ALP in turmoil while in free fall.

I can well understand the frustration that constantly torments ALP’s supporters. It is evident in the posting on this and other political pages. I imagine every time Abbott hits the TV or radio they collectively mutter in sheer despair, ‘Oh no, not another reminder of where Gillard has stuffed up’.

What then follows is typical of a supporter of any political party in a moribund state. Ask Howard’s Liberal how they felt when Rudd’s star was on the ascendancy. Ask Fraser’s supporters how they felt when Hawke’s was about to capture the imagination of the electorate with his slogan ‘reconstruction and reconciliation’. Ask Whitlam’s supporters how they were consumed with sadness when Fraser came across as the white knight.

Today the ALP is going through the same dynamics. Instead of the ALP criticising Abbott it should analyse why does Abbott have so much traction, why is Gillard so much on the nose, why does the ALP when in Government jettisoned so readily its core values? It is in denial.

Unfortunately, while the ALP is in denial, most of its members know no better and resort to their primal political instincts. Instincts that includes, attack and ridicule the Opposition and Abbott for being negative and just saying no.

It follows then that they do not question the ALP and Gillard on the state of the party. Members become lazy thinkers and find safe harbour in ridicule and when this does not bear fruits they then become despondent.

The ALP needs to accept that 70% of the electorate does not like them and will not give it their primary vote.

Gillard chasing the Greens to form Government was her biggest mistake. Gillard’s supposed negotiating skills have proved to be nothing more than selling off core ALP values and principles.

Why on earth would Gillard renounce her opposition to a carbon tax, one of the reasons why Rudd was unpopular with the electorate and stabbed by Gillard. Why would she agree to impose a tax that indirectly export jobs offshore to Australia’s competitors for little or no appreciable reduction in carbon emissions. A tax that today is $23 a tonne and rises to $350 a tonne in 2050. The electorate examines this and concludes the following; if electricity prices rise by 10% with a $23 tax on resources and the means of production, how much electricity will rise when a $350 tax is imposed.

The perception that the Greens’ tail is wagging the ALP’s dog is cemented in the physic of the electorate and what seems to the ALP as a master stroke is indeed the very reason why the ALP will be pulverised.

The right of the ALP's organisational wing (in possession of the internal polling ) knows the electorate’s perception and is desperately trying to extricate the ALP from the Greens. Gillard's brilliants negotiating skills have brought the 'chickens home to roost.'

Furthermore, unless Gillard tears up the agreement she signed with the Greens’ Bob Brown which keeps her in the Lodge, the ALP latest tactical move seems to the electorate exactly like Abbott point out a sham, much like a bout in world championship wrestling.

Author: R. Parisi   14.07.2012