Andrew Landeryou
Andrew John Clyde Landeryou (born 19 August 1970) is an Australian blogger and former businessman. In recent years, he has attracted attention through his website "The Other Cheek: Andrew Landeryou's Blog of Freedom," which has been the subject of media comment. He first became known due to his business dealings with billionaire Solomon Lew and also for his involvement in the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union (MUSU).
Background
Landeryou is the son of Bill Landeryou, a former Leader of the Opposition and then the Government in the Victorian Legislative Council and a minister in the Australian Labor Party Victorian state government of John Cain. Andrew Landeryou has been active in the past in the Labor Party, and particularly the Labor Right faction, although he had never been a candidate for public office and is not currently a party member. Landeryou's political connections have created media interest in his legal and commercial difficulties and more recently his website.
Student Politics
Landeryou was elected as President of MUSU in 1990. His support for the Australian involvement in the Gulf War and for Israel aroused the opposition of left-wing student groups. After a campaign by the Education Action Group alleged misconduct by Landeryou and general secretary Keir Semmens, including the intimidation of Farrago student newspaper editors, they were removed from office by a vote at a student general meeting. Following the collapse of MUSU in 2003 he was sued by the liquidator, Dean McVeigh, along with other former MUSU presidents, Darren Ray, Ben Cass and Scott Crawford.
Business and legal troubles
After leaving university Landeryou went into business. In 2000 he started and became managing director of a dot-com company called IQ Corporation, which was intended to become an online sports statistics and gaming operator. About $4 million was invested in the company, with Melbourne businessman Solomon Lew as a major investor. By 2003, however, the company had failed and in 2004 it was put in liquidation.
Landeryou was involved in a legal battle with Lew, who claimed that Landeryou owed him $3 million following the failure of IQ Corporation. As a result of the litigation Landeryou was forced to sell the house he owned with his wife, former Melbourne City Council member Kimberly Kitching. Landeryou disputed Lew's claim, claiming it was based on fraud and coercion, and that Lew is unwilling to pursue his claim further. Landeryou says that he plans to counter-claim against Lew in the event that he continues with his lawsuit.
In late 2004 Landeryou was summonsed to appear before the MUSU liquidator while overseas, but failed to do so. He claims that he was travelling in search of investment opportunities and was unaware that a summons had been issued.
Landeryou returned voluntarily to Melbourne in April 2005, saying that he was keen to appear at McVeigh's examination. He was arrested [1] on arrival for failing to appear before the Liquidators' examination and was asked to give evidence about MUSU. He gave evidence for one day and maintained that his involvement in the MUSU affair was minimal.
More recently, Landeryou defeated his frequent blog target Lew and his legal team when they unsuccessfully sought access to user names and passwords of his online accounts, including to his blog. In a typically triumphalist style, Landeryou declared his success in the Federal Court "a victory for freedom".
The Other Cheek
After returning to Australia Landeryou established a weblog called "The Other Cheek - Andrew Landeryou's Blog of Freedom", which has attracted some media attention for its commentary on the political scene, particularly the internal affairs of the Victorian Labor Party, about which Landeryou is well-informed. He uses the blog regularly to attack members of the party's Socialist Left faction.
The tone of the Other Cheek (OC) is very casual, and often conversational. At times the writing style of the OC is sarcastic. There are also strong contrasts employed in the OC, where people Landeryou approves of are described as ‘conservative’, ‘moderates’ and ‘patriots’, whilst those whom he attacks are often called ‘leftists’, ‘leftoids’, ‘leftards’, and other strong and offensive terms.
Landeryou's blog regularly accuses the Melbourne newspaper The Age of politically motivated left wing bias, including against himself. He has attacked Age journalist Leonie Wood over what he claimed was her "secret relationship" with anti-gaming crusader Kate Dempsey while writing articles about Landeryou's company, which had gaming interests. Landeryou states on his blog that Wikipedia has a left-wing bias[2]. Other targets have included Evan Thornley, a businessman who is now an ALP member of the Victorian Legislative Council. and Lawrence Money (The Age's "Spy" columnist).