Despair, fury and conspiracy theories: Tasmanian ALP at war with itself

ALP Tasmanian president Ben McGregor.

Tasmanian Labor is imploding in the middle of an election campaign.

The plotting and infighting — between Right and Left; Left and Left — has spilled into the public domain at the worst possible time.

There is despair and fury in Labor ranks. Conspiracy theories, too.

Some in the dominant Left, largely controlled by several union leaders, accuse leader Rebecca White of exploiting circumstances to shore-up her leadership and control.

They claim she is aided by figures in the Right who are actively trying to claw back lost influence.

Hence, the (Right aligned) Australian Workers’ Union’s successful appeal to the national executive to resurrect candidate Dean Winter; the dumping of Left-aligned party president Ben McGregor as a candidate over SMS messages; and the leaking of an extraordinary attack on Labor policies by Left-backed candidate Fabiano Cangelosi.

However, the Left appears to be Balkanising, with the so-called “hard left” of the Health and Community Services Union, among others, increasingly estranged from other parts of the faction, including White.

Some in the Left agree with the Right that “crazy … hard left” factional players are jeopardising White’s leadership and the state election in order to bolster their influence.

Within this broad camp, some even believe elements of the hard left are deliberately “blowing up” the campaign — to destroy White’s leadership and replace her with a more malleable leader after the poll.

Some in the HACSU-linked Left, meanwhile, argue “reactionaries” are the ones creating chaos. They believe White and others in the PLP have “sold out” the rank and file on policy, such as the jettisoning of its previous plan to remove poker machines from pubs and clubs.

It seems players on all sides are focused not on the election but on shoring up influence — factional and personal — for when it’s over. They want to be the ones to rebuild after the May 1 apocalypse.

No one in Labor honestly thinks the party can win. After the past few days, their more realistic hope — depriving the Liberals of a clear majority — appears to have also slipped away.

Labor started the campaign on a paltry 27 per cent in the polls. Unless the public bloodletting is quickly cauterised, this may turn out to be its zenith.

The Liberals are on track to do to Tassie Labor what WA’s Mark McGowan did to the Libs.