Labor brand in trouble in NSW

Hasnain Zaheer,

Ramanan, Swati Nishar Dedhia, Saloni Kober, Neha Nagpal, Priyadarshini Chidambaranathan, Anusha Menon, Komal Utsav Jagad, Ritam Mitra, Sunny Cherian, Noel G deSouza, Farzana Shakir, Saroja Srinivasan, Sandip Hor

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With the Federal elections due in 2013, issues of state politics will continue to take centre stage in Sydney over the first quarter of the New Year. While there is a separation of State and Federal politics, the political brand of the party in trouble tends to travel across both areas of influence. Labor has linked - and will continue to link - the ruling Coalition parties in NSW, Queensland and Victoria to the massive cuts in public sector employees and education with the Federal opposition, stating that this is what will occur should the Coalition take control in Canberra. But this is a double-edged sword for them.

The machinations in the NSW Labor Party can make a great script for a Bollywood movie. Untold wealth, bribery, corruption, molls offered to ministers, among other issues – these allegations are surfacing at the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) inquiry currently talking place. The daily saga of how public wealth was allegedly being directed towards a few individuals in positions of power connected to the state Labor Party will further tarnish the Labor brand. That this has gone on for so long has surprised all, and one wonders that, had governments not changed and had the newly-elected Liberal government not initiated this inquiry, how long would this have stayed hidden under the carpet.

In the last Federal elections, Labor held its seat in Greenway by just the barest of margins. It is believed that this, along with at least half a dozen Labor seats (Parramatta, Barton, Reid, Werriwa) are in extreme danger of being lost in the next elections. The Gillard government has had a tough run in the past three years. The hung parliament was a poisoned chalice for both political parties. That the Gillard government has made headway in a number of policy positions and even implemented new taxes is a credit to Prime Minister Gillard’s political skills. Yet all along there have been allegations of misuse of monies and other improprieties against her political colleagues. Even now, there is an attempt by the Opposition and leading journalists to link her with misuse of union monies over 15 years ago. Expect to hear more about this in the next few months.

Political foes will work overtime to link corruption and graft in the Labor Party. That there will be public hearings involving the Labor brand in NSW will not make it easier for the federal government to brush off allegations of corruption. In the meantime, they will be firing on all four cylinders to attack the Liberal leader Tony Abbott on issues of misogyny and being out of touch with women. The Labor Party has no doubt noticed the strong vote from single women for Obama in the recent US elections; they will be working hard to position Prime Minister Gillard in a similar frame with Australian women.

While the ICAC inquiry progresses, one wonders if it is time to institute a similar institution in India. It will however, take a brave politician to set this up. To quote the Bible, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” One expects very few stones will be cast in Indian politics.