Daily Telegraph editorial: Quota mission misses mark

LABOR MPs in seats with large minority electorates last week tore into NSW Labor leader Luke Foley over his claims that various Western Sydney suburbs had suffered a “white flight” exodus but what of plans to oust the state’s only Chinese-Australian upper house MP?

PLAYING identity politics can be a challenging caper. There are obvious electoral benefits involved in promoting female candidates, as well as minority and indigenous candidates, particularly in seats with large population bases from those communities.

But political parties risk losing credibility and votes if such candidates are ever rejected by their own parties. And, politics being politics, these events will invariably occur.

Labor MPs in seats with large minority electorates last week tore into NSW Labor leader Luke Foley over his claims that various Western Sydney suburbs had suffered a “white flight” exodus in the wake of refugee and immigrant arrivals.

Yet now those same MPs are facing the possible negative resp­onse to plans that will see the state’s only Chinese-Australian upper house MP ousted.

As The Daily Telegraph rev­eals, Labor figures are concerned at the impact of racial issues if unions are successful in their plot to take control of a winnable upper house seat at the expense of sitting member Ernest Wong. Given that this sort of move would leave the party exposed in several marginal Sydney seats with large Chinese populations, the concerns of those Labor figures are obviously justified.

Yet even those individuals admit there may be very reasonable grounds for Wong to be ­replaced. That’s another one of the problems associated with identity politics. It can elevate race over perceived ability.

Now Labor, which will ­struggle for some time to completely absorb Foley’s previous “white flight” line, accurate though it was, has opened a second front in the conflict over identity politics. Regardless of any sound notions about ­removing Wong and replacing him with another candidate, the party must simultaneously cope with fallout over “inclusivity problems” in the upper house should Wong be absent.

And yet identity still holds an advantage over ability when it comes to some Labor considerations over that upper house seat.

Some in the party have said Wong should be ­replaced with a woman.

Once Labor gets over its ­informal quota mission and ­focuses again on the worth as politicians of its candidates, the party will take huge steps ­towards again becoming a significant power in NSW.

CLOONEY RIGHT ABOUT TWITTER

The actor George Clooney was asked in 2015 why he wasn’t on Twitter.

“There’s a real danger when you’re really famous,” Clooney replied. “I can have a drink or two at night … I could say something, go to sleep, and wake up in the morning and my
career be over.”

Roseanne Barr should have paid attention. A racist tweet has now led to the cancellation of her successful sitcom.

Meanwhile, Clooney is still in high demand. And he’s still not on Twitter.

DIVERSIFICATION PAYS

I t is held that older industrial powers in the West have ­become slow-moving and vulnerable to being overtaken, particularly as automation threatens many current manufacturing jobs.

There may be significant ­evidence to support that, but many Western businesses are demonstrating great creativity.

Plastics manufacturer PPC Moulding Services is part of a boom now delivering almost one-third of the nation’s manufacturing output. That represents a total of around $33 billion to the Australian economy. The Villawood-based medical equipment company has expanded its workforce during the past decade from 20 to 270, while introducing automation in key roles. Humans and robot can evidently coexist.

RBK Nutriceuticals and Western Filters are also playing impressive roles in our continuing economic revival.

Aiming to ride this wave of creative industrial energy, the NSW government will today unveil a strategy blueprint for the purpose of further advancing manufacturing across the region and the state.