Weakened Marshall must cut charged Ellis adrift
A weakened Steven Marshall, under fire from his own colleagues, must declare once and for all that he will not accept charged MP Fraser Ellis back into the Liberal Party.
Ellis has been charged with 23 counts of deception, arising out of the Country Members Allowance scandal.
When Ellis was charged back in February, Ellis announced he would leave the Liberal Party and sit on the crossbench.
At the time, Steven Marshall welcomed this decision. He went further and said it would not be possible for Fraser Ellis to be a candidate for the Liberal Party because “Fraser Ellis is not a member of the Liberal Party, and you need to be a member of the Liberal Party to be the candidate for Narungga”.
Indeed, Mr Marshall likened Mr Ellis’ situation to that of Sam Duluk: ““It’s an almost identical situation.”
Mr Duluk is running as an independent in Waite and the Liberals are preselecting a candidate to run against him.
Mr Ellis’ court case has been deferred until the middle of next year, meaning it will not be resolved until after the March State Election.
The Marshall Liberal Government has been plunged deeper into minority by Dan Cregan’s decision to quit the Liberal Party. It means the Liberals only have 22 votes in Parliament, where a majority of 24 is required.
Quotes attributable to Government Accountability spokesperson Tom Koutsantonis
Steven Marshall’s leadership has been severely weakened by his own colleagues, who are now openly attacking him.
Is he now so weak and so desperate that he is going to accept a man who is facing 23 charges of deception just so he can prop up his chaotic, divided government?
What is going on here?
Is Steven Marshall just stringing Fraser Ellis along so he can keep his support in Parliament and then once Parliament rises, he will preselect another candidate to run against him?
South Australians deserve answers. There is no additional information required here.
If this is “almost identical” to the Sam Duluk situation, then surely he will not be the Liberal Party’s candidate.
Steven Marshall just needs to announce that he will not accept Mr Ellis back into the Liberal Party.