This proposal to modernise the Labor Party still does not address what I believe is the central problem, which is best illustrated by the Tampa affair, where Howard's strongest supporters were the Labor Party's heartland. A similar situation occurred during the last election over the Tasmanian forest workers, where we saw a liberal Prime Minister being cheered to the rafters by trade unionists. If the elite is disempowered to address this sort of problem, the party has cut off its head; if not, then the party continues to be disconnected from its supporters.

You don't have to be a maven to realise that the ALP's problems are deep-seated. The ALP's packaging department should be given a week's notice. Look at the tosh it has served up: the world's greatest treasurer who gave us 18% interest rates; Cheryl in that red dress who was cultivated and mooted as Australia's first female PM until she got an attack of PMT; Mark Latham, the unregenerate ALP bovver boy and his visceral brand of politics which meant everyone would be insulted sooner or later; a pop star with his bark hut philosophy who has jettisoned all he once held dear and may indeed embrace an ALP policy of nuclear power generation; and another ACTU heavy who was about as popular as a pig skin wallet in a synagogue.

A Labor Party in touch with the electorate! What a novel idea. It will never work. The electorate is the first group ignored by the ALP and the Lib-NP coalition. Just look at the ALP quota system of selecting candidates according to the arrangement of one's genitalia. What if a survey finds that motor cycle gangs are underrepresented. Will members of the Gypsy Jokers be recruited to take their place on the front bench? And what a front bench. Nearly all of them are paltripolitans. Let's provide them with a compass so that they might visit Parramatta so they can find out what it is 'we' want.

Sage is absolutely right. Let me give an example. What was the biggest issue dominating talk back radio and commercial TV current affairs back in May this year? It was Schapelle Corby. Half a dozen grass-roots websites were set up to support her and the issue was being taken up in droves by the young, the suburban and people not otherwise interested in politics. The government was on the defensive over its stance in not wanting to help her for fear of offending Indonesia. It was an ordinary Australian, seemingly innocent, in serious trouble overseas. But what was the ALP response? It was a firm "We support the government" each time they were pushed on the issue by the media. Instead Kim Beazley championed the issue of opposing the government's quite popular budget. And we all know how much political mileage he got out of that. Further, Beazley even parroted the government about the infamous white powder incident at the Indonesian Embassy on June 1 - the "not some innocuous white powder" that turned out to be exactly that and was probably designed just to make Corby supporters shut up.
That's how much the Beazley-led ALP cares about the Australian electorate!

The fact is Labor only wants to take on issues it feels comfortable with. When an issue like Schapelle Corby comes out of the blue, Labor chooses to tread on safe ground following parrot-like the left-liberal paradigm that the Corby issue is essentially one for ignorant, racist people who are not sensitive enough to understand that relations with Indonesia are too important to be sacrificed for some dumb girl from the Gold Coast regardless of whether she is guilty or not. What's more, trying to help Corby might have offended the Jakarta lobby and the interests of the "political classes" who know much more than about these things than does the electorate.

Corin,

Many have argued (as you have) that the starting point is explaining the failure of Labor in the past. Despite Latham's attempt there is still no clear consensus around the key areas of failure by Labor in federal politics since 96.

Until this consensus is reached then the Labor party will forever find itself with an albatross tied around its neck - and adrift in a sea created from its own factional blood letting.

Latham has attempted to create consensus around his version of Labor's failures - but this is being unproductively contested over and over again. No resolution is in sight.

In my mind the revitalization of Labor will not be realized by the next election. It will again enter the election bleeding profusely from beating itself to death. Miraculous resurrections can and do occur, but the people must be allowed to inspect the dead carcass (caucus?) of Labor first. The machine men in Labor are well known for their ‘dead parrot’ arguments. Their eradication should not be seen as a risk, but an investment in the party’s future. But I for one won’t be waiting in anticipation for this to occur. It will take courage and foresight and sacrifice, but I see no willingness to perform this self inspection and cull. Instead, we witness a never ending parrot skits being played out between Labor party leaders.

When and who will it write its own death certificate? Undertaker Latham has tried, but even he will need assistance.

Many have said that Labor stands for nothing.Has anyone really asked why?

Labor over the last 30yrs has been pandering to all the minority groups and sectional interests to secure votes,rather that doing what is right for the common good.They hurt me and millions of others in the "recession we had to have," stuffed Victoria,and now stuffed NSW,and have the audacity to premote their tired old ideals and incompetence as a plausible alternative.

We desperately need a credible alternative at this point in time since the coalition are getting too arrogant.

Labor pandered to the minorities, it became "mother" to the weird, wonderful and wacky, and while doing this it labelled Aussies who complained as 'racist', 'redneck'.
The real Australian has seen the party for the workers hijacked by the academics and the union leaders all looking for a cosy post.
Labor has become a hindrance to Australia instead of being a good alternative government ,it has become completely unnecessary.
The sooner it dissolves the better.

