Andrew Wilkie
Encyclopedia
Andrew Damien Wilkie is an Australian politician and independent federal member for Denison
. He was formerly an army officer and then intelligence analyst
.
In 2003 Wilkie resigned from his position in the Office of National Assessments
, an Australian intelligence agency, over concerns that intelligence
was being misrepresented for political purposes in making the case for Australia's contribution
to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
under the Howard government
.
Since then he has been active in Australian politics. He was a Greens
candidate for both the federal Division of Bennelong
in the 2004 federal election and for the Senate
in Tasmania at the 2007 federal election. In 2010 he ran as an independent candidate for the state seat of Denison
at the Tasmanian state election
, narrowly missing out on the final vacancy. Later in the year, again as an independent candidate, he ran for and won the federal seat of Denison
at the federal election.
and graduated in 1984. He joined the Young Liberals
while a cadet. After graduation and being stationed in Brisbane, he became a member of the Liberal Party
. His military career spanned 1980–2000 and he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel
. He was seconded to the Office of National Assessments
(ONA), an Australian intelligence agency
, from 1999 until late 2000. After a stint with US defence company Raytheon
, Wilkie returned to the ONA shortly after the 11 September attacks.
In the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, the Australian, British and United States governments were asserting that intelligence reports showed that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction
. Wilkie resigned from the ONA on 11 March 2003, claiming that the reports did not support such claims and in the years since his resignation, no valid evidence supporting the pre-war claims of weapons of mass destruction has ever been found.
Wilkie has stated that he increasingly encountered ethical conflict
between his duty as an intelligence officer and his respect for the truth and, on 11 March 2003, he resigned from the ONA and placed evidence of this conflict before the Australian public. In response to widespread opposition to the war, Wilkie gave extensive television interviews and accepted numerous offers of public speaking engagements. He subsequently gave evidence to official British and Australian inquiries into the government's case for involvement in the Iraq war.
In 2004, Wilkie published Axis of Deceit, an account of the reasons for his decision and its results. He describes his views on the nature of intelligence agencies and the analyst's work, the history of the Iraq war, the untruths of politicians and the attempts to suppress the truth.
Wilkie was a member of the Australian Greens
by 2004 and ran unsuccessfully on the Tasmanian Senate ticket in 2007. He resigned from the party in 2008, criticising it for a lack of professionalism.
candidate for Bennelong
against John Howard
in the Australian House of Representatives
in the 2004 federal election. He was a supporter of the 'Not happy John!' campaign
which ran during the election campaign. Polling 16 per cent of the primary vote, Wilkie achieved the fifth-highest Green vote percentage across the nation. This result was a considerable increase from the Greens' previous (2001) election figure of 5%. Although Wilkie's vote was nowhere near enough to win the seat, there was a swing of 3.18% against John Howard, the sitting Liberal Party member and Prime Minister, who achieved a primary vote of 49.89%, which resulted in the seat being decided on preferences. The seat reverted to a margin of 5% in 2007, but Green votes were amongst the preferences that saw Labor's Maxine McKew
defeat Howard.
He was nominated as the Greens' second Tasmania
n candidate for the Australian Senate
at the 2007 federal election, behind the Greens federal leader, Bob Brown
.
Wilkie ran as an independent candidate in the state Division of Denison
in the 2010 Tasmanian state election
. He won 8.44 per cent of first preference votes, and was beaten by 315 votes by Liberal candidate Elise Archer
after distribution of preferences.
Wilkie stood as an independent for the federal Division of Denison
in the 2010 federal election and won more than 20 per cent of the primary vote. He was elected to the seat with just over 51 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote. Following the election, he declared that he would back the Australian Labor Party
minority government, in return for the Gillard
government committing A$340 million to the Royal Hobart Hospital
and a commitment to reduce problem gambling. In contrast the Coalition offered one billion funding for the same hospital in their offer to Wilkie, which was perceived by Wilkie as "almost reckless". Wilkie described this as being part of the evidence that Labor would better be able to offer a more stable, competent and ethical government than the Coalition. The agreement to support the government only extended to issues of supply and no confidence motions.
