Spam is the future of the country

A while ago Crikey had a piece on one of the Liberal Party’s websites, and I wrote this letter to them:

I’ve just been having a poke around Tony Abbott’s laughable “Rent Rort” website, and I noticed something interesting.

In his interview with Laurie Oakes on Sunday, we heard this little exchange:

“LAURIE OAKES: Now, the John Curtin house – sorry, the Centenary House affair that you refer to as the rent rort, I notice there’s a new website up this morning – www.rentrort.com.au , authorised by you, on this affair. Who’s paying for that? Are tax-payers, or the Liberal Party?

“TONY ABBOTT: No, look, that was put together by volunteers, using my words in the House, and it’s not being paid for by tax-payers in any way, shape, or form…”

I can tell you who the volunteers were.

The domain “rentrort.com.au” is being served from “rentrort.netharbour.com.au”, which is a subdomain on Net Harbour’s website. One of Net Harbour’s founding directors is Tim Howard — the Prime Minister’s son.

I wonder how many other negative little websites like this will pop up between now and the election — and whether these “in kind” donations will be declared to the AEC if their total value reaches the required threshold?

Robert Corr

Now we discover that the Liberal Party are keeping Tim Howard’s company afloat, as they seem to be regular customers.

Net Harbour has been hired by either John Howard or the NSW Liberal Party — they both claim responsibility — to spam electors in Bennelong. Needless to say, some voters are not happy about copping the propaganda in their inboxes, especially as the recipients don’t all live in Bennelong.

In his response to the controversty, Howard set out his vision for Australia: spam. “That is what the future of this country is all about.”

Howard is obviously trying to help out his son, but it might backfire and cost him votes. Howard is facing a high-profile campaign in Bennelong — and one of those running against him is Troy Rollo, founder of the Coalition Against Bulk Unsolicited Bulk E-mail.

I wonder what else John Valder has up his sleeve?

Update: As I suspected he would, Rollo has just been on ABC news saying that Howard’s connection to a spam company goes to his credibility.

10:23 am · 27 August 2004 · comments off
  1. Gravatar

    “I wonder how many other negative little websites like this will pop up between now and the election”

    My guess is, not as many as the negative little websites such as “johnhowardlies.com” that are run by Labor fronts.

    Evil Pundit · 27 August 2004 · 2:58 pm
  2. Gravatar

    How very shabby.

    With this and “thanks mum” Mark Thatcher, it’s been a champagne couple of days for conservative bludgers.

    anthony · 27 August 2004 · 4:21 pm
  3. Gravatar

    So basically, little johnie is lining the pockets of his son with money from the big end of town. Ah don’t you just love democracy.

    Iain · 28 August 2004 · 6:49 pm
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    Hi everyone,
    My daddy is paying me lots of money to tell everyone he is a really good bloke wqho has never ever lied.
    Please vote for him.
    Love
    Timmy howard

    Tim Howard · 28 August 2004 · 7:02 pm
  5. Gravatar

    Don’t get mad get even.
    Send spam to http://www.netharbour.com.au
    Just email them and clog up their in box. see how they like it.

    slim · 29 August 2004 · 1:52 pm
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    That Tim Howard post inspired me to write a haiku.

    Spam is really good
    I will vote for John Howard
    His son is a spunk

    Torre · 29 August 2004 · 2:28 pm
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    Wasn’t the whole point of johnhowardlies.com and the surrounding controversy that it *wasn’t* a Labor front, EP?

    mark · 29 August 2004 · 8:28 pm
  8. Gravatar

    Again, on your mark …?
    Spam bankroller, John Howard, has once more pumped election speculation to boiling point. The word around the media is that he will go to the GG this weekend and call the poll for October 9. This will entail a six…

    Back Pages · 27 August 2004 · 3:31 pm