Tuesday, July 18, 2006

POLITICS: Time to Act

I was told by the 4 Corners crew that there would be a rather large turnout of people prepared to go on the record with their allegations against the Party. I never expected it would be this big.

To get a former federal leader, a former state president, a former regional president, a former country representative, former staffers and even some self-confessed branch stackers is quite a turnout!

The allegations are serious and deserve scrutiny by the Party hierarchy. It will be difficult for Peter Debnam to stand up and accuse the ALP of ethnic branch stacking when members of both his Parliamentary and Organisational wings have confessed to and/or are involved in the same activity.

Worse still are the allegations of vote-rigging. And branch stacking. And God-knows what else.

The NSW Party needs to deal with these issues urgently. Its participation in democratic electoral processes cannot be taken seriously if its own house isn’t in order. These allegations cannot just be dismissed as the rantings of disgruntled former members or failed preselection candidates. They have been made by people who seriously care about the Party and who don’t want it to be railroaded by narrow sectarian agendas and by fringe special interest groups.