LABOR PAINS AHEAD

AS WE predicted at the start of the election campaign, the circus around the Labor Party preselection process and subsequent candidate scandals was more about what would happen post-election as opposed to what it would take to give leader Rebecca White the opportunity to seize government.

Labor had been asleep at the wheel in the last term of opposition and the pro-incumbent voting trend that we’ve seen during the coronavirus crisis across the country showed no signs of slowing down here on the Apple Isle.

Ms White conceded from the get-go that her party was the underdog and while there were signs of hope in the final two weeks of the campaign, it was far too little and far too late.

There will be a post-mortem of the campaign loss and whether the national executive intervenes remains to be seen.

Last week Ms White declared she wanted to stay on as party leader.

“I really enjoy this job and I think that there is unfinished business,” she said.

But there are strong rumblings that Ms White doesn’t enjoy the support of everyone to keep the top job.

And let’s face it, the rumours about David O’Byrne’s leadership ambitions have been relentless for years.

Of course, there is unfinished business. The factional rift in which Kingborough mayor Dean Winter was frozen out of preselection, forcing Ms White to intervene, remains unresolved.

Also still to sort out is the bitter feud between Ms White and the president of the Tasmanian branch of the ALP, Ben McGregor.

Mr McGregor was due to run as a candidate in Clark until he was sensationally forced to stand down for six-year-old messages to a colleague in which he used the “c” word and sent a photo of a penis (not his own).

Ms White’s scathing and public response to Mr McGregor’s historical actions led the social worker to threaten to sue the Labor leader for defamation.

Is Mr McGregor still legally pursuing Ms White? If so, presumably he will demand a public apology. Will she fight any defamation allegations or try to settle? Once again, she refuses to speak a word about it.

In the leadership tussle, the outcome of that debacle is absolutely key.

The party will be desperate to try to resolve things efficiently behind closed doors because there is a lot of mud to sling at individuals, as well as the so-called “faceless men”, in all factions — and the bar for acceptable conduct was set by Ms White herself when she pushed Mr McGregor out of the campaign.

Why is all of this important? Because when the party is focused on itself, it’s not focused on you, the voters, which is simply not good for democracy in our state.