It’s been a big weekend at the annual NSW State Labor conference, with embattled Premier Nathan Rees winning the right to choose a cabinet of his own making.
A ministerial re-shuffle could be on the cards in New South Wales, with the Premier Nathan Rees yesterday given the power to sack ministers. Nathan Rees had the backing of both the left and the right factions at yesterday’s Labor Party conference in Sydney.
The ALP’s General Secretary, Matt Thistlethwaite, said it was important to give the Premier the power to choose his team. “In my view delegates, if we are going to be a modern Labor Party the time has come for us to back the Premier,” he said.
The speculation of a reshuffle, was spot on with Ports Minister Joe Tripodi and Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald immediately shown the door – both controversial figures in NSW politics.
There has been a shake-up in the New South Wales Government, with two senior ministers sacked. Finance minister Joe Tripodi is gone, as is the primary industries minister Ian Macdonald. Coming into the ministry is the MP for Heathcote Paul McLeay, and the Upper House MP Peter Primrose.
The Punch’s David Penberthy has written a lively account of the Rees coup that’s well worth a read.
Other important developments at the conference was the banning of developer donations and new rules on the conduct and role of lobbyists in how they do business with government.
Political donations from developers will be banned in NSW under sweeping changes to campaign funding announced by Premier Nathan Rees yesterday.
And lobbyists will be stopped from meeting departmental officials in coffee shops, with all meetings to be held on official premises or on the sites of proposed developments.
Mr Rees said lobbyists had a role to play, but contacts with government should be formal, with full minutes of meetings taken and retained.
Putting aside the possibility of a challenge to Rees leadership from the disaffected, what is clear from these moves is that the state party belongs to the Premier. He has successfully cleared the deck of two issues that negatively impact voter intentions, solidified his position and taken control.
It’s his team and rules and this is what he will be taking to the next election. Only time will tell if this conference was a turning point for Labor in NSW or if this was just another rearranging of the deck chairs.
Update: Imre Salusinszky gives his take on Tripodi and the Rees dumping.
Update II: Damien Murphy and Brian Robbins in the Sydney Morning Herald also explain Tripodi.
Update III: A good narrative of the weekend from the Sydney Morning Herald’s Andrew Clennell.
Final update: Quentin Demster on Rees stand against developers.
I thought Rudd (and A.Bligh) already had these same powers. Is it me or Penbo who is misinformed?
It’s good that Tripodi is gone. It’s a pity Roozendale is still there.
That’s correct Amanda, I don’t know about Rann but Rudd declared that he was going to choose Ministries in future (though his choices largely reflected the existing numbers). Penbo is misinformed.
I honestly felt sorry for Tripodi yesterday at his presser when one of the idiot press gallery goons asked if he was being sacked for disloyalty. That’s a misreading of the situation so spectacularly wrong it shows some of the NSW journalists shouldn’t be let outside without a minder.
What a weekend. Wow.
Does anyone care what the NSW government does?
He’s done what?! What about the 500 other issues that “negatively impact voter intentions”?
This mob are dead men walking. Completely unelectable.
Liam,
That’s the most severe case of misplaced compassion in medical history.
Tripodi deserves pity like Icecream deserves Vegemite.
Watch Tripodi now try to breathe life back into his career in federal politics.
But in which seat?
Belinda Neal’s of course.
Never tried Vegemite on ice-cream. Sounds interesting.
What rees needs to do is dump the entire NSW Right. But that will never happen.
Not that it will make much difference. And as some-one who believes, if you can’t get a socialist or Green government. a bad Labor government is always preferable to any Liberal government, it looks like NSW is doomed to years of the Liberals after the next State election.
It is a shame that Rees didn’t have the option of bringing in some talent from outside of parliament in the same way that Obama does. NSW, Qld etc. badly need people in cabinet that can actually make things happen in key problem areas such as health and education.
Looks like it is getting parallel heretoo Phil. Anna Bligh has John Mickel, Lucas and Colin Dick looking for the top job.
The idea of caucus choosing the cabinet has its merits, but it also has meant that characters like Tripodi end up running the show.
