ALP moves to oust SPSF left leadership
By Adrienne Barrett
MELBOURNE — Nominations for the State Public Services Federation elections closed on April 26. The elections are being contested by four organised tickets, three of which have strong ties to the ALP.
The current leadership of the union, headed by Kay McVey and Bill Deller, are part of a broad left ticket called the Members' Action Team which plans to campaign strongly on the issue of political independence.
All four tickets will probably lay claim to political independence because the image of political impartiality is of concern to many public servants. However, there is considerable evidence of support from ALP factions for each of the tickets standing against the Members' Action Team.
Karen Batt, currently co vice-president of the SPSF, is standing for general secretary on a ticket which appears to have some support from the ALP lefts, in particular from members of the "Pledge" faction. Batt's decision to stand against the Members' Action Team, with whom she was elected in 1990, has been formalised only in the last month.
Her team is focused on the major full-time positions and has not covered many of the unpaid Board of Management and State Council positions.
The size of the Batt ticket would seem to indicate a lack of broad support from the union membership. The candidates for the major positions include Julian Keneally for assistant secretary, Peter Keogh for president and Danielle Green for vice-president.
Keneally is currently working in the ALP parliamentary office and was previously employed as an electoral officer for state Labor MP Neil Cole. Franz Timmerman, a well-known ALP activist associated with the "Pledge" faction, has also expressed his support for the Batt team.