Grubby politics indeed!!

Hey there everyone. I am after some advice with regard to the scary practices of one individual, Peter Warren Consandine, who yesterday (14 Jan. 06) was on King St, Newtown (NSW) signing up members for his Republican Party of Australia (http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/Who/party_reg/registered/rpa.htm). Now, I have to disclose that as a member of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM / http://www.republic.org.au) I was obviously interested in Mr Consandine's little stall.

We got talking about politics and it all seemed fine. He said membership was only $10, but I only had a $5 note… I was joined up as an ‘honorary member’ at a special price. It was all good. I got to filling out his various petitions but refused to sign the petition that called for the abolition of the state governments (middle tier). That part made me a bit more aware.

Then it was time to sign the actual membership forms. The first one, which he explained was for the federal party, I signed willingly as it was labelled RPA. The second form, the one he left for last and which he was most keen to get signed, was a registration form for the 2007 NSW state election. He needed enough signatures to make sure the party could contest the aforementioned election. However, the RPA was not replaced by “Abolish State Governments (Community Republicans)”.

Well I told him then and there that I would not sign up. He then launched his spiel about how we all want to remove the middle tier of Australian government because “we are over-governed”. I chose to differ with him on this. I said “Can I revoke my membership?” to which he sardonically replied “Well I’ll just tear up your form then?” and he did so. He lost his swish, cheesy-salesman persona and became enraged. He told me to “piss off” and called me “another ARM time-waster”. He gave me my $5 note back and I walked off.

About a minute or two later, I heard my name being yelled out and I turned around to find Mr Consandine, frothingly demanding $5 back because he gave me two $5 notes back by accident. I was shaky and intimidated and thought it easier to cede the note than go through a street argument with a man whose state of mind I was not 100% sure about. I am dead certain he only gave me back one $5 note as I have no money at the moment (I ran out across Christmas/New Year).

Well, I thought his deceptive behaviour on the forms (I thought was signing up to RPA, but it became Abolish State Govts on the form!) was bad enough; but the money incident really topped the cake. I meant, how on earth can such a person, who smiles on second and rages the next get away with this. I want advice on how to approach the Aust Electoral Commission (www.aec.gov.au) and make a formal complaint about the practices. “Abolish State Govts” is not a registered party according to the site: he is using the RPA, which is registered, to register “ASG”. I feel this is wrong. I want someone out there to clarify the issue for me and what can/could be done about it. I don’t think it’s just that he coalesce the two parties without disclosing it.

Some URLs:
http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S7541.pdf   (read from electronic page 83ff to gauge some of his outlook and language)
Only one of these sites is relatively up to date: guess which one (
ASG: http://www.ozventures.com.au/ASG/
RPA: http://www.republicans.org.au/
This is his day-job: http://executivecommunications.com.au/