When Tony Abbott faced a leadership spill in February, newly elected MP Andrew Nikolic seized an opportunity to ingratiate himself with his boss. In what can only be seen as a very bold and somewhat presumptuous move for a newbie, Nikolic very publicly wrote to his colleagues urging them to vote against the spill.
Lo and behold, in a classic example of shooting the messenger, Abbott sacked chief whip Phillip Ruddock and Nikolic was promoted to a whip position. Not bad considering he had only been in Parliament for 18 months. He has now taken up the position of chief head-nodder.
Nikolic is a man after Abbott’s own heart.
He is a retired Brigadier and a former public servant in the Department of Defence. In 2007 he wrote a paper for the U.S. Army War College Strategy Research Project titled “Iran and the United Sates: Interests, Options, Consequences” in which he said:
“US interests demand stronger containment of Iran, concurrent efforts to generate a more effective international response, and a willingness to preempt an Iranian nuclear weapons capability if necessary. In the event that credible evidence emerges of a maturing Iranian nuclear weapons capability, then the US must be willing to employ preemptive force to prevent Iran from acquiring the added protection of nuclear deterrence. In essence US national security interests demand a proactive rather than an avoidant strategy in dealing with Iran.”
Abbott has a firm backer for all things military
When running for election in Tasmania, Nikolic said his “economic priority is to revitalise existing industries like forestry and mining, while concurrently helping the North win its fair share of Defence projects.”
He also suggested linking the Australian Maritime College’s education programs into the multibillion-dollar oil and gas exploration projects off northern Australia,and restoring commercial shipping at Bell Bay.
“Revitalising our economy also requires an end to illegal protests and disproportionate Greens Party influence.”
Pro-logging and mining and anti-environmentalist – what more could you want.
Nikolic will even attack his own constituents if he feels they are being critical of the government.
When university lecturer Dr Michael Powell wrote a letter to the editor of the Launceston Examiner blasting funding cuts to the university and calling on Mr Nikolic to decide whether to “stand up for the university” or be “merely a mouthpiece” for the Abbott government, Nikolic hit back in a letter published by the Examiner but went a step further and emailed Powell’s boss, university vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen.
In 2012, as the Liberal candidate for the seat of Bass, he was accused of online bullying when he threatened to go to the employers of 13 people who “liked” a satirical story about him posted on Facebook.
He wrote to all 13 people who clicked the “like” button after reading the story but did not go through with his threat to contact their employers.
Tasmanian Labor senator Helen Polley said “He is obsessed with anyone in our community that challenges his view and expresses a different view about this unfair budget that they brought down. He has been unrelenting in his personal attacks and putting pressure on people who dare to critique this budget.”
Silencing criticism – what a good little Liberal he is. But wait…there’s more.
Mr Nikolic is part of the committee that selects bills to be debated and made it clear the marriage equality bill would not be on the agenda any time soon.
“Anyone who thinks that this should be prioritised over economic or national security issues has rocks in their head and is totally misreading the needs of the Australian people,” he said.
“[The bill] is a poor attempt by someone to generate momentum on an issue where there is none”.
Perhaps Mr Nikolic should listen to his media researchers and the focus groups the Libs usually love so much. After all, his government is paying these people tens of millions to find out what we think.
In July 2014, one of Australia’s leading research companies, Crosby/Textor, released a survey of 1000 Australians regarding their views on marriage equality.
The survey showed support for marriage equality is at its highest level ever at 72%. and that 83% of Australians support a free vote on marriage equality. The survey also showed majority support in every demographic, including people of faith, people in regional and rural areas and older people.
Mark Textor said at the time:
“With Australians across all key demographics supporting marriage equality in record numbers, it’s fair to say the public has made up its mind, the community debate is over, and it’s time for politicians to act.
We will be using this landmark research to work with Government members who have yet to declare support for reform to show them they have nothing to fear.”
Another recently promoted Liberal, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who is now parliamentary secretary with responsibility for community engagement on counter-terrorism, is repaying her boss by saying the move was an “ambush” and “played into the hands of the Government’s political opponents”.
“Any change of this magnitude requires appropriate consultation and not the sort of ambush approach some of my colleagues have chosen to take,” she said.
Is she suggesting that there has been no consultation or discussion within the Coalition ranks? I fail to see how this could be considered an ambush. I though their complaint was that Bill Shorten was playing politics but it appears it is the government who is doing just that.
Ms Fierravanti-Wells criticised her moderate colleagues for showing “bad judgment” by allowing independent MP Cathy McGowan to co-sponsor the bill.
“Why are we giving her a platform? We have just started a campaign to win her seat [of Indi] back,” she said.
Does this mean that Sophie Mirabella is going to run on a platform of discrimination? Good luck with that.
But perhaps the most bizarre comment on the marriage equality debate came from Eric Abetz who said we should be following Asia rather than America.
“The Labor Party … and journalists tell us time and time again that we are living in the Asian century. Tell me how many Asian countries have redefined marriage?”
As Barrie Cassidy pointed out, in countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan and Bangladesh homosexuality itself is illegal.
Abbott is busy promoting lickspittles like Nikolic who obediently go very public in telling us what we think. It has come time to let them know what we think. The only way this will get anywhere is if MPs feel the heat.
You can find out where your elected representative stands on marriage equality here and it also gives contact details and an example letter that you may wish to send to your MP.
Let’s use the fear tactic back on them. The only thing that gets through is to threaten those in marginal seats with electoral punishment.
Make democracy work.
