for him has plummeted. This month he has announced numerous policy backdowns as he attempts to claw back votes.