Tanya Plibersek has cut through, writes columnist JennaPrice – which is more than can be said for the blokes who think they can save the party | OPINION auspol labor alp
so she could lead the Australian Labor Party, I was roundly mocked by Labor types who explained Plibersek’s decision wasn’t – really – about her children. It was hard not to respond with that schoolyard rebuke, duh. But another very strange thing happened after I wrote that story. I received emails and social media messages– in their hundreds – from others wanting to join the childcare roster. I mean, nobody volunteers to babysit other people’s kids unless it’s grandparents.
The Australian Labor Party, at all levels, has the weirdest vibe when it comes to leaders, otherwise why would you dump Jodi McKay, renowned for her integrity? Anyways . . . maybe it’s not just the Labor Party where the blokes think they are the only ones who can save the party but, right now, that’s where the messiah complex is at its most visible. So about two weeks ago I decided to conduct a survey on my fellow Australians. No ethics approval. No random sampling.
Why is the party throwing away the power of this influential politician? To answer, said one insider, you’d have to ask Penny Wong this question: “Why are you devoted to keeping a likely losing male Labor leader in a position of power? Why can’t you be like John Button?” For those of you who need reminding, John Button told Bill Hayden he couldn’t lead the ALP to victory in 1983.
When I wrote about babysitting Plibersek’s kids, her office was kind but uninterested in co-operating with my ambitions for their boss. Same now. But someone needs to listen to me and to the other voters who think Plibersek should be the next prime minister. And she won’t get that chance unless she leads the party into the next election.
Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist. She is a contributor to the new book Gender Politics in which Carol Johnson has a chapter.Opinion takes on the week’s most debated topics with views that will challenge, champion and inform your own.
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