With a Federal election early next year, and opinion polls showing Labor at best only level with the Coalition, it would seem wise for Labor HQ to ensure that no mistake is made in the choice of candidates even in supposed safe seats. But head office need to control, which in 2022 led to parachuting Kristina Keneally into the Sydney western suburbs seat of Fowler, looks like being repeated in Barton, where MP Linda Burney is not contesting the next election.
Instead of leaving Barton constituency members free to choose their ALP candidate for the 2025 election, Labor’s powerful National Executive appears to want to impose their choice without reference to rank and file Labor members. Respect for democracy and trust will be replaced by a process of secrecy fostered by the notion that a small oligarchy always knows best.
Such arrogance backfired in Fowler in 2022 when the former NSW Labor Premier lost one of the safest Labor seats with a swing of 18% against her. A Labor colleague of Kristina Keneally’s reacted, ‘I bloody hope we’ve learned that imposition from on high is deeply resented.’
Independent MP Dai Le who defeated Keneally, said that her victory was a warning to the major parties not to treat loyal voters like second class citizens.
But in Barton where long term Labor loyalist and former NSW State upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane has nominated for the seat, the Fowler lesson, not to take local communities for granted, not to ignore community voices, has not been learned. Instead of a constituency vote for a Labor candidate, secret decision makers appear ready to repeat the Fowler-Keneally disaster.
The special attributes of Shaoquett Moselmane, one of the candidates nominating for Barton, appear to have affected the National Executive’s decision to impose their choice. Why a first rate local candidate for Barton would be unpalatable to head office is a mystery, but not if you read the political tea leaves.
Shaoquett Moselmane has been a Labor member for 42 years, lived in Barton for 47 years and served in local government for 16 years as Councillor, Deputy Mayor, then Mayor of Rockdale. He served in NSW parliament for 14 years and became Assistant President of the Legislative Council. He has an invaluable record of empowering diverse populations through leadership of community forums on reconciliation, on understanding of local politics, and on the development of friendships with Chinese, Palestinian and Lebanese communities. His society wide contributions include accreditation as an Arabic- English translator, work as a former Justice of the Peace and charitable initiatives such as his founding of the organisation ‘wheelchairs for kids.’
To record more of his record could read as ‘protesting too much’, yet, ironically, his character and achievements may have motivated head office to repeat their Fowler incompetence.
As a potential successor to the popular Linda Burney, it is mysterious why Moselmane’s character traits of loyalty, selflessness, plus political skills in a lifetime commitment to the Labor cause would be listed as negatives. There has to be another explanation. A little scratching of the surface reveals reasons for probable antagonism.
Moselmane is Muslim. He supports freedom for Palestinians and for the people of Lebanon. Given the Federal Labor government’s support for Israel, their reluctance to affirm the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and the NSW Labor Premier’s difficulty in comprehending Palestinians’ rights to self determination, it is reasonable to suppose that a Muslim Australian empathic with the Indigenous people of Palestine might be anathema to a party deferential to the Zionist lobby.
Over and above any specific hostility to a worthy local candidate, the spectre of head office authoritarianism looms. Directives from that source may not appear military in content and objectives, yet preoccupation with control remains. Seldom willing to respond constructively to criticism, questions about support for Israel a case in point, a culture of conformity to rules says that in a political hierarchy, accountability is to the powerful at the centre, seldom to relatively powerless constituents, despite what is said about democracy, collegiality and trust.
On the basis of an appeal to openness and to reliance on rank and file deliberations, the nomination of Shaoquett Moselmane and other possible local candidates could still be taken seriously.
Quite apart from old fashioned principles of fairness, plans to win a Federal election would surely merit a certain political pragmatism. That means relying on constituents who will have confidence in their chosen candidate and who in consequence will knock on doors, staff polling booths, erect placards and distribute pamphlets.
It is still possible that head office will reflect on the Fowler disaster and therefore ensure no repeat in Barton. Just as important is common decency, including gratitude to a significant local candidate of diverse background and interests, who for years has served his community and country so well. Surely, that is not too much to ask?
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