The Three Narratives about NSW Labor

It’s been interesting to see the public debate come out in the past few days around who was responsible for the loss of the ALP.

I told a friend the other day that I believe there are not two narratives between right and left in the party about what went wrong. There are actually three narratives.

These are:

1. The Sussex Street Narrative – supported by the Head Office party machine.

2. The Macquarie Street Narrative – supported by the NSW parliamentary right faction, and other supporters of electricity privatisation.

3. The Rank and File Narrative – supported by the left faction, some unions, and other rank and file reformers.

The three narratives can be summarized by examining the following questions.

Why did Labor lose?

Who is responsible for it losing?

Should electricity have been privatized?

Where does the ALP go from here?

Lets examine the three arguments in detail.

The Sussex Street Narrative

Key Supporters: Sam Dastyari, Mark Arbib, Graham Richardson

Key articles/texts:

Sam Dastyari’s article in the SMH

Mark Arbib’s 7.30 report interview

Graham Richardson’s article in The Australian

Why did Labor lose?

Labor lost for two main reasons. Firstly, it was at the end of a natural political cycle of sixteen years. Secondly, Labor ran a bad government in the last four years, which made the loss much worse than it should have been. We went through an unnecessary public fight about privatization, which resulted in the downfall of a premier. We then went through two more premiers and a number of ministerial scandals, and took our eye off the ball on policy that helps working families.

Who is responsible for the ALP losing?

The parliamentary wing is primarily responsible. It pushed the privatization debate against the will of the party and the Unions. It attempted to defy the will of conference to get the policy voted up. It is also responsible for the poor behavior of MPs. Sussex Street is not to blame for any of this stuff happening.

Should electricity have been privatized?

Both the party members and the unions didn’t support it. The public were also strongly opposed. There was the risk the ALP would lose office over it. Therefore we were opposed.

The parliamentary wing persisted with the policy even when it was voted down at conference. This was technically against party rules and a breach of the McKell model. Eric Roozendal’s second attempt was also a bad idea. Both of these attempts resulted in a complete loss of confidence in us by the public.

Where does the ALP go from here?

Some reform is necessary to re-engage our base and grow our party at the grassroots, but not any reform that weakens Sussex Street’s hold over the party. People will come back to labor if we start talking about the issues that concern them.

The Macquarie Street Narrative

Key Supporters: Morris Iemma, Michael Costa, Paul Keating

Key texts:

Michael Costa’s Opinion piece in The Australian

Simon Bensen’s book, “Betrayal”

Paul Keating’s interview on the 7.30 report

Why did Labor lose?

Labor lost because our plans for privatization were blocked. This brought down Morris Iemma, Michael Costa and destroyed the government.

Who is to blame?

Sussex street, the unions and the ALP Left are all to blame. The unions and the left ganged up on the parliamentary wing to block the sale at conference. Sussex Street didn’t back the Premier, and instead undermined his position. They willfully and publicly supported the destruction of the government.

Sussex Street should never have intervened in the debate and stood against the Premier. Under the traditions of the McKell model, the party machine should have supported the government of the day in whatever policy it was putting forward, even if that meant it taking a stand against the Unions. Sussex Street are a soul-less policy free zone of hacks who just sit around listening to focus groups instead of helping the party tackle hard policy reform.

Should electricity have been privatized?

Yes. The sale would have allowed competition in the sector, driving prices down. Morris Iemma’s sale model also gave concessions to union members, but the Unions decided to say no. The sale would have delivered a windfall to government that could have been spent on Infrastructure. We were so convinced of the correctness of this policy that we pushed it even after conference voted it down.

Where does the ALP go from here?

Reforms need to be introduced to restrict the power of Unions and the Sussex Street machine to undermine the prerogatives of the Parliamentary Labor party. We need to get back to the McKell model where the party leadership stands with the parliamentary wing, not the industrial wing. Anyone involved in the destruction of the government from the Sussex Street/Unions side should not have any place in the party’s future. Mark Arbib, John Robertson, Bernie Riordan and others should not be in positions of influence.

The Rank and File Narrative

Key Supporters: Luke Foley, Andrew West, Paul Pearce, Rodney Cavalier, Darcy Byrne

Key texts:

Luke Foley’s Message to ALP members

Andrew West’s SMH article

Rodney Cavalier’s book “Power Crisis”

Paul Pearce statements

Darcy Byrne SMH article today

Why did Labor lose?

Labor’s loss can not be explained away as some end of a political cycle. The sheer scale of the loss can only be explained by deeper, more serious structural problems within the ALP.

The party stopped sticking up for workers and we failed to build the infrastructure and services that they need. We had no on the ground presence at the election and this made it worse. The ALP has completely lost touch with the concerns of the community, because we stopped being a party that has any presence or connection to the community.

