The sheep, dangling from a tree

Christopher J. Ward

So for the moment David Bartlett is Deputy Premier but even he must realize that he is there because the Left put him there and sooner or later the debt will be called in. As for the Premier, he has demonstrated that he lacks both honour and courage. Had he more than a scintilla of either, his message back to the PLP (when it threatened a leadership challenge) should have been quite simple: “Bring it on!” As a consequence of caving in, he is not so much a lame duck, as a sheep dangling from a tree, shortly after having its throat cut. As for the messenger, I trust that he/she feels gratified. Had the vote had gone against him in the party room, Mr Lennon should’ve summoned the courage to call an election. I’m not usually a believer in early elections but two years have taken a dreadful toll. The state of the State we are in provides no grounds for optimism despite the hot-air emanating from Parliament House with a multiplicity of difficult issues which need to be dealt with by a competent government.
Dear Editor,

I have been a follower and paid up member of the ALP for nearly 38 years but for reasons familiar to quite a number of rank-and-file members in Tasmania, I find it hard to justify my membership. I write now more in sorrow than anger.

Sue Neales’ article, “The odd couple” Here confirmed for me a lot of whispered scuttlebutt and inside news that has been going the rounds of the Labor Party What stood out mostly in the article was the fact that the Premier has lost the confidence of the Parliamentary Labor Party. His lack of grace on TV towards his new deputy and the body language that went with it was most eloquent: he had been pushed into a very tight corner.

Prior to the 2006 election, I was among the privileged gathered to hear Paula Wriedt deliver an excellent lead-in for the Premier, opening the campaign. It appeared to be common knowledge among the cognoscenti that if Tasmania delivered majority government to the ALP, Ms. Wriedt would become deputy leader.

As events showed, for a long while it appeared that Ms. Wriedt would lose her seat. She was most distressed when I saw her at the tally room and I’m not surprised – the Premier had just announced that Bryan Green would be his deputy. Whether he told Ms. Wriedt of his decision, which, one assumes was his to make, is a moot point.

Then to make matters worse, the claqueurs in the Party proceeded to heap scorn on the Essential Learnings Program, which was trumpeted initially by them as a massive success and groundbreaking policy. Overnight it turned to something unpleasant with which to smear the former Education minister and to remind her regularly of her perceived shortcomings.

If Neales’ information is correct, Ms. Wriedt has been thrice shafted. The last shafting (of her hopes to become Deputy Premier), has all the hallmarks of a frustrated faction in a Toy Town parliament lacking any dynamic leadership but acting as a veto bloc to prevent a nonaligned member becoming Deputy Premier. That’s what factional politics is all about.

So for the moment David Bartlett is Deputy Premier but even he must realize that he is there because the Left put him there and sooner or later the debt will be called in. As for the Premier, he has demonstrated that he lacks both honour and courage. Had he more than a scintilla of either, his message back to the PLP (when it threatened a leadership challenge) should have been quite simple: “Bring it on!”

As a consequence of caving in, he is not so much a lame duck, as a sheep dangling from a tree, shortly after having its throat cut. As for the messenger, I trust that he/she feels gratified.

Had the vote had gone against him in the party room, Mr Lennon should’ve summoned the courage to call an election. I’m not usually a believer in early elections but two years have taken a dreadful toll. The state of the State we are in provides no grounds for optimism despite the hot-air emanating from Parliament House with a multiplicity of difficult issues which need to be dealt with by a competent government.

Christopher J. Ward