
Issue No 119		16 November 2001

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Factions

The Party's Over

Chris Christodoulou renews his call for a breakdown of the factional system to bring new life into the ALP


	Chris Christodoulou

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The Labor Party has wasted no time in beginning its soul-searching analysis as to why we lost the Federal Election, who's to blame and, of course, what the solutions are for the future.

All the normal suspects are off the blocks with a couple of new entries.

Like many other Labor Party commentators the issues I raise will probably fall on deaf ears and things won't change much between now and the next election. Nonetheless continued agitation might at some stage find its mark.

Lets start with the simple issues first.

Policy and strategy

We should have released our election policies earlier, we should have worked out a strategy to get our message across which didn't solely rely upon the mass media and we should have in hindsight forced a number of issues in the Senate which were left for the election proper.

In this regard, we should have blocked the coalition's education funding package and taken this issue to the wire over twelve months ago.

It is clear that "Tampa" and the whole issue of asylum seekers coupled with the September 11 terrorist attacks simply overshadowed our original election strategy on education, health and jobs.

Our inability to put up any real alternative to Howard's approach to asylum seekers in the end destroyed us. Endorsing Howard's approach to asylum seekers was seemingly the ALP's way of neutralising the issue, however it sent the message that the Howard Government was right and that there was no other solution to the problem. Unlike some of my comrades from the Left I don't believe the alternative was to simply attack Howard on his handling of the boat people. This would have been political suicide and our current loss would have been massive.

In my view we should have engaged the electorate on the issue of immigration generally and focused on the Howard Government's hypocritical stand on the question of illegal immigrants. On the one hand, Howard has spent over $200 million using the navy to block around 1,000 asylum seekers whilst on the other hand he has done nothing to police or regulate the tens of thousands of overseas visa workers who remain in the country illegally. There has been little, if any resources put into policing employers who use illegal migrants as 'cheap labour'. We should have also exposed the Coalition's obsession with importing skilled labour at the expense of training our own people to fill these skill shortages.

Restructuring the Party

Of course whatever our policy and election strategy was, our ability to mobilise on the ground through ALP branches to sell our message was never going to be an option. Branches are dying and in some electorates if it wasn't for union assistance the distribution of election material and the staffing of polling booths would have non-existent.

Discussion about reviewing Branch structures and Party organization is not new. It happens every time we suffer a defeat. The debate is usually factionally driven and therefore nothing ever happens. The same old clich�s are again doing the rounds now. The reality is that if we are to rebuild the Branches, rebuild activism and reconnect with our traditional constituents we need to do this without factions and preselection agendas sabotaging the process. This has got to start from the top.

Bob Carr was an unexpected entry into the political analysis of our defeat. Unexpected not because he commented but in terms of what he had to say.

"A defeat is a defeat and no nice gloss can be put on it," Mr Carr said.

"The Labor Party needs to replenish its parliamentary ranks.

The delegation from NSW that sits in Canberra needs some deft retirements and new talent to go in there.

That is the challenge for the party organization. I'll be putting it to them in unmistakable terms � there needs to be a turnover in personnel."

I have three responses to the above.

1. I agree;

2. Implement it at a State level; and

3. Go one step further Bob and abolish factional caucusing at the Parliamentary level.

This single last action would make the Parliamentary leadership work a lot harder in ensuring its policy agenda is properly discussed. It would renew the Parliamentary caucus in terms of debate and discussion and would greatly assist in the demise of the factional system in New South Wales.

We need to renew rank and file activism in the Party and renew our membership with people who are true believers not preselection votes.

Three years ago I put forward a plan to defactionalise the Party in New South Wales. I repeat the seven (7) point plan in terms of the components of a defactionalised Party.

STRUCTURES IN ADEFACTIONALISED PARTY

1. No factional caucusing at a Parliamentary level

2. Term limits for Parliamentarians who are not Ministers

3. Reviewing the preselection system with a view to finding the best candidates. This might include:

- candidates having to establish union , business and community support as part of their nomination

- reviewing the preselection tests for rank and file members to reward genuine activists and workers;

4. Mass recruitment, induction and education training for new members;

5. Restructuring branches to make them more accountable, financial and accessible;

6. Electorate policy conventions in the lead up to conference;

7. Rank and file election of conference delegates.

If we had six or seven thousand real party activists on the ground we may have had the capacity to sell a stronger message in some of the electorates where we did badly in by using some old fashion face-to-face discussion and debate.

Having said all this I believe in all the circumstances the result could have been much worse. I paid tribute to those party members and trade unionists who kept campaigning to the very end even when it became clear that the odds were against us.

Clearly here in NSW our challenge is to win the next state election.

This is far from a forgone conclusion. Workers Compensation has the ability rip the trade union movement's support of the party apart.

If we are to rebuild and renew after this election defeat it must be on the basis of unity not division.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 119 contents

Interview: Out of the Rubble
Michael Costa argues that Saturday's election result could have been much, much worse.

Unions: Sixty-Forty Are Good Odds!
John Robertson argues that while there may be many problems with the ALP, union power is not one of them.

Politics: Wrong Way, Go Back
Labor's failure in the federal election is the result of more than bad luck. It is the result of a shift to populism that has left the Party bereft of core principles.

Campaign Diary: Week Five: All Washed Up
If you can stand it, relive the fatefull final week of a most remarkable election campaign.

International: Trade Piracy Unmasked
As the trade barons met in Qatar to chart out their agenda, George Monbiot looks at the machinations behind the scenes.

Factions: The Party's Over
Chris Christodoulou renews his call for a breakdown of the factional system to bring new life into the ALP

History: The Fall-Out
Neale Towart looks back to Labor's reaction to its loss in the 1954 'Petrov election' and finds warnings for today's post mortem.

Media: Elite Defeat
Rowan Cahill looks at the intellectual paucity in the PM's ongoing attacks on 'elite opinion'.

Satire: Crean 'Listens To Australian People': Will Sink Refugee Boats
Simon Crean, the most likely candidate to replace Kim Beazley as Labor's leader, says he will take heed of the message sent to the ALP by Australian voters at the Federal Election.

» Unions Call for Border Review

» Compo Fire Reignites as Bill Hits Deck

» Workers Unite Over Corporate Power

» Day Three: Telstra Privatisation Begins

» Primus Deal Marks New Era in Telcos

» Qantas Staff Cuts Condemned

» Bank Workers Seek Proxies for AGMs

» Blokes Stand Up For The Ladies

» Landmark Community Services Win

» Anger at Sartor's Power Grab

» Consumer Boycott Call for Sugar Co-op

» Apprentices Win Parity with Uni Students

» Competition for Nurses Hots Up

» CFMEU Launches Bunny Club

» ICFTU Reveals 250 Companies in Burma

» Activists Notebook

» STOP PRESS: No Democracy at Telstra AGM