‘Them and us’ attitude cast in uncharitable ALP epistle

WHAT an uncharitable, condescending letter (GCB, 8/5) from your regular correspondent Ron Nightingale with his sneering assessment of Labour Day, the labour movement in general, and key figures in the ALP.

It was so indicative of the adversarial, “that lot and us” mentality that pervades our political system where no good can be acknowledged in the opposing side.

I am old enough to remember as a young boy, my father a miner/labourer having to work six days per week for a paltry salary. It was the Labour Movement that subsequently gave him to the family for one extra day per week and with a salary that gave us some modicum of dignity.

It was the ALP that ultimately spared me from the horror of the Vietnam War when my marble dropped in that odious birthday ballot inspired by the then Liberal government and it was the ALP that counselled against going into Iraq. It has always been the ALP that has led the way on major issues of social reform.

Mr Nightingale refers to the “three most hated Prime Ministers” – of course all ALP.

Paul Keating who with Bob Hawke was responsible for modernising the Australian monetary system and economy. Kevin Rudd who furthered reconciliation with Australia’s indigenous population. Julia Gillard who instituted the NDIS.

Hated by the conservative right perhaps, but certainly not by the beneficiaries of their achievements. Then he unkindly questions Bob Hawke’s absence from the Brisbane campaign launch without recognising that Mr Hawke was actually too ill and frail to travel.

Trying to put a negative spin on everything pertaining to “the other side” is so blinkered and disingenuous.

I remember the following advice that came from my long passed mother – something that Mr Nightingale might consider: “There is so much good in the worst of us, there is so much bad in the best of us, that it behoves none of us, to vilify the rest of us.”

E.L. CRONE, SOUTHPORT