Former Bendigo MP Steve Gibbons writes: “With Stephen Conroy departing the scene, will Victorian Labor finally be free of the undemocratic embarrassment that is Victoria’s rotten Stability Pact and a return to some form of basic fairness in future party activities and preselections? Gibbons (rightly) doubted it. We edit this Crikey article.
This ‘Stability Pact’ superseded all other cross-factional arrangements in place before the 1998 federal election.
It was created by Stephen Conroy, Bill Shorten, David Feeney, Richard Marles and Kim Carr after a factional bloodbath they themselves initiated that resulted in non-aligned sitting MPs dumped and an assault on former Labor leader Simon Crean’s preselection during the run-up to the 2007 federal election.
The bloodbath had resulted in Shorten’s preselection for (non-aligned) Sercombe’s safe seat of Maribyrnong and Marles preselection for (non-aligned) O’Connor’s safe seat of Corio. There were allegations of branch stacking in both branches.
Feeney gained a winnable spot on the Senate ticket before replacing Martin Ferguson in Batman.
Senator Kim “Mal” Carr apparently sat by as none of this impacted on his position.
So the movers and shakers in Labor factional politics created chaos in the Victorian branch to secure power (Carr and Conroy), or preselection for safe seats after somebody else’s hard work over many years (Shorten and Marles)
Seats Labor already retains are allocated to the Left and Right factions, resulting in Stability Pact control of around 80% of the Public Office Selection Committee (POSC). This locks out any input from local rank-and-file members in those electorates run by the organisers of the Stability Pact. The Shorten, Conroy and Carr factions continue to hold veto over all candidates’ preselections in those seats.
Several safe or winnable electorates have been allocated to various trade unions in return for numbers for either faction on the floor of the Victorian state conferences. Any seat allocated to a union usually results in local rank-and-file party members being totally excluded from any worthwhile input; except, of course, to provide organisational and financial support, for the imposed candidates during elections.
While there are plenty of good union officials and rank-and-file members that would make outstanding contributions, they are almost certainly overlooked as the the factional warlords prefer mostly uninspiring factional hacks, promoted in return for a pledge of total loyalty to the factional warlord.
How Victoria’s rotten Stability Pact keeps Labor undemocratic – by Steve Gibbons, Crikey 24 Oct 2016 [External link, may be behind paywall]
Related links
Towards A Modern Labor Party: Bill Shorten On Party Reform – by Bill Shorten, Per Capita 22 Apr 2014
The ALP must repair trust between leadership & members – by James Button
Stability Pact talks threaten to erupt between Victorian Labor – by Rob Harris, The Age 21 May 2021
The Labor hunting season turns nasty and nastier – by Guy Rundle Jul 01, 2021
Stop the shadowy preselections & give ALP members their rightful vote
A review of all the ALP reviews – 50 years of soul searching – by David Barda
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