On 7 December 2020 Open Labor wrote to ALP National Secretary Paul Erickson outlining our concerns regarding the make-up of the Interim Governance Committee, established to oversee the Macklin-Bracks reforms until a new Administrative Committee is elected at the next State Conference.
By 23 December 2020 we had received 107 signatures for our letter calling on the National Executive of the Australian Labor Party to choose a non-factional member to be the Victorian Labor Interim Governance Committee.
READ THE LETTER ALP NATIONAL SECRETARY PAUL ERICKSON
We have now sent the letter, including all 107 signatories, to those national executive members with publicly available email addresses, which was most of them. Thanks to all of you who signed the letter.
Many ordinary members have a significant concern that the Interim Governance Committee set up to oversee reforms to the Victorian party, as recommended by Administrators Jenny Macklin and Steve Bracks and endorsed by the National Executive, has not one representative of ordinary party members.
We are confident that support for our proposal is much greater than the names we have collected to date. If you would like to read the letter and add your name, please do so here. The more voices we have the stronger our claim to the National Executive.
Members’ comments to us show how strongly people feel about this issue. Here are just two:
Tony Dalton of the Carlton North branch.
“I am a member of the Socialist Left, but I agree wholeheartedly that the Interim Governance Committee must have at least one member who is not a member of a faction. The initial consultation paper published by Macklin and Bracks presented clear evidence that the dominance of the factions in the governance of the Victorian ALP disenfranchised many ALP members in many areas of decision-making within the party. Cultural change in the governance of the party requires a plurality of voices to be heard.”
Fiona McLeod SC, Labor’s candidate for Higgins in the 2019 Federal Election.
“The proposal to include unaligned members on the Interim Governance Committee is critical to strengthen transparency and integrity mechanisms within the party and generate trust in leadership. The commitment to integrity must be genuine and implemented at all levels of the party including governance. If we do not do so we risk replicating the very power struggles that encourage stacking and the purchase of influence and we forfeit the right and the responsibility of holding the (federal) government to account for its many failings.”
When we get a response we will post it here. If you haven’t signed already, you can still add your name.
Yours in solidarity
The Open Labor Team
Help us get a non-factional member on
Read the letter ALP National Secretary Paul Erickson
the Interim Governance Committee.
To add your name to the letter, email us your name, email & party number
(we will not publish your email and number online)
Email us to add your signature
info@openlabor.net.au
I am a life member of the Labor Party and I have been waiting for more openness for party members for many years so that the party can grow and, through debate, develop policy that is more appealing to the general community than that proposed in recent years. I strongly support this letter which, if effective, will allow the process of reform to come under scrutiny.
Labor’s reputation is continually tarnished with the presence of factions; this proposal is undeniably essential.