Happy New Year. Trust you had a good Christmas. It’s about to get busy.
We should have a new leader of the State Parliamentary Party by this time tomorrow (5/1) . Luke Foley has spoken in favour of Party Reform in the past, so hopefully this will be another step in the right direction. Full credit to him for insisting on a rank and file preselection in Auburn.
The first meeting of the new Rules Committee will be on the 14/1. The agenda is the finalisation of the new rule book, incorporating the changes made at last year’s conference. A first draft has been prepared. The objective is to have it reviewed and updated in time to be approved by the regular Admin Committee meeting in February (6/2).
We have a State Election, of course, on the 28/3. Depending on how that goes, we may have to have another ballot for State Parliamentary Leader, but only if we don’t win and only if someone challenges. So long as we don’t lose too badly, you’d have to expect that there won’t be any challengers so soon after an uncontested change of leadership, meaning that the first opportunity rank and file members will have to vote for the State Parliamentary Leader is probably still some way off.
Because of the State Election, Branch AGMs are to be held some time in April and we encourage you to do all you can to ensure that the people elected are pro-reform.
SEC, FEC and LGC AGMs are to be held some time in May. Remember that this year, each of the 48 FECs in NSW are to elect one delegate to Federal Conference, either directly by the FEC, or by a ballot of all Party members with at least one year’s continuous financial membership (as per Rules G.5 and M.9). Again, we encourage you to do all you can to elect pro-reform candidates. If you do nothing else, please talk to your existing Delegates to Conference and find out how they voted on motions and amendments at last year’s State conference.
The rest of NSW’s delegates to National Conference ought be elected by the 2015 NSW State Conference. To my knowledge, no date for this has been announced. If any Delegates to National Conference are to be elected at State Conference, it will have to happen some time in June, after SEC and FEC AGMs, but prior to National Conference.
National Conference will be in Melbourne this year, from the 24/6 to the 26/6. Amongst other issues, there will be debate on the replacement of the Socialist Objective.
It’s going to be a busy six months.
Our ALP 
Happy New Year Ben and I hope real reforms begin
Will Sussex Street come to the party?
Will we have more lies from Union Bosses as to member numbers trying to get more delegates being able to put in their man [I don`t mean branch stacking]
Will rank and file be listened to.
Paul Howes showed how stinking and rotten the ACTU leadership was {is it still ❓ ]
I mean he`s a right wing conservative corporate spiv in charge of distributing union ballots and strong arming Labor
The Unions have to watch their Leadership because if it`s right wing then the members lose out.
Jackson/Williamson at the HSU bear that out plainly as well.
So to how the TWU lied in the LOTO election
We need a Labor R&F register where we can get together online because the Leadership is treating us like mushrooms.
Hello Ben, a good start to the year.
Agreed BH, a rallying point organised by ‘the left’ online to harness the widespread outrage against Abbott and insidious nation destroying corporate corruption.
Perhaps to get presently unaffiliated unions and union R&F to join the ALP on a mission – with one objective in mind – to take up their right to send delegates to National Convention who will facilitate/demand democratising rule changes.
We must take our ALP back from complacent self serving union and political leaders, who are quietly collaborating with corporations to drive unionism and the workers once proud egalitarian ALP into oblivion.
We can’t affort to have IPA sympathisers/operatives in the ALP.
The LNP have been subsumed by corporations, are we going to stand and watch while the ALP goes the same way?
It is time to fight for Australia’s sovereignty – and the survival of the ALP as the people’s party.
We must do this before the 2016 election, or it will never be allowed to happen by those who will then control us.
Our national sovereignty is a citizen issue just as much as a party political issue – the ALP must draw all concerned people together to support and take action against corporate domination of our country.
If we could get the numbers together, we could do it, but it won’t happen if the left doesn’t get out the front and lead the way – among other things demand a federal ICAC.
Corruption is destroying our nation.
Excellent JB and I`ve tweeted for Labor R&F to rally here. 😛
I`ll keep it up as I`m sure you will assist and we need to get some of our IA Labor breatheren R&F over here 🙂
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