Author Archives: Ben Aveling

The Left voted for boat turnbacks and against rank and file reform.

Posted on 4 August, 2015 by Ben Aveling

At the 2015 Labor National Conference the Left voted for refugee boat turnbacks, and against party reform. Let me repeat that. The Left voted for refugee boat turnbacks, and against party reform. On April 27, 2014, Bill Shorten called for … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc | 7 Comments

The questionnaire (I’d like to see) for candidates for ALP National President

Posted on 7 June, 2015 by Ben Aveling

As mentioned in our previous post, the 5 candidates for National Labor President have answered a survey from Local Labor/Open Labor. The survey did not raise the issue of the relationship between the Party and the Affiliated Unions. Geoff Hjorth … Continue reading →

Posted in National Presidency | 4 Comments

National Conference, National President, and more

Posted on 2 June, 2015 by Ben Aveling

A lot is happening. We’re electing a National President now, there’s National Conference in July, and NSW State Conference will be in October. There are 5 candidates for National President, 2 from the Right, 3 from the Left. All are … Continue reading →

Posted in National Conference, National Presidency, NSW ALP State Conference | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A report from the Rules Committee meeting of 14 Jan

Posted on 19 January, 2015 by Ben Aveling

As mentioned in my previous post, the first meeting of the new Rules Committee was last week, the agenda being to identify the remaining changes needed to produce a new version of the rule book, incorporating the changes made at … Continue reading →

Posted in Rules Committee | 5 Comments

The year ahead

Posted on 4 January, 2015 by Ben Aveling

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in National Conference, NSW ALP State Conference | 4 Comments

Unity Conference Minutes

Posted on 14 December, 2014 by Ben Aveling

Please find attached draft minutes of the 75th Anniversary Unity Conference, including resolutions on the following topics: that the Australian Labor Party should be a democracy based on membership control; that there will be a regular conference of local branches; … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc | Tagged | 1 Comment

Agenda for Unity Conference 75th Anniversary Event

Posted on 14 November, 2014 by Ben Aveling

When: Saturday 15 November Where: Newtown Neighbourhood Centre 1 Bedford St, Newtown NSW 2042 What:

Posted in Misc | Tagged | 2 Comments

Reform is on the agenda for Country Conference (but it’s not looking good)

Posted on 28 October, 2014 by Ben Aveling

Country Labor Conference is this weekend. There are a number of pro-democracy motions on the agenda (see pages 38-40): election of Country Labor representatives on the Admin Committee, Country Labor Committee and other Country Labor positions by Country Labor Conference; … Continue reading →

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Urgent need for Labor Unity – Unity Conference – 75th Anniversary Event

Posted on 20 October, 2014 by Ben Aveling

From Sean Macken and David Hetherington: We are writing to invite your Branch to join the Erskineville Branch of the ALP at a conference to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the landmark Unity Conference which was held in our suburb … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How to make Faulkner’s vision happen.

Posted on 13 October, 2014 by Ben Aveling

John Faulkner’s Revesby Speech contains a number of statements that lend themselves to being turned into motions, either rules change or policy changes: Policy changes: all political parties’ eligibility for public funding to be contingent on that party’s rules and … Continue reading →

Posted in Branch and EC Motions | 8 Comments