By Race Mathews
Key decisions at a steering group meeting earlier this week have identified a threefold role for Local Labor following on our party’s National Conference, namely:

• Adoption by Local Labor of the Policy Action Caucus (PAC) model, with both a national and a Victorian focus.
• An ALP Reform Implementation Watchdog project to ensure agreed reforms such as nationally of the Faulkner/Bracks/Carr review and in Victoria the Griffin Review are acted upon.
• Member induction, education, training and consciousness raising, through measures including short courses, debates, forums and the provision of a speakers bank to enable informed choices by branches and FEAs of speakers for their meetings.

Stuart Whitman and Cassandra Devine were appointed respectively as the group’s national and Victorian co-convenors and Race Mathews becomes its first national patron.

Further national patrons are expected to be announced shortly, and additional national and Victorian co-convenors and steering group members are to be sought with a view to cross-factional and gender balance.

Immediate actions agreed upon by the meeting include preparation of a submission on reform measures for presentation to the Victorian Rules Revision Committee prior to its deadline on 9 March.

The steering group will in future meet regularly, on the fourth Wednesday of every month.