The party should never have even started the debate about electricity privatization. It was never going to be supported by the community. Morris Iemma himself had said before the 2007 election that he wouldn’t do it.

Who is to Blame?

Sussex Street is primarily to blame. Macquarie Street was wrong to push privatization, but most of the MP’s in Macquarie street owe their careers to Sussex street anyway. For all intents and purposes they are the same machine called Centre Unity (the NSW Right), and they are just having an internal dispute.

Over the past few decades, Sussex Street has:

a) Wrecked the ALP’s grassroots base by taking power away from them over preselections and policy

b) run a corrupt patronage machine from head office via powerbrokers like Tripodi, Roozendal and Obeid

c) Promoted soul-less hacks, fundraisers and right wing ideologues to seats in state (and federal) parliament.

This machine created the debacle of the ALP in the last term.

Should electricity have been privatized?

No. Electricity assets are utilities and should be kept in public ownership, especially generators. Private ownership in electricity just pushes prices up with no guarantee of new assets. The policy did not have the support of unions, the party, or the electorate. Eric Roozendal’s second attempt was even worse than the previous model and led to the certain collapse of our base vote.

If the party wants to change policies on public ownership it must seek a mandate at conference. If this mandate is rejected by conference, further attempts are against the platform.

Where does the ALP go from here?

The ALP must grow as an organization if it is to survive and get back in touch with the community, and survive as a party of social democracy.

Reforms need to be introduced at the next State conference to take power away from Sussex Street and Macquarie Street and give it back to the rank and file. Party members must always have the say over rank and file pre-selections and the ALP platform, without Sussex Street intervention or defiance from Macquarie Street.

The party should implement the recommendations of the 2010 ALP National Review at the next NSW ALP conference in full. The party should also consider reforms that go even further than the ones contained in that document to promote the grassroots.

Conclusion

As can be seen, all three views share some common ground with each other. All parties agree that the fight over privatization, the way it occurred, was just plain dumb.

Sussex Street and the Rank and File were on the side of public opinion in opposing electricity privatization.

Macquarie Street and the Rank and File have no particular sympathy for Sussex Street’s Iron Grip on power in the ALP (but for different reasons).

Macquarie Street and Sussex Street may hate each other, but they aren’t particularly interested in grassroots democracy (apart from paying it lip service).

This is an argument about power in the ALP, and who controls it.

A solution to the issue will probably depend on debate and compromise, or else the rank and file getting more of the numbers to force change. John Robertson’s role in championing one view or the other will be key. Whether one argument wins the day will ultimately be up to the numbers at conference. Personally I'm a strong supporter of the Rank and File Argument.

If the party gets it right, it could be a real clause IV moment, and renewal and growth will come quicker. If not, Labor will spend a long time in the doghouse.

New South Wales - a 1970's political system in a 21st century state

Another week, another scandal in the New South Wales government. This time, the media are the ones guilty of over-reach. But the overwhelming impression voters still get is that our political system is broken.

The meme that "our politics is broken" is often a meme that politicians run. At times, it isn't necessarily true, or the claims are exaggerated.

But if you were to ask about the state of politics in New South Wales, I doubt you'd find many people who disputed it. Of all the governments in Australia, the NSW state government stinks the worst - and you probably wouldn't find much in the way of honourable or saintly conduct in local government either.

Local governments are regularly mired in corruption scandals. Influential people are able to get planning approval for all sorts of major projets with little active community consultation. When developers can't get what they want, like with the Coogee Bay Hotel redevelopment, they beef it up to exploit part 3A (the "state significant development" section) of state government planning rules to bypass all council involvement, and all community consultation.

The hotels lobby actively lobbies the government to kill arts, culture and live music and allow them to introduce more poker machines that take money away from the elderly, the poor and the addicted.

Property developers donate money to political parties (especially the incumbent one), and then lobby furiously to get land rezoned for development. Ironically, this is a product of the state government's own making, by neglecting to release enough land, thus pushing up house prices. They regularly win friends and influence people in the labor party. Some have stopped bothering trying to conceal their connections.

As many as four government ministers have been sacked or resigned over the past 4 years over sex scandals. Milton Orkopolous was defrocked for sexually abusing teenage boys. A second was accused of domestic abuse. Less than a week into Rees' reign, Matt Brown allegedly sexually harrassed people in his office. A vindictive journalist then exposed David Campbell visiting a gay sex club. That journalist was later exposed by Crikey of having a vendetta against the Labor Party for his poor treatment as a short lived spin doctor under Iemma - and for the poor treatment of Reba Meagher - a rare case of someone being sacked for genuine incompetence.

