TENDERNESS,SPEAK GENTLY TO YOURSELF, CHERISH THE CHILD WITHIN.

Glamour recruits come to the aid of parties

June 11, 2004
PETER Garrett's recruitment by the ALP is the end of the Labor Party as we know it. It's not because of the recruitment or who or what he is. It's because it provides a stark illustration of a change that has been taking place during the past few years. Political parties, not just Labor, are in crisis - it's a crisis of faith demonstrated by failing membership and a decline in old-fashioned dedication.

The direct signals that Opposition Leader Mark Latham wants to send about Garrett's recruitment are that he's environmentally friendly, connected to young people and no simple "white bread" politician. The strategy is that Garrett's public profile, lobbying and communication skills - all necessary in modern campaigning - will be able to be exploited far beyond the confines of the old Labor seat of Kingsford Smith. Garrett's public positions on the environment, nuclear disarmament, links with the US and Aboriginal reconciliation also provide succour for the Left, to whom Latham owes a big debt, and it counterbalances Latham's hardline stance on border protection, mandatory detention and asylum-seekers.

There is a strong hope within the ALP that Garrett's campaigning on the environment will swing sentiment towards the ALP and away from the Australian Greens in coastal seats, where demographics have changed and Greens aldermen sit on shire councils that were once the preserve of crusty dairy farmers.

Yesterday, just by chance, after appearing at Maroubra beach in Sydney, Latham was on the campaign trail near Geelong, visiting the locale of the ABC's SeaChange and pursuing those very "sea-changers" he wants Garrett to attract. As he visited Barwon Heads yesterday, Latham was thinking of winning the vulnerable Nationals seats of Gippsland in Victoria and Richmond in northern NSW with his new environmentally friendly colleague. But these are all the positive reasons for recruiting Garrett; they are all pull. The push factors are more ominous.

While Garrett's shaved head was the most recognisable face on television as the debate raged in Laurie Brereton's local ALP branches after his retirement announcement, there was another, sighted less often but just as significant. John "Johnno" Johnson - a member of the ALP for more than 50 years, a mainstay of the Randwick Labor Club, a long-time representative of the right-wing "Shoppies" union, former president of the NSW upper house, a Labor fundraiser for a million years and confidant and supporter of the NSW Right for 2million years - was the other significant face.

Johnno's balding pate doesn't rely on a daily shave and his TV appearances - in a speaking role - are extremely rare. Hearing Johnno speak critically of the ALP is unheard of. Yet there he was this week, on TV, bagging his leader's intention to parachute in a high-profile candidate who could do all these marvellous things for the ALP.

Given that Johnno has supported some of the most famous parachute jobs in Labor history - not the least forcing former NSW premier Barrie Unsworth on the unsuspecting ALP branch members and electors of Rockdale in Sydney's south when he needed a seat - some of his protests were a little disingenuous.

Johnno and his friends at the Randwick Labor Club were speaking out not just because they had their ambitions for some of the home-grown prospects to take Brereton's place in a safe Labor seat. There were deeper reasons.

For a start, Garrett wasn't a member of the ALP. This was shocking to some in Brereton's branches. Yet it is becoming a trend to find a candidate, then allot them a seat. At the last election, the Liberals put long-distance runner Pat Farmer into the southern seat of Macarthur, a notionally Labor seat after a redistribution. Yet the self-effacing Farmer won it for the Liberals. One senior Labor MP said this week that Farmer would have been a good candidate for the ALP.

SPORTSPEOPLE, TV personalities and radio presenters are looked on from time to time as potential parliamentarians and often it is the first to ask that gets the candidate. When Johnno says: "Can't they find a decent candidate in all these branches?", the answer from Latham is, "No, we can't" -- so cop it.

The fact is, people are not joining political parties as they once did. When they do, it is part of a predetermined plan to unseat the incumbent. Local branches, now so small, are susceptible to manipulation by small but well-organised groups. Ironically, Garrett's selection also points to the demise of the NSW right-wing faction, splintered for ages and now without any obvious parliamentary factional leader to take over as the old guard retires.

This membership decline is not confined to Labor. John Howard has listed the lack of available talent and the decline in party membership as one of the great challenges facing Australian political life. When this decline in the available talent pool is combined with the increasing demands of modern campaigning, where being a communicator is considered the acme of political skill, it is little wonder the parties are looking further afield for fresh blood and talent.

The danger is that our political parties will increasingly become marketing machines, designed to make money and capture power. We have already seen one new party created as a company and know where that can lead.

I WANT TO POST THIS ARTICLE AS I FIND THIS WHOLE GARRETT APPOINTMENT FASCINATING STUFF. i WONDER THOUGH IF HIS PRINCIPALS STAND TOO HIGH FOR THE LABOR PARTY AND HE'LL END UP QUITTING BECAUSE OF PARTY LINE.