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  Issue No 33 Official Organ of LaborNet 01 October 1999  

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History

Groundhog Day

By Neal Towart - Labor Council Information Centre

Ghosts of Conferences past: some strangely familiar debates and decisions from previous state ALP conferences

* January 1892 - Twenty-one delegates attended, small by today's standards, but this set the foundations for the future of the ALP. A broad view of party membership was adopted. All men and women who subscribed to the Platform and paid their dues of 4 shillings per year. The central executive committee would be "the executive body of the league and the tribunal to which all disputes and all matters affecting the general welfare of the league shall be submitted for decision".This might not sound exciting but the mere fact that women were allowed and encouraged to be a part of the political process was practically unheard of (concrete results for women and real equality in the party were some time off, still being fought for in fact).

The Pledge is consolidated at this conference. The rudimentary Pledge adopted by the Labor Council in March 1891, and George Black's Pledge of July 1892 were combined and strengthened.

� Members nominated for selection as candidates shall, before a ballot is taken, give a written pledge (a) that they will not contest the seat in the event of their not being selected by the branch, and (b) also a written pledge to uphold the Platform of the League if elected to the Parliament of the Colony, and to vote on all questions as the majority of the Parliamentary Labor Party in caucus may decide, or resign their seats.

These and other decision were the strongest moves by the Party to assert its independence from its founding body, the Labor Council.

* 1907 state conference Fighting Platform

Calls for closer settlement, graduated land tax, water conservation and irrigation, and a State bank. Other planks called for concessional freight rates on the railways, free education at technical and secondary levels, with the university [Sydney], to be open, on a bursary system, to all who could pass a qualifying test; and pensions to be payable at sixty. The industrial relations plank called for workers' compensation and regulation of working hours.

* 1910 Conference Fighting Platform for the election.

Constitutional reform high on the agenda with "abolition of the Legislative Council and the substitution of initiative and referendum" the first plank.

* 1916 anti conscription resolution (moved by Arthur Rae)

That this conference solemnly pledges itself to oppose, by all lawful means, conscription of human life for military service abroad, and directs all Leagues and affiliated unions to take immediate steps to oppose all Labor members who vote for or otherwise support conscription, so as to make this matter the issue between the forces of democracy and despotism.

* 1922 NSW Labor, chiefly the AWU, rejects the incorporation of the Socialist Objective, adopted by the federal Conference in 1921, into the NSW Platform.

* 1923 federal Labor begins its fighting with the NSW party. Also the ousting of the executive lead to Jack Lang becoming leader, and the arch manipulator held sway for many years after.

* 1939 Unity conference enshrined the supremacy of the conference, the authority of the Party executive, the rights of the parliamentary party and the primacy of the parliamentary leader.

* 1980 "The NSW Labor Party in government must acknowledge as its priority in the social welfare field the establishment of a policy of responding to social injustice in our society on a rational priority basis....the Government must quickly establish a clear picture of the areas in need and proceed via adequate funding and planning to meet those needs. After acquiring a picture of needs via adequate demographic and social indicators, the next and most important step is the establishment of a consultation process with local people and their community workers".

* 1989. State conference called upon to reiterate its previously expressed intent that the University of Western Sydney be named Chifley University, and that immediately on resuming government that this initiative be put in place.

Opposes the sell-off of government owned public enterprises.

Commits to the protection of contract workers.

(based on Cause for Power: the official history of the NSW branch of the ALP by Graham Freudenberg (Pluto Press, 1991); and ALP (NSW Branch) annual conference papers to 1989.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 33 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: The Boys
Labor Party heavyweights Eric Roozendaal and Damian O'Connor will lock horns this weekend. They fire their first shots.
*
*  Economics: Reasons to Be Cheerful
Can we change the way we look at the economy to better reflect community happiness and well-being?
*
*  Unions: Breaking the Wave
ACTU President's submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Workplace Relations Act.
*
*  International: The Wisdom of Solomon
A disturbing case from the Pacific where corporate lawyers are playing a deadly game.
*
*  History: Groundhog Day
Ghosts of Conferences past: some strangely familiar debates and decisions from previous state ALP conferences
*
*  Legal: Bad, Bad Things
Some of Australia's leading industrial lawyers argue that the Workplace Relations Act breaches basic international obligations.
*
*  Review: Tailing Out
As the BHP steelworks close in Newcastle a special book chronicles the stories of working live that have just become history.
*
*  Satire: Police Cut-Backs Lead To Drop In Organised Crime
An audit of the NSW Police has revealed that they have been seriously cutting back their operating budgets to ensure that they will be able to afford the increased security costs of the Olympics.
*
*  Work/Time/Life: It's Official: Aussies Work Harder
Australians continue to work long hours in contrast to a world-wide trend in industrialised countries that has seen hours at work remaining steady or declining in recent years.
*

News
»  Station Cuts Derailed - But More Hits for the Scull
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»  Social Audit Backed by Community Groups
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»  Unions Take Common Priorities to State Conference
*
»  Simmering Discontent Hits Boiling Point
*
»  Public Sector Job Numbers Rubbery
*
»  Timor Protest to be Dumped in Reith Wave
*
»  Big Lunch Break for Stress-Free Day
*
»  Arch Apologises for Youth Wage Debacle
*
»  Clean Air Policy Up In Smoke
*
»  Child Carers Stretched to the Limit
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»  Building Workers Won�t Settle for Half Pay
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»  Life, Art and Politics
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Columns
»  Guest Report
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»  Sport
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»  Trades Hall
*
»  Piers Watch
*

Letters to the editor
»  More Transport News!
*
»  A Meaningful Contribution
*
»  Life is Cheap
*
»  Short Shots - Richo, Reithy
*

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