|
July 16, 2012
In Melbourne we have a Victorian state ALP, which is still recovering from an unexpected election defeat, fighting to retain a once-safe, Labor seat where the rise of the Greens has changed the game in the inner city seats of the capital cities. The NSW Labor Right have decided to attack The Greens just before an important by-election for the Melbourne seat in the Victorian state parliament.
The over the top attack has been calculated to offend progressive or centre-left voters (ie., the inner city, middle class trendies) to keep them out of the ALP and to shore up the NSW Right's power base amongst the socially conservative, blue collar, white working class vote.
The NSW Right go on and on about preferences when the real problem lies in the ALP's low primary vote. That vote is so low it is highly doubtful if the ALP will ever govern in its own right again. The ALP needs an alliance with the Greens to be able to govern, and the party is going to have to swallow its pride and deal with its resentment.
If Labor is a cause and not a brand, then why not accentuate the policy differences with The Greens and with the Coalition. Wouldn't that help to articulate what Labor stands for?
Resentment because the Greens stand a good chance in the near future of taking previous federal ALP strong holds in the inner-cities: seats such as Batman, Sydney, Grayndler, Denison and perhaps even Fremantle. The logic of the NSW Right's position is that preferencing against the Greens in the next federal election will deliver Tony Abbott more votes in the Senate, enabling the Coalition to undo the ALP's reforms.
|
most of the drop in the ALP's primary has gone to the Coalition not the Greens. The socially conservative working class has shifted to the Coalition.