Infighting must end, leader warns Labor
LABOR leader Rebecca White has called for an end to the infighting within her party – saying unity was the key to moving from opposition to government.
Ms White on Tuesday responded to commentary from former Labor candidate Fabiano Cangelosi that the party’s decision to back the state government’s poker machine legislation was a betrayal of its principles.
Ms White said the party needed to be focused on winning government at state and federal levels.
“The majority of the party members that I speak to are sick and tired of commentary playing out through the media,” she said.
“They want us to be focusing on holding the government to account, not on attacking one another, because the only people that serves is the Liberal Party. It has to end.
“We need to be focused on making sure that we’re supporting Labor parties to be elected both at the state and a federal level.
“And the best way we do that is unite behind a common purpose, which is to make sure that we’re progressing the cause of the labour movement here in Tasmania.”
In a letter to state and federal Labor MPs, Mr Cangelosi, who stood for the seat of Franklin at the May state election, said Labor has “surrendered the very heart of the party to the business lobby”.
Labor’s policy of removing pokies from pubs and clubs was central to its 2018 election campaign but scrapped after it lost.
Ms White said Labor was now focused on making sure harm-minimisation measures were built into the government’s gaming reforms.
“We’ve received a lot of feedback from people, some who are pleased to see the Labor Party continuing to argue for harm minimisation, something that we said we would always do, making sure that we protect those who are most at risk of problem gambling, making sure that we’ve got legislative frameworks that provide the best harm minimisation that we can in Tasmania,’’ she said.
“I know there will be some members of our community who are disappointed and I have acknowledged that in the past.
“But what we can do from opposition is to push for the reforms we want to see with amendments to this Bill, which we have been able to achieve so far.”
THE MAJORITY OF THE PARTY MEMBERS THAT I SPEAK TO ARE SICK AND TIRED OF COMMENTARY PLAYING OUT THROUGH THE MEDIA. REBECCA WHITE, LABOR LEADER