ALP election time....

Its time for a good, old ALP election again - this time for state conference delegates and I am running.  These elections can be fairly tough and well contested, and involve an opportunity for party members to have their say about the direction of the party.

Here is my opening pitch to my comrades in Brunswick....

Dear Friend,

Last year I was elected as a Wills FEA delegate to ALP State Conference. I am seeking your assistance to serve another term.

No doubt about it, Labor is going through tough times. We can be a strong and effective movement if we have the courage to listen to progressive voices in party and the community. We did that in Brunswick with the fantastic campaign for Jane Garrett last year – a model which needs to be embraced and improved upon nationwide.

I have been endorsed by the Socialist Left, and if elected I will work towards change in our party based on a series of principles involving:

• A Labor Party of values and ideas
• A growing not declining Labor Party
• Returning real power to members
• Reaching out to our supporters in the community and
• A culture of inclusion and innovation, not exclusion

Currently I am President of the Brunswick branch and serve on the Economics Policy Committee.

I am committed to continuing to report back to the Brunswick branch following each State Conference and taking up your issues at that forum.

In the lead up to the ballot I look forward to talking to you and asking for your support. If you want to contact me you can call 0403 xxx xxx.

Up from the Underworld

I have just returned to Melbourne from the launch of a new book, Up from the Underworld by Andrew Reeves.

As a part of the launch we were offered, and I took, the opportunity of a quick tour of the coal mine.  Our guide, Jack Fleming, was a sprightly 81 years old and lead us deep into the underworld.  Just travelling down to the first coal seam and back was exhausting and a very small taster of the atrocious living conditions miners had to put up with in this place.

If you are ever in Wonthaggi, a tour of the state coal mine is an absolute must.

A common theme

The new conservative government is not governing for all Victorians - as seen in Brunswick.

Ms Garrett said the local community had been “abandoned” in the Budget.

“By failing to fund the expansion and upgrade of Brunswick Secondary College, this Government is ripping up the approved master plan for this school and betraying the many families in our area,” she said.

But James Martin, spokesman for Education Minister Martin Dixon, said the master plan would remain in place and put the school at an advantage for future funding.

“It will come into consideration for future budgets,” Mr Martin said.

 This is a common refrain this week all through the northern suburbs.  In the election last year the conservatives made one local education promise across the northern suburbs.

The broader point is that conservatives tend to govern only for those who vote for them.  labor on the other hand, somewhat naively, believes its rhetoric about governing for every suburb, every street, every neighborhood.

Reflections on Progressive Australia

Its been a while.

Last weekend I was dragged up to Sydney to go to the Progressive Australia conference, organised by the Chifley Research Centre. Its a sad reflection on Labor party culture over the past few years that I came away rather enthused and excited for I had been able to spend two days absorbed by debates about values, policies and campaigning.

It was something that we have not really had for a good decade.

My main takeaways from the conference are:

• Values matter & forcing our leaders to talk about values in progressive frames is vital
• That politics is changing - the GFC has destroyed the pale centrist politics of the 1990s
• This means that the campaigning model championed by the NSW Right has to be jettisoned in favour of a grassroots campaigning model
• Change that we need is cultural - rule changes may be needed, but we should not wait, or depend on the benevolence of national conference.  Change can start in your neighbourhood and your local community.

If Labor has the courage to embrace with the community organising model it means taking a chance.  A chance that the powers that be won't have the complete control they are used to.  A chance that we may be leaders who will be advocates and fearless progressive champions.

Voters, I think, are looking for some guts from progressive leaders.  Not crazy brave guts, but smart guts.  Leaders who are prepared to show they have values, and will fight for those values. 

Videos from the Progressive Labor conference will be up in the coming weeks.  Keep an eye open on www.progressiveaustralia.org.au.

The fall of Kings and the rise of Princes

I am still waiting the final figures but it is certain that my campaign for election to Moreland council has been unsuccessful.

It was fairly clear that this election was a change election and voters were looking for candidates who clearly represented change. I was unwilling to pander to that basic desire by ruthlessly attacking some of my Labor colleagues like some other successful candidates (especially in the northern wards) did.

For not a moment do I regret talking about the issues and trying to stay positive.

The campaign may have ended but the issues I care greatly about - fixing Sydney Road, reforming children's services, standing up for renters against profiteers, and protecting community sport - will not go away.

Moreland council will have a strong Labor majority but the character of that Labor majority is yet to be known. Will it be a progressive majority or reactionary? I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and will be there to hold the Labor caucus accountable to the progressive policy direction it espouses.

I particularly welcome the imminent election of Enver Erdogan - a good young progressive with good working class politics and the re-election of Cr Alice Pryor.

And I look forward to continuing to work with all of you in the broader cause, that of advancing progressive politics in my own community and on broader shores.

In the meantime let us drink, metaphoriclly, to the fall of kings, the rise of princes, and to interesting times.

Abortion to be legal

Abortion will shortly be legal in Victoria (after the Governor gives his assent, which is a formality).

Fantastic, and well done to all who helped to make this happen.

Tis an autumn for an election

I am running for election as a delegate to ALP State Conference from my local area. For the record I thought I might reproduce parts of my letter to ALP members here...

As you know over the past few years I have been a member of the Coburg branch executive, including secretary. Currently I am also a member of the party’s Transport Policy Committee.

Labor, being in power at all three levels of government, has a historic opportunity to change our nation for the better. We need progressive voices at state conference that will to provide a vital counter to conservative ideas and interests.

I have been endorsed by the Socialist Left, and if elected I will support progressive policies such as:

• Planning for a sustainable future, including the expansion of public transport and opposing unnecessary and expensive road projects
• More respect for unions from Labor governments – especially in the vital areas of education and health.
  
• Economic policies that are grounded in a desire to make poverty history.
• Support for diversity and multiculturalism within a framework of respect for human rights, equality for women and the rule of law;

I am committed to reporting back to the Coburg/Brunswick branch following each State Conference and taking up your issues at that forum.

Greens Please Explain

The Left and Christianity

The title of this post could well precede a rant from the likes of Bolt, Henderson or Blair, but let me assure you my gentle readers that this is not the case.

Last week I had a stand up argument with someone who would regard themselves as Left wing, and expressed reservations about Kevin Rudd's leadership of the ALP because of his very public Christianity. I regarded this argument as lacking substance (or as I put it - "crap") for these reasons:

1. Christianity does not equal Family First/Exclusive Brethren/Danny Nahlia - the same group of people who would defend Muslims from attack from the right on the basis of rants by extremists, should not then extend different standards for Christians in politics - and by extension Kevin Rudd and the ALP.
2. Kevin Rudd has expressed a belief in a Christianity which professes a "social Gospel". His articles in the Monthly here and here are good examples of this.
3. A progressive stance that seeks to exclude people of faith in favour of a stale secularism - a secularism that rather then co-opting religion (render unto Caesar what is Caesar's....) - is a political movement designed to fail. The Left of politics and society in Australia has drawn upon men and women of faith more moral leadership since settlement.

There has been much talk of a religious right in this country, but there is a small - if potentially influential - religious left as well. Progressives should embrace people of faith, not reject them or cast them into the same camp as right wing extremists