Deary me. Whats this all about and will we see an internecine war happening.
The Labor Party has exploded into open warfare at the highest levels following the defeat of the senior cabinet minister Penny Wong to the number one Senate ticket in favour of one of the lesser known faceless men who helped install Julia Gillard to the Prime Ministership in 2010.
Right-faction powerbroker Don Farrell defeated Senator Wong in a ballot today by 112 votes to 83 with the Finance Minister to be listed second on the South Australian Senate ballot paper at the next federal election.
Senior Labor frontbencher and left-faction figure Anthony Albanese let fly today at ‘‘union powerbrokers’’ saying Labor’s ongoing factional wars were evidence of a broken internal system.
Accusing his party of ignoring the electorate in favour of its own ructions, Mr Albanese said he will demand this week that the ALP national executive overturn the decision and promote Senator Wong to the number one spot. Advertisement
He labelled the move as ‘‘gross self-indulgent rubbish’’ taken by ‘‘those who should care more about the party and less about themselves.’’
‘‘This defies common sense,’’ Mr Albanese said. ‘‘Modern Labor cannot take decisions as if our internal processes are the end game and ignore the electorate. Voters will be dismayed that a talented senior economic Minister in Penny Wong is not deemed fit to lead the Senate ticket.
‘‘This reinforces the need for some of the union powerbrokers to have a good look at themselves and the Party to get serious about reform.
‘‘If this is the outcome of the system, the system needs to change.’’
In yet another episode of Labor’s message being lost by its own hand, Ms Gillard addressed the party faithful in a keynote address for the branch’s annual state conference just hours before SA Labor’s dominant Right faction made good on a promise to install their man - parliamentary secretary and union heavyweight Senator Farrell - in the top spot ahead of the Finance Minister. Ms Wong is widely considered as one of the government’s stand-out performers.
