Country Labor in Sydney

COUNTRY LABOR

LABOR AND COUNTRY/RURAL NSW

The Australian Labor Party has deep roots and emotional historical connection to country/rural people. The party was born at
Barcaldine Queensland out of the struggle of shearers.

In NSW Labor has until more recent times had continuous and strong representation in the NSW Parliament by members elected
from country/rural electorates.

Country/rural people have tended to be very loyal to "our" member and a politician , once elected has tended to hold the seat, even
in periods where there has been widespread dissatisfaction with the policies of the party he represented.

For example, Jack Renshaw represented the country electorate of Castlereagh from 1940-1980 , He was Premier 1964-1965,
Deputy Premier 1959-1964 and later Treasurer 1976-1980.

Labor had formed the NSW government for 24 years (1941-1965) . Sir Robert Askin formed a Liberal government in 1965 and there
was a Liberal government until 1976 when Neville Wran led Labor to a narrow victory.

Wran understood the "loyalty" of country electors to their members and set about ensuring the longevity of his government by a
strategy of capturing country seats for Labor.

For example, in the seat of Armidale (now called Northern Tablelands), Bill McCarthy was selected as the Labor candidate. The seat
was held by a Country Party member. Wran as Premier visited the electorate on several occasions. On every visit McCarthy, as
candidate , accompanied the Premier . Announcements of government projects and grants for the electorate were made through the
candidate, rather than through the sitting opposition member. McCarthy, although only a candidate, was promoted as the electorates
voice in government. The seat was "pork-barrelled".

McCarthy won the seat at the 1978 election and he held it until his death in 1987. By then the unpopularity of the Barrie Unsworth
government was palpable. McCarthy's widow, Thelma contested the by-election held on 23 May 1987, but the anger in the bush
directed at the Unsworth government , saw Ray Chappell, a National Party endorsed candidate elected with 52.5% of the 2 candidate
vote.

After the disastrous result at the 1988 general election when the Labor Unsworth government lost to the Liberal's Nick Greiner, Bob
Carr was elected opposition leader.

Bob Carr was faced with a daunting task to improve the stocks of the Labor Party. In particular, Labor had been mauled in the Hunter
at the 1988 general election, losing the seats of Newcastle and Swansea to Independents. Bob Carr was a master strategist ,
politician and parliamentary performer, although generally under-rated by friends and foes alike, possibly because of his "bookish"
look and "green" attitudes.

At the 1991 election, Carr almost led Labor to victory - against the expectations of the pundits. He was held out of government when
Tony Windsor, MP, a former member of the National Party who had won the seat of Tamworth as an Independent, immediately gave
support to Greiner - in return for Greiner bringing forward some projects planned for the Tamworth electorate. In this period Carr was
further held out of government when the 3 non-aligned Independents agreed to support Greiner (and later his successor John
Fahey) in return for parliamentary and procedural reform.

With this near miss, Carr- a student of political history- ensured he learnt the lesson. He set about a strategy of using Independents
to his advantage.

First, he knew he himself (and Labor) could not capture the hearts and minds of country people as Wran, a different personality type
had. Second, he saw that rural Independents could be used to keep the conservative National Party out of seats . Third, the rural
Independents were "political whores" who could be bought off with a bit of pork barrelling. Fourth, rural Independents could be
expected to retain their seats , unlike city based and major city Independents who were more susceptible to changes in the political
winds. In the period 1991 -1995, Carr was thinking about this strategy and laying a groundwork for it to be put in place.

After the 1995 election which Carr won by a narrow margin, like Wran in 1976, he desired to ensure the longevity of his government.
A change in name for ALP candidates to "Country Labor" was part of this strategy but Independent candidates (who would keep out
Nationals) was considered a better option than trying to promote Labor candidates (whether called Country Labor or ALP).

The proof was in the pudding - in the 1999 election 2 rural "independents" won seats from the Nationals. Those seats have since
been retained by Independents. To add to Bob Carr's good fortune Rob Oakeshott defected from the Nationals to sit as an
Independent, and retained the seat of Port Macquarie as an Independent at each election since. This set up a good "country buffer"
for Labor, in the event metropolitan electorates turned on the party.

