'Give me $200 cash' – how Bill English almost didn't make it into parliament

March 1, 2018

Former Prime Minister Bill English began his valedictory speech today by recalling a potentially unfortunate event that could have cost him his parliamentary career.

"I can say today, it almost didn't happen," Mr English told parliament. 

He explained when he was the Wallace electorate candidate in 1990, "and not really that well organised, I had a brilliant plan to lodge my nomination form at the electoral office at 4 o'clock, one whole hour before the deadline at 5 o'clock."

At 11am that day, he was "casually" informed the deadline was instead midday. 

Mr English "whipped round to the electoral office where a very stern lady" told him, "there are no exceptions". 

"I found myself stranded in Gore with enough signatures but not the deposit."

"I stood paralysed in the middle of the street and then had a brainwave and ran into my bank... I walked up to the cashier and I said 'give me $200 cash". 

Without any cheque or withdrawal form, Mr English had to see the manager, who luckily for Mr English, was a member of the National Party. 

They told the cashier, "just give him the bloody money, we'll sort it out later". 

Mr English got to the electoral office at 11.55am. "If the manager had followed the rules... the new MP for the Wallace electorate would be Dougal Soper - Labour, because I wouldn't have appeared on the ballot."

"I would have spent the rest of my life driving trucks in the outback of Australia."

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