Union roasting for Labor: you are out of step

Two union officials and an ex-ACTU president condemn Mark Dreyfus for saying Joel Fitzgibbon’s ‘out of step’ on climate.

Labor MP Mark Dreyfus. Picture: Sean Davey

Divisions within Labor on climate change have deepened after two leading union officials and a former president of the ACTU condemned frontbencher Mark Dreyfus for describing Joel Fitzgibbon as being “out of step’’ with regional Australians on environmental policy.

CFMEU Queensland mining and energy president Stephen Smyth and CFMEU NSW northern mining and energy president Peter Jordan also warned that Anthony Albanese’s team had not done enough to win back blue-collar workers who deserted the party at the last election.

Mr Dreyfus lashed out at Mr Fitzgibbon’s push for a moderate climate change policy after the Hunter MP quit his frontbench position on Tuesday. “Joel is out of step not only with the Labor Party, but he’s out of step with thinking across Australia: in the regions, the cities, the unions,” Mr Dreyfus told the ABC.

Joel Fitzgibbon the day after he stepped down from Labor's front bench. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Former ACTU president Jennie George.

Former ACTU president and Labor MP Jennie George said the only people “out of step” were Labor MPs who “fail to take note of the results of the last election”.

“The ALP’s climate policies did not gain widespread support in the electorate. Labor’s primary vote has not increased since then,” Ms George wrote in a letter to The Australian. “The fact that Joel 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 Biden’s win and the Queensland COVID election ­results is nonsense.”

Ms George wrote that Labor needed to ensure all of its policies were “properly costed and the ­employment impacts quantified”.

“Uncosted policies with feel-good targets is virtue signalling at its worst,” she said.

Mr Jordan expressed dismay that Mr Dreyfus and opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler did not appreciate that Mr Fitzgibbon had the right approach to win back regional communities.

“Labor just don’t get it. Make no mistake about it, they have lost their traditional base,” Mr Jordan said. “Joel was doing nothing more than trying to get them back in touch with it. Unfortunately, people like Butler and Dreyfus don’t get that.”

Mr Smyth said, while Queensland Labor won over workers at the last election, the federal party was yet to win back workers in the mining and energy division.

“There is still some hangover from the last federal election in these mining seats,” Mr Smyth said. “Federally, there is still a lot of work to be done and I am certainly disappointed to see Joel go.”

However, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Steve Murphy said there were “thousands of workers who have been damaged by (Mr Fitzgibbon’s) lack of (climate change) ambition and honesty.”

Mr Fitzgibbon raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he said he ­regretted not running for leader after the 2019 election and that he would consider a tilt at the top job if he was drafted. While few believe Mr Fitzgibbon could muster the numbers to get the leadership himself, some believe he could act as a stalking horse for another Right faction candidate.

Labor senator Alex Gallacher, from the Right faction, said Mr Fitzgibbon was “certainly heading in the right direction” to become a successful Labor leader.

“There isn’t a vote tomorrow, but clearly there is a division. Unless Albo can bring the tent back together who knows what will happen,” Senator Gallacher said.

“We have got to win. There is no such thing as waiting for a turn. We need to win with policies that resonate and matter with our working base, and 33 or 34 per cent does not cut it. We need to get away from the trendy, well-educated inner-city liberal climate change view and get back to working Australia.”

Labor Left MPs ridiculed the prospect of Mr Fitzgibbon becoming leader and said no more than a quarter of MPs subscribed to his views.

“He will become the ­George Christensen of the Labor Party,” one said.