The president of the Queensland branch of the Young Labor Party is a staunch supporter of conservative Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, using leave from the AWU to campaign in the US.
Australian labor party
Gay marriage: Gillard deploys her troops for the wrong battle
Julia Gillard has put her authority on the line on same-sex marriage at the Labor national conference. But it was completely unnecessary.
Labor state sec: Gillard, Rudd miss the point on membership
WA ALP State Secretary Simon Mead has accused Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd of missing the point in their efforts to reenergise Labor’s membership, blaming inept communication for members quitting.
Andrew Barr: I can’t marry the person I love — that needs to change
Andrew Barr is the Deputy Chief Minister of the ACT and a life-long Labor Party member. He’s also gay and in a long-term committed relationship. And he’d like to get married.
ALP Right bleeding on gay marriage as conference stoush looms
ALP equal love campaigners are confident of extracting significant ‘bleed’ from the party’s right on gay marriage at next week’s National Conference.
Guarding the Left flank: gay unions and Labor’s primary vote
A new poll shows supporting same-sex marriage would boost Labor’s vote — but mainly at the expense of the Greens.
Progressives push social agenda at ALP Vic conference
Progressive forces within the Victorian ALP are preparing to deliver sweet revenge on the socially conservative shop assistants’ union by forcing debate on issues of same-sex marriage, asylum seekers and legislative council preselections at the party’s state conference tomorrow.
Reform and rhetoric: Gillard comes to grips with what ails Labor
As expected, Julia Gillard has announced her support for internal party reforms. But her discussion of Labor ideology was more interesting.
Power Shots: Political Fixers #10 David Feeney … Devine v Phelps …
Cheerful, chubby and fresh-faced, like a well-scrubbed piglet, Paul Barry profiles David Feeney, who comes in at #10 on our list of political fixers. Also try some of our other Power Shots from the rest of the Power Index team.
A tale of two election reviews, by the NSW and Vic ALP
Two contrasting ALP state election reviews have been launched in the last week and the differences between them is stark, and for the NSW party a tad embarrassing.
Faulkner’s pessimism is justified
John Faulkner’s criticism of Labor is a plea from a party elder pessimistic about the chances of his party reforming itself.
Who shut down the policy debate at Vic Labor conference?
Senior Left sources inside the Victorian ALP have accused conservative forces aligned to the Shop Assistants union of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for shutting down debates on gay marriage and asylum seekers.
Bitar’s reign of mayhem comes to an end
Karl Bitar departs Labor’s national secretaryship, leaving a smoking ruin where viable political parties once stood.
The Oz’s gay marriage trojan horse
Progressive Labor forces are wondering whether The Australian has been anointed as the 105th member of federal caucus after an extraordinary front-page salvo this week left Julia Gillard and Simon Crean looking like dills.
Bitar’s email bombshell on the ‘Lindsay test’
ALP national secretary Karl Bitar sent a private email to Kevin Rudd chief-of-staff Alistair Jordan demanding that “every policy and announcement must pass the Lindsay test”, according to a footnote in the secret section of Bracks-Faulkner-Carr review examining Labor’s 2010 election campaign.
Faulkner, Bracks and Carr fight against the historical tide
Reversing Labor’s long-term decline in party membership looks unlikely when volunteerism is declining across developed countries.
Secret ALP review blames Gillard for election debacle: source
As the Australian Labor Party’s National Executive meets in Brisbane today to digest the Bracks-Faulkner-Carr review into the party’s disastrous 2010 election campaign, Crikey can reveal that the report’s sealed sections contains serious personal criticisms of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The political donations data is nowhere near the full picture
The material released this week by the Electoral Commission only gives a partial picture of who is funding our political parties.
Labor is still managing to trash its brand
Labor’s reputation on the issues that influence voting intention continues to worsen.
Wong: in the name of equality, Labor must adopt gay marriage
Labor Finance Minister Senator Penny Wong took to the floor of the South Australian Labor Party convention over the weekend to advocate for gay marriage (a motion passed to push the issue at next year’s national conference). This is her speech to the convention.
Labor’s identity crisis: why voters don’t know what Gillard stands for
Labor’s vote is in serious decline and its brand is badly damaged. The party leader needs to start showing voters where she wants to take the country.
Backing gay marriage won’t fix Labor’s identity crisis — but it’s a start
Drifting to the Left on social issues won’t help Labor solve its fundamental problems. But it might jog the party’s corporate memory about what it should do with power.
‘Village idiot’ union head won’t give up on 9/11 conspiracy
Internal ALP enemies of Victorian Maritime Union state secretary and Trades Hall president Kevin Bracken are egging him on to further greatness after he reprised his considered theories on the 9-11 attacks on Melbourne radio this morning.
The class of ’10: the outsourcing of politics continues
The professionalisation of federal politics continues apace with more than half of the new MPs and senators elected on August 21 being former staffers, party operators or former or serving politicians.
Labor could block Coalition law-making … but probably won’t
Constitutional law experts have told Crikey that the Gillard government has the power to block funding for legislation passed by the opposition, as the crossbench MPs flirt with supporting the Coalition on some policy issues.
