Our ALP

Yesterday Kristina Keneally published a 10 point plan for recovery of the Labor party.

Will it work? Are there some ideas worth supporting? Continue reading →

I suppose there are many reasons why people don’t join the Labor party, or why they leave it or become inactive members. A reason I would like to focus attention on is factionalism.

Senator Faulkner in 2005 (Parkes oration):

“When factional interests are put ahead of the Party’s interests, the Party rots. As Party membership declines, the influence of factional warriors increases. They maximise their influence by excluding those who disagree, not through leadership and persuasion. Those who defer to the powerbrokers are rewarded with positions in the Party and with employment.” Continue reading →

One day before John Faulkner warned that the factions are trying to “cast internal debate as disunity“, three days after Sam Dastyari has promised to propose sweeping reforms at Conference, there is an announcement from Head Office that, at this year’s Conference, amendments to the rules report “will only be accepted upon agreement of the Party Officers“.

Last time I checked, Conference was still the supreme decision making body, not Head Office, not the Party Officers.  And as such, it is up to Conference to decide what Conference will discuss, not Head Office, not the Party Officers, except with the consent and agreement of Conference as a whole.

This all underscores the importance Sam Dastyari presenting his proposals now. If you agree, please leave a comment saying you support the open letter and we will add your names to ours.

Senator John Faulkner will be giving the address at this year’s Wran Lecture, addressing the past and future of NSW Labor. Neville Wran will be in attendance.

Details are as follows:
When: 6pm for 6.30pm, Thursday 9 June 2011
Where: NSW Parliament House, Macquarie Street, Sydney
RSVP: membershipservices@nswalp.com

Transcript:

http://www.senatorjohnfaulkner.com.au/file.php?file=/news/CCJRYPLYRC/index.html

Video of the speech is “due after Monday next”. (Some excerpts here.)

Media Coverage:

It’s no surprise that Joe Tripodi is still blocking Labor Party reform. But did you know Sam Dastyari has said “[a]t the ALP conference in July this year I will be proposing the most radical reforms in 110 years of ALP history”.

We don’t think that what we’re asking for is radical. We just want our fair share of a say in the direction of the party. We want membership to be meaningful. And if that means closing a few loopholes in the rules, then so be it. Or course, we all know Joe doesn’t want that to happen.

What we’d love to know is what does Sam want, and what he is thinking of proposing. And we ought to be told now. Reasonable people may legitimately disagree on how much reform is needed, but Party Reform is too important to put the conversation on hold until July 9th.

So we’re sending an open letter to Sam, see below. If you want to support us, leave a comment on this post, or email me, or email reclaim_the_alp (sign-up required). If you can do it by this weekend, we’ll add you to the open letter when we send it.

Regards, Ben Aveling, Alexandria Branch

Dear Sam,

In last Sunday’s SMH, you are quoted as promising that ”[a]t the ALP conference in July this year I will be proposing the most radical reforms in 110 years of ALP history.” (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/tripodi-is-back-with-a-hand-on-controls-20110605-1fnj0.html) Continue reading →