Wilkie was unexpectedly admitted to hospital on 12 November 2010 to have his gallbladder
removed. This did not interfere with his ability to attend Parliamentary sittings and he was present at the debate on same-sex marriage on 15 November, where he seconded the motion raised by Greens member Adam Bandt
.
In April 2011 during push for gambling reform initiated by Wilkie, News Limited
media reported allegations by a former Duntroon army cadet that in 1983 Wilkie had forced junior cadets to salute to Adolf Hitler
on the 50th anniversary of the latter's rise to power. In response, Wilkie said he had been "involved in bastardisation of teenage army cadets" at Duntroon during the 1980s and apologised for this "inappropriate behaviour" but could not recall the specific incident alleged. With regard to the allegation and its publication, he accused pro-Pokies advocates of running a smear campaign against him.
in the Tamar Valley. Wilkie is a supporter of voluntary euthanasia
, provided that there are safeguards in place, he is also in favour of same-sex marriage
and access to abortion. He is in support of a National Broadband Network
and is opposed to WorkChoices
.
During Wilkie's maiden speech to Federal Parliament on 30 September 2010, he called for withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan
. He said Australia should be more willing to say "no" more often to the United States. He said that there can be no hope for peace in Afghanistan until foreign troops are withdrawn: "No-one should be fooled by the Australian Government's periodic efforts to tinker around the edges with Australia's commitment to Afghanistan" and that "The reality is that the best plan the Australian Government can come up with so far is simply to continue to support whatever the US Government comes up with and that alone is no plan—it's just reinforcing failure."
Wilkie's comments came amid Opposition calls for more support for Australia's troops in Afghanistan. During his speech Wilkie also canvassed his push for legislation to protect whistleblower
s, measures to tackle problem gambling and a more humane approach to asylum seekers.
In March 2011 he called Liberal MPs Cory Bernardi
and Scott Morrison
"a disgrace to high office" calling on Tony Abbott
to sack them both and referring to endemic racism in the Liberal party.
as soon as it was apparent that he was elected. Wilkie claims that problem gamblers in Australia lose $5 billion each year on pokies. In exchange for Wilkie's support, the Labor government are legislating for mandatory "pre-commitment" technology which would require persons using high-bet machines to pre-commit how much they are willing to bet on a machine before they begin play, as well as introducing $1 maximum bet per spin machines which would not require pre-commitment, which Wilkie argues would be safer. The Abbott
Coalition
opposes the plans, with Abbott saying "it is not Liberal Party
policy" and it will be "expensive and ineffective". According to polling, the Labor government's plans are supported by a clear majority of voters across the spectrum. Wilkie and Xenophon argue that "$12 billion a year is lost on the pokies. 100,000 Australians are problem gamblers and an additional 200,000 are significantly at risk of developing a full-blown addiction", and that the legislation is necessary to "[help] those who sometimes lose up to $1200 an hour on the pokies."
The plan came under sustained attack from clubs, hotels and other businesses which financially benefit from pokies. Xenophon responded by accusing them of misrepresenting plans and creating hype around the issue. Strategy papers erroneously placed on the Clubs Queensland public website seem to indicate that clubs are deliberately and purposefully exaggerating the impact that the pre-commitment reforms will have on their services. The same papers outlined some strategies that the clubs could use to exploit loopholes in the proposed reform.
AFL
and the NRL
have aligned themselves with the campaign in opposing the pre-commitment plans. Commentators from the Nine Network
gave planned political arguments without disclosure during commentary of a Semi-Final NRL game, prompting the Australian Communications and Media Authority
(ACMA) to investigate, stating "Channel Nine broadcast political material without adequately identifying it as such during the NRL first preliminary final". One of the accused commentators stated that the remarks were a "directive from up top that it be read by at least somebody". Investigations are predicted to take months. Andrew Demetriou
, Chief Executive Officer of the AFL, rejected suggestions that the AFL was joining Clubs Australia in their media campaign, and also stated "The fellow from Clubs Australia, I don't even know his name, but please, stop talking on our behalf, just shut up, that'd be a good help". Activist group, GetUp! attempted to counter the anti pre commitment campaign by running political commercials during the NRL grand final.
