Labor fails to learn the lessons on jobs in the regions

It’s not Joel Fitzgibbon who is “out of step”, but those in Labor’s caucus who fail to take note of the results of the last election (“Tribal warming: Labor clash on climate policy”, 11/11). The ALP’s climate policies did not gain widespread support in the electorate. Labor’s primary vote has not increased since then. The fact Fitzgibbon almost lost his seat last time around should be a matter of great concern. This is Labor’s heartland.

Trying to justify policy on the basis of Joe Biden’s win and the Queensland COVID election results is nonsense. Look no further than the seat of Hunter if you want to see the result of policies that give scant attention to the livelihoods of workers and their communities.

I speak from experience, having faced the same issues as Fitzgibbon when representing the steel-making region of the Illawarra in the debates around the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. The fact Labor represents so few regional electorates and seats in the resource sectors indicates the challenges ahead.

Whatever policies are finally taken to the voters they must be properly costed and the employment impacts quantified. Uncosted policies with feel-good targets is virtue signalling at its worst.

Jennie George, Mollymook, NSW

In quitting Labor’s frontbench, Joel Fitzgibbon made no bones about his belief Labor has strayed too far from its blue-collar working class roots.

Predictably, he has got right under the skin of Labor’s Left brigade with his claim that his party is concentrating too heavily on inner city Greens-oriented “progressive” issues.

All of this, of course, is well known to the average punter and that is the reason the Albanese Labor Opposition remains in the wilderness.

Now if Labor were to be really fair dinkum about returning to its Aussie working class base, it could start positively by returning its party name to its original Aussie spelling of “Labour”, given to it by workers at the time of Federation. That pesky King O’Malley has a lot to answer for, leading Labour down the garden path to its Americanisation.

John Bell, Heidelberg Heights, Vic

Joel Fitzgibbon has highlighted the problem parties in the West that were founded to represent the workers have today. While the Labor/Labour Party in Australia and Britain, or the Democrats in America, continue to pander to inner city greenies, the champagne socialists and cultural Marxists, they will continue to haemorrhage working-class support to the low-tax, pro-jobs conservative parties. The evidence for this is not only in the last Australian federal election, but also Boris Johnson’s win in Britain and the 70 million votes Donald Trump succeeded in getting.

David Armstrong, Maylands, WA

Is Joel Fitzgibbon the only frontbench member of the Labor caucus who can see the party is heading in the wrong direction and will likely have little hope of winning the next election without major change? No, almost certainly there are others who agree but stay quiet. Well, political cowardice is not an ingredient for success.

The red hot issue is climate change policy, but Fitzgibbon sees this as part of a much bigger problem for Labor — the way it has turned its back on those working men and women who have been, and still should be, its core base.

To meet unrealistic climate change deadlines, Labor under Anthony Albanese would see coal mines closed, the trains that haul coal halted, and the lights go dark and the doors closed at coal-burning power stations. And that would be just the start.

Who would be left to vote Labor? Only the inner-city greenies the party now courts.

David Williams, Wynn Vale, SA

As a member of the ALP for nearly 40 years I reject your editorial statement (“A labour movement divided”, 11/11) that, “Few would consider Mr Fitzgibbon foreman material”. On the contrary, I believe he is the last great hope for Labor.

I recently listened to a lengthy podcast — Perfect or Possible — where Fitzgibbon was interviewed on a wide range of issues the nation faces. The common sense he displayed and the depth of his thought stands in stark contrast to Anthony Albanese’s undergraduate stunts during the US election. Unlike Albanese, Fitzgibbon has the ability to connect with the salt-of-the-earth Australians who will make or break Labor at the next federal election.

Mitch McDonald, Abbotsford, NSW