Don’t assume that Labor’s discipline of the last six years — a stunning turnaround from the garbage of 2010-13 — is going to last. The ascendancy of a leader from the Left (albeit what passes for the Left in the NSW branch) and the general despair occasioned by losing an unloseable election may yet unleash a lot of pent-up anger and factional manoeuvring put on hold for the sake of securing power.
Compare the Liberals after 1993. Having studiously avoided the internecine wars of the 1980s, they briefly kept faith with Hewson, between 1990 and 1993, then flicked him for Boy Mulcaster, before returning to John Howard. That ended happily, of course. As did Morrison’s ousting of Malcolm Turnbull. Voters seem to care far less about internal disunity than they tell pollsters.
At the moment within Labor, it’s the Right causing difficulties, doubtless out of angst that the Left now has the leadership. That the Labor Right in states outside NSW couldn’t find a deputy better than Richard Marles — exemplar of the truism that a mediocre man is always at his best — augurs poorly for Labor in terms of both talent and stability. That South Australian right-winger Don Farrell will continue, as seems likely, as deputy Senate leader defies explanation.
Farrell has contributed virtually nothing to public life in his times in the Senate beyond counting numbers (the reason why he will likely keep his spot). His crowning political achievement was to help roll Kevin Rudd in 2010. As shadow special minister of state, Farrell was in a position to lead the charge against a government that has been the most openly corrupt and anti-transparency outfit of recent generations, and few outside the press gallery would be able to even identify him. The Liberals would surely be delighted if Farrell retained that portfolio for three more years, rather than seeing it used by someone who might effectively pursue a government devoted to cover-ups and dodgy deals with mates.
Meantime, Kristina Keneally is suffering the unusual fate of having her hard work to get Bill Shorten elected used against her, with Labor Right MPs leaking against her to Nine journalists that she’s too ambitious (no other Labor MPs are ambitious, and certainly not any male MPs). In one of the single dumbest things I have seen in 40 years of watching politics, Keneally was attacked for changing her Twitter background picture from her with then-leader Shorten to one of her with new leader Albo, with that touted as evidence of why she shouldn’t be promoted — and the claim reported completely straight by the journalist concerned. This is politics in 2019.
Scott Morrison, at least — reflecting the dearth of female MPs he has to work with — has happily implemented Jane Caro’s argument that women should be allowed to be every bit as mediocre as men, and promoted dud choices like Linda Reynolds and retained the likes of Melissa Price. Labor appears on the verge of promoting and retaining mediocre men at the expense of women, undoing its consistent work of recent parliamentary terms of promoting high-quality women in a way that shamed its conservative counterparts.
I strongly suspect that had there been a seamless assent of Keneally, the author would be raising the spectre of the NSW right in condemnation of it.
Heaven forfend, how could you suggest such a thing about our scrupulously fair & unbiased scribe?
The content of the submissions by the new staff (leaving the old-hands to one side), AR, is
even more superficial than it was a year ago. Its only been about 10 days and I’m bored as hell at the banality. I could almost cope if the preconceptions of the writers were not correspondingly stronger (over the year or so) – which compromises their capacity for lucidity.
On the whole, its been not unlike a task of correcting a heap of tut papers from very average students.
I wonder if there are really new writers or whether the boilerplate with their by-lines isn’t the result of some sort of algorithm – the stuff churned out thus far certainly reads like machine written pabulum.
I see that you feel emboldened to spout more anti-Labor garbage. Yeah, lets focus on Labor whilst the Coalition appoints an avowed racist as Minister for Multicultural Affairs, a Climate Change Denier & Water Thief as Minister for Climate, an Internet Thief as Minister for Social Services, & the ultra-crooked Cash gets to retain her previous Ministry, in spite of leaking details of an AFP raid to the media.
You want true mediocrity? Then look no further than your mates in the COAL-ition.
Can I suggest Shorten out, Husic back in.
Given Shorten’s past form, what chance he will be a well-behaved, factionally uninvolved citizen for the next three years? The parties really have to look at some way of ensuring that defeated ex-leaders get out of the bloody parliament. And, if we’d had such a policy in 1987, we’d have been spared John Howard!
Curmudgeon – I agree. Unless Shorten is going to sit on the front bench so he can be the chief target of the govt so as to deflect from Albanese, I cannot see the point. Of course the problem is not only factions but State rivalries too. Husic is NSW Right while Shorten is Vic Right.
I realise that in some studies of physics there’s the idea that there are an infinite number of possible universes but I’m pretty sure there’s no universe in which could Shorten ever be described as “factionally uninvolved.”
Shorten maybe thinks he can be “Lazarus with a triple by pass”. He needs to gtfo and take his baggage from the Rudd, Gillard horror show with him. Take one for the team Bill.
Yep. I’ve read the same articles and had similar thoughts, BK, although often I disagree with your conclusions. Yesterday Vote Compass surveyed me. If I known what would happen today I’d have responded quite differently.
And K.K.’s fate is not so unusual for a woman – capable but beaten by a mediocre man is par for the course.
“And K.K.’s fate is not so unusual for a woman – capable but beaten by a mediocre man is par for the course.”
Shorten did well here, I believe he genuinely sees women as equals . Albanese ? Not so much.
“Shorten did well here, I believe he genuinely sees women as equals . Albanese ? Not so much.”
Ok, but isn’t it Shorten’s mates telling Albo who he can and can’t have? Albo wants KK, Shorten’s mates want Don Farrell.
Sounds like Shorten and his mates are trying to punish Albo for always being more popular than their boy.
Who would want Kristina Keneally? The chance that she had she failed in. She is a failed premier. All Kristina Keneally is, is a can of noise. She makes noise that is what she does.
Kristina Keneally in the NSW Labor Government replaced Nathan Reece. The Keneally Government went on to suffer a 16.5% swing statewide at the 2011 state election – the biggest swing in Australian political history. She went down in a big way.
She inherited a poison chalice with all those corrupt politicians …..it took a strong person to take up that challenge. Interesting how all the LNP corruption escapes public interest…. in fact its rewarded ..how many board appointments occurred in the last two monthsor was it weeks of the previous government stacking boards with their mates thinking that they were not going to be elected. Where is the public outcry ? not there! because most people are not engaged in politics to know. I think KK will do those who are open and progressive proud.
So the leader of the Party has got no responsibility or control of what goes on INSIDE the party. Of course they do. The corruption was taken up and expanded and became rife because she was the leader because Kristina Keneally had no control over the Party but was more of a mouthpiece. In parliament she tried to disassociate herself from it. How can you do that when you are the leader of the Party? The Leader controls everything that goes on inside the Party.
In the Liberal Party that is why the Liberals got rid of Malcolm Turnbull because he was stopping the Party turning far right. He controlled the Party, so they took the control off him by all members of the Liberals voting against him and they kicked him out. The leader has control of everything. Then when they kicked Malcolm out he had, control of nothing.
.??? But she wasn’t. She replaced Farrell as Deputy Senate Leader.!
I think you are right Bernard but I wish the Labor party would shed their left and right factions and form a cooperative alliance of progressives after all isn’t that what the labor Party wants to achieve progressive policies. It will be a loss to Labor if Keneally is left out of the labor decision making she is great!