Felix Ellis,Liberal Member for Braddon
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Rebecca White is Leader in name only and that she’s completely lost control of a bitterly divided Labor Party.
The revelation today that Labor Party President Ben McGregor is continuing his legal action against Rebecca White over her call to sack him as a candidate proves once and for all that Ms White has completely failed in her bid to unite the Labor party.
When she became leader, Ms White said it was “a full stop”, the backgrounding and infighting would end, and she’d unite Labor. It hasn’t stopped – it’s got even worse.
It is now out and out Labor Party branch wars, the President is suing the Parliamentary Leader, one member has resigned citing a “toxic” environment in the Party, and another is sitting on the cross-bench.
And Ms White has been conspicuously absent as the fight over pokies policy in her Party intensified in recent weeks
Left factional powerbroker Tim Jacobson publicly issued an open threat to Ms White’s leadership over pokies policy – but Ms White simply let him get away with that – while failed former Labor candidates Fabiano Cangelosi and Simon Davis also publicly distanced themselves from their party’s latest position.
It’s clear the Labor Party’s dominant Left faction are desperate to backflip again and resurrect the Greens pokies ban policy that was so comprehensively rejected by Tasmanians at the 2018 election.
Ms White must publicly distance herself from this push or it will confirm that the dominant Left factional powerbrokers have indeed taken over, as Dr Broad said they have.
It’s just the same old Labor: still bitterly divided, no plan, no alternative Budget, no real alternative at all.
