Why the ALP has to change and the Nat Conference is the place to do it

A brief tirade against the ALP and a look at the trio of big-ass fights they are due to have at the National Conference.

The Australian Labor Party is a party that has lost its way. It is a muddling, aimless party whose only value lies in keeping the far more frightening incompetence of the fascistic blunderer Tony Abbott and his gang of Coalition no-talent cretins out of The Lodge.

The Labor Party stands for nothing but opportunism, and a minimalistic feint at difference from the aforementioned gang of cretins.

Once a year, the Labor Party National Conference sets the policy platform of the party. To belong to the ALP, you must at least pay lip service to this platform. Acting against it can earn you a reprimand from the party, upto and including expulsion from the party.

This year, three almighty shitfights are going to erupt at the conference, each of which is drastically important for the future and credibility of the party.

Uranium sales to India

Prime Minister Julia Gillard recently announced an intention to sell uranium to India, a nation that is NOT a signatory to the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and who makes the occasional mumblings of nuking Pakistan until it glows in the dark. The ALP has upheld a policy of not selling uranium to such non-signatories for approximately 30 years. Quite rightly so.

Gillard's policy shift is but one among many. A sign that she intends to lead the party where she wants, regardless of the party's platform, intent or the support of its members.

This is NOT just a trade issue, though doubtless it will be painted as one. We are expected to shrug and just say 'okay' to selling uranium for enrichment purposes to a nation that has not promised to slow, scale back or stop the production of nuclear weapons, and who has an ongoing military opposition to Pakistan, and who have rattled the nuclear sabre before.

This is warmongering, this is weapons sales, this can be seen as escalation. This MUST be stopped. The ALP was brave in refusing such sales in the past. Now, we are told that such concerns are olf-fashioned and silly. No, they are not. It is not silly to view with suspicion any sales of uranium to any nation that has not promised to restrain their use of nuclear weaponry.

If the ALP cave on this, then they have demonstrated (again) that they are more cravenly supportive of money over human rights. This cannot be allowed to slip.

Onshore processing of asylum seekers

One of Australia's most shameful policies in recent years has been our approach to refugees and asylum seekers. Our history since John Howard has been a shameful litany of brutality, cruelty and pure disinterest in human rights. Tampa, Cornelia Rau, children in mandatory detention, lips sewn shut, hunger strikes, suicide in fear of visa refusal, 'Shooty', Ismail Jan. We have fucked up this issue so badly, I sometimes wonder if it is possible to return to something more compassionate. At the heart of this issue at the National Conference is the debate of onshore vs offshore processing.

Offshore processing was instituted for one reason only - to help the Australian Government dodge its international requirements in the fair and compassionate treatment of asylum seekers. If you don't get processed in Australia, we don't have to give you a visa, so go fuck yourselves - this is the message Australia proudly beams to the rest of the world. Offshore processing has no other purpose. It is an act of duplicity and cowardice on a grand scale.

Onshore processing is more humane, cheaper and faster, but forces the nation to be legally responsible for the processing of the asylum seekers. The Gillard government does not want this responsibility. It wants the desperate and helpless to fuck off somewhere else or drown. The ALP Left, again, take odds with the government stance, reminding Gillard that the national platform supports onshore processing and vilifies offshore processing as illegal and inhumane.

The public is increasingly returning to a more compassionate outlook. Given that the Opposition have only a 'Stop the Boats' mantra to dribble - to satiate the xenophobic hatred of our stupider citizens - the public needs a position which is in some way different to the inhumane racism of the Coalition. It is past time we stopped doing a limbo dance under our international obligations. If we are truly concerned about people entering Australia illegally, or about 'queue-jumping', then we should stop being fucking hypocrites and go after the people who overstay or misrepresent visas, which outnumber asylum seekers by more than ten to one.

Marriage equality

Australia's two main parties have an entrenched policy of homophobia. It should be no surprise by now, that the Coalition - who may welcome gay voters and gay MPs into their ranks - are hell-bent on supporting any system that stops gay Australians being treated like equals. Part of this is their large zealously Christian audience, part of it is, I'm sure, just the complete lack of empathy evidenced by conservatives, as mentioned here.

This issue annoys me by now, I'm sick of arguing the same line over and over and over, and having to start from scratch every time some ignorant bigot opens his flapping arsehole mouth. All we are talking about is equality in law, so quite frankly shut the fuck up with your talk about religion and churches. We are not talking about your superstitious boojum, nor the pile of stone where you gather with other similarly deluded sheep. We are discussing the rights of Australian citizens before the law, which should be equal. I don't give a flying fuck if you think gay people are sick, or gross, or evil. I don't give a fuck because you are wrong and thick, and fucking morons aren't worth arguing with. Go out, educate your damned self, and come back when you've got two bee's dicks worth of sense in that cavernous abyss you call a skull.

A growing majority of the ALP's Left are supporting marriage equality. Only the Prime Minister and a degenerate spookshow of crusty old bigots stand in the way. This is sad and pathetic. Marriage equality isn't going to kill anyone. 'What will I tell my children!?' the hysterical fools whine. You know what, I neither know nor give a fuck. They're your ugly, stupid kids, you work it out.

The Left and the Right

The Left of the ALP are naturally incensed by these three issues and are preparing to fight like bastards over them. So they should. If the ALP are to remain relevant as a party that is in anyway different to the bottom feeders and mouth-breathers of the Coalition, they need to show that they are a party with different ideas.

The Right of the party have had a stranglehold for too long, stacking branches, playing at kingmaker, making and breaking Prime Ministers at whim. Young Laborites are turning away in droves. Eager and enthusiastic they turned up at their local branch only to find some ancient Labor Right thug, squatting over proceedings, looking and cackling like fucking Skeletor. So fuck the Labor Right, they're a pack of anti-democractic old ghouls who should just fuck off and join the Libs where attitudes like that belong. How did scary old fascists like DeBruyn end up in the ALP anyway? Was the local 'Evil Old Bastards Who Hate Everybody' Party full up at the time?

I don't know how these debates will be resolved at the Nat Conference. The sneering old pessimist tells me all three will fail, and Australia will be plunged into another cycle of far right vs extreme right politics. But the angry young firebrand I used to be, before getting fat and old, sings a different song.

What if some of the pigs from the Right get disendorsed? he says. What if the Left win the day on all three? he says. What if Lev Lafayette's disciplinary action against Gillard gets taken seriously and she gets kicked out of the party? he asks. Surely it's time we saw that things are fucked and getting worse, that it's time to take a stand? he says, voice rising in indignation.

Yeah kid, maybe.