At long last, the king size horizontal Ewen Jones name sign has been removed in Townsville. It has left behind the six brown rectangles above the entrance to the electorate office of the MHR for Herbert , now Cathy O'Toole (ALP ) . It is not known when O'Toole's name will be hoisted into position , which is strange as Townsville has a number of highly efficient signwriters who can whip you up a work of art in next to no time . Indeed , one has the slogan Big Signs Mean Big Business .
There was not much debris left behind in the office to indicate Jones had been the in situ incumbent...except for the puzzling fact that nearly all the ink cartridges in the copiers, four in number , were empty , indicating the premises may have been busier than a counterfeiting factory working round the clock during the election, churning out voter material and worthless three dollar bills in technicolour which if some unfortunate tried to pass as legal tender in the Bohle Barn pub would result in the AFP pounding on the door in a pre-dawn raid .
SENATOR PRESSING FOR ANOTHER ELECTION
Queensland senator Ian Macdonald clearly wants a court challenge to the Herbert House of Representatives election result which saw Cathy O'Toole (ALP) take the seat from Ewen Jones (LNP) by 37 votes.
The senator on August 1 posted he would be taking a break after the long count for the seat . However, he gave notice that on his return he would "certainly hope and urge a reference to the Court for a new election ."
He claimed there were" so many irregularities" in both the election and the count and " direct evidence "of people not being able to vote.
Of course, he wrote, it was a matter for the LNP and Jones . "But I will be doing everything I can when I return to make sure the electors of Herbert have the member the majority wanted," he ended.
