It doesn’t really matter what the result ends up being from the weekend’s federal election; one thing is crystal clear – the way the Australian Labor Party governs itself needs a serious shake-up.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/23/2990448.htm
Clearly what has been occurring in NSW over the last four-or-so years – and what was seemingly echoed earlier this year with the dumping of leader and PM Kevin Rudd – is a sign that there is “something rotten”, to paraphrase Shakespeare.
One of the named individuals in this ongoing melodrama is Mark Abib, who holds a seat in federal Parliament, and even held a minor government portfolio.
The NSW-Right faction of the ALP is seen as a serious power-broking faction, and is commonly seen as the ‘faceless men’ who pull strings behind the scenes.
One of Kevin Rudd’s assertions when he claimed the leadership of the Party in late 2006, and when he became PM in 2007, was that he was not beholden to the factions. He clearly had a vision of reforming the Party from the centre of Governmental power in Canberra. From all reports, he behaved more like a Liberal Party leader, centralising control and ignoring caucus. Perhaps this is the real reason why the Party ‘dumped’ him; not because he would have led the ALP to defeat, but because he pissed off those ‘faceless men’ who think they control the Party (and by default, the nation).
Interestingly, it seems the swing away from the ALP seems to point that disenchanted Labor voters are turning to the Greens because they are wanting a Party to give a voice to the Left. I would argue you would be hard-pressed to find many Left-wing, progressive folk who don’t now associate with the Greens, rather than with the ALP – the donations given by the ETU to the Greens is a case in point.
The rise of the Independents within the House of Representatives, and not just in the Senate, also points to the idea that Australians are not just cynical about the way our current political system operates, but maybe down-right angry and annoyed by it.
If the ALP were serious about being a modern, progressive political Party, then they need to heed the lesson that was taught over the course of this year. Indeed, all parties do; but maybe more so a party that claims the ‘progressive’ high ground.
0 Responses to “Whatever the result, A.L.P. needs to change”