Last week we looked at all the ticking time-bombs the Liberal Party had neatly surrounded themselves with in the last week of parliament. Through contemptible tactics and opposition cowardice, the Coalition were able to pass their anti-encryption bill and avoid defeat on votes concerning the welfare of refugees. The shambolic, skin-of-the-teeth finale will feel like a victory.
Now we turn our focus to Labor and the possible crises facing leader Bill Shorten in the lead-up to this weekend’s Labor Party National Conference. Which of these pots will boil over before the weekend is through?
Encryption
Many were furious at Labor for its last-minute capitulation on the government’s anti-encryption bill. Despite eloquent arguments being made against many elements, the bill was passed in its original form with precisely zero amendments. Labor has been condemned by privacy advocates, the tech industry, our own Bernard Keane, and now its own MPs. Nine has reported a “widespread” disgust for the move:
One senior figure said the backdown made Labor look weak and confused for supporting legislation it had conceded was flawed. Dissatisfaction in the party was ‘substantial’ and ‘pretty widespread’, they said.
The encryption debate was used by the Coalition for a series of attacks on Labor’s supposed weakness on “terrorists and paedophiles”. Clearly, it worked. This tension for Shorten is unlikely to go anywhere before the next election; the Coalition clearly feel it’s an area they can make inroads.
Refugees
In the lead-up to the passage of the anti-encryption bill, it was being argued that Labor were attempting a quid quo pro; that they were caving on a less than ideal reform (that they would later amend) and in return they would be able to pass a bill easing the passage of sick refugees to Australia to receive treatment. That was successfully stalled by the government and its allies in the senate, meaning Labor came away with nothing.
Despite a general softening of public opinion, refugees are another perceived area of vulnerability for Labor. The Australian darkly reported on Monday that Labor’s Left faction (with former ACTU president Ged Kearney as the figurehead) is pushing for a series of reforms across the board, most notably on refugees, with Kearney writing in Challenge:
We are determined, though, to deliver a national platform that resets the awful practice of punishing asylum seekers for seeking our safety and protection. Labor’s goal must be to get everyone held in offshore detention to safety and build a framework that could mean nobody actually has to go to offshore-processing facilities.
Shorten has made some concessions already. On Tuesday morning it was reported that 10,000 asylum seekers still being processed a decade after their arrival would be granted permanent residency through the abolition of the government’s temporary protection visa system. This won’t entirely ameliorate the concerns of refugee activists within the party, who are calling for an end to offshore processing and boat turnbacks.
That particular path has been publicly shut down by Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke:
If you stop the turnbacks policy, I don’t think there is any doubt that the drownings would commence again. I don’t mind that there’s some delegates who have that view and they push it, but they haven’t been in the majority in the past.
Newstart Allowance
Another issue which Shorten has been, shall we say, equivocal about, is the Newstart payment, which is roughly $40 per day. He’s admitted that no one in parliament could live on that amount, and has promised a “root and branch review” of the program in the first term of a Shorten government, but has as yet refused to actually commit to an increase.
That hasn’t been nearly specific enough for many, with Anthony Albanese ally and NSW delegate Darcy Byrne renewing his long-time push for an increase:
So far federal Labor has only committed to reviewing the rate of Newstart in the first term of government. This is not good enough. Giving the lowest income Australians a decent standard of living is a moral issue and quite obviously should be an immediate priority, not a second order concern, for an incoming Labor government.
What else could cause Bill Shorten headaches over the Christmas break? Let us know at boss@crikey.com.au.
Adani ?
Burke shut this one down this morning as well.
Stop hiding behind initials AR. Your peurile insults are no substitute for facts. Ignoring the issue of drownings at sea by Do Natale is as gutless as anything I have ever seen from any politician. And that is a fact
The Greens supporters are just out wedging
Shorten is a career politician who made his mark selling out union members whilst retaining power …. Exploiting the unaware and trusting nature of those who have some moral/ ethical beliefs.
Any Labor supporter who thinks he will make a difference and lead the country is deluded.
Political parties are doomed, they are being cannibalized by the bloated egos of their most ”successful” members.
Selling out? It’s called negotiation a concept totally alien to the Greens as they go after the low hanging fruit among soft Labor voters.
No, it’s called the pre-emptive cringe with double buckle and head down.
The traditional tune of the apparatchik –
“We’re happy little apologists/ as smug and dumb can be/we all dissemble & obfuscate/morning lunch and tea”
Get out from your hiding place AR. Arrant Ratbaggery is your style.
To make any of these changes, you have to prepare the ground first.
1 . On encryption, where did Labor point out that even if the law is passed, even slightly determined paedophiles and terrorists can continue using open source encryption for their communications? Do they even know that this is the case? In view of that, since the damage to our economy is huge, it is best to tread carefully. If that had been explained to all and sundry beforehand, they could have held out.
2. No need to stop turn-backs. Just point out that asylum seekers are now arriving by air. The number of applications are the same as in previous years. So coalition claiming a win on this issue is just spin, and there is no point on being cruel to those on Manus and Nauru.
3. Any sensible discussion onNewstsrt or other “spending” issues will forever be hobbled as long as Labor sticks with the neoliberal nonsense about “delivering surplus budgets”. It is time to start dismantling that myth, by pointing out that surplus budgets lead to greater private sector debt unless there is a large trade surplus.
If you read this and then close your eyes and focus, you should see a vision of Murphy over at the Graun.
It’s outrageous that she refuses to acknowledge the glowing halo floating above St Billy’s head.
Well lets hope she is also on Crisis watch!
I don’t think encryption will come back to haunt Shorten. Tech firms didn’t make big hay of it and journalists don’t see it as affecting their work yet, so see it as a much needed security tool – I’ve seen News Corp, Fairfax and ABC journos report it as nessecary.
Any egg on Labor’s face for voting for it was just seen by party and press gallery as a loss in the two party battle on the final day, some sort of apparent omen for the new year to the clueless Canberrians, hence PM ScumMo out on the weekend having a gloat about passing it.
Outside of the bubble, which ScumMo insists is what matters every other day when he hasn’t
had something that feels like a win, no one cares. No Labor member is going to fuck up the inevitable victory over it, and the press are on board – they only care if they get spied on, not anyone else.