It seems Australian right-wing political campaigners, facing defeat when voters go to the polls in two days, are getting desperate enough to use Republican-style dirty tricks: distributing offensive material with the opposing party logo.
Campaign workers for the Liberal Party (Australia's main right-wing party currently led by Prime Minister John Howard) including the husband of a retiring Member of Parliament, have been caught distributing leaflets with the logo of the Labor Party exclaiming support for Islamic terrorists among other things. (Labor is the main center-left party, expected to win a majority this Saturday to govern alone or in coalition with the Greens.)
The Liberal Party has expelled the members involved and denied any high-level knowledge, but the desperation displayed by the party this election is enough to make one suspicious of any denial. I wouldn't be surprised if approval of this came from higher up than the few who were caught in the act.
For more on what was in the offensive flyer, the Sydney Morning Herald has this:
Liberal shame over fake pamphlet
THE Liberal Party was flailing last night after a senior NSW party official and the husband of outgoing MP Jackie Kelly were implicated in a dirty tricks campaign involving race hate in Ms Kelly's former western suburbs seat of Lindsay.
...
The two were among a group of five caught and photographed in the act by Labor sleuths on Tuesday night.
...
The scandal was the last thing John Howard needed as he tried to resuscitate his campaign before Saturday, and will likely overshadow his final speech to the National Press Club today.
The bogus pamphlet carries the ALP [Australian Labor Party] logo and is from the non-existent "Islamic Australia Federation". It applauds the Labor Party for supporting Muslim terrorists.
It thanks Labor for supporting the Bali bombers, who it says were "unjustly" sentenced to death, says Labor backs the building of a new local mosque, and praises the party for allowing Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly to live in Australia.
"We gratefully acknowledge Labors [sic] support to forgive our Muslim brothers who have been unjustly sentenced to death for the Bali bombings," it says.
(Nearly half of the 200+ people killed in the 2002 Bali bombings were Australian citizens.)
An interesting exchange between the parties over the issue is reported in The Age. In response to a request to disclose all information about the leaflet, the Liberal Party response has been ... to be offended by the implication and insist the oppposition apologize.
[Labor Senator Penny Wong said,] "(Prime Minister John) Howard tomorrow at the press club should front up and disclose all that he knows and all that the Liberal Party knew about this scandalous affair."
She said Mr Howard should disclose who printed the leaflet, how it was distributed, any knowledge Liberal Party headquarters had of the events, and whether any public funds were used.
But Vocational and Further Education Minister Andrew Robb said Senator Wong's comments were offensive.
"This is absolutely and quite inappropriately offensive, what Penny has said," he told ABC television.
"To try to implicate senior members of the party with this piece of literature - which I understand was amateur in the extreme and offensive - and to suggest it's part of an orchestrated campaign is offensive in the extreme. Penny should apologise."
Forged campaign literature purporting to be from the opposition that appeals to racist bigotry is, to my knowledge, a new low for the party that is led by one of George W. Bush's few remaining international supporters. Both Bush and Cheney were greeted as very good personal friends by John Howard on separate visits to Australia this year, and Howard is hardly shy of letting his views on American politics be known - back in February he said, "If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008" (a date Barack Obama had given in a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq) "and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats."
If John Howard will no longer be the Prime Minister of Australia (or perhaps even a Member of Parliament, as polls have shown him trailling in his own seat) after this Saturday, that day cannot come soon enough.
Update: this new story from The Age has a photo showing the MP's husband who was caught distributing the flyers actually covering his face with one of them! I guess it will be rather difficult to deny after that shot.