FED: Downer investigates claims of secret Mayo preferences deal

AAP General News (Australia)
12-04-2000
FED: Downer investigates claims of secret Mayo preferences deal

SYDNEY, Dec 4 AAP - Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is reportedly investigating claims
of a secret preferences-for-cash deal in his seat of Mayo at the last federal election.

In the deal, One Nation preferences allegedly went to the Democrats after payment of
a $2,000 printing bill for how-to-vote cards, The Sydney Morning Herald said today.

With One Nation gaining eight per cent of the vote, the change helped the Democrat
candidate, former Redgum singer John Schumann, come close to defeating Mr Downer, the
paper said.

The Herald said sources in One Nation believed the Mayo preferences deal was funded
privately by Democrat members and sealed without Mr Schumann's knowledge.

It said One Nation had resolved to put Mr Schumann last on its how-to-vote card, but
when the cards were delivered to booths on polling day he had been put above Mr Downer,
who only narrowly retained his seat.

Mr Schumann, who was media adviser to Democrats leader Meg Lees at the time of the
poll and is now her chief of staff, told the Herald he knew nothing of any deal.

"I am adamant that nobody on behalf of the Democrats would have done anything so outrageous.

If it did happen, I would be absolutely appalled," he was quoted as saying.

Mr Downer said he had independently received information about preferences in Mayo
in recent days which he was having evaluated. "There would be uproar in South Australia
if the Democrats had been doing deals with One Nation," he said.

One Nation's campaign manager in Mayo, Mark Law, told the Herald that a man claiming
to be from the Australia First party had offered a deal to pay One Nation's printing costs
in return for preferences being directed to the Democrats. He said the party discovered
that the man was not from Australia First.

AAP ao

KEYWORD: MAYO

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