With the mooted "hung parliament" election scheduled for 2007 Premier Morris iemma, whose worst nightmare was to go down in
history as another Barrie Unsworth and grateful for the legacy left to him by Carr, set about ensuring the "buffer" would see him
returned to government.

For some strange reason, the Labor Party - maybe spooked by the memories of Unsworth - in hindsight (and that's easy to say after
the event isn't it) - really went "overboard" to retain the Independent buffer. As it turned out the buffer was unnecessary to the return
of the Labor government in 2007. The parliamentary numbers are "basically" the same as before the election.

However, for the 2011 election, the 2007 election has thrown up some conundrums for Labor. First, a big swing against Labor in
2011 will see Labor lose , and the Independent buffer will not be of any help. Secondly, the strategy has seen the loss of 2 Labor
seats, which may have been able to be protected had resources been thrown at the lost seats , rather than at Independent country
seats. Thirdly, the Hunter heartland has been placed under attack again from Independents. A decision will need to be made -
defend Hunter seats or lose them to Independents as well as defend Independent rural seats or lose them to either Liberals or
Nationals.

Likewise the conservatives will need to make a decision - attempt to win back Independent seats or abandon them and concentrate
on the few remaining Labor held country seats.

The choice of strategy may make the difference between a win and a loss for Labor (and possibly the Liberal/Nationals) in 2011.

McCARTHYISM - Alive and well in 2007

By McCarthyism we do not refer to the witch-hunts conducted in the USA in the 1950's against communism BUT rather we refer to the
strategy refined by Neville Wran in the period 1976-1978 when the Labor candidate for Armidale Bill McCarthy was promoted as the
electorates voice in government, even though he was only a candidate for election, the making of announcements relating to the
electorate through him rather than through the sitting member, the Premier visiting the electorate several times being accompanied
by McCarthy on the visits and the sitting member being "left in the cold": on such visits and grants etc being announced by the
candidate rather than the sitting opposition MP.

We will examine the treatment of Independent candidates as a "McCarthy" by the governments of Carr and Iemma during the period
2003-2007 and the treatment of Country Labor candidates as "a sitting opposition MP" by Labor, particularly during the campaign -
both official and unofficial campaign period - in 2007.

COUNTRY LABOR AWARE

It seems that Country Labor members have been aware for some time that the ALP strategy regarding Independents has been
harmful to Country Labor's chances of winning country seats.

Country Labor held a conference in Tamworth in July 2003.

The Northern Daily Leader newspaper reported on the conference on 9 July 2003 edition.

(Garry Ryan, President of Tamworth ALP branch, said he)
.... believed, as did other delegates to the weekend conference, that the Carr Government was often disadvantaged because independent MPs
usually "claimed the credit" when something good happened in their electorate but "blamed the Government" if something bad happened, like a
lack of funding for a particular project.
"What we're on about is obtaining the integrity of Country Labor in those seats held by the independents ... often the public perception is that they
have the magic solution to problems and the Government of the day doesn't," Mr Ryan said.
"What we are saying is that this is a Labor Government and if we do a good job, we should get the credit, the same as if we do a bad job, we
should be castigated."

GOULBURN ELECTION 2007

Goulburn went into the 2007 election with the sitting member not contesting it. The main 3 candidates were high profile Pru Goward
endorsed by the Liberals, Rob Parker endorsed by Labor and Paul Stephenson, the Mayor of Goulburn as an Independent.

Water was a big issue.

Jonathan Pearlman stated in the Sydney Morning Herald on 10 March 2007 (page 1) :

Nevertheless, Labor's practice of recruiting and supporting independents appears to be increasingly common. In the seat of Goulburn this week
Labor pushed through a $40 million drought plan in a big boost to an independent, Paul Stephenson, who is standing against a prominent Liberal, Pru
Goward. Cr Stephenson, the Mayor of Goulburn, was called to Sydney for a private briefing with the Premier, Morris Iemma.
The Premier's office did not allow the Herald to attend but sent photographs to The Goulburn Post, which ran the announcement on yesterday's front
page.
Cr Stephenson says he was told in November to expect a pre-election announcement, but he was surprised by the amount, which was approved in
the final cabinet meeting before the election, on March 24.