.
and Iraq
: cover)
Division of Denison
The Division of Denison is anAustralian Electoral Division in Tasmania.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lt-Governor of Van Diemens Land 1847-55...
. He was formerly an army officer and then intelligence analyst
Intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis is the process of taking known information about situations and entities of strategic, operational, or tactical importance, characterizing the known, and, with appropriate statements of probability, the future actions in those situations and by those entities...
.
In 2003 Wilkie resigned from his position in the Office of National Assessments
Office of National Assessments
The Office of National Assessments is an Australian intelligence agency. ONA was established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia...
, an Australian intelligence agency, over concerns that intelligence
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
was being misrepresented for political purposes in making the case for Australia's contribution
Australian contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
The Howard Government supported the disarmament of Iraq during the Iraq disarmament crisis. Australia later provided one of the four most substantial combat force contingents during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, under the operational codename Operation Falconer. Part of its contingent were among the...
to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
under the Howard government
Howard Government
The Howard Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister John Howard. It was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition, which won a majority of seats in the Australian House of Representatives at four successive elections. The Howard Government...
.
Since then he has been active in Australian politics. He was a Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
candidate for both the federal Division of Bennelong
Division of Bennelong
The Division of Bennelong is an Australian electorate in New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Bennelong, an Aboriginal man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip...
in the 2004 federal election and for the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
in Tasmania at the 2007 federal election. In 2010 he ran as an independent candidate for the state seat of Denison
Division of Denison (state)
The Electoral Division of Denison is one of the 5 electorates in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The division is named after Sir William Denison, who was Lieutenant Governor of Van_Diemen's Land 1847-55, and Governor of New South Wales 1855-61. The division shares its name and boundaries with the...
at the Tasmanian state election
Tasmanian state election, 2010
The 2010 Tasmanian state election was held on 20 March 2010 to elect members to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The 12-year incumbent Labor government, led by Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett, won a fourth consecutive term against the Liberal opposition, led by Will Hodgman, after Labor formed a...
, narrowly missing out on the final vacancy. Later in the year, again as an independent candidate, he ran for and won the federal seat of Denison
Division of Denison
The Division of Denison is anAustralian Electoral Division in Tasmania.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lt-Governor of Van Diemens Land 1847-55...
at the federal election.
Before politics
Wilkie trained at the Royal Military College, DuntroonRoyal Military College, Duntroon
The Royal Military College, Duntroon is the Australian Army's officer training establishment. It was founded at Duntroon, in the Australian Capital Territory, in 1911 and is situated on picturesque grounds at the foot of Mount Pleasant near Lake Burley Griffin, close to the Department of Defence...
and graduated in 1984. He joined the Young Liberals
Young Liberals (Australia)
The Young Liberal Movement is the youth division of the Liberal Party of Australia, and membership is open to those between 16 and 30 years of age. Members of Young Liberals have full party-membership, and have the choice of which part they join...
while a cadet. After graduation and being stationed in Brisbane, he became a member of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
. His military career spanned 1980–2000 and he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
. He was seconded to the Office of National Assessments
Office of National Assessments
The Office of National Assessments is an Australian intelligence agency. ONA was established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia...
(ONA), an Australian intelligence agency
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
, from 1999 until late 2000. After a stint with US defence company Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
, Wilkie returned to the ONA shortly after the 11 September attacks.
In the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, the Australian, British and United States governments were asserting that intelligence reports showed that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction
During the regime of Saddam Hussein, the nation of Iraq used, possessed, and made efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction . Hussein was internationally known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against Iranian and Kurdish civilians during and after the Iran–Iraq War...
