Archive for October 18th, 2007

Pizza and Senator Penny Wong

Good evening Stuart,

Your situation of being able to smell the pizza but not eat any of it It sounds quite arduous…and being left with half an anchovy. Perhaps I'll have to bring you something edible during my stay in Sydney next week.

Also, did you hear Steve Price talking to Senator Penny Wong this afternoon? I can't believe that the Labor party made her their campaign spokesperson. The way she kept avoiding the question about whether or not Kevin Rudd will turn up to the debate on Sunday was like listening to an answering machine. If the best they can do for a spokesperson is someone who repeats, word-for-word, their attempts at not answering questions, then I have to wonder why they even bother having a spokesperson.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

3 comments October 18th, 2007 at 11:00pm

The Rumour Is True!

That, of course, is based on the assumption that you are thinking of the same rumour that I am thinking of.

The rumour I am thinking of is the rumour that I have withdrawn from my run as an independent candidate in the upcoming federal election. I’m too late to prevent stupid comments like “I do not think he was ever serious about running for the House of Reps” from “act”, and I would be very surprised if I don’t receive a bunch of similar comments from the usual suspects over the coming days (if you don’t know who I’m referring to, consider yourself lucky).

Anyway, the mail main reason for my withdrawal from candidature is a lack of support. Despite the handful of people who have put their hand up to sign my nomination form this week, I am still well short of the required fifty signatures. At the beginning of the week, when I made this decision, I was short of twenty signatures, and had about a week to get just over 30 more.

It wasn’t impossible, but at that stage, with a couple other minor issues getting in the way (issues that I could have overcome but were just incredibly inconvenient and poorly timed), and the fact that I have non-refundable bookings for a week-long holiday in Sydney next week that I booked nearly two months ago, I decided that the best option for me, and for Fraser, was for me to withdraw from the race.

Another thing which really hit home on Sunday whilst I was standing outside Government House waiting for the Prime Minister to arrive and meet the Governor-General, was that as much as I was telling myself that I was there as a candidate to witness an historic event, I couldn’t shake the fact that I was there as a journalist (and before any of the usual suspects get started, no, not just for this website). I enjoy journalism, I enjoy being a caller on talkback radio, and oddly, I like the little bit of anonymity that affords me. These things just don’t mix with politics.

I’m certainly not going to rule out a shot at the ACT election next year, but I’m not committing to it at this stage either. In many ways I am very disappointed with this decision to withdraw, and I would only commit to another run for office if I was able to be sure that I would stay right through to the election, and then (if I should be so fortunate) the four year term of office which might follow it.

I have learnt a lot from the last month or so. It has been a very worthwhile experience, and whilst I had a fair deal of respect for politicians before all of this, my respect for them (even if I disagree with a lot of them) has increased quite a bit.

I will take this website out of campaign mode shortly, but I suppose I should probably pre-empt one more question first, why did it take me so long to make my decision public if I made up my mind on Sunday? Simply so that I could inform a number of people who have been very supportive of me first. One of them did not get back in to town until yesterday, and I wanted to be sure that he knew before I made the announcement.

For those of you who are interested, the campaign website has been archived and can still be accessed at https://samuelgordonstewart.com/independent/

Any (sensible) questions, please feel free to ask.

Samuel

8 comments October 18th, 2007 at 02:03am


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