It also shows the weak postion the NSW Right is in at the moment. If you allow the likes of Costa, Obeid, Tripodi, Della Bosca (he at least made something of a contribution) to blow the party up, don’t be surprised if grown-ups eventually come along and take power from you.
That unique subculture that was at the height of its power in the ’80s and ’90s seems to have finally outlived its usefulness. Latham and Costa are left to write bile-filled articles than no-one reads. Keating stews about how Rudd is a smarter politician than he ever was. Bob Carr bangs on about the charter of rights and the need to ruin our publishing industry, but nobody listens to him.
Even members of the NSW Right – the more objective ones at least – can see that things need to change.
Good on Rees, NSW Labor might – might – have a chance now.
Prediction: NSW will continue to lead the country in mismanagement, corruption and economic decay.
It’s a shame the people of New South Wales don’t directly elect their premier, rather than wake up one morning and find out some bloke they’ve never heard of has been appointed by people not even in the parliament.
The Westminster system is inherently undemocratic and limiting.
John D @ 8 – he can appoint non-parliamentarians, he just chooses not to.
Frankie V. @ 12 – “inherently undemocratic” – oh FFS, it is not.
It’s the current configuration of representative governance that is undemocratic.
Never tried Vegemite on ice-cream. Sounds interesting.
Yes, it is the effervescent yet repulsive taste of je ne sais quoi. At first glance you think ‘it does not belong’, but then as your senses repel and gross motor function ceases you realise ‘yes it is not only disgusting but poisionous, causing death’.
Yes, this …dish… (some will call it that), Tripodi dans la Cabinet-Mode represents the death of decent cuisine even civilisation itself.
But perhaps it is not flushable? What then ? Can even Monsieur O’Farrell eat this thing and save us? Oui mais non. Such a dish can only be stomached not even by the Richo itself. He must become our King.
* * * *
Sorry. I am delerious with joy.
He may have removed a threat to his own position, but is there any sign that he’s going to change any policy with respect to anything voters actually care about?
The existence of the CBD Metro project just screams “We’re completely, utterly incompetent, and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about doing things that might actually help anybody.” (Apart from mates, advisors, ex-Premiers and ex-Prime Ministers who collect cash out of the process). Ditto for the electricity privatisation.
I must say that as an elegantly wasted Victorian in a bespoke suit, NSW politics strikes me as rather uncouth compared to how we do politics down South.
Umm…forget to change my moniker for the above post. An occupational hazard for us hard shell smut peddlers.
Oh fuck it, I screwed up the last link @17. Try this instead.
I must say that as an elegantly wasted Victorian in a bespoke suit, NSW politics strikes me as rather uncouth compared to how we do politics down South.
And when it comes to federal politics…
Admit it. The sound of that tortoise having an orgasm is gonna haunt you. Especially as you age while still trying to crack shell yerself.
You’re always turning the corner when you’re going down the gurgler. carbonsink@4 is right, Ginja@10 is wrong to have any faith in NSW Labor at all.
The two new ministers are hacks. Nobody with any talent is going anywhere near NSW government – there is no reservoir of talent full of people who could sort out the health or public transport systems in their spare time. Yes, it’s great that Tripodi is gone but there is still no compelling reason why anyone should listen to this government at all. Any announcement that Rees makes is reversed within a week, which is why it is such a joke to refer to him as “decisive”. Imre said, “It would be hard to argue any minister has achieved more than him during the 14 months of Nathan Rees’s premiership”, which is a bit like being the handsomest man on radio. NSW people would only vote Labor out of pity.
Andrew Clenell is the best state politics reporter in twenty years.
Labor’s internal technicalities need not interest anyone outside that party. There is nothing so traditional as trashing Labor tradition.
Heh. I was with you until this, Andrew:
They guy has one column and he’s been rewriting it with a different headline for five years. He’s to quality journalism what the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are to pop music.
The only reason he doesn’t simply cut-and-paste outright like Alan Ramsey in his last months is because he doesn’t like reading and his informants haven’t worked out how to use email yet.
Liam, your comment @ 3 should put paid to any further speculation re: your factional allegiances. Feeling sorry for Joe Tripodi would surely make you ineligible for membership of hhm, just about all factions. Even ones that don’t exist.
