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.
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Categories: Australian Federal Police
Good article. Abbott may be worried about opening a can of worms, but if he doesn’t take action it means any problems will be his responsibility in time. Maybe he thinks Kelpy will do the right thing by him.
Back when Amanda Vanstone was Minister for Justice she gave an interview in the Canberra Times in which she said she was “negotiating” with the AFP over budget matters.
I agree, that we need a Judicial Enquiry into this, as indeed people know, when they are being dudded.
The question that needs to be asked is “Who benefits from the missing votes?” That should be the first port of call by Mr Keelty. Which Senator(s) will now be sitting in the upper house who would not have been there before the recount and these votes going missing?? Can someone please fill me in on this…
The WA Electoral Commissioner Ed Killestey is a Labout Party appointment so why did he call in Mick Keelty? I wonder if Keelty’s political leaning is truly independent?
There has been unproven talk of officials ‘deciding’ who the voter intended the vote to go to. I cross all the names out and write all over the page so there can be no interpreting my intentions.
If the votes suddenly re-appear they should declared invalid, the fact that they have not been where they were supposed to be for some period of time indicates there could have been time to change the ballots. Did you ever wonder why we always vote in pencil? – pencil is so easy to rub out! I have asked about this when voting and have been told that I have to use a pencil or my vote my declared invalid or that the biro might leave a funny mark when the paper is folded and be declared invalid. It’s not good enough – voters should be allowed to use some way of marking their papers that can’t be changed later on and now you know why.
This is why I have stopped casting a valid vote. Too many scandals. Too many coverups.
It seems to me that corruptions runs deep here and I’ve had a gut-full…
I have never seen so many lame excuses for an informal vote. I am with you on the issue of our voting system seeming to be outdated by technology and as a result is open to corruption but that should not prevent everyone at least registering a vote until something better comes along after all, we should try to put our preference to work. I would hope that a judicial inquiry might be more interested in fixing the present problem than looking for a scapegoat.
Re The Bali nine for that I am very, very thankful to Mr Keelty having lost a friend to drugs. The penalty’s for the likes of people to import and sell MAJOR quantity’s of heroin in this country are far too soft. In respect of the other matters re Mr Keelty your article is very informative.
Surely they must call for a new election for the WA representatives in the Senate.
With the margin so close ,it is a disgrace that they are to procsrastinate on this matter.
I hope Palmer does go to the High Court if they do not make a proper decision.
Another giant stuff up by the so-called authorities or bureaucrats…whatever you like to call them. I just think this smells of skullduggery by someone in the know who wants to fiddle the books. How hard is it really to count votes and preferences etc…didn’t they teach these people maths at school…and it has been nearly 2 months since the election. The whole thing is a joke and I would not want Keelty looking after my dog for a day with his previous form. About time hanged the way of voting all together…but I suppose we’ll then have to watch the crooked people who will employ the best hackers in the world to beat the system!
My understanding is that The Greens senate hopeful that missed out first count and who called for the recount has now been elevated to a WA Senate seat with the missing ballots. The investigation into the missing ballots is a job for an unbiased team and not the very left leaning Keelty. The Electoral Commission must know who had access to these missing ballots and the public should be kept informed every step of the way so that vital information cannot be swept under the carpet as has happened many times before. The current result seems to favour those who are trying to stop the repealing of the carbon tax and that should worry all voters.
So they “lost” 1300 votes in WA, they “found” roughly the same number in Victoria to get rid of Sophie Mirabella, you win some, you lose some.
Why not Mick Keelty for the inquiry??? Jo Bjeilke Peterson once said “Never call for
an inquiry unless you already know the result”
Those votes may not have existed to start with. If so, they will never be found by Keelty or anyone else..just saying. Re use of pencils over AEC issuing biros at voting booths, i was told by S.A. election office, Biros don’t store well ! so there could be a waste. But feel free to use your own pen .
Looks like the bubbles are starting to burst for Government, at every turn now there being exposed for some form of corruption or cover up, Dirty Deals, bribery, Union Rip offs, the list could go much further, but I don’t wish to bore you all, and lets not forget how far back this corruption could have been going on, the mind boggles doesn’t it.
Seems to me the rule makers are the biggest breakers of those rules, we as a public should have the right to have a PUBLIC enquiry into these missing votes, as the judicial can’t be trusted and is just as corrupt thanks to the political system, as are most Government Departments, even our military is corrupt, just look at the cover ups in relation to the ADFA cases, this article is no different to the many articles Shane has published in the past, yet we seem powerless to enact our right to an honest transparent way of governance.
Surely there is something in the constitution that enables the Aust people to Fight Back and Sack the corrupt parties involved?
I realise this would mean sacking most of the politicians and councillors in each state and the NT, but would this really be a bad thing?
As far as I know you are permitted to mark your ballot in pen, but you must provide your own Blue or Black only pen/biro, as it would be to expensive for the AEC to provide the voting public pens to vote with, this was the AEC’s comment when Clive Palmer first raised concern’s over the way the ballots are handled and secured.
Seems to me it’s tax payer dollars that they utilise to pay for the election paraphernalia in the first place, our money, our decision, I WANT A PEN.
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL”
“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL”
Unfortunately the Australian people can never be united as the political system is a duopoly with only the choice between six of one or a half dozen of the other. Divide and rule is the sop since time immemorial and so called democracy is the farce whereby we are forced to elect one side or the other of the one .coin. The left and right side of politics fight each other vigorously and gives the impression that our vote for our preferred side will make a difference, but at the end of the day, the corrupt ‘coin’ rules regardless of the result.
Keelty. Funny. The fix is already in.
From the SMH:
Missing votes would have reversed WA result in Senate: Antony Green
New details of the missing votes in the Western Australian senate election support the result of the first count, which saw the Palmer United Party and Labor elected ahead of the Australian Sports Party and the Greens, according to elections expert Antony Green.
The ABC election analyst said on Friday that the emergence of the astonishing new details greatly increased the chances that the High Court would order a fresh Senate election for WA, as there was such a “tiny gap” between the four candidates vying for the final two spots.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/missing-votes-would-have-reversed-wa-result-in-senate-antony-green-20131108-2x6ru.html#ixzz2k2slsEC8