The Honeymoon Is Over For The ALP
September 8th 2008 22:42
Ahhh the Australian Labor Party. What can you say really? They get the best gift they could have ever hoped for in the form of smooth operator Kevin Rudd, a virtual political machine unto himself, who gets them back in office in Canberra and re-energises the general public’s sympathies towards Labor. The Labor Party are in the best place they have been in years and years, maybe even ever. A Labor Government in each state and Labor in Canberra. The highest ranking Liberal elected official? The Lord Mayor of Brisbane. But here’s what you can’t forget: the ALP have self-destructive tendencies. As soon as things start going too good for them, the ALP just has to find some way to shoot itself in the foot. This weekend was just proof-positive of the ALP’s inability to stay at the top. Cases in point: the collapse of the New South Wales Government and the desperate scramble to retain power in the West Australian elections. For a party that has been so dominant in recent times, it’s a sad thing to see them throwing it all away like they have.
We have known Iemma was on his way out for some time. It seems like he knew it too, which would surely go towards explaining why in the hell he did some of the things he did. He over-reached on a number of issues and took actions that many would consider political suicide. Ever since he tried to push through privatisation of the state’s electricity, against the backing of unions and union-minded members of his own party, he has been living on borrowed time. The Iemma Government were the most dysfunctional state government, possibly in Australian history. Milton Orkopoulos, Phil Koperberg, Reba Meagher, Michael Costa, John Della Bosca... The upper echelons of the Iemma Government were constantly rocked by controversy. It all came to a head when Iemma decided it was high time to give Michael Costa, his Treasurer, the heave-ho. It’s reminiscent of the fate of another state Premier turfed by his own party: Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Sir Joh decided to start sacking people, thinking he had impunity, and his party bit back and sent him home kicking and screaming. Iemma didn’t quite scream but you could see the bitterness on his face as he made his last press conference. And later that day new Minister of 18 months Nathan Rees was elected to be the Premier of New South Wales. You could say that Rees taking over from Iemma is good for the party. Clears out the bad blood with heaps of time before the 2011 election. I would have agreed with you. Until this morning. The new Treasurer, party machine man Eric Roozendaal, has come out with a corker as he claimed that balancing the state budget was “like balancing the home budget and it’s not that difficult”. New South Wales $330 billion economy is teetering on a knife edge with low levels of growth and bottom-line pressures slowing activity. Time will tell how easy Roozendaal finds balancing the budget. But the ALP had better hope this new team pays off.
Otherwise they might end up like the West Australian Government. Yes, it’s seemed likely for awhile now since West Australia registered the lowest ALP vote at the last Federal election. But finally it looks like the Libs might be getting back a state government stronghold! Maybe. Alan Carpenter’s Labor Government did not win the necessary amount of seats at the state election on the weekend, but neither did the Libs. Who holds the balance of power? Well the four seats held by the Nationals of course. So it seems like, surely, the Coalition are in power, right? Not so. The Nats have taken to their new responsibility as Kingmaker’s with renewed gusto and have met with BOTH the Liberals and the ALP to decide who they will form a Coalition Government with. The prospect of a Labor/National Government is, frankly, bizarre. Would the Nationals leader become Deputy Premier? I’m sure the ALP wouldn’t go for that. Surely. But you can’t judge the behaviour of desperate people in desperate situations and the ALP would probably rather keep a hold on West Australia than give the Liberals a win. The Nationals decision to play the field seems to be supported by a statement made by Federal Leader Warren Truss suggesting the party may become more independent of the Liberals in the future. The first step to independence, it seems, is siding with the other lot. Union heavies and rural farmers in the same room? I would pay to see that.
So the ALP seem to be losing a bit of its stranglehold on Australian politics. If the Nats come to their senses and stick with the Liberals, they will have lost a state. And the Iemma fiasco will serve to destabilise the New South Wales Government so much so that, if the election was sooner, they would lose to the thoroughly uncharismatic Barry O’Farrell. The Libs get a fresh face to go head to head with Nathan Rees and the Libs might have a chance there too. What is obvious, though, is that the Rudd-induced honeymoon is over. Now the real fight begins.
Now, if only the Nationals could pick a side.
We have known Iemma was on his way out for some time. It seems like he knew it too, which would surely go towards explaining why in the hell he did some of the things he did. He over-reached on a number of issues and took actions that many would consider political suicide. Ever since he tried to push through privatisation of the state’s electricity, against the backing of unions and union-minded members of his own party, he has been living on borrowed time. The Iemma Government were the most dysfunctional state government, possibly in Australian history. Milton Orkopoulos, Phil Koperberg, Reba Meagher, Michael Costa, John Della Bosca... The upper echelons of the Iemma Government were constantly rocked by controversy. It all came to a head when Iemma decided it was high time to give Michael Costa, his Treasurer, the heave-ho. It’s reminiscent of the fate of another state Premier turfed by his own party: Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Sir Joh decided to start sacking people, thinking he had impunity, and his party bit back and sent him home kicking and screaming. Iemma didn’t quite scream but you could see the bitterness on his face as he made his last press conference. And later that day new Minister of 18 months Nathan Rees was elected to be the Premier of New South Wales. You could say that Rees taking over from Iemma is good for the party. Clears out the bad blood with heaps of time before the 2011 election. I would have agreed with you. Until this morning. The new Treasurer, party machine man Eric Roozendaal, has come out with a corker as he claimed that balancing the state budget was “like balancing the home budget and it’s not that difficult”. New South Wales $330 billion economy is teetering on a knife edge with low levels of growth and bottom-line pressures slowing activity. Time will tell how easy Roozendaal finds balancing the budget. But the ALP had better hope this new team pays off.
Otherwise they might end up like the West Australian Government. Yes, it’s seemed likely for awhile now since West Australia registered the lowest ALP vote at the last Federal election. But finally it looks like the Libs might be getting back a state government stronghold! Maybe. Alan Carpenter’s Labor Government did not win the necessary amount of seats at the state election on the weekend, but neither did the Libs. Who holds the balance of power? Well the four seats held by the Nationals of course. So it seems like, surely, the Coalition are in power, right? Not so. The Nats have taken to their new responsibility as Kingmaker’s with renewed gusto and have met with BOTH the Liberals and the ALP to decide who they will form a Coalition Government with. The prospect of a Labor/National Government is, frankly, bizarre. Would the Nationals leader become Deputy Premier? I’m sure the ALP wouldn’t go for that. Surely. But you can’t judge the behaviour of desperate people in desperate situations and the ALP would probably rather keep a hold on West Australia than give the Liberals a win. The Nationals decision to play the field seems to be supported by a statement made by Federal Leader Warren Truss suggesting the party may become more independent of the Liberals in the future. The first step to independence, it seems, is siding with the other lot. Union heavies and rural farmers in the same room? I would pay to see that.
So the ALP seem to be losing a bit of its stranglehold on Australian politics. If the Nats come to their senses and stick with the Liberals, they will have lost a state. And the Iemma fiasco will serve to destabilise the New South Wales Government so much so that, if the election was sooner, they would lose to the thoroughly uncharismatic Barry O’Farrell. The Libs get a fresh face to go head to head with Nathan Rees and the Libs might have a chance there too. What is obvious, though, is that the Rudd-induced honeymoon is over. Now the real fight begins.
Now, if only the Nationals could pick a side.
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