Bryce Courtney was in my radio this morning, claiming that Askin was the last deeply-corrupt NSW Premier.
I don’t find that credible.
David Irving@25: He was pretty clear on the qualifier “deeply” though
Awesome!
The NSW Right are making noises about taking Rees down and replacing him with another puppet or maybe Big F. Sartor itself (ideal scenario – they have the hubris and plain venal lust for revenge to stick In JT as Premier)
Please, please let them do it.
It’s as horrifying and compelling as watching Turnbull eat his Grech sandwich, except they haven’t done it yet.
The ALP vote would drop below dog-turd levels. Only those who consider never-voting-Liberal the supreme human value would tick their box.
I’m still not convinced, Rockstar. I hesitate to say anything too slanderous, but I reckon a couple of more recent incumbents may not have been entirely pure.
Enjoy being ruled by the “Uglies” of the NSW Liberal Party then Baraholka.
If you think NSW has problems now, wait until a party that doesn’t believe in government gets into power. Nick Greiner, who had actually given some thought to governing the state, lasted just over one term.
I’m not going to defend the electricity privatisation fiasco or what happened in Woollongong, but even the Telegraph admitted that many of the press attacks on the government had been over the top (if it wasn’t a Murdoch tabloid, you’d almost say they were feeling a twinge of guilt for having launched one of the most vicious campaigns ever against a government).
Putting the breathless media attacks to one side, NSW is not a poorly-run state. Trains are probably more punctual than they’ve ever been, and the health system is not in “crisis”, public finances are in good shape. Believe it or not, decent policies are being implemented.
Yeah I’ve seen that argument before around here too. Got any youtube videos with high school teachers in ‘em DI(nr)?
Rees can sack and reshuffle, ban developer donations, do whatever he likes. He is polishing the proverbial turd.
“NSW is not a poorly-run state”
That may be so at the basic service delivery level. But at the political level, it’s a huge mess.
Whatever the objective truth about government in NSW, the attractiveness of the opposition and the role of the media (and BTW the Herald Sun campaign against Joan Kirner in 1992 was much worse), the vibe, in the sense made famous by Dennis Denuto, is that Labor is gone for all money.
Ginja,
I can agree with you on many counts.
But surely there comes a time when the volume of nepotism and nest-feathering justifies a cleanout, no matter that the 8:28 at Strathfield arrives at 8:28.
‘They’re not up to it’ is a charge levied at most Oppositions following long periods on the benches. Same was said about Rudd’s team and a lot of them did look pretty wobbly in the election campaign (Tanner, Rudd a few others obvious exceptions). But how they’ve grown, Garrett not least.
The NSW Right is not even concealing its contempt for the rest of the planet at present and if they flick Rees their monstrosity will reach new levels of uber-monstrositousness.
Yeah the Uglies are Ugly. But imagine bringing back Tripodi, Sartor etc for ANOTHER go. They must have rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they got in last time…then headed straight for the Ministerial Lobster Thermidore Lounge.
Liam: OK, the least worst since Matthew Moore. Humphries was auditioning for Carr’s press sec and Davies simply regurgitated press releases. Clenell asks questions and compares what was said with what is done, and recognises that State Politics is more than just Macquarie Street tittle-tattle. As for RHCP, and at the risk of derailing the thread, here is an anthem for NSW State politics in its current state:
David: wait until Wran dies. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Ginja: O’Farrell has pushed the Uglies into irrelevance. When they start fighting amongst themselves, as Clarke and Hawke are, you know they’re done for.
“NSW is not a poorly-run state” – yes, it is. It could be worse but I am not keen to go there. More Labor means worse, non-Labor gives space for a clean-out that may have unintended benefits (who knew John Howard would go to East Timor?). The possibility of improvement in some areas beats the certainty of demise.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a third option? Neither of the above …
Ginja,
Also consider the negative effects on Federal ALP that this mob are having.
Perhaps for the greater (Federal ALP) good just hold your nose and vote (NSW) Liberal ?
Andrew E: well, give me examples. Not some beat-up in the Telegraph, real examples. Have you travelled by train in the last year or two? From my experience service has improved in the last 5 years or so. I can’t remember the last time a train was seriously late.
