LABOR PAINS

SIMON Bevilacqua’s timely reminder of Labor’s past under Paul Lennon suggests a possible new way forward for Tasmanian politics, based on the European model. Labor’s Right Faction (in essence, Liberal-Lite) can set up as the Social Democrats while the Left can stay true to the party’s roots. The Liberals are also in two camps with the conservative Christian Right on one side and the moderate Liberals on the other side so they can set up separate parties too. After an election, no one will have a majority and the parties can negotiate a coalition arrangement, the norm in much of Europe.

Hopefully there will also be one or two Independents to add to the mix, plus several Greens, and in a 35-seat Lower House, there will be a chance for new blood plus a genuine reflection of voter preferences that actually count.

Why not?

Peter D. Jones Lenah Valley