4 August 2019

RACE MATHEWS. Graham Freudenberg.

When I heard the news of Graham Freudenbergs death last week I wept. Not just for the passing of this generous, passionate, erudite and supremely eloquent man, but for the dreams and hopes that were shared by those of us who worked for Gough Whitlam as Leader of the Opposition from 1967 to 1972.

6 November 2015

Race Mathews. A cancerous corruption is eating the ALP

Bill Shorten is to be congratulated on telling the Victorian ALP to investigate and eliminate its membership rorts, as exemplified by the latest branch-stacking scandal that has again humiliated the party and exposed it to public ignominy and disrepute. There may never be a better opportunity to clean up once and for all the morass that has been exposed. The party must not let this opportunity be lost. Shorten must now insist that the investigation into this disgraceful episode be truly independent. Nothing short of an arm's-length and fully transparent inquiry by an external nominee of unimpeachable...

5 August 2015

Race Mathews. The ALP's not so secret ballots.

The ALP is leading in the federal polls, but internally it is a different story. The party continues to incur significant reputational damage from the irresponsible and damaging conduct of its factions, and the disgraced appointees on whom in some instances they have conferred advancement. Hopes that this year would prove to be the most important in the history of ALP reform and renewal since the intervention spearheaded by Gough Whitlam in 1970 that cleared the way for the election of the Whitlam, Hawke and Keating governments have so far largely been disappointed. Many of the partys...

15 July 2015

Race Mathews. 'Let us now begin'

A local Labor journal Grassroots, has been advocating reform of the ALP to 'empower members, branches and communities'. With the ALP Federal Conference on July 24-26 I will be posting three articles on party reform 'past, present and future'. I will also be re-posting an article on refugee policy. John Menadue. The philosopher George Santayana wrote famously Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. A case in point is failure by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to remain mindful of the circumstances and shortcomings that denied it office from the middle -1950s federally until...

29 March 2015

Race Mathews Let Us Now Begin

The philosopher George Santayana wrote famously Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. A case in point is failure by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to remain mindful of the circumstances and shortcomings that denied it office from the middle -1950s federally until 1972 and until 1982 in Victoria. When I joined the ALP in 1956, it was in dire straits reeling in the aftermath of the failed Santamaria Movement takeover of the Party and the subsequent splitting off of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), and in the grip already of yet another...

26 October 2014

Race Mathews. Whitlam eyed our conscience, not our wallet.

Gough Whitlam's objective was equality for all. He believed the proper business of politics was to secure informed public consent for necessary change, through objective information from trusted sources. He gave back hope to my generation of Labor Party members. Chifley's light on the hill was re-kindled. The party's electability was restored. His political career invites us to recall the words of Robert F. Kennedy: Some see things as they are and say 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and say 'Why not'? Whitlam realised from the start that in order for policies to be accepted...

9 March 2014

Race Mathews. Victorian Labor's new crisis.

ALP members and supporters in Victoria have cause for alarm about the party's wellbeing and perhaps long-term survival. While federal leader Bill Shorten has committed to far-reaching party reforms, and other states such as Queensland are already adopting them, the Victorian ALP is lurching back into a troubled past, which threatens its effectiveness and future. Faced with a comparable crisis in the party's internal affairs in the mid-1960s, a party body - the ''Scoresby State Electorate Council committee of inquiry into representation and decision making in the ALP'' - wrote to local branches, expressing its concern about the dire...