Joel Fitzgibbon fears ALP could end up as two separate parties
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has dismissed MP Joel Fitzgibbon’s damning critique the party cannot please both inner city and regional voters.
NSW
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Labor leader Anthony Albanese has dismissed Joel Fitzgibbon’s concerns the party could “split’ in the future, but ruled out reprimanding the Hunter MP for his divisive commentary.
“The fact is that from time to time in a democratic party, people will put forward their views, Joel’s done that,” he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon, the party’s agriculture spokesman, told a podcast hosted by executive advisory firm Blenheim Partners that he believed a Labor “split” would result in a Coalition similar to the agreement between the Liberals and Nationals.
“You know, we’ll have a coalition arrangement just like they have with the future local members in Sydney and Melbourne pushing their agenda and leaving their mark and the guy in central Queensland, with the other Labor Party — call it New Labor, Old Labor or whatever you like to call them — doing something else,” he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon, who suffered a swing against him in his NSW seat of Hunter in 2019, has been vocal about his belief Labor risks losing its regional base if it pursues policies such as highly ambitious climate change targets.
“I just don‘t know how we reconcile the difficulty of being all things to all people in Batman in Melbourne and another thing to a group of people living in central Queensland,” he said.
Mr Fitzgibbon, who convenes Labor’s right faction, said he didn’t want the split to happen but the “key thing” was the party’s capacity to win elections.
“There‘s not much point being there if you’re perpetually in Opposition,” he said.
During a visit to an aged care facility in the Blue Mountains today, Mr Albanese said he was only concerned about the issues of “today,” not long-term speculation about the Labor Party.
He denied suggestions the right faction of his party — including Mr Fitzgibbon, former leader Bill Shorten and treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers — were conspiring against him.
“They themselves are strong supporters,” he said. “The fact is that what I’m doing is getting on the job of advocating for the immediate interests because of the circumstances of the pandemic, but I’m also looking beyond the immediate to the recovery of how we create jobs, in cities and in our regions, of how we deal with the challenge of climate change, of how we deal with preparedness for the next bushfire season.”
He said the issue of climate change was not determined by “where people live”.
“Wherever people live they’re impacted by climate change, and the fact that the National Farmers Federation have today adopted a position of net zero emissions by 2050 – the same policy that I announced for the Labor Party – says that the National Farmers Federation is in step with the Labor position.”
Victorian MP Andrew Giles also weighed in on the debate saying Labor speaks for “most Australians” and would “govern for all”.
“50 years ago Gough Whitlam established modern Labor’s electoral base, rejecting the idea that the groups supporting us had divergent interests,” he said.
“He was right then. He still is.”
Queensland MP Graham Perrett also dismissed Mr Fitzgibbon’s “split” theory.
“I was born and bred in St George Queensland,” he said.
“My Labor values come from the bush and they’re exactly the same in Moreton as they are when I revisit home.”
Labor Senator Nita Green, who is based in far north Queensland, said the different concerns in the regions were not directly oppositional to issues elsewhere.
“Issues are vast but they are not binary,” she said. “Good jobs, decent services, protecting our environment.”
Labor’s treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers has used a speech in regional Queensland on Thursday to pitch a major economic role for the bush in a bid to win back blue collar votes.
“If the Australian economy is to recover strongly from this recession then ... regional industries need to be a bigger part of the economic story,” he said.
“That story needs to say very loudly and very clearly, our rural and regional areas aren’t just great places to visit, though they are, they’re great places to live and they are a foundation of Australia’s prosperity.”
Speaking to the Warwick Chamber of Commerce Mr Chalmers said “listening and learning’ to the regions was an important step in helping Australia climb out of the recession fuelled by COVID-19.
“We want to win the next election with a plan that speaks for Warwick as well as Western Sydney,” he said.