What Elfster said. The other lot are just as guilty of professional political careerism: both O'Farrell and Abbott did lengthy stretches in older politicians' offices as gophers. But the Labor Party have raised it to an art form. The practice of bestowing political privilege to gain advantage is a relatively modern one and became firmly entrenched in the ALP by "Bruvver" Ducker in the 60s and 70s. Some of his early work was worthy of merit (he supported Whitlam against the ALP executive of "faceless men" and was instrumental in the gutting of the Victorian left leading to Whitlam's victory in 1972) but the power gained by bestowing favours went to his head in his last years in charge of the NSW ALP. Ducker handed the baton to Graham Richardson and he took the handing out of favours to another level. One of Richo's monumental stuffups would have to be installing Eddie Obeid as a casual vacancy in the upper house of the NSW Parliament in 1991; it's difficult to see how Richardson can ever show his face in public again after foisting this amoral creature on the people of New South Wales. Richardson was followed by another "fixer", John Della Bosca, who successfully positioned his wife, Belinda Neal, as a casual Senate vacancy in 1994. After she resigned to (unsuccessfully) run in the 1998 election Della got her up as a lower house candidate for Robertson in 2007; I'm sure you're all aware of Belinda's recent past. These incidents are mere snapshots of the unseemly political patronage handed out by those holding the levers of power in the ALP. Eddie Obeid and Joe Tripodi worked hand-in-hand with the odorous pair, Mark Arbib and Karl Bitar, all of whom must wear a lot of blame for the damage they've caused their party these last few years; didja know Arbib's successor as NSW ALP General Secretary, Matt Thistlethwaite, IS A SENATOR?
The last few years I've read a few contemporary political tomes, including Rodney Cavalier's
Power crisis: the self-destruction of a state Labor Party. It's depressing to read what's left of the Labor Party in NSW. The sweeping aside of ordinary members by the professional political class is nearly complete, the ALP in NSW is literally disappearing up its own fundament. This lack of representation by ordinary, sensible people who've lived a life in the "outside world" leads to the monumental fuckup the Labor government finds itself in in Canberra this week. Simon Benson's
Betrayal is particularly scathing of Rudd; even his supporter, Maxine McKew, makes a few derogatory remarks about his management style in her recent book,
Tales From the Political Trenches.
If you want to see how incestuous the ALP is in NSW (and have a relieving laugh) read this piece from The Australian two years ago.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...ristina-keneally/story-e6frg6z6-1226026970457
PS. I'm not a member of any political party, nor am I an urger for any of 'em. However, I do think it's vitally important for democracy and the successful conduct of government our political parties are robust, honest and representative. Words which don't describe the modern Australian Labor Party.