Oz Politics Blog

In terms of his occupation, in 1998 it was listed as “Cultural Conservation”. His current occupation is “Progressing Rural NSW”, something he manages to achieve with a postal address in Strawberry Hills, just around the corner from Sydney’s Central Railway Station.

He is also a member of the Newtown Branch of Rotary, and he has a number of links to Fiji (see here and here, for example).

He allegedly changed his name from Stone to Aussie-Stone, back in the days when names were printed on the ballot paper in alphabetical order.

He is also a former Labor Party operative involved in branch stacking, allegedly at the behest of Mark Latham (although Latham has denied this).

The SMH article includes a nice photo of Mr Bargshoon.

He contested this seat in 2004, and got 4.87 per cent of the primary vote. For this he was paid almost $7000 in election funding.

One I found was a former deputy-mayor of Blacktown, and a “patriotic activist.”

There is also a Joe Bryant on the Citizen’s Electoral Council website, who is the National Coordinator of United People Power.

There is this rant from a Joe Bryant. Suggesting that he may be a member of the Australia First Party.

And there is the Joe Bryant who convened the Eureka Freedom Commemoration And Constitutional Convention in Ballarat in December 2004.

And the AEC know of a Joe Bryant who founded the Independent Freedom and Family movement and was President of the Independent EEF party. This one was also a Deputy Mayor of Blacktown.

These may all be same person, but then again they might not. And some or all may or may not be the Joe Bryant running in the Werriwa by-election.

Update: The SMH reported that former Blacktown councillor Joe Bryant is using a photo of his daughter rather than himself in advertising because, he says, he is too ugly. Mr Bryant has eight children and 16 grandchildren.

He contested this seat in 2004, and got 2.36 per cent of the primary vote.

Here is a piece on his work as a consultant to the Police Federation. I found the following paragraph amusing.

“We struggled to talk to ministers,” says PFA consultant, Chris Hayes. “People didn’t want to have anything to do with us. We were just seen as somebody else turning up, and probably just another trade union.”

There is an official biography here:

Mike Head, 52, stood for the SEP in Werriwa in the October 2004 federal election. He joined the Socialist Labour League (SLL), the predecessor to the SEP, in 1975. He was born in Melbourne and attended school there before studying law at Monash University and New York’s Columbia University. In 1981 he stood as the SLL’s candidate in the federal seat of Wills against former ACTU president Bob Hawke, and in 1995 stood in Campbelltown in the NSW state elections. Between 1985 and 1998 Head was editor of Workers News. Married with three children, he currently lectures in law at the University of Western Sydney and is a regular contributor to the World Socialist Web Site on Australian and international politics.

He contested this seat in 2004, and got 0.64 per cent of the primary vote.

The SMH also has this on Lees

Perhaps the biggest statement came from local shock jock Mal Lees saying that the by-election in the safe-Labor seat is a bit of joke.

The unlikely winner is running as an independent for Werriwa as a prank.

The radio commentator, heard on Campbelltown station C91.3, said his platforms will be free beer, abolishing tollways and holding a loud-shirt day once a month in parliament.

“I will be making a myriad of promises I don’t intend to keep over the coming weeks,” Mr Lees said.

“I will not be sending my proposals to treasury for costing.”

Mal works here. There is also a picture of Mal with Mark Latham here.

Official biographies are here and here.

People Power has selected Deborah Locke to contest the Werriwa by-election on 19 March.

The by-election follows Mark Latham’s resignation from federal parliament.

Deborah is a former Detective in the NSW Police who blew the whistle on police corruption in the 1990s, and with independent MP John Hatton, initiated the Wood Royal Commission. Her first book Watching the Detectives (ABC Books) described this story. She is currently writing a book concerning the investigation into the death of an Australian Protective Services Officer in 2002.

Deborah is frequently called upon as a speaker and commentator on issues of police culture and ethics. She has been a longstanding member of Whistleblowers Australia.

Deborah and her husband, Greg have three children - Vanessa (12), Hayes (8) and Bronte (7). Hayes has autism, ADHD, and an intellectual disability. Through her experiences with Hayes, Deborah has added disability and carer issues to her campaigning agenda. She is a board member of the Learning Difficulties Coalition of NSW and a founding member (currently, secretary) of the Inner West Autism and Aspergers Support Group.

There is also a letter from Debbie.

Ms Locke is the only contestant to spam me so far, (she even used my work email address). It was pretty pointless as I do not live in the seat of Werriwa.

Patricia McGookin, emigrated from Northern Ireland 30 years ago and recently as a mature aged, part time student gained an Honours Degree in Political Science at Western Sydney

There is also a media release here.

Pat’s email address suggests she might work here.

He said he was not disappointed that he was last on the ballot paper.

“I’m lucky last, so I’ll stand out from the crowd,” he said.

Mr Mannoun, who will campaign mainly on upgrading the M5 motorway, said he was a “controversial” candidate because he “wasn’t here to hug and kiss babies”.

“What I am here to do is make sure those babies have a strong future,” he said.

Ned’s email address suggests he might work here.

He is also a regular at Inside Politics where he uses the handle Sven and signs his posts,

Member for Werriwa
Social Democratic Green Party

He is a regular at the Sydney University Greens on Campus. (Note: there is something slightly odd about that last link).

Ben is the author of this paper on Constitutional Change.

He contested this seat in 2004, and got 3.13 per cent of the primary vote.

As far as I can see, there is nothing on the Family First website about Mick.

Greg is a third generation Australian and he has a passionate love for this country. He’s been married to Amanda for 14 years and has 6 children. Greg has lived in the Western Suburbs for most of his life. Greg is trained as a graphic designer and runs a small business, Leaflet Design, designing corporate logos and brochures. He also teaches a number of religious education classes in local schools - a role he has enjoyed for over 20 years.

Both the above links have photos of Greg. He looks remarkably young to have been married for 14 years.

Greg contested the seat of Greenway in 2004, and got 2.82 per cent of the vote.

He contested Werriwa in 2001 where he got 2.46 per cent of the vote.

Robert contested the seat of Wentworth in 2004, and got 0.46 per cent of the vote.

Janey contested Werriwa in 2001 where she got 1.76 per cent of the vote.

She has also stood for the NSW Parliament on a number of occasions, including the Campbelltown by-election in 2001, where she got 8.3 per cent of the vote.

Update: Finally a little something on James Young from the SMH

Liberal Party member James Young is running as an independent after party headquarters decided to save money and not run. He is directing preferences to former Blacktown councillor Joe Bryant.