Even the young Labor leftards cant work together..lol LABOR’S failure to embrace structural reform has deepened divisions in the party’s youth movement, sparking a farcical split at a national conference on the weekend where Left and Right factions held rival meetings. What was supposed to have been a convivial annual meet-and-greet turned sour when the organisation’s 50 Left faction members voted on a walkout to protest about lack of party reform. The Left’s co-convenor, Adam Clarke, accused some members from the Right of being too accepting of the party’s “archaic power structures” and said the walkout was designed to make the conference more relevant to its participants. Held on the Australian National University’s campus, the conference saw Right and Left join for a reform workshop and a keynote speech by Labor’s leader of the lower house Tony Burke, but otherwise remain entirely separate. “Members of the Young Left have said enough is enough,’’ Mr Clarke said. “The party is in desperate need of radical reform. We want to make sure we’re competitive; we need to see the youth of the party take the actions necessary to move democratisation. “Currently Young Labor does not stand for that.” Outgoing president Kerrie Kahlon, a proud member of the Right who says she favours party reform, said those of her peers who did not believe in reform were “ridiculous” and voiced concern about the senior party’s influence on Young Labor. Ms Kahlon said this was a particularly difficult time for members, with internal rivalries making Labor membership “not a positive experience”. “If we can’t come together and have an annual conference, that really concerns me,” she said. “We have a culture that is modelled off the senior party’s division (but) we should be idealistic and not have those issues seep into Young Labor. “We spend too much time fighting each other and not enough time fighting the opposition.” Echoing recent calls by senior Labor figures for faction and union bosses to surrender power to its members, Mr Clarke and Ms Kahlon said the majority of Young Labor wanted to see a one-member-one-vote system. They said membership throughout the Labor Party would “churn and burn” until rank-and-file members had a greater say in internal decisions. “The reality is we should be having a lot more people joining than we do,” Mr Clarke said. “We have a lot of people join but they stick around for a while and then leave. No one’s saying the Labor Party is going to die but, without reform, we will be the natural party of opposition.” On the back of a disastrous result in the West Australian Senate election re-run — where Labor secured just 21.8 per cent of the vote — ALP president Jenny McAllister last week pushed for an end to union bosses and faction leaders choosing upper house candidates. Party elder John Faulkner also proposed rule changes in NSW to prevent corrupt behaviour and “strengthen the future of our party and our capacity to govern”. Young Labor’s incoming president, Edward McDougall, said he would focus on taking the party to the people and campaigning on issues that matter to youth. “People want to see that we’ve changed and we’re now working to improve society, rather than always fighting among ourselves,” he said. A spokesman for Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek did not answer questions about the divisions, but said: “If we want to change the government, we must change too. The young members of the Labor Party are committed to holding the Abbott government to account.” theaustralian.au/national-affairs/reform-failure-splits-young-labor/story-fn59niix-1226883115070
Posted on: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 15:22:17 +0000
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