Mr Right: Why he's lost the Left http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000920/A7568-2000Sep19.html By EWIN HANNAN and ADRIAN ROLLINS Wednesday 20 September 2000 Rod Quantock feels betrayed. After seven years spent working to bring down Jeff Kennett, the comedian says he has already had enough of Steve Bracks. He is disgusted at what he calls the Premier's "craven support for police brutality" during the protests against the World Economic Forum. Eight days ago, Quantock was among the bystanders outside Crown Casino when baton-wielding police charged through protesters to clear a path for forum delegates wanting to go out for dinner at the Grand Hyatt. "Peaceful, non-violent men, women and children, blockaders and bystanders like myself and my family, and members of the media, who posed no physical threat to police, were attacked, seemingly with the Premier's consent and publicly expressed approval," Quantock says. He is not alone in his anger. Across the Labor Party Left, among community activists, traditional ALP supporters and the party's industrial wing, there is intense animosity towards Bracks over his strong support for the conduct of police during the protests. Long-time party members have written to The Age vowing never to vote for him again, even threatening to resign from the ALP. Last Friday the Victorian Trades Hall Council executive unanimously backed a resolution condemning the government's statements "endorsing the police violence". On Monday night, the first anniversary of Labor's stunning election victory over Kennett, members of Bracks' Williamstown branch passed a motion condemning the government, expressing concern "at the effusive commendation of the police action by Premier Bracks and his reference to the demonstrators as fascists". The branch members backed calls by unions, community groups, civil libertarians and protesters for Bracks to back an independent inquiry into "police violence against protesters". Many ALP figures say they are disturbed at how strongly Bracks, as a Labor premier, has supported the police actions. Even among the self-declared pragmatists in his own Right faction, eyebrows have been raised over his enthusiastic backing for the thin blue line. Initially describing demonstrators as un-Australian, Bracks also accused protesters of "fascist behavior". He lauded police for showing enormous restraint, asserting they had done a "sterling and outstanding job under enormous provocation". With the police to be given a day off for their efforts, Bracks announced plans to host a barbecue at Parliament House to thank them. And despite Police Ombudsman Barry Perry announcing on Thursday that he would investigate 200 complaints of alleged excessive force by police, Bracks went on radio later that day to declare the protesters "deserve everything they got". (He later said he was unaware the inquiry had been announced when he made the comments.) Quantock says: "As a person who had been down there, I can't really understand why the Premier didn't say, `I have no comment."' He adds that he is angry at Bracks given the "existing evidence", but says: "I cannot forgive him." Labor Left figures, including federal and state MPs and union leaders, accuse Bracks of playing to the conservative nature of the electorate; to the tabloid newspaper executives, commercial talk-back radio kings and forum organisers who were vehemently against the protesters. While Bracks is riding high in the opinion polls, a number of Labor supporters argue that this latest episode is indicative of how the Premier is progressively disenfranchising sections of Labor's middle-class support base. While his rhetoric might resonate with many suburban, rural and regional voters, they say, it has caused loathing among those inner-suburban voters who had hoped, even expected, that he would be dramatically different from Kennett. These are the people who claim to have actively campaigned against the Liberals; who letter-boxed and raised money for Labor; who equated Bracks' pledge of a "new style of leadership" with more accountable and democratic government. It is these voters who are appalled when Bracks is all smiles with Ron Walker, aping Kennett's support for the Grand Prix; who feel disappointment when Bracks doesn't deliver on his promises of government transparency; who are aggrieved when he appears enthusiastically to embrace the top end of town. Dismissed by critics as the inner-suburban chattering classes, they are people like Joanna Johnson, 50, a staunch member of the Save Albert Park group, who says she felt "sickened" by the Premier's comment that the protesters "deserve everything they got". "After Jeff, I thought hell would freeze over before I voted Liberal again, but if Steve is morphing into Jeff, I may as well," Johnson says. Paddy Garritty, long-time socialist and the Williamstown branch member who moved Monday's motion against Bracks, says he is "just so angry" at the Premier's comments, given what he believes happened to young people caught up in the police baton charge. "It's people like me who door-knocked, who letter-boxed, who raised funds," Garritty says. "There's no way known I'm going to hand out any more leaflets for Steve Bracks." Trades Hall secretary Leigh Hubbard says unions across a range of sectors were dismayed by the Premier's stand. "I understand the ALP has been fairly well inundated with resignations and complaints," Hubbard says. "Everyone from nurses and teachers to the AMWU (Australian Manufacturing Workers Union) were aghast at what happened." AMWU state secretary Craig Johnston, who moved the Trades Hall motion against Bracks, says he is angry that a Labor government "endorsed" the violence against the protesters. "I just think what they did is wrong and it's crook, and obviously my colleagues in the trade union movement agree because (the motion) got up unanimously," Johnston says. The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union's Michele O'Neil says it was a "disgrace" and a political misjudgment for Bracks to come out so strongly in support of the police actions. "Our members have raised their concerns with us and are asking, `What does it mean for us next time we are on a picket line?"' she says. A senior federal member of the Left says many party supporters were "angered and upset" at the Premier's support for police, a mood exacerbated by the decision to hold a barbecue. While Bracks had enormous reserves of goodwill within the party, he had "done himself no favors" over his attitude towards the demonstrators. ALP state secretary David Feeney says that within Labor there are strong views in support of both police and demonstrators, but the issue has not created a major split in party ranks. "In the '80s, every time there was a government decision there would be a big reaction, with people ringing up ready to resign," Feeney says. "By comparison, the reaction to this has been pretty small." Another official, who declined to be identified, says more Labor members were upset about the party's recent support for legislation allowing the defence force to be deployed alongside police than the Premier's condemnation of S11 demonstrators. "There are a few people running around saying there are mass resignations, but that is nowhere near right," the official says. Monash University politics lecturer Nick Economou believes Bracks' strong public support for the police served two key strategic purposes for Labor. Economou says it not only reinforced Labor's law-and-order credentials to the electorate, but nurtured the emerging alliance between the government and the Police Association. "I think Bracks' response was delivered right into the loungerooms of middle Victoria, straight over the heads of party activists," Economou says. He says that in such a conservative state as Victoria, no government wants to be seen to be presiding over a breakdown in law and order. "(However) this means that there will be people within the Labor Party and Labor movement who are going to be disapproving and there is going to be a great outpouring of dismay." The outpouring is already evident. Quantock intends to put his comedic talents to good use, setting up a "people's inquiry" into what happened at the WEF demonstrations. Activists are starting to pore over more than 500 hours of footage they say was shot during the three days of the forum. The Fitzroy Legal Service has received 200 complaints of alleged police "mistreatment" and a legal team is working on the legal avenues to be pursued. "The truth will come out and I hope it doesn't take two years," Quantock says. "I hope there will be an inquiry." In the meantime, those like Joanna Johnson, who became a "committed Labor supporter" under Kennett, say they are fed up with Bracks. "I couldn't even begin to count the number of hours, weeks, months I've spent working to get rid of Jeff, which by default transcribes into helping to get the ALP in," Johnson says. "But can I say this: I got a lot of blisters for that bastard Bracks. Last state election I took a week off from work and letter-boxed 12 hours a day for that whole week. When I couldn't walk because of the pain, I letter-boxed on my bike. "But after Bracks' failure to open the books on the GP and his support for last week's police violence, when the next state election comes around I'll be working just as hard to get rid of him." ################################################################################ 'I can't afford to buy off the media, so I bought paint', s11 graffiti on Crown wall 'The truth brings down ratings And governments', s11 graffiti on Crown wall 'Don't hate the media, become the media', s11 graffiti on Crown wall -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
