Straight from the horses mouth: and the ABC........the horse @rse.
Labor leadership outcome remains uncertainThe World Today - Thursday, 20 January , 2005 12:15:00 Reporter: Nick Grimm KAREN PERCY: With the array of party heavyweights declaring their support for Kim Beazley in recent days, one might be forgiven for assuming that his return to Labor's top job is guaranteed.
But the outcome is still uncertain, not least because the party factions themselves are divided over who to support.
Jockeying is also underway for Labor pre-selection in Mark Latham's soon-to-be-vacated seat of Werriwa, in Sydney's west.
But all the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring has some asking whether Labor has learned any lessons from its past mistakes.
Nick Grimm spoke to Rodney Cavalier, a former New South Wales education minister, who these days is a Labor Party historian and commentator.
RODNEY CAVALIER: Well, what we're witnessing is something seriously bad in the history of any political party, and that's an intersection of the collapse of belief and the collapse in organisation. But as belief has disappeared as a crucible, careers and jobs and the prospects of the glittering lights have replaced them. And so people are lining up in terms of where they nail their colours to the mast – not in terms of what they believe, but in terms of what opportunities they perceive will fall their way, in terms of what faction they join.
NICK GRIMM: In fact, you've characterised the factions as executive placement agencies?
RODNEY CAVALIER: That's exactly what they are. Competing wings of executive placement, trying to find the talent so that they nurture themselves and build obligations by nurturing that talent.
NICK GRIMM: And you join the faction which you judge to be one most likely to advance your career?
RODNEY CAVALIER: Or the one that made the best offer when you were at uni or a young person in the workforce. So you have, therefore, an entire generation of people who have never worked, from the day they left school, going into university. Graduating or not graduating, and never worked for anyone but the Labor Party, a minister, a member of Parliament or a trade union. Now, if you think that that is adequate preparation for public life, good luck to you.
NICK GRIMM: So it would be your view that in choosing a new federal leader, or even in pre-selecting a candidate for a by-election in a seat like Werriwa, federal MP's should lay aside their factional alignment and just go for the person who the voters are going to want to elect?
RODNEY CAVALIER: Well, it's clearly more complex than that, and there's obligations and personal friendships. But the party beyond this parliament has got to do something about a serious renewal.
NICK GRIMM: Of course we'll soon see a by-election in Mark Latham's outer Sydney seat of Werriwa – what do you think is likely to happen there?
RODNEY CAVALIER: Yeah, I think that the party will have some stark choices, and whether it wishes to continue to promote people who work for a minister or for the Labor Party in some broad sense, or prefers to go for someone who's worked for a living and not been dependent for their succour on the Labor Party and its extended network – I think that Werriwa will be a very obvious opportunity to bring in someone who's had experience of the real world – working for a living, having to meet a payroll. When you look across the range of interests that are represented in the modern parliamentary parties, it's a very narrow party indeed. The background of the 29 of the 30 of the shadow ministry in the federal parliament, are people who have worked for a union or for ministerial staff, or in some way related to the ALP wage structure. The intakes of Labor members of parliament since 1996 have consistently been the same profile – it's not like we've had 30-odd new members. We've had much the same member, so many times over, with some significant and very worthwhile exceptions like Peter Garrett.
NICK GRIMM: Putting it simply, you feel that Labor hasn't learned from any of its mistakes over recent years?
RODNEY CAVALIER: It hasn't renewed itself, and that's the single biggest mistake that an opposition can make, failing to renew itself. If the Labor Party is serious about recruiting new talent, then it's got to look beyond the ranks of Young Labor and ministerial staff and the espousing of loyalty. Young Labor does one function – it teaches people how to hate other members of the Labor Party. It should be looking at the tsunami relief and Kosovo and places that idealists have gone and worked, and bring those people into parliament.
KAREN PERCY: That's Rodney Cavalier, Labor Party Commentator, speaking to Nick Grimm
