Former Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, who has a long history of gross incompetence and sweeping government corruption under the carpet, has been appointed to investigate the missing 1375 senate votes in Western Australia. But why hasn’t it been referred to the state or federal police? Surely that is the first thing they would do once they knew the votes have possibly been stolen. It all sounds very dodgy.
The missing votes looks like being the catalyst for a new Senate election in WA as Clive Palmer has flagged he will appeal to the High Court of Australia.
Background to missing votes
I will keep this brief as most people have a fair idea of the background. Australia had a federal election on the 7th of September 2013. Each state elects its representatives in the lower house and 6 Senators in the upper house. In WA the election was close for the 5th and 6th Senator positions. A recount was called and the vote has now been overturned and two new Senators fill the 5th and 6th places in WA.
One person who lost their senate seat is from the Palmer United Party and their leader Clive Palmer has said they will appeal. It is being reported that the second vote count came down to just a few votes “Senator Ludlam said on Twitter that he believes the margin in the partial recount was just 12 votes.“ (Click here to read more) So the stolen 1375 votes could have easily changed the result.
The missing 1375 votes were announced by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on Thursday the 31st October and at the same time it was announced that Mick Keelty would investigate.
It raises many questions. How long did they know that the votes were missing? If they had time to organise Mick Keelty to investigate why did they not have time to pick up the phone and call the police.
The SMH reports: “Electoral commissioner Ed Killesteyn apologised for the missing papers, which he said could not be found despite “exhaustive efforts” to locate them.” (Click here to read more)
Well Ed, if they cannot be found after “exhaustive efforts” they have probably been stolen and it is time to call the real police, not some former corrupt cop like Keelty.
Why no one wants to touch the theft of the missing votes
It is standard practice in government to cover-up government corruption. This includes the federal police covering up federal government corruption. I have written about this numerous times with two recent posts being “Australian Federal Police caught concealing international bribery again and again” and “The Canberra Mafia. How and why the Australian Federal Government conceal corruption.”
In relation to the federal police investigating corruption in the government: ”They have a conflict of interest,” John McMillan, the former Commonwealth Ombudsman, says. ”They do not want to expose a weakness in their own procedures or have the public questioning the integrity of their process. By and large the interest of an agency is to avoid any publicity questioning … its efficiency or integrity.” (Click here to read more)
At the end of the day the AEC in a government body and they want someone like Keelty who has experience in sweeping the corruption under the carpet in control. So one wonders who appointed Mick Keelty and how was he appointed and on what basis?
Who is Mick Keelty
Bribery Scandal
Mr Keelty himself could be in court early next year to answer allegations of covering up the Saddam Hussein / AWB $300 bribery scandal. In the Federal Court matter VID215/2012 “Rosario Fusca v The Commonwealth of Australia as represented by Australian Federal Police” Mr Fudsa, who was the lead AFP investigator into the bribery scandal, is alleging that under Mr Keelty’s watch at the AFP he was offered a promotion to sweep the investigation under the carpet. (Click here to read more)
Dr Haneef terrorist false arrest
Then there was the infamous Dr Haneef false arrest stuff-up by Mick Keelty when he was commissioner which cost the tax payer over $10 million. (Click here to read more)
Bali Nine
The most disgusting of Mick Keelty’s handiwork is the Bali Nine matter where he breached Australian protocol and helped in obtaining the death sentence of Australian citizens in a foreign country. (Click here to read more) Mick had a guilt trip and later testified for one of the convicted drug smugglers. (Click here to read more)
There is plenty more that could be written about Mick Keelty and his time as commissioner of the federal police, but the point is that he is not competent or honest enough to be investigating the missing votes. (For my other posts on the federal police click here)
There needs to be a judicial enquiry into the missing votes
The cornerstone of any democracy is that you vote for your government. 1375 votes have gone missing and the reasons need to be totally accounted for. Who, when, where and why about every little detail should be investigated and made public so that the Australian public can have full confidence in the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
There is also the fact that if the thieves are not caught they might try vote rigging or stealing again. Branch stacking in both the major parties is quite common so it is plausible that it has been done before or will be in the future.
To just ignore it and have some hatchet job done by some crony like Keelty is not good enough. This is one where Prime Minister Tony Abbott really has to step up to the plate and set up a judicial inquiry to restore the Australian publics confidence. While the stolen votes have received a fair amount of media coverage, it can and will be a massive story over the next 12 months and beyond as there is too much riding on it such as the make-up of the Senate for the next six years.
This site is reliant on donations to keep publishing. If you would like to support the continuance and growth of this site it would be greatly appreciated if you make a donation. Click on the below button to donate via PayPal or go to the donations page for other donation options (Click here to go to the Donations page)
If you would like to buy a t-shirt or coffee mug visit my online shop (Click here to visit the shop)
If you would like to follow this site by email you can at the top right side of this page and about once a week you will get an email when there is a new post/story on this site.
Thank you for your support.