Opinion: Anthony Lynham punished for not being a career politician
That one of the few Labor MPs with an accomplished career outside politics faces being ousted by his own faction is an indictment on the entire party, writes Steven Wardill.
Opinion
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It says much about the current Labor crop that some bright sparks thought ousting one of the Government’s most reliable ministers just before a state election was acceptable.
A decade ago, then union boss Bill Ludwig would have fired off every four-letter word he knew (and he knows them all) while telling such conspirators to pull their heads in.
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However back then it was always the “lefties” causing the trouble, while the current conniptions occurring over the future of Energy Minister Anthony Lynham have been stirred up from within Ludwig’s Right faction.
That’s not to suggest Labor’s Left faction are all suddenly the saints and the Right is filled with sinners.
Far from it.
Just a few months ago, the Left pouched the Right’s Jim Madden, who has vocally supported a controversial coalmine, for no real reason other than another number.
These kinds of shenanigans have been going on ever since the 2012 election wiped out Labor’s experienced members and the 2015 poll ushered in a new breed of MP who put factional allegiances first.
A devolution of power to a few bovver boy union bosses who like to through their weight around also hasn’t helped.
Lynham was always going to be a target because he was not a creature of the party when picked to run in Stafford in 2014, and never will be.
But the fact one of the few Labor MPs with an accomplished career outside politics is facing being ousted by his own faction is an indictment on them all.
It’s also a slight to the leadership of Annastacia Palaszczuk, who hasn’t been able to get her Government to grow up.
Originally published as Opinion: Anthony Lynham punished for not being a career politician