I do not claim to know much about New South Wales’ politics. But I know I have at least two readers there. This one’s for you, kids.
You might be forgiven for thinking that after watching the implosion of the Liberal Party earlier in the week, and seeing the scorn heaped upon them by media and public alike, that NSW Labor might have recognised the importance of party unity.
Apparently not.
Joe Tripodi and Eddie Obeid (characters of whose existence I am only aware due to their recent sacking as ministers, and their association with every leadership tussle in NSW politics from Rees’ elevation onwards) seem intent on ditching the Premier, and installing a more amenable, acquiescent leader.
Tripodi and Obeid are treacherous fellows, doubtless motivated at least in part by a desire for revenge after their recent dismissal. But the fifteen others they’ve managed to cajole into supporting their spill are, news reports suggest, motivated by a desire to stem the sustained haemorrhaging of electoral support for the government.
After the disaster that was the Iemma premiership, Labor was never going to win the next election. But the magnitude of the now inevitable loss is exacerbated by the petty, internecine struggles that now characterise NSW Labor. It has forgotten about the business of government and forgotten about the people of New South Wales. Rees, on the other hand, seems genuinely distressed by the current plight of his state.
The malcontents don’t need a leadership spill to find the solution to their problem, they need a mirror.
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Sorry this is so long. I guess I just have a lot to say about this
ReplyDeleteI largely agree with your assessment of the current state of affairs here. Joe Tripodi and Eddie Obeid are sadly much too interested in preserving their factional fiefdoms and inflating their own egos to care about both the long term future of the party and more importantly the voters of New South Wales. To them, politics is a game for power and control rather than a means to serve the best interests of voters.
Bob Carr, for all his faults, had the political skills and influence to keep Tripodi and Obeid in check. Since he left, no leader has had the clout to deal effectively with Tripodi and Obeid, partly because many of the MPs who have come into the Labor Caucus over the past decade owe their political careers to the factional wheeling and dealing of Tripodi and are thus beholden to do his bidding.
Iemma was extremely lucky to win the 2007 election. He always struck me as an arrogant, incompetent upstart way out of his depth as Premier but too stubborn to realize that he wasn't up to the job. The only reason he won was because the Liberals indulged their right wing extremist fantasies and selected the unelectable Peter Debnam. If they had kept John Brogden, they would have won by a landslide. It was the case of the lesser of two evils. There is an old saying that a government usually wins one term too many and I think that's true here
Rees had a lot of flaws and was never going to win the next election but the government was actually looking much more competent and effective than it ever looked during the entire Iemma premiership and indeed during the last few years of Carr's premiership. And he did the right thing in trying to curb Tripodi and Obeid's influence. But of course he paid the price for it and NSW Labor goes back to square one. A very depressing and disillusioning time to be an ALP member indeed
The thing I find most refreshing and amazing is that Rees still genuinely cares about NSW in spite of Obeid and Tripodi.
ReplyDeleteThe thing I find most disappointing about the whole debacle is that the two least competent ministers in Rees' cabinet were Roozendahl (who screwed up the RTA long before you'd heard of him) and Kenneally (which is probably spelt incorrectly, but demonstrates how much i think of her, who only did one thing right - WYD - and even then screwed up the accommodation, the immigration stuff and the liaison between multitudes of local government agencies ... let's not even speak of what she did to disability services).
To make matters worse, one of her first statements to the public is about how New South Wales faces a variety of natural occurrences (including drought, fire and flood) and sometimes rather close together.
I wonder whether she's worked out, yet, that flood doesn't 'fix' a drought?
Rees was a breath of fresh air - I am disappointed for New South Wales (rather than simply him). The state was much more positive than it had been in a considerable period.
*shame* ... and
*sad*.