The New South Wales government has had 4 premiers in the past 6 years. Bob Carr resigned with an impeccable sense of timing. Morris Iemma resigned and took a number of discredited ideologues with him. Nathan Rees was ousted for few other reasons apart from coming from the wrong ALP faction. Kristina Keneally has surprised many with her competence, my included, but she is struggling to drag the very dead, very heavy weight of her colleagues to the polls. At each leadership change, two catholic men, one of them very rich, have effectively had the biggest say. The media now blatantly make up stories - and yet even the fake ones sound plausible.

And where has the opposition been? Well, in a similar state.

Kerry Chikarovski led the liberals to a decimation in 1999. John Brogdon was thrown to the wolves far too early in 2003. Two years later, some right wing religious crazies in his party spread rumours that he had sexually assaulted a woman at a party. He went back to his office and attempted suicide. Three weeks later he was replaced by a dribbly guy who was more frequently spotted in his red budgie smugglers than a suit.

As recently as last year, when they were virtually unassailable in the polls, the liberals were still having internal factional wars between two subfactions of the extremist hillsong/opus dei right. During the fight, Federal MP Alex Hawke stated that "nobody joins the liberal party to decriminalise homosexuality". And who is their leader? Barry O'Farrell.

Compared to everyone else, he looks like a saint, for the sole reason that he is a weak man who has done absolutely nothing and hasn't been brave enough. Which compared to anything else...

And all through this - where's the good policy in the public interest? What has the government actually done in the last 5 years that merits applause? MyZone? They nearly buggered that one up too. The Lane Cove Tunnel? The operator nearly went broke recently. And they still managed to build it without enough lanes.

Public Transport? A new plan every year, and hundreds of millions wasted on the Metro, but still no north west or south west metro. Public hospitals? Shortages of doctors, nurses, and funding have led to bed shortages and high waiting lists. The environment?

Well, there was one win recently - they stopped building a coal mine in the hunter. Why? Was it because the government decided it was bad for the environment? Well, no. It was because Alan Jones, John Singleton and a few other high flyers had friends up there who convinced the government that it was a major horse ranch area and furiously lobbied the government for 5 years. Thank you, racing and gaming industry, for your wonderful environmentalism!

Meanwhile, coal mines damage the environment north west of wollongong.

Gay marriage? the catholic right in the ALP have vetoed that over and over again. Abortion is still technically on the statute books as a crime for the same reason.

Karyn Paluzzano? Busted for corrupt use of her office. Nobody in the Labor party believes it's an isolated incident, me included.

The Michael McGurk scandal? We had the farcical parliamentary hearings into tapes that turned up nothing. Graeme Richardson even turned up and basically said "it's ok guys, I checked this one out, and it's not corrupt. Because believe me, if it was corrupt, I would know about it."

Seriously.

Is it any wonder that people in new south wales are keeling over in agony?

They are desperate for something, anything. The polls show the liberals way out in front. But it's not with any enthusiasm that they endorse Barry O'Farrell, but more of a resigned "well, it's the only thing we can do, but I doubt it'll change much". They've actually taken more of a liking to Kristina Keneally on a personal level. But yes, even she owes her career to questionable tactics by the Tripodi faction in the preselections for her seat of Heffron in 2003.

And the political parties themselves - what an awful mess. They ceased to be mass-based political organisations many years ago. The Liberal moderates have been comprehensively routed by the extreme right wing crazies in recent years. The only reason Barry is the leader is that some of these right wing crazies were politically savvy enough to stick a moderate in front of the camera. But you only have to look at the Young Liberals to see what the future looks like. The poor old young liberals only ever read two books when they join - the hillsong bible, and Atlas Shrugged. Whenever they have a debate with young labor, they literally walk across the road from Macquarie Bank, or from their father's law firm, and walk in the front door of macquarie street.

In 20 years, these guys will be running the government.

Young Labor isn't quite as bad. There are some very good people. But somehow, none of them get promoted to good positions. I wonder why? The senior party uses it more as an employment agency for MP and ministers offices. Come March 2011, all of these men and women will be out of a job.

The ALP is an empty vacuum of talent. All the sensible people went to work in federal politics or the union movement long ago. Most have given up trying to even save it. Many party members I speak to think that a loss would actually be good for the ALP. Bad for the state, perhaps, but good for the ALP. What a shocking thing to even think. Most of these members have been through the pain of watching someone parachuted in over the top of them by the executive, or having their views on policy ignored by factions.

Does anyone doubt that the moment labor loses the next election, a whole number of labor MP's will be exposed as corrupt frauds? Curring favour from business? Stabbing each other in the back? Selling government to the highest bidder? In the late 19th-century, if the founders of the labor party saw what was to become of their creation 100 years later, they would have been appalled. Is this supposed to be the party of the workers?

But does anyone seriously think the liberals will do any better? They're just as likely to be worse.

Who's going to save NSW?