The Dead Roo

I’m pretty cynical when it comes to the federal Labor Party of today, and as with the leadership change last week, I’m not one to believe that anything short of a drastic shift in practice and policy could make them a worthy progressive alternative government.

It must be said, though, that this - as with the leadership changeover - goes some way to ending the party’s lemming march, something which until a couple of weeks ago seemed utterly unstoppable. It puts them in a position where, even if they don’t win the 2007 election, they at least won’t lose seats to the Liberals - something which, a month ago, looked a very real possibility. And that, at least, is good news for people on the progressive side of politics.

All in all, some key people have been shifted into portfolios to which they are far more suited and some people who were manifestly failing in their portfolios have thankfully been dumped, but in traditional Labor style, some useless hacks have been kept, and some good people have been sacked. For those who are interested, I’ve gone through a more detailed analysis of what I believe are the highs and lows of this new ministry over the fold.

The Highs

Julia Gillard replaces Stephen Smith (Industrial Relations). Industrial Relations is a golden goose for Labor at this election, yet Smith remains virtually unknown despite all the publicity surrounding the portfolio over the last year. He had made virtually no impact in his own right, having left the entire campaign to former leader Beazley and Greg Combet of the ACTU. Gillard, on the other hand, is an excellent performer who has been wasted in health, and considering that she was a top industrial lawyer before entering politics, is ideally suited to take on this crucial portfolio.

Peter Garrett replaces Kelvin Thomson (Environment). With the sudden emergence of climate change as a major election issue, Labor needs a competent environment spokesperson, and Kelvin Thomson remains almost totally unknown. Garrett, on the other hand, is prominent, charismatic, and will ensure much media attention for Labor’s climate change policies, giving him the opportunity to give Environment Minister Ian Campbell a deserved kicking. The promotion also, thankfully, gives Garrett something useful to do besides slandering the Greens.

Joel Fitzgibbon replaces Robert McClelland (Defence). Defence is another area which, in the current climate, Labor needs to appear strong on, yet the portfolio has been held by invisible time-server McClelland for years. This is Fitzgibbon’s first high-profile portfolio (being previously most well-known as a rare sane voice every time Labor’s factional bloodletting begins again), so he remains somewhat untried, but from what I’ve seen, he appears far more charismatic and capable than his predecessor.

Stephen Smith replaces Jenny Macklin (Education). While Stephen Smith did fail miserably in the industrial relations portfolio, he is not without talent - it must be said that he was once considered a leadership contender in his own right. Jenny Macklin had made little ground in Education since being given the portfolio several years ago, and replacing her with Smith gives him the opportunity to prove himself in a less challenging, but nevertheless important portfolio.

Nicola Roxon replaces Julia Gillard (Health). Gillard, for all her talents, had reached a virtual stalemate with Health Minister Tony Abbott, and shifting her off to another portfolio was a wise move. Roxon is capable and charismatic, and should do a reasonable job of taking on Abbott in the leadup to the 2007 election. Crucially, this move also gets Roxon out of the Legal Affairs portfolio, where her pathetic inaction on gay rights issues wasn’t doing much for Labor’s credibility with the left. She should, however, be better suited to the health portfolio, and I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The Lows

Kelvin Thomson replaces Nicola Roxon (Legal Affairs). Labor could really do with a decent Shadow Attorney-General to take on Philip Ruddock, but Thomson certainly isn’t it. While Roxon was weak on some crucial issues, but had some standing, Thomson was downright invisible in the environment portfolio, and I see no reason to suggest he would do otherwise in legal affairs. I’m also cynical that he’ll be any better than Roxon on gay rights.

Robert McClelland replaces Kevin Rudd (Foreign Affairs). McClelland was a nothing in defence, despite it being an absolutely vital portfolio for Labor, and I can’t see how promoting him to the more high-profile portfolio of Foreign Affairs helps the party at all. Labor badly needs some new blood in this area, with Beazley looking set to retire and Rudd now in the leadership, but have missed the perfect opportunity by retaining the time-server McClelland.

Wayne Swan remains in Treasury. Swan was only ever in the crucial treasury portfolio because of his role as a factional powerbroker, and his mediocre performance has not done Labor any credit. It was widely rumored that he would be replaced by the more capable and more popular Lindsay Tanner (finance), and it really is a missed opportunity that both were left in their current roles.

Kim Carr replaces Stephen Smith (Industry). Labor is always going to have issues with the business community, but putting Carr, the chief warlord of the party’s hard left faction, in charge of the industry portfolio was patent madness. Carr is an absolutely useless shadow minister - were he not a factional warlord, he would struggle to even be in parliament, let alone the ministry - and putting him in charge of that portfolio was a fine way of unnecessarily antagonising the business community.

Sacking of Annette Hurley (Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs). Annette Hurley was Labor’s deputy leader in South Australia from 1997 to 2002, and had she not made the brave (albeit ill-fated) attempt to switch from her safe Labor seat to a marginal Liberal seat in order to help Labor win government, would probably be Deputy Premier of South Australia today. She was rightly given a shadow ministry immediately upon her election to the Senate, but it was hardly one where she could make much of an impact, and she well-deserved to be promoted to a senior position in this reshuffle. Instead, on the say-so of the factional bosses, she was dumped in favour of a man. This sacking is rightly being criticised by the Emily’s List types for worsening the already lousy position of women in the shadow cabinet, but it is all the more foolish because of Hurley’s obvious talent.

Hurley was not the only person to be undeservedly overlooked in this reshuffle. Kate Lundy and Tanya Plibersek are both very capable, yet remain stuck in low-profile portfolios. Catherine King was in line for a promotion, but was overlooked. Bob McMullan and Craig Emerson were finally promoted back to the ministry after being dumped in Latham-era bloodletting, but were given made-up portfolios with no counterpart on the government side. Considering the amount of dead wood still left in the ministry - the likes of Thomson, McClelland, Carr and the vile Joe Ludwig - it wasn’t as if there wasn’t room for the likes of these people, and it is another missed opportunity that they were still overlooked.

On a final note, I wish federal Labor would wake up that coming up with wacky portfolios that do not exist on the government side, such as Social Inclusion (Julia Gillard), Independent Contractors (Craig Emerson), Superannuation and Intergenerational Finance (Nick Sherry) and Defence Science (Alan Griffin) doesn’t make them look like drivers of policy or increase their appeal to specific groups, but rather just makes them look wacky, and looks like they’re trying to find portfolios for factionally-installed ministers.

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