Where now for Labor?
The Australian Labor Party is surely at a crossroads. Whether it can become relevant again at a national level remains to be seen.
I’m probably not the only person nervous about the looming prospect of John Howard controlling the Senate. I would feel much safer with the balance of power in the hands of a responsible independent (ie anyone except the Greens).
The fact we’re facing this unique situation is entirely Labor’s fault. Mark Latham, remember him, stumbled through the last election campaign and threw away votes in blue-collar Labor seats with his misguided forest policy. This obviously cost Senate votes as well.
Unfortunately, the Democrats gave way to the radical Greens and the newcomers from Family First are yet to find their feet and numbers. This coincided with the collapse of One Nation and the retirement of Brian Harradine, who I respected.
No doubt Telstra will be sold now that the government has both a mandate and the numbers. I accept this and hope the National Party will extract maximum concessions for rural Australia.
But what else will Howard try to pull off once he has unfettered power?
And who is there to oppose him?
The Labor Party is a shambles. Beazley’s threat to vote against tax cuts is stupid. It’s time that all parties recognise that anything under $100,000 isn’t a high income if you’re supporting a family. All parties and all levels of government should be working to apply policies that are family friendly.
As for tax reform, go Sophie Panopoulos. I hope you succeed in influencing significant change as you propose. It won’t come from Labor or Howard, and I suspect that only the backbench can drive this agenda.
Getting back to Labor, I read somewhere that nearly all of its federal MPs have a background either as political advisors or union officials. So much for representing the working class and middle Australia!
People from such backgrounds are invariably part of the elite and as far removed from everyday life as the richest bluebloods of inner Toorak.
Branch stacking is rife and Labor fails to recruit, attract and pre-select candidates who haven’t climbed their way through the factional system or the union movement.
It’s hard to see how Labor can recover unless someone like Tony Blair comes in and overhauls absolutely everything. Perhaps Bob Carr is the man, I don’t know. But someone has to step forward and it isn’t Kim Beazley.
As for the government, I hope the National Party asserts itself more now that it holds the balance of power in the Senate. Telstra is just one of many issues where the Nationals could and should exert influence.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
May 14th, 2005 at 2:18 pm
“The worst thing in this world, next to anarchy, is government.” — Henry Ward Beecher