Hydra was the monster in Greek legend with nine heads. Hercules, who was set the task of killing this monster, had some difficulty because every time he cut off a head, two would grow in its place. And thus Terry Connolly appears, sometimes twice or three times in a news bulletin and if you change channels, there is is again with two or three more heads on another bulletin.
The Deputy Chief Minister, Wayne Berry, on the other hand, is more like the Greek god Pluto: the god of the underground. He does not put his head up on the television anywhere near as much.
In other mainland states or territories or at the Federal level, this difference in style would not matter a great deal, but it will matter in the ACT, as we shall see.
There are many examples of successful and unsuccessful Hydras and Plutos on both sides of politics and in all factions. Margaret Reid, for example, is more a Pluto than a Hydra. Ros Kelly, obviously, is a Hydra. Sometimes politicians change from being one to the other, or sit in between. Rosemary Follett was a Hydra, but is becoming more of a Pluto.
The Plutos may seem less visible, but their work can be very effective. Mr Berry, for example, seems to concentrate his work for support among rank-and-file party members and within the union movement rather than bobbing his head up on television.
This used to be smart politics, after all, the rank-and-file, including the leading figures in the union movement, do the pre-selection. For the past two elections Mr Berry has found himself No2 on the ticket. His work has paid off.
Margaret Reid, another Pluto, does a lot of lower-profile work, in the community and in the Senate. She doesn’t appear on the box very often, but Liberal Party people say she can have the Senate No1 spot for as long as she wants.
This sort of thinking is fine in the Federal sphere where pre-selection is everything, but in the ACT under Hare-Clark next election, the Plutos are about to become severely disadvantaged.
Mr Berry, for example, earned himself considerable acolades in mcuh of the union movement and among rank-and-file for bring the electrical union into line during the ACTEW dispute. Come pre-selection, it will help him immensely.
However, under Hare-Clark, as approved in the referendum, there can be no party ticket. Candidates will be placed on the ballot paper in a party column, but not in an order determined by the party. For example, in one of the five-seat electorates, a fifth of the ballot papers will be printed with Berry at the top, Ellis second, Smith third, Connolly fourth and Grassy fifth. Other fifth of the ballot papers will be printed with Connolly first, Smith second, Berry third, Grassby fouth and Ellis fifth and so on. This is called the Robson rotation.
In this situation, the hard work put in by a Pluto to get “”No 1” on the ticket is meaningless. Sure, a how-to-vote-card might suggest putting Pluto first, but when the how-to-vote-card bears no resemblance to the ballot paper, voters are quick to avoid it. Instead, if they want to vote Labor, they look at the candidates in the Labor column and go for Hydra. The recognition factor and the head on the box become more important than the pre-selection committee. Indeed, the voters, at the ballot box, are the pre-selection committee.
It seems Mr Connolly has learned this very early on. He communicates with the “”pre-selectors” in Canberra’s loungerooms very frequently. Indeed, it seemed from the recent power dispute that he was happy to risk upsetting a few rank-and-file people in order to get direct voter approval for creating a more efficient ACTEW. As long as the party gives him one of the five slots, it does not matter much what “”official” position he gets on the “”ticket”. The ticket no longer exists.
The proposal approved by referendum was not to have any party voting. There is to be no system like the Senate where a voter can just tick a party box and go home. The voter has to mark preferences for every candidate and gets no interference in that process by the party determining their order on the ballot paper.
The Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, is on record as saying she will implement the results of the referendum. To date she has been good to her word. At the weekend another step was taken toward implementing the referendum with the publication of the submissions on electoral boundaries. None the less, at least one Hydra on the non-Labor side is worried that the Robson rotation will be watered down by some trick to have party voting to help the disadvantaged, or the illiterate, or blind or some such. The Plutos would like that. The Hydras will not be happy until Robson rotation is law.