The Libs are no longer banging on about NSW being a basket case economically. Why? Because it’s actually doing better than the other states.
Baraholka, many on the Left were so disgusted with the Keating government in ‘96 they decided to give Labor a firm kicking. After all, John Howard was making all kinds of moderate noises and how bad could it be? After dogs and balaclavas on the waterfront, the cynical use of the Tampa incident and the co-opting of Hansonism, Iraq, indifference to global warming (indeed the active wrecking of international talks by Howard), and the most extreme IR laws ever introduced into a modern western democracy, many understood how bad it could be.
You’ll learn this the hard way if the Libs get in. Back in ‘88 when Greiner won there still was a moderate faction in the Liberal Party – that faction no longer exists.
I agree completely, Ginja – the worst, most corrupt ALP government imaginable is still marginally better that the Libs.
That’s why I vote Green.
Ginja,
I take your points. But this is a State Govt.
Making the choo-choos go round and so on. It’s all about Service Delivery Very run of the mill stuff, most of which will ne handled by bureacrats while the MPs travel around in shiny cars.
O’Farrell won’t invade Iraq.
And I doubt the NSW Right sings The Internationale except on fancy dress night. Is the ideological distance really very far ?
Baraholka, the last Liberal govt we had in SA sold off the electricity, which has brought out the rent-seekers in droves (and increased the price for no real benefit), along with a few other … err … unfortunate decisions. The current Labor government will probably stay in for another 20 years on the back of that. While I don’t think they’re particularly corrupt, they are spectacularly inept.
They’re still streets ahead of the alternative.
Hmmm.
I remember the Bannon years.
Incompetence come in Red and Blue and is not ideologically constrained.
So do I, Baraholka. Certainly the current incumbents aren’t as incompetent as Bannon’s govt was, but they aren’t real flash. OTOH, the Libs make them look fantastic.
If you remember Bannon, you’d also remember some of the … questionable … decisions Olsen made – the Motorola deal, the Southwestern Freeway, selling the electricity and water, … the list goes on.
Far be it from me to suggest there might have been a couple of really nice lunches involved.
Baraholka, Libs can do plenty of damage at state level. I’m not sure that even well-informed people have confronted just how extreme the Coalition has become. If you want to see just how extreme, trawl through Hansard.
Ginja, I regard basic services provided by state government as just that – basic services. I feel no sense of obligation to any politician who claims credit for a barely adequate service provided by underresourced people, let alone the sort of gratitude demanded by Labor. You saw what the trains were like during the Olympics and you know they could be like that again. Do a bit of travelling to places the Cityrail network doesn’t go to and know that those who blew so many chances deserve nothing. Nothing.
If you work in state government offices, as I have, you’ll see the better public servants have Victorian government manuals on their desks. Why? Because Victorians have the closest thing this country has to joined-up government. NSW leads the nation in nothing for which the state government can take credit.
If you want to find examples of far-right tendencies in the NSW Liberals, you’ll find them (just like Liberal voters find evidence of “socialism” where socialists themselves find only despair. Relying on Hansard to judge a political party is like diagnosing someone’s health by taking their temperature. You’ll find the far-right being pushed to the margins, and in my experience they shriek loudest when they’re being screwed, so shriek away boys and fool people like Ginja.
Andrew,
I feel no sense of obligation to any politician who claims credit for a barely adequate service provided by underresourced people, let alone the sort of gratitude demanded by Labor.
Yep. NSW Labor act like the husband who expects a round of applause from his wife because he’s cooked tinned soup for the kid’s dinner one Saturday. ‘Waddaya mean it’s not brilliant ?’.
But how did it come to this pass ? How exactly did we end up with Tripodi as de-facto Premier of NSW for 14 months. To what extent was Carr complicit in the development of this Cabinet of self-interested trough-swillers ? To what extent did he mitigate it ? Same for Arbib. Did he leave because of the stench or the boredom? To what extent did Arbib build this gluttonous sloth that masquerades as a government? Will he help develop the same
monstrosity for Rudd ?
If you’re in the mood for writing an essay I’d like to read it.
NSW Labor supporters (and I used to be one) all seem to have turned into navel-gazing shitheads. But hey, what can you do? Whine about the Libs. Sure, that’ll work.