Yes its time Labor started listening to ordinary Australians. Not poets, song writers, actors, human rights activists, child abuse activists, pensioner groups, youth advocacy groups, NGO’s who do heaps of community work with homeless people and battered wives, volunteers who work overseas in third world countries, grassroots Aboriginal community leaders and workers who do amazingly good work with little or no funding.
These people have been listened to (but not heard) for far too long by both sides of politics.

Its time ordinary Australians had a go at being listened to and not heard.

The main thing the Federal Labor Party should do is to realise the facts, there are a lot more working people than millionaires, this is a Party that grew from the union movement, but which these days is disenfranchised from the ordinary working person, because they are toooooooo conservative, offer no solutions to the ordinary family in the suburbs, poverty,homelessness, Industrial mRelations, only a return to the status quo, no improvement in lifestyle. They need to come out loud and strong in support of working people, and move from the "right" back to centre, or centre/left to gain the support of the working poor, pensioners and middle income Australia

Thank you for all the comments. I agree with them in the main.

Whilst IR reforms create a real opportunity for Labor to seize the middle ground of economic debate, I hope they don't waste it by pandering to the unions and calls for widespread increases in wage indexation and centralisation, like they did in the 2004 election.

I think Labor can create a policy that defines them as competent and "better reformers" than Howard. Latham proposed reform but his prescriptions were seen as incompetent and policies like Medicare Gold certainly were.

Addressing policy competence and creating trust in a future Labor government would be a key to success in 2007.

This will require more candidates from beyond the established avenues. The public wants to be convinced of totemic change and a real move toward representing local community and in particular those living in outer-suburbs.

My experience is that Labor staffers often have come from varied backgrounds but then spend 10 or 15 years in politics never really speaking to anyone other than other ALP members and staffers. In short they become disconnected.

A connected party can found from having people involved with support from many walks of life.

The other point I was making is that the wide variety of seats means that Labor needs a large variety of candidates, and some variation of campaign message for the various areas. ie. if you campaign in Queensland you need a slightly different message/emphasis to seats in Melbourne. And often local issues and candidate recognition are decisive indicators of a party in touch and able to connect.

Thanks again for your comments.

Thanks Corin,

Yes grassroots representation would be excellent but I can help but think that even if they were elected they'd find themselves on the backbench, isolated, and voting in blocks according to the desires of factional number crunchers. Remember good ol Richo?

I think what you propose has great merit but structural and cultural reform in the upper echelons of Labor needs to be visibly apparent before even the most hard nose grassroots activist or community oriented leaders will look twice at the Labor party.

In my experience of watching Labor pre-select, they are much more conservative than many realize and tend to select manageable people, people who can demonstrate their fidelity to the party ethos rather than to their community. My observations suggest that even the best community leaders (in the states) are in battle with State Labor Ministers and then their yes men and women in their electorates.

It apparent to me that state Labor governments don’t want a Labor Federal government in power and I doubt they’d openly push for one either. Beattie’s silence on federal issues in the last election was deafening. This silence sent a diagonal message to the electorate that should not be underestimated in the next fed election.

I too hope for a Leftist resurgence, but my instincts tells me that this won't happen whilst Labor premiers are paying lip service to national issues

Rainer you're are talking about social disintergration of family breakdown,child abuse battered wives,youth alienation,crime etc?

Has it ever occurred to you that the soft option leftist mentality has been instrumental in creating all these problems over the last thirty yrs?More Govt handouts will only worsen the problem.

Where is the personal responsibility,independance and courage that our leftist whimps have failed to cultivate?In order to gain power the left have appealed to the most base of our instincts,sloth,lack of intestinal fortitude and not taking responsibility for our own actions.Yep,the Govt was going to solve all our woes.

We have become a pathetic culture and the Chinese business class will soon be the gate keepers of our economy.

Rainier,

Pessimism is a fools paradise in the long run. I guess it depends how long you have.

I'm only 30 - and don't think power should be held by people without widespread personal experience - so feel I have a fair bit of time.

Therefore I'd accept the possibility that these ideas will be unpopular in the ALP for sometime, but in the long run similar thinking will prevail.

People want a competitive connected ALP. Most people want that in the wider community. Politics needs that. The progressive concensus for better education for the young and expanding economic opportunity will be assisted by a Labor party that is connected to the aspirations of the great majority. These are reward for hard work, obligation to community, and respect for the poor where that poverty has not been their fault. This last agenda item is the most difficult to frame.

These values are better scrutinised by wide participation than by membership only politics. Debating community values must be a conversation between political leaders (the ALP) and the community. It is a self perpetuating benefit, to have widespread popular issues debated by the political party, and by people who come from the communities we live in.

Corin