Thursday, 17 March 2011

This Friday may be the end of the ALP Traill for Stuey

Following Monday's shambles of a meeting when the Queensland Labor Party couldn't even gather a quorum together to terminate outspken Cairns union activist, Stuey Traill, the meeting is now planned for Friday.

I have also had a barrage of email correspondence from Mike Bailey, the vice president of the Cairns branch of the ALP.

"I must also say I see your rejection of anyone’s anonymous contribution as breathtaking hypocrisy when you run comments from an anonymous source," Mike Bailey wrote to me yesterday. "Personally, I view anonymous comments in the same vein as voluntary polling – lacking credibility."

He also steadfastly believes that Stuey Traill and Peter Simpson's membership review is nothing to do with the public campaign they have waged against privatisation.

"You keep saying I supported privatisation, I really must ask where does it say in that motion [below] anything about privitisation?" Mike Bailey wrote in a raft of messages from his government email address - Mike.BAILEY@communities.qld.gov.au.

"I disagree that the issue around Traill’s proposed expulsion is privatisation - as I said previously, it’s about his gross disloyalty – no more, no less," Mike Bailey says. "He has ever right to criticise, me, Anna Bligh or whoever he likes, but to go as far as he did warrants action being taken. If he is indeed expelled, you and I know that he will not be silenced, he will simply be doing it from outside the party."

However the last paragraph of the "urgency motion" from the 2009 party conference, details the consultation that was meant to occur on the privatisation matter. It never did. Simple as that.

Here's the resolution put forward to the last State Labor Conference:
  • “That the 2009 Queensland ALP State Conference acknowledges the damaging and far reaching effects of the Global Financial Crisis on the Queensland economy.

    This Conference further recognises that the global recession is causing unprecedented hardship, unemployment and loss of State revenue.

    The Conference endorses the State Government’s priorities of jobs and infrastructure.

    Further, given the Government’s decision to implement the Renewing Queensland Plan (as announced in Parliament on 2 June 2009), Conference calls on the Bligh Government to commit to ongoing negotiations with unions in this process to protect job security and working Conditions.
"No mention of privatisation here!" Mike Bailey says.

Are you blind Mr Bailey, or don't you understand the Queen's Egrish? [sic, intentional]

As Raj Patel writes on his Cairns Report, Stuey Traill helped get rid of John Howard and drew people back to the Labor Party, and today they want to get rid of him.

This from former member for Liechardt, Jim Turnour's maiden speech in 2007...
  • "Where’s Warren? campaign, driven by Stuart Trail and the Electrical Trades Union. Stuart Trail would go on to become the ACTU Your Rights at Work coordinator in Leichhardt, and there is no doubt that the community activism the entire union movement created on the ground in Leichhardt galvanised opposition to the Work Choices laws and drew people back to the Labor Party," Jim Turnour said.

    "Thank you, Stuart Trail and Kevin O’Sullivan, for leading the campaign and all the unionists who worked so hard to get rid of the Howard government. We could not have done it without you."

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Why do you think I am no longer a member of the ALP. Solely due to 2 factores
(A) Privitisation
(B) The local member for barron river not having the time of day to answer a few questions I asked of him. (probably had someting to do with at the time cause I was employed by a person who ran against him)

Around the same time someone in the Barron River office emailed everyone (and included there address's in the to: rather then bcc:) so I emailed everyone telling them how I felt and why.

At the time Stuey was the only one who basically didnt give me a mouthfull or for reasons why I shouldnt leave the party.

I support both steuy and peter for having the guts to get out there and object to the selling of assets, what I dont support are people who say it is a good thing to sell them.

Yet to this day my question still remains unanswered by the "misled few" what are we going to do in the next gfc?

I have made my mind how to vote in the next state election...
[1] SexiSam
Cause none you are worthy of my vote!

Sam
Clifton Beach AKA
Manoora of the Beches

Janine Aitken said...

While Mike Bailey goes on about Stuey’s alleged gross disloyalty, I cant help but remember on an occasion in 2009 (pre privitisation decision) when a bunch of Unionists were annoyed at something the Labor Party had done, I honestly cant even remember if it was Federal or State, but what I do remember is someone saying “Stuff this, why don’t we start our own party” and Stuey quickly replied “We did, 100 odd years ago, it’s called the Labor Party, you work within the system to fix it”.

Stuey has been nothing but an undeserved asset for the ALP and the fact that this whole circus is based on something that was “reported” by a media outlet is a joke.

Should we now believe everything that we read, watch or hear about our MP’s?

And as Mike Bailey says the privitisation issue is apparently a separate and unrelated point, so on that point, well done Stuey & Simmo, standing up for the views of your members and thankfully the views of the wider public.

knrhill said...

I can not believe that the Labor Party would want to get rid of two loyal servants simply because they disagreed with Politicians that didn't follow the party platform.

I believe that the Labor Party has underestimated the loyal following of Stuart and Peter who consistantly support politicians, by getting regular punters and Union members to turn out when needed. No greater example then the sucsessful Your Rights At Work campaign in 2007. But the Party would not remember that would they ?

I am one of those "Union Thugs" that turned out and continue to turn out whenever called upon, but cut my well respected Organisers and you cut me as well. This will be the case for hundreds if not thousands of others. I am not sure the local MP's can afford that.

One thing is for sure, if the ALP pollies spent a quarter of the time listening to the people they are paid to represent, rather then playing factional politics we might actually have a party we could be proud of. Perhaps that is what the pollies found so offensive by Stuart and Peters actions, they listened to their people and did not back down. I can see how that behaviour would be out of place with this mob.

By the way the Premier sold the Privatisation of Queensland taxpayer assets by stating it was that or job losses; how did that go for the 3500 QR workers that were offered redundancies (read JOB LOSSES)?

Vaughn said...

Labor politics in Queensland is a mess of corruption, incompetence and arrogance. Why do Bligh's crawling suck-ups continue to support her and her government when they are so out of touch with the people they are supposed to represent? Mike Kaiser, Wayne Goss' former lackey, was directly involved in the asset sell-off plan and was then rewarded by Bligh with a $450 000 a year job. This guy did jail time for branch stacking and should have been removed from the party then, but no, he suddenly re-appears years later to screw the people of Queensland again, and is handsomely rewarded for his efforts. It is clearly time to reclaim Labor from these buffoons before it is too late.