The knives are out for anyone who backed Simon Kennedy for preselection in Scott Morrison’s seat of Cook earlier this month. Those who helped Kennedy get up over Carmelo Pesce – humiliating the local mayor in his own backyard – appear to be in a line for some serious character liquidation. And it seems like that’s well under way. Apparently the recordings were made just months after Johns was beaten to a seat in the NSW upper house by Peter Poulos, a staffer in Kean’s office at the time; Kean was – and remains – leader of the NSW Liberal Party’s ‘‘moderate’’ faction and plainly lent Poulos all of his influence and support at the time, causing Johns to lose by a vote of 58 to 26.Johns confirmed to Margin Call that the events of that night occurred after “a night out being an idiot” in which alcohol had certainly been consumed.Arguably the lowest point in the recordings is when he strangely takes aim at his own constituency, telling a number of people present: “The Sutherland Shire Council, they do the best for our community – by the way the community is f..ken stupid. They are the dumbest f..kers in the world.”The irony of that will be lost on none of the ratepayers in Miranda and Cronulla as they head to polling booths for local government elections in September.
