Oxley nominee won’t rule out solo stand
-
Queensland Times Friday March 6th 1998
by Mark Strong
Besieged Oxley pre-selection candidate Anne Scott said yesterday she would win a battle for the seat - and would not rule out standing as an independent if she lost.
Mrs Scott’s bid for Oxley pre-selection yesterday attracted media criticism from party national secretary Gary Gray, who said Australians would find it “grotesque” if Mrs Scott won the seat while her husband, Les, continued to take a parliamentary pension.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson defeated Mr Scott at the 1996 federal poll.
Ms Scott said she was saddened by Mr Gray’s attack, which was the culmination of an eight month ‘campaign by the hierarchy of the party’ to discredit her pre-selection bid.
She said Mr Gray had sought a meeting on the matter with her and Mr Scott at this year’s national Labor Party conference in Hobart.
“He threatened that if I did not withdraw my nomination he would personally intervene to make sure I didn’t win,” Ms Scott said.
“A very senior member of the Opposition frontbench said if I did not back off in Oxley I would have a bucket of muck tipped on me.
“Its being an ongoing campaign by the hierarchy to harass me into withdrawing my nomination that’s gone on since last July.
“They see Oxley as winnable and have a great deal of difficulty in pre-selecting women in winnable seats.”
The Queensland Times tried four times yesterday to contact Mr Gray on the issue but did not receive a response.
Party State secretary Mike Kaiser said he would not comment on the issue as the pre-selection was continuing.
Mrs Scott said she was confident she would finish first in the pre-selection ballot, with the issue to be determined in a Labor electoral college ballot on May 15.
However, she would not rule running as an independent if her pre-selection bid failed.
“I don’t intend ruling out anything, but it is hypothetical.” Ms Scott said when asked if she would run as an independent.
“It depends what happens on the 15th.
“Let’s just say there have been people in the wider community who have been saying I should contemplate it, but it’s not something I am looking at at the moment.”