Socialist Alliance national executive member Brian Webb reports from the ALP national conference.
There was a lot to be cynical about at the ALP national conference — the record number of business observers, the corporate venue, and the new leader's entry to the sounds of INXS' "New Sensation" — but the conference also revealed both new hope within the party, and profound political tension.
After the disaster of former ALP leader Simon Crean, there was a sense at the conference that the party had to unite behind new leader Mark Latham to defeat PM John Howard.
Yet this required a lot of gymnastics.
The theme of the conference "opportunity for all" meant one thing to Latham, and something quite different to the left.
For Latham, it was an endorsement of his brand of individualism and Blairite morality.
At the same time, others see the slogan as a commitment to public education, health care and services. It seemed to be a morphed version of the student demand of "education for all, not just the rich".
Latham and the leadership avoided any major confrontation with the unions through a combination of concessions (on tariffs and public-private partnerships) and bureaucratic manoeuvers.
Incredibly, there was no discussion of the war on Iraq.
The much lauded debate on "free" trade with Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Doug Cameron was entertaining, brief and notable for its lack of serious debate.
Cameron said the debate on free trade was informed by a Russian, "Not Lenin or Trotsky", but "Pavlov", because the party leadership started "drooling every time the word 'free trade' was mentioned".
The leadership's hatchet man — NSW Premier Bob Carr — responded by saying that Cameron's inspiration was "North Korea and the protected US steel industry".
Cameron didn't put the leadership under any real pressure and the party remained committed to free trade.
The refugee debate was very different.
The Labor For Refugees amendments moved by party president Carmen Lawrence were widely supported and forced the leadership to allow debate.
Here, the left of the party were brilliant in dismantling the right's arguments.
Unlike most politicians, parliamentarians Lindsay Tanner and Anthony Albanese attacked Howard and the mandatory detention policy as "racist".
"Does any delegate believe we would have had this debate if the people on those boats were Irish Catholics? No. It's because Muslims are being targeted", said Albanese.
Carr was jeered by delegates when he spoke of "the absolute evil of people smuggling", and how Labor "would have lost four to six seats" if it "ignored the view of Australian people", which is that "governments should determine who comes to these shores".
Vice-president Barry Jones responded: "People smugglers fall into several categories. Were the people who tried to get Jews out of Nazi-occupied Poland people smugglers? You bet you they were!"
At the heart of the debate was whether the Australian Labor Party should stand for certain values or simply reflect what is perceived to be popular.
Lawrence argued against poll-driven policy.
"As political leaders and activists we should be making arguments to people, just as the party has done previously over reconciliation."
The vote for the amendment was lost 226 votes to 166, after support from the right faction collapsed under pressure to back the new leader.
While Labor for Refugees and the trade unions were restrained by the pressure of an election year, Latham did'nt win endorsement of his ideas from either.
This may be encouraging, but many questions are unanswered. Will the left of the party be held back by its ties to the right? How can workers and the social movements that have emerged over refugees and war be effectively represented?
How can the spin-doctor slogan of "opportunity for all" be replaced with a clear stand against war and free trade while putting forward an alternative for public health, free education and a redistribution of wealth?
One cannot help but feel that the answers to these questions are more likely to be achieved by the Labor left working with the new left outside the party, than with the likes of Carr and Latham.
From Green Left Weekly, February 11, 2004.
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