Moderate's Choice Stirs Nile
Sun Herald
Sunday July 1, 2007
CHRISTIAN MP Fred Nile is threatening to unleash hell on the Liberal Party over its preselection of federal Senator Marise Payne, whose stance on social issues offends him.
Mr Nile's attempts to set himself up as Liberal Party kingmaker emerged only after the moderate Senator Payne was comfortably endorsed yesterday.She was selected at No.3 on the NSW Coalition Senate ticket after supporters of Prime Minister John Howard intervened to block a challenge by Scott McDonald, who was backed by the right.Mr Nile, the leader of the Christian Democratic Party, wrote to the Liberal and National parties last week and threatened to review the usual exchange of federal preferences because of Senator Payne. Her stance on stem-cell research, same sex couples, abortion and other social issues opposes his.For more than a decade, preferences from the Christian Democrats have proved helpful in securing Coalition Senate seats in NSW. In 2004, the Christian Democrats polled more than 100,000 votes in the Senate election in NSW, which were then directed to the Coalition.In the lower house, the impact is less certain, but in a tight contest every vote counts.Ten years ago Mr Nile used his influence to help end the political career of Chris Puplick. His latest intervention is certain to provoke anger about his role in state and federal politics.Last week there was uproar in the NSW upper house about the appointment of Mr Nile as the deputy assistant president, a post that carries an extra $24,000 in salary on top of the backbench salary of $119,000.The Greens accused the Government of trying to influence Mr Nile's crucial crossbench vote with the appointment.Yesterday, Mr Nile was unapologetic about his letter. He said the Coalition had to be told that the selection of Senator Payne caused complications for his party."This is part of the process for exchanging preferences," he said.
© 2007 Sun Herald
