Great reformist parties sometimes need great reform

In the lead-up to the 1968 US Presidential election the announcement by Robert F. Kennedy of his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination was seen by some in the Party and by many in the wider public as a chance to reform a Party that had become stale and tainted. The Democratic Party in the US had been a great reformist Party during the twentieth century. In the tradition of Labour Parties around the world it had stood up for working men and women against the excesses of capitalist and entrenched ruling classes whilst still acknowledging the fundamental need for economic growth and opportunity for the individual. That Party had lost it's way by 1968. It needed a breath of fresh air. It needed a great reformer. Robert Kennedy could have been that man but his soul was taken from the world too soon. The Party and the US has not ever really recovered.

Australia's Labour Party is the oldest labour party in the world. It has a proud history of reform and support for the working men and women of Australia. The 40 hour week, the 38 hour week, universal health care, near universal superannuation. These are just some of the things that Australians have come to expect in a modern society. They are all thanks to Labor governments and Labor Party policies.

We may, however, be coming to a point in our history where these things are so expected and so embedded in our culture that even the Conservatives cannot reverse them. This may mean that the public could instill another Conservative government and still expect that those aspects of our society are safe. This is dangerous.

Let there be no doubt that the Conservatives have every intention of reversing many of the great reforms of our times.

This is where we come to our problem. Our Australian Labor Party is on the brink of tearing itself apart over matters of personalities and not policies. The NSW Right wants power at all cost. The VIC Left has lost it's ability to connect with the public. The QLD party is as insular and anti-Canberra as it has always been and he rest of the State organisations are so caught up in their own petty State issues that they fail to see the importance of a strong Federal system and, more importantly, a Federal Labor Government.

All members and supporters of the Labor movement must suspend their differences and personal power plays and concentrate now on maintaining the current Labor Government and ensuring it's re-election in 2013.