Glenn Druery
Glenn William Druery is an Australian ultra-distance cyclist who has also made a mark as an electoral campaigner, while himself failing to be elected to any parliament.
Cycling
After overcoming a serious illness in his 30s,[1] Druery competed in the Race Across America (RAAM) three times, in 2005, 2007 and 2009.[2] In 2009 his four-man team, Team RANS, won the epic 5000 km event in 6 days 3 hours and 40 minutes.[3]
In 2003[4] and 2007[5] he participated in the 1200 km Paris–Brest–Paris (PBP) cycling event.
Politics
In 1996 Druery was instrumental in the formation of the Outdoor Recreation Party. In the lead-up to the New South Wales state election, 1999, he exploited weaknesses of the electoral and preferential voting systems by setting up and/or organising 24 minor party structures to harvest flow-on votes from an artificially inflated ballot paper which made that election notorious as "the tablecloth election".
The NSW Legislative Council elects 21 members every four years, with a quota of 4.5 per cent of the vote. In 1999 the ballot paper had to accommodate 264 candidates and 81 parties. Many of these were newly created parties with attractive names such as the Three Day Weekend Party, the Marijuana Freedom Party and the Four Wheel Drive Party. The sole purpose of such micro parties was 'preference harvesting', attracting above-the-line votes which could then be channelled via registered group tickets to particular individuals, in this case Glen Druery of People First and Malcolm Jones of the Outdoor Recreation Party. In the end Malcolm Jones received preferences from 19 party tickets and won a seat, despite having attracted only 0.2 per cent of the primary vote. . . .[6]
In that election, seven members of minor parties were elected to the Legislative Council, three of whom were undoubtedly assisted by Druery. The parliament later passed legislation to tighten the requirements for political party registration.[citation needed]
As a candidate, Druery has contested several elections. He ran for the New South Wales Legislative Council in the 1999 and 2003[7] state elections; as a Liberals for Forests candidate for the Senate in the 2004 federal election; and as a Liberal Democrats candidate for the Senate in the 2010 federal election.[8]
References
- ^ Adamski, K. Six days, 5000km and four Everests at Lifestyle, North Shore Times, 14 August 2009. Accessed 4 March 2012
- ^ Team RANS at Team Velokraft blogspot. Accessed 4 March 2012
- ^ Cyclist, Australian (2009-09-01). "Endure it". Australiancyclist.com.au. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ^ Paris-Brest-Paris 2003 Non Finishers at BC Randonneurs Cycling Club
- ^ Paris-Brest-Paris 2003 Non Finishers at BC Randonneurs Cycling Club. Accessed 4 March 2012
- ^ Sawer, Prof M. Above-the-line voting—How democratic? pp. 4-5, Paper for Political Science Program, RSSS, ANU (June 2004). Also cited at pp. 18-19 in section Ticket Voting of Australian Electoral Commission second submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, September 2008, pp 18-19
- ^ Murphy, Damien The bar-towel ballot at Sydney Morning Herald, 7 March 2003. Accessed 4 March 2012
- ^ "Liberal Democratic Party website". Ldp.org.au. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- Self-published profile at the subject's lobbying business, Independent Liaison
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