I had a great laugh reading this. The ALP is doomed…
Delivering the Neville Wran Lecture at NSW parliament, the former ALP Senate leader said Labor had already "lost a generation of activists" and unless it confronted internal reform, "we will risk losing a generation of voters as well".
His message was that Labor suffered from a deepening malaise that was a national problem. He attacked Labor’s governing culture of control and staying "on message" as "no longer enough", and argued the public now valued authenticity over "the appearance of harmony".
…
"The Australian Labor Party was formed because working men and women in Australia needed a voice in parliament.
"The need for such a party still exists, and it will still exist even if Labor should fail the test of reform."
And what good would making the ALP more democratic do? It would only strenthen the divide. Moreover “democracy” in ALP world would mean activists would get even more control of the party because they are ehhh.. more active. Therefore ALP would drift even further away from the “working men and women” and further towards the fringe.
ALP’s problem is not the lack of passion but the lack of mature thinking exemplified by its constant embrace of ill conceived fringe crusades driven by shallow and infintile thinking of organisations like GetUp and Australian Greens.