. Wilkie resigned from the ONA on 11 March 2003, claiming that the reports did not support such claims and in the years since his resignation, no valid evidence supporting the pre-war claims of weapons of mass destruction has ever been found.
Wilkie has stated that he increasingly encountered ethical conflict
Ethical dilemma
An Ethical dilemma is a complex situation that will often involve an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another....
between his duty as an intelligence officer and his respect for the truth and, on 11 March 2003, he resigned from the ONA and placed evidence of this conflict before the Australian public. In response to widespread opposition to the war, Wilkie gave extensive television interviews and accepted numerous offers of public speaking engagements. He subsequently gave evidence to official British and Australian inquiries into the government's case for involvement in the Iraq war.
In 2004, Wilkie published Axis of Deceit, an account of the reasons for his decision and its results. He describes his views on the nature of intelligence agencies and the analyst's work, the history of the Iraq war, the untruths of politicians and the attempts to suppress the truth.
Wilkie was a member of the Australian Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
by 2004 and ran unsuccessfully on the Tasmanian Senate ticket in 2007. He resigned from the party in 2008, criticising it for a lack of professionalism.
Political career
Wilkie stood as an Australian GreensAustralian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
candidate for Bennelong
Division of Bennelong
The Division of Bennelong is an Australian electorate in New South Wales. The division was created in 1949 and is named for Bennelong, an Aboriginal man befriended by the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip...
against John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
in the Australian House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
in the 2004 federal election. He was a supporter of the 'Not happy John!' campaign
'Not happy John!' campaign
The Not happy,h John!' campaign was an Australian political campaign to oppose the re-election of Prime Minister John Howard as member for Bennelong in the Australian federal election, 2004...
which ran during the election campaign. Polling 16 per cent of the primary vote, Wilkie achieved the fifth-highest Green vote percentage across the nation. This result was a considerable increase from the Greens' previous (2001) election figure of 5%. Although Wilkie's vote was nowhere near enough to win the seat, there was a swing of 3.18% against John Howard, the sitting Liberal Party member and Prime Minister, who achieved a primary vote of 49.89%, which resulted in the seat being decided on preferences. The seat reverted to a margin of 5% in 2007, but Green votes were amongst the preferences that saw Labor's Maxine McKew
Maxine McKew
Maxine Margaret McKew , is a former Australian politician and journalist; she was the Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government in the Rudd Ministry and the First Gillard Ministry. Between 2007 and 2010, she was the member of the House of...
defeat Howard.
He was nominated as the Greens' second Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n candidate for the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
at the 2007 federal election, behind the Greens federal leader, Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
.
Wilkie ran as an independent candidate in the state Division of Denison
Division of Denison (state)
The Electoral Division of Denison is one of the 5 electorates in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The division is named after Sir William Denison, who was Lieutenant Governor of Van_Diemen's Land 1847-55, and Governor of New South Wales 1855-61. The division shares its name and boundaries with the...
in the 2010 Tasmanian state election
Tasmanian state election, 2010
The 2010 Tasmanian state election was held on 20 March 2010 to elect members to the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The 12-year incumbent Labor government, led by Premier of Tasmania David Bartlett, won a fourth consecutive term against the Liberal opposition, led by Will Hodgman, after Labor formed a...
. He won 8.44 per cent of first preference votes, and was beaten by 315 votes by Liberal candidate Elise Archer
Elise Archer
Elise Nicole Archer is an Australian lawyer and politician. She was born in Launceston and educated in Hobart, Tasmania at Fahan School and the University of Tasmania.She was elected to the Hobart City Council in October 2007....
after distribution of preferences.
