Last Monday, the 11th of March, just after Labor’s WA State election disaster, I sent the following letter to all Labor members of the House of Representatives and also enclosed my It’s Time! or It’s Over! post. I’ve reproduced the letter here, to indicate my level of consternation at the current leadership crisis and the inept way in which the Labor Party are dealing with the issue.

Dear Member,

In two weeks, it will effectively be too late to salvage any possibility of winning an election in September or alternatively, saving the great Australian Labor Party from a wipeout.

In two weeks, parliament goes into recess and won’t return until the Budget in May. What the Caucus does now, will have a huge impact on the number of vulnerable members lost in the election in September (or whenever it is held).

I can only imagine the pressure you all must be experiencing at the moment, having survived the last two years with the constant noise from the media, Tony Abbott and a clamoring public, the relentless polls, and an 8 month election campaign to endure.

As a retired member of the ALP and supporter of more than 30 years, it distresses me to envision what lies in wait for the party at the election in September. And while I’ve never welcomed the arrival of a Liberal Coalition government, I’ve rarely been more apprehensive of the possibility.

The normal cycle of politics allows for centre-left and centre-right parties to periodically gain the ascendancy in Australia without the sky falling in.
This is a juncture in history when that’s not the case. With a climate system in crisis, this country can not afford a few years while an Abbott government does its best to unwind the Carbon Price, with a Climate change sceptic at the helm, fiddling while we burn. Nor can we afford the butchering of the NBN and the fiscal shock that will result from an Abbott razor-gang, slashing into the public sector in a show of mettle.

It may be that you have already concluded, from internal polling, that your government will not win the next election with or without the current Prime Minister. You may also have been convinced to stay the present course, no matter what. If, however, you have a glimmer of hope, then would you please take a few minutes to have a quick look at my enclosed blog post on this subject (posted 11-03-2013).

I’m not arrogant enough to think I have any special insight but I’m concerned enough to hope that there might be something, somewhere in what I’ve written, that might strike a chord.

Yours in Solidarity,
Zak Seager
St. James, WA

The Farcical Spill:

Yesterday’s farce of a leadership challenge, did nothing to resolve the issue. The push by Regional Australia Minister, and stalwart Gillard supporter, Simon Crean to bring the issue to a head, would only have succeeded had the Prime Minister resigned. Clearly, his discussion with Julia Gillard, the night before he moved, was the proverbial tap on the shoulder from a loyal and respected colleague that tells a leader, the time is up. Julia is not a leader, it seems, who will go quietly into the night, with her dignity intact. She is a leader who appears ready to defend her castle until every bit of it, the Labor Party included, is destroyed.

By reputation, Mr. Crean is a veteran politician of demonstrable courage, loyalty and principle and a man who would not lightly go to his leader as he did on Wednesday. At the February 2012 leadership bloodbath, Simon Crean was one of Julia Gillard’s most vocal and loyal soldiers.

When he fronted the media on Thursday morning, there was no eagerness for the contest. Instead it was the grave and deeply troubled look on Simon Crean’s face that told of his desire to make the change with as little blood in the water for the encircling Opposition sharks to frenzy over. In making his statement prior to yesterday’s leadership spill, Crean explained that he felt he needed to take the action in the interest of his party and the nation. Without explicitly saying so, he hearkened back to an earlier age when the ALP stood for something, values an electorate could support.

In his statement, Mr. Crean said, “This is an issue that has to be resolved. There’s too much at stake. This is a very regretful decision for me. I think everyone knows the relationship between the Prime Minister and myself goes back some time. This is not personal, this is about the party, its future, and the future of the country. I actually believe we can win the next election. I believe that the agenda that is there but not understood well enough, as reflected in many of the comments that come back. We need to settle this and move forward.”.

He continued, “I’m doing this in the interest of the Labor Party and in turn, the nation. I believe that the great things that I was part of in the Hawke-Keating Government: great decisions; bold decisions; decisions that went through due process; difficult decisions; the decisions built around consensus; the decisions built round bringing people together; the decisions around growing the economy, as we have demonstrated in government, we can do; growing it for a purpose; for fairness; for distribution; for the values that I, like so many others, joined the Labor Party for. We can’t win from the position we’re in, in the polls. I don’t believe our future and our chances in the polls, is just going to be determined by a simple change of leader. People have got to believe, we have conviction, that we believe in what we stand for, there’s a coherence of message and we are determined to pursue it. What we have to do is to take people with us. That means being prepared to argue the case. And I know this, I know the people do not want an Abbott led government. I get so many people in frustration to me saying, ‘we are not going to allow that man to lead this country, are we?’.”

• See the full text of Simon Crean’s statement here.

That Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan were the only candidates at yesterday’s meeting did not indicate the level of support for their leadership. The returning officer made it clear that there was no vote. What the result did indicate, is that, the Prime Minister knew the numbers were not yet there for a bloody and extremely damaging contest.

After the vote, the Prime Minister said, “I accept [the party’s] continuing support of me as Prime Minister and Labor leader with a deep sense of humility,”. This statememt is a prime example of the disconnect between reality and spin in this current crisis. If Ms Gillard had resigned with a deep sense of humility, that might have been believable.

That almost all the government members tasked with ensuring party unity, chief whip Joel Fitzgibbon, and whips Ed Husic and Janelle Saffin, have now publically withdrawn their support of the Prime Minister and resigned, is an indication that this leadership stoush is far from over.

The only winner so far, on the Government side, is Kevin Rudd, who took a big stride towards his rehabilitation by refusing to challenge. He clearly recognizes that a challenge now would amount to a capitulation at the election, a step he’s not prepared to take. In his statement yesterday, he said that he would honour his pledge not to challenge and that he wouldn’t return to the leadership unless the Prime Minister resigned or he was ‘drafted’ by an overwhelming majority of his colleagues. He enhanced his position, rightly or wrongly, as someone who is prepared to put the interests of the Labor Party and the country before his own. He also astutely contrasted this with Julia Gillard’s apparent willingness to cling to power at any cost.

With barely contained glee beneath feigned gravity, Opposition leader, Tony Abbott, asked “How long must this circus last?”

Well that was the question that Simon Crean bravely tried to answer yesterday before he was sacked. And it’s a question that will hang over the Government until Julia Gillard recognizes that she and Wayne Swan are toxic to Labor’s election prospects. Every day she delays the inevitable, drives the number of vulnerable government members that will be lost at the election, just that much higher.

The Prime Minister has been regularly commended as a tough and astute politician. She needs to add good judgment to the list and see she has no future as Prime Minister and resign for the good of the Labor Party and Australia.

Is this the end of the leadership instability or is there yet another chapter to this saga?

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Here is the full text of Simon Crean’s statement given before the Labor leadership spill on 21 March 2013.

Something needs to be done to break this deadlock, to resolve the issue once and for all and to enable us to get on with the job we’re actually elected to do and that is to campaign on behalf of Australian people, through labor values. I have talked to the Prime Minister, yesterday and today, and as a result of that conversation, I informed her that I would think about my position and get back to her before I made this announcement; That I am asking her to call a spill of all leadership positions in the Party.

I will not be standing for the leader. I will be putting myself forward in the leadership team for the deputy leader. If the Prime Minister does not agree to it, which I expect she wont, then I urge members of Caucus to petition in the appropriate way, for the calling of such a meeting. This is an issue that has to be resolved. There’s too much at stake.

This is a very regretful decision for me. I think everyone knows the relationship between the Prime Minister and myself goes back some time. This is not personal, this is about the party, its future, and the future of the country. I actually believe we can win the next election. I believe that the agenda that is there but not understood well enough, as reflected in many of the comments that come back. We need to settle this and move forward.

As for the position of the positions being declared open, Kevin Rudd, in my view, has no alternative but to stand for the leadership. He can’t continue to play the game that says he’s reluctant or he has to be drafted. I know that the party will not draft him. I know the party is looking for change and clear air and they don’t see that simply by changing the leader. That’s why I’m putting myself forward as part of the leadership group to demonstrate that we are serious about not just changing leaders, but of actually showing leadership. That’s what we’re elected to do, that’s what I want to be part of. I think in all my life, my public life, I’ve demonstrated that is the driving force. For me, the position itself, again, is not a personal one that I’m taking. I’m doing this in the interest of the Labor Party and in turn, the nation.

I believe that the great things that I was part of in the Hawke-Keating Government: great decisions; bold decisions; decisions that went through due process; difficult decisions; the decisions built around consensus; the decisions built round bringing people together; the decisions around growing the economy, as we have demonstrated in government, we can do; growing it for a purpose; for fairness; for distribution; for the values that I, like so many others, joined the Labor Party for.

We can’t win from the position we’re in, in the polls. I don’t believe our future and our chances in the polls, is just going to be determined by a simple change of leader. People have got to believe, we have conviction, that we believe in what we stand for, there’s a coherence of message and we are determined to pursue it. What we have to do is to take people with us. That means being prepared to argue the case. And I know this, I know the people do not want an Abbott led government. I get so many people in frustration to me saying, ‘we are not going to allow that man to lead this country, are we?’. Now, I agree with that from an obvious point of view, but the truth is there is a mood out there that does not want him but is fed up with us at the moment. We’ve got to change it.

I hope this circuit breaker does it and I look forward to the Caucus taking a mature decision in the interest of their future and this country’s future.

Was Simon Crean’s action: courageous, foolhardy, naive, or fiendishly calculated?

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