Pearlman went onto to say :

Labor has bolstered independents in a number of Coalition heartland seats, especially Nationals seats. The tactic increases the likelihood that
Labor could form a government in the event of a hung Parliament; it also forces the Coalition to divert campaign funds into seats it would otherwise
take for granted.
Support can involve pre-arranged announcements, in which independents demand funding for a project and then claim victory in local media when
they receive it.

With a potential "seat winning" announcement being made through the Independent candidate Rob Parker, the officially endorsed
Labor candidate , and his supporters were naturally upset.

Jonathan Pearlman stated in a further report in the Sydney Morning Herald on 12 March 2007 (page7):
The Premier, Morris Iemma, last week invited Cr Stephenson for a private briefing on the drought plan and then sent photographs of the meeting to
the local media in Goulburn. The Labor candidate for Goulburn, Robert Parker, would not comment on whether he was disappointed about being
excluded.
Asked whether he believed the announcement was designed to boost Cr Stephenson, Mr Parker said: "That's possibly not inaccurate, but I can't
comment any more. I'm trying to retrieve the situation ... I have got a strategy in place to deal with it."
Cr Stephenson said yesterday that he was "a bit surprised" to see that Mr Parker was not invited to the Premier's briefing.
But Mr Iemma said yesterday he fully supported Mr Parker.
"There is no support for the independent candidate. I'm backing our candidate."

The Goulburn Post newspaper reported in its 14 March 2007 edition that :
Labor candidate for Goulburn Rob Parker has backtracked on initial comments that the State Government's $40 million water pipeline for the city
was designed to boost the chances of Independent candidate Paul Stephenson.
Asked by a Sydney Morning Herald journalist last week whether Thursday's announcement of the pipeline between Wingecarribee and Goulburn
was aimed at currying favour with Mr Stephenson, Mr Parker said: "That's possibly not inaccurate, but I can't comment anymore. I'm trying to
retrieve the situation...I have got a strategy in place to deal with it."
Yesterday Mr Parker acknowledged that he made this statement but said it was "entirely appropriate" that Premier Morris Iemma met with Mr
Stephenson in his capacity as Goulburn Mulwaree Mayor to announce the pipeline funding.
He said he was not disappointed at being left out.

However, even if the candidate was placated, Labor members were still uneasy about the manner the announcement was made.

Alex Mitchell in the Sun Herald on 18 March, 2007 reported :
Labor Party members in Goulburn are demanding an inquiry into Premier Morris Iemma's pre-election "leg up" to the independent candidate, Paul
Stephenson, the local mayor.

Interestingly,the Save Water Alliance surveyed Goulburn candidates and put the answers up on their website For some reason Rob
Parker did not respond to the survey.

After a tough campaign and "a nail biting" count Goward won the seat by about 1,000 votes.

As an aside April has a blog on the internet and she wrote this on 24 March 2007:
It’s state election day in NSW today. I’ve never been staunchly anything. I make my mind up in the lead-up. Our electorate has been held by a Labor MP who’s
campaigning again. The Liberal candidate is Pru Goward, the former Sex Discrimination Commissioner. There’s a couple of other minor party runners and an independent.
Initially I considered Pru Goward and how it could only be a good thing to have the former SDC in the state government. After all, I’d never heard of the Labor guy, Rob
Parker, besides a few signs. He certainly hasn’t been publicising any baby-kissing events. Then I was swung by the MOrris Iemma advertorial on the ABC 2 weeks ago.
Taken in by the scare tactics of Peter Debnam following on with Howard’s IR laws. I swung back to Liberal again when I revisited my usual polling tactic of ‘voting for the
other side’. The grass is always greener, they say.
In the end I settled on the independent, Paul Stevenson. He’s well known in the district, having recently stood down from the local government Mayoral position in order to
run for State. I’ve decided he’s bound to be up with the issues that matter to the district. I’ve had something stick in my mind, though I can’t remember where from..’vote in
the best person for the electorate, not the party’ I ’ve decided.

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