Wilkie stood as an independent for the federal Division of Denison
Division of Denison
The Division of Denison is anAustralian Electoral Division in Tasmania.The division was created in 1903 and is named for Sir William Denison, who was Lt-Governor of Van Diemens Land 1847-55...
in the 2010 federal election and won more than 20 per cent of the primary vote. He was elected to the seat with just over 51 per cent of the two-candidate-preferred vote. Following the election, he declared that he would back the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
minority government, in return for the Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
government committing A$340 million to the Royal Hobart Hospital
Royal Hobart Hospital
The Royal Hobart Hospital is a public hospital located the in Hobart CBD, Tasmania, Australia. The RHH also functions as a teaching hospital in co-operation with University of Tasmania. The hospital's research facilities are known as the RHH Research Foundation.The hospital is run by the Tasmanian...
and a commitment to reduce problem gambling. In contrast the Coalition offered one billion funding for the same hospital in their offer to Wilkie, which was perceived by Wilkie as "almost reckless". Wilkie described this as being part of the evidence that Labor would better be able to offer a more stable, competent and ethical government than the Coalition. The agreement to support the government only extended to issues of supply and no confidence motions.
Wilkie was unexpectedly admitted to hospital on 12 November 2010 to have his gallbladder
Gallbladder
In vertebrates the gallbladder is a small organ that aids mainly in fat digestion and concentrates bile produced by the liver. In humans the loss of the gallbladder is usually easily tolerated....
removed. This did not interfere with his ability to attend Parliamentary sittings and he was present at the debate on same-sex marriage on 15 November, where he seconded the motion raised by Greens member Adam Bandt
Adam Bandt
Adam Paul Bandt is an Australian politician and former industrial lawyer. Bandt was elected to the Australian House of Representatives in the 2010 Australian federal election for the Division of Melbourne...
.
In April 2011 during push for gambling reform initiated by Wilkie, News Limited
News Limited
News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...
media reported allegations by a former Duntroon army cadet that in 1983 Wilkie had forced junior cadets to salute to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
on the 50th anniversary of the latter's rise to power. In response, Wilkie said he had been "involved in bastardisation of teenage army cadets" at Duntroon during the 1980s and apologised for this "inappropriate behaviour" but could not recall the specific incident alleged. With regard to the allegation and its publication, he accused pro-Pokies advocates of running a smear campaign against him.
Policies
Wilkie made the removal of poker machines his primary campaign issue in the 2010 Tasmanian state election. He is strongly opposed to the Gunns pulp millBell Bay Pulp Mill
The Bell Bay Pulp Mill, also known as the Tamar Valley Pulp Mill or Gunns Pulp Mill, is a proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill which Gunns Limited is planning to build in the Tamar Valley, near Launceston, Tasmania.-Proposed mill:...
in the Tamar Valley. Wilkie is a supporter of voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner...
, provided that there are safeguards in place, he is also in favour of same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
and access to abortion. He is in support of a National Broadband Network
National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network is a national wholesale-only, open-access data network under development in Australia. Up to one gigabit per second connections are sold to retail service providers , who then sell Internet access and other services to consumers...
and is opposed to WorkChoices
WorkChoices
The Workplace Relations Act 1996, as amended by the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, popularly known as Work Choices, was a Legislative Act of the Australian Parliament that came into effect in March 2006 which involved many controversial amendments to the Workplace Relations Act 1996, the...
.
During Wilkie's maiden speech to Federal Parliament on 30 September 2010, he called for withdrawal of Australian troops from Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. He said Australia should be more willing to say "no" more often to the United States. He said that there can be no hope for peace in Afghanistan until foreign troops are withdrawn: "No-one should be fooled by the Australian Government's periodic efforts to tinker around the edges with Australia's commitment to Afghanistan" and that "The reality is that the best plan the Australian Government can come up with so far is simply to continue to support whatever the US Government comes up with and that alone is no plan—it's just reinforcing failure."
Wilkie's comments came amid Opposition calls for more support for Australia's troops in Afghanistan. During his speech Wilkie also canvassed his push for legislation to protect whistleblower
Whistleblower
A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department, a public or private organization, or a company...
s, measures to tackle problem gambling and a more humane approach to asylum seekers.
In March 2011 he called Liberal MPs Cory Bernardi
Cory Bernardi
Cory Bernardi is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate since 2006, representing the state of South Australia.-Early life:...
and Scott Morrison
Scott Morrison (politician)
Scott John Morrison is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, and is a member of the Liberal Party of Australia. He is the shadow immigration minister, and represents the Division of Cook, an electorate in the southern suburbs of Sydney, which include Cronulla, Caringbah, and Miranda...
"a disgrace to high office" calling on Tony Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
to sack them both and referring to endemic racism in the Liberal party.
Pokies and pre-commitment
Wilkie campaigned heavily against poker machines (colloquially "pokies") at the 2010 federal election, and immediately began forging ties with independent anti-pokies Senator Nick XenophonNick Xenophon
Nicholas "Nick" Xenophon is a South Australian barrister, anti-gambling campaigner and politician. He attended Prince Alfred College, and studied law at the University of Adelaide, attaining his Bachelor of Laws in 1981. Xenophon established and became principal of his own law firm, Xenophon & Co....
as soon as it was apparent that he was elected. Wilkie claims that problem gamblers in Australia lose $5 billion each year on pokies. In exchange for Wilkie's support, the Labor government are legislating for mandatory "pre-commitment" technology which would require persons using high-bet machines to pre-commit how much they are willing to bet on a machine before they begin play, as well as introducing $1 maximum bet per spin machines which would not require pre-commitment, which Wilkie argues would be safer. The Abbott
Tony Abbott
Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...
Coalition
Coalition (Australia)
The Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
opposes the plans, with Abbott saying "it is not Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
policy" and it will be "expensive and ineffective". According to polling, the Labor government's plans are supported by a clear majority of voters across the spectrum. Wilkie and Xenophon argue that "$12 billion a year is lost on the pokies. 100,000 Australians are problem gamblers and an additional 200,000 are significantly at risk of developing a full-blown addiction", and that the legislation is necessary to "[help] those who sometimes lose up to $1200 an hour on the pokies."
The plan came under sustained attack from clubs, hotels and other businesses which financially benefit from pokies. Xenophon responded by accusing them of misrepresenting plans and creating hype around the issue. Strategy papers erroneously placed on the Clubs Queensland public website seem to indicate that clubs are deliberately and purposefully exaggerating the impact that the pre-commitment reforms will have on their services. The same papers outlined some strategies that the clubs could use to exploit loopholes in the proposed reform.
AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
and the NRL
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
have aligned themselves with the campaign in opposing the pre-commitment plans. Commentators from the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
gave planned political arguments without disclosure during commentary of a Semi-Final NRL game, prompting the Australian Communications and Media Authority
Australian Communications and Media Authority
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is an Australian government statutory authority within the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy portfolio...
(ACMA) to investigate, stating "Channel Nine broadcast political material without adequately identifying it as such during the NRL first preliminary final". One of the accused commentators stated that the remarks were a "directive from up top that it be read by at least somebody". Investigations are predicted to take months. Andrew Demetriou
Andrew Demetriou
Andrew Demetriou is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League and a former Australian rules footballer. He is the youngest son of Greek-Cypriot immigrants and, before becoming a VFL player, he worked in the dental import industry...
, Chief Executive Officer of the AFL, rejected suggestions that the AFL was joining Clubs Australia in their media campaign, and also stated "The fellow from Clubs Australia, I don't even know his name, but please, stop talking on our behalf, just shut up, that'd be a good help". Activist group, GetUp! attempted to counter the anti pre commitment campaign by running political commercials during the NRL grand final.
Personal life
Wilkie lives with his wife, Kate Burton, and their two daughters, Olive and Rose, in Sandy Bay, TasmaniaSandy Bay, Tasmania
Sandy Bay is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, located immediately south of the central business district.The suburb is home to many large homes, and adjoins the waterfront Salamanca area and Battery Point. The suburb is known as one of the city's prestigious areas...
.
Sources
(The story of the intelligence officer who risked all to tell the truth about WMDWeapons of mass destruction
A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...
and Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
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