Craig Isherwood

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Craig William Isherwood, Australian political activist, is National Secretary of the Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), an organisation of Australian supporters of the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche. He has been a candidate in Australian federal elections four times, but has never polled a significant vote.

Isherwood was a horticulturist, mechanic, youth worker and shop owner before becoming involved in the LaRouche movement. In 1988 he was involved in the CEC in Kingaroy, Queensland. The CEC was originally created by the Australian League of Rights, an extreme right-wing and anti-Semitic organisation. But in the late 1980s the CEC was taken over by LaRouche followers. Isherwood worked for Trevor Perrett, who ran as an independent candidate with CEC backing in the Barambah by-election resulting from Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen's resignation from the Queensland Legislative Assembly. Perrett won the by-election, but joined the National Party of Australia soon after. (In 1998 he was defeated by a One Nation Party candidate.)

LaRouche Movement

Lyndon LaRouche LaRouche's political views U.S. Presidential campaigns United States v. LaRouche People Helga Zepp-LaRouche Amelia Boynton Robinson Janice Hart Jeremiah Duggan Political organizations LaRouche Movement National Caucus of Labor Committees Citizens Electoral Council LaRouche Youth Movement Schiller Institute European Workers Party

Defunct

California Proposition 64

North American Labour Party

Party for the Commonwealth of Canada

Parti pour la république du Canada

U.S. Labor Party

CEC policies included citizen initiated referendums, opposition to the "Australia Card" and "a fairer go" for farming families. In the United States, LaRouche has frequently been described as a fascist and accused of anti-Semitism. Although the Australian CEC faithfully reproduces LaRouche's statements and distributes his literature, Isherwood has not been accused of extreme views in the same way. The CEC's published views are a mix of traditional left-wing policies and populist slogans which it shares with One Nation and the Queensland National Party.

In the early 1990s Isherwood moved to Melbourne and become a full-time worker for the CEC. As National Secretary he runs the CEC from an office near his home in Coburg. His wife and sons are also CEC office-bearers and frequent election candidates. Isherwood contested the federal seat of Wills in 1996 and 2001, and ran for the Australian Senate in 1998 and 2004.