What we do Determines us
We need to have our LOTO turn his carefully chosen words into real deeds.
In 2014 Bill Shorten gave an inspiring speech to the faithful drumming up not only hope, but using the speech as a rallying call for drastic reform, and pledged to lift the numbers of ALP Rank and File members.
Bill Shorten said :-
"But everyone needs to have a say in this process – and we should start with Chapter One.
Chapter One contains Labor’s enduring values.
We need a new Chapter One, a democratically-drafted statement that captures what modern Labor stands for...."
We don't so much need a new Chapter One - we just need the ideals already contained in the current Chapter One to be diligently and properly applied.
" It is clear to me that there is a widespread, genuine passion for rebuilding the Labor party. A passion we all share.
...If we want to change the government, if we want to change the country, we must change too. So today is a day for facing up to some hard truths.
Friends, Tony Abbott did not put Labor in Opposition – the Australian people put us here. And unless we change, it is where we will stay.
We need to change ourselves.We need to change our party.
If we don’t change – we are putting our very future at risk...
A campaign to create a Labor party that’s stronger because we have more members and those members have more of a say....
A membership-based party.
A Labor party with 100,000 members.
If you don’t engage in politics, you end up being governed by vested interests – by powerful, privileged voices....
Above all, if we want people to join the Labor party - we must make it clear that Labor is capable of engaging with them and speaking for them.
And if we are truly serious about modernising the Labor party, we need to modernise our relationship with the union movement....
If you have betrayed the trust of your members – you don’t belong in the union movement...
All of us who hold the principles and values of our party dear, must stand together and meet criminality, corruption and misconduct with resolute strength.
Our best defence is to rebuild our party with a new, more open, democratic and transparent model of membership.
Rebuilding Labor means giving our members a voice – not just asking for their vote.
We have to write a new democratic contract.
When the Labor Party was born in 1891, the vision of its founders was of a membership-based party.
But in more recent times, the role of unions within our party has developed into a factional, centralised decision-making role.
If we are to renew and rebuild the Labor party, we must rebuild as a membership-based party, not a faction-based one.
A broader, more inclusive party. A party where more people…are more involved…more often.
This is all about respect.
Respect for our members – their values and their judgment....
We must put our faith in transparency – and back the good judgