Young Libs: Stupid or set up?

Not so long ago, I wiled away the hours keeping busy in a 'youth' political movement. We were young, idealistic, and desperate to put ourselves front-and-centre whenever there were jobs and preselections on offer. Unfortunately, as a Young Democrat, these things were few and far between. From all reports, not much has changed in the two years since I left. Whilst it was a lot of fun, and we desperately craved attention, there was always a clear rule: never embarrass the party or its public representatives.

In practice, this meant that you never got too drunk in public, never make public statements challenging the party line, and never air your dirty laundry in public.

Easy, right?

Not if these stories are correct:

THE AGE: Feathers fly at Young Liberals' shindig
By Farrah Tomazin
State political reporter
August 2, 2005

With scuffles, verbal abuse and excessive drinking, the Victorian Young Liberals' annual ball turned into a very big night out.

But as the hangovers clear after the weekend event, allegations linger that members of the Melbourne University Liberal Club and their friends engaged in "thuggery and intimidation", calling other guests "left-wing wankers" and upsetting the guest speaker, party elder statesman Tony Staley.

Former state MP Inga Peulich last night told how she was forced to "exercise a bit of crowd control" when two warring groups faced off on the banks of the Yarra outside the warehouse where the ball was being held.

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THE AGE: Young Libs attack gender equality and Petro Georgiou
By Farrah Tomazin
State political reporter
August 3, 2005

Victoria's Young Liberals want to end one of Sir Robert Menzies' founding principles — mandatory gender equality in the party.

The state's Young Liberals movement this week passed a motion opposing "all affirmative action within the Liberal Party — including, but not limited to, gender-specific positions within the Liberal Party".

Many senior Liberals are appalled by the push to abandon principles that have been in the party since its creation in the 1940s, when Menzies enshrined rules into its constitution to ensure women were equally represented.

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HERALD SUN: Young Libs' terror hit squad
By Peter Mickelburough
03aug05

VICTORIA's Young Liberals have called on the Howard Government to train hit squads to track down those behind the Bali bombing.

The "war on terror" motion was adopted with a two-thirds majority at a Young Liberal Movement meeting on Monday night.


Clearly, there's plenty of leaking going on. But by whom, and with what motive?

Surely it wouldn't be Inga Peulich, the apparent hero of the Saturday night scuffle, trying to discredit the Young Libs, who rumour has it opposed her in preselection for the new Southern Metro LegCo seat?

Comments

boy_fromOz said…
I seem to recall a first-hand account of the ice-throwing incident from last year's ball by a mutual acquaintance...
Anonymous said…
Youth politics really is quite dire in this country - across the political board as far as I can tell.

Probably a case of both I reckon.
Anonymous said…
costello and kroger have apparently dumped peulich from the endorsed factional ticket. she has no cahnce of winning now.

she's realised that she had no chance of winning over the branches involved in this and has since decided that it's better to embarrass the whole lot.

But the fact remains, inga will not be preselected.

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