17 Nov 2006

NSW party politics

The NSW ALP are mired in sleaze – but the incompetence of the Debnam-led Coalition is so monumental that they cannot but survive, it would seem.

The NSW Coalition, or more precisely its dominant partner, the NSW Liberal Party, is in a dire state that one might call 'unelectable'. While the ALP is mired in croneyism, an old mates' network, with ever-dwindling grassroots support and membership, supported by a coalition of big business, and febrile ethnic and labour interest groups, the Libs are simply shit. Their right-wing has been running rampant, running in completely the opposite direction to that demanded by electoral exigencies, and their leader is a tub-thumper who lacks any kind of political experience or acumen. Handed a gift in the shape of the worst possible sleaze scandal – a minister of the government abusing children, for God's sake – Debnam pushes forward by unnecessarily making unproven further accusations against Labor ministers, allowing Labor to claim the moral high ground and turn a lingering suspicion towards their ministers' morality into a righteous indignation that anyone can impugn the honour of a bunch of nest-feathering croneys.

Don't get me wrong of course. Debnam is a racist scumbag, and the weakness of the Libs is really a good thing. What we need is for people to challenge Labor from the left.