Labor The Next Generation

Every commentator on Australian politics just loves a party in turmoil, especially when the underlying leadership tensions are in play. We have that at present with the ALP they are failing on so many issues at present, we have daily boat arrivals,Their Carbon tax has not become more loved since its introduction, even their blatant attempts at distraction like the so called Gay marriage debate has blown its load early as even its staunchest advocates realise that it is never going to get the numbers in the house to become law, At  a state level Labor has all but collapsed into obscurity. Lets face it the Labor party is only marginally more popular than a bacon sandwich in a mosque (well it is Ramadan  😉 ). Add to that misery the disproportionate power of the so called independents Windsor and Oakeshott      who are providing a great example of just how the tail wags this Labor dog.

This is the perfect example of just how bad minority government is for the country when two political cowboys can hold a party to ransom and demand that the party have a leader of their liking or its straight to the polls. This threat is clearly meant to steel the backbones of wavering Gillard supporters but I can’t help thinking that there might just be a few backbenchers who know that they are gone no matter what and they just jump to Rudd because of the threat, In the words of one of the government’s ministers:

“Its better to die on your feet than to live in your knees”

Thus our soap opera is working up to a spectacular season finale, we have the main characters plotting and scheming and the political  romance between Gillard and the intendants is clearly in desperate trouble. However for the true romantics out there let me suggest that it was always co-dependency rather than love between Labor and those so called independents, Labor under Gillard was just so desperate to form government that they gave enormous largess to them and let these two men dictate the direction of the government (carbon tax anyone?) and of course Gillard got to shack up in the Lodge with Tim.

OK I’m not going to give any spoilers to the season Finale but I will say that cancellation of this show is a very distinct possibility given its consistently poor ratings over the last season, it has run some very tired story arcs that have just not resonated with the viewing public. There  is still an ever decreasing fan base for this particular show but I don’t think that we will see the same dedicated public response as the producers of Star Trek found after the cancellation of the original serries.  But who knows we may yet see ” Labor the Next Generation”  go into production. Sadly for the faithful fans it may take a generation for that to happen as there is no one with the talent of Patrick Stewart to “make it so” within the Labor party.

Cheers Comrades

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