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March 3, 2006
As John Howard celebrates ten years of political success with his courtiers the ALP reflects on the effects of ten years in opposition:
Bill Leak
Some within federal Labor also ponder on the future prospects of their great party:
Geoff Pryor
The question being asked is: is Labor going anywhere?
A comment by Paul Kelly in The Australian reflecting on John Howard's achievements:
Howard has been lucky to govern during an era of historic weakness in the Australian Left. Yet he has a keen grasp of this weakness and exploits its two main flaws - namely, that the Left's social and economic solutions no longer work and that its hijack by middle-class progressives has alienated the Left from a majority of the Australian community.
It rolls off so easily doesn't it: the ALP is captured by the inner city social liberal professional class--the New Class with its ideology of social control. What ever happened to all that history of the neo-liberal micro-economic reforms under Hawke and Keating?
The reality is that the ALP is currrently run by the machine men of the authoritarian National Right who don't care much about social justice, equality, democracy or living an ethical life rightly. Compassion is a campaign slogan not a way of life for them. It's the ever expanding control by the Right faction that all the current body punches in the Victorian pre-selection are about.
Presumably, the divisions in the federal Labor Party will continue to widen.
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I think your being way to kind to the ALP Gary.
Its amazing how many of the ALP leadership seem to be there because their father's were ie Beazley, Crean and (I suspect) McClelland.
Their only hope is that Turnbull tires of being behind Abbott and Costello, changes sides and leads a VERY reshaped Labor Party to victory.
Pete