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faulkner's 3d vision ....

faulkner's 3d vision ....

from politicoz ….

In recent years there has been no shortage of Labor Party figures decrying what has happened to the party.

John Faulkner, often at the forefront of calls for reform, yesterday issued another strong statement.

The widely-admired senator said the party needs a complete overhaul of its rules and its factional system, because the current structures had enabled 'disgraceful conduct and arrogantly corrupt behaviour'. In particular he called out the NSW branch of the party.

In typical fashion, many in the ALP publicly applauded his proposals. NSW state secretary Sam Dastyari described them as considered and sensible, ones that Labor would "ignore at its peril".

Dastyari is right, of course: the ALP has had a terrible year fighting off allegations of scandal - HSU, AWU and Obeid - and needs to do something.

But support for reform always seems to melt away when it comes to concrete proposals. As Faulkner noted.

Senator Faulkner has staunchly championed measures to improve integrity and transparency within the Labor Party and the political system, including greater accountability of donations and stronger protection for public-service whistleblowers … Senator Faulkner said a culture had developed within Labor's NSW branch where ‘being caught out at sharp practices is worn almost as a badge of honour’.

It is time to publicly acknowledge that there have been some in our party's ranks with neither political principles to defend nor moral convictions to uphold. It is clear that the current power balance, the current power structures, have enabled too much disgraceful conduct and arrogantly corrupt behaviour.

It is clear, too, that some of those empowered by our current structures are resistant to measures which curtail their power. I think there is more to be done to enhance transparency and accountability at the federal level.

 

apology from the left...

NSW Labor's Left faction has formally apologised for supporting Ian Macdonald into State Parliament as the Independent Commission Against Corruption continues to hear allegations of corrupt activity by the former minister.
The faction resolved on Tuesday night to issue an apology for supporting Mr Macdonald's preselection, the same night the leading Left figure, Senator John Faulkner, gave a speech calling for reform within the NSW branch of the party.
"We believe in order for NSW Labor to change its culture, it has to acknowledge its mistakes," the faction said in a statement.
"We accept responsibility for the fact that Ian Macdonald was preselected by the NSW Left as a candidate for the NSW Legislative Council."
The statement says that when Mr Macdonald was expelled from the faction in 2009, "we acknowedged that he was not a suitable representative, but we didn't do so publicly. We do so now and apologise for his selection."
The statement also calls on NSW Labor to hold a party conference "to deal directly with NSW Labor's culture".

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/labor-left-apologises-over-macdonald-20121205-2auzh.html#ixzz2E9QLdQoC

advice from the drinking mates...

From Bob Ellis...

JOHN FAULKNER is a teetotaller and it shows.

He has not had the self-amusement and self-disgust that comes with drink — or not as much as the rest of us have.

He has, therefore, like many such men, come to mistake laziness for principle.

At the age of fifty-five, fifty-six, fifty-seven and fifty-eight, he has chosen not to be a Minister of the Crown. He could have had Environment, or Defence, or Education (he used to be a teacher), or (probably) Foreign Affairs. He could have done as significant a job as Combet, Smith, Plibersek or Carr. But he chose instead to withdraw, and reflect, and whinge.

This is what teetotallers do. Another such is Rodney Cavalier. They lucubrate on Labor’s failures, and drink tap water.

And it is good that they do so. But it is not the whole of their duty. They have other tasks, as serious political thinkers, and one is to engage in government when they can and do a good job there.

But Cavalier, when he was offered a safe seat by Bob Carr, and a ministry, chose instead retirement, cricket, his Bowral mansion, his diaries, and carping.

Faulkner has been as foolish. He has become an ‘elder statesman’ — whereas Carr, eight years older, has gone back to work and, by tireless travel and shrewd effective advocacy, altered the course of the world. The Middle East may be sorted because Carr went back to work. Will the Labor Party be sorted by Faulkner avoiding true work and moaning? I don’t think so.

I advise him to have his first beer, and repent.

Repent his woe-smitten ways.

Had he been a Gillard minister and, say, a shareholder in a winery, he might have helped spifflicate Abbott as Carr has done with lofty wise oratory and adult thinking. He might have saved a few state seats in New South Wales. He might have saved John Brumby. He might have been himself, by now, in a better mood.

Teetotallers mistake their moods for world trends. Sometimes there is a coincidence, but not reliably.

I advise him to change his ways, try claret, and become a better citizen.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/bob-ellis-advice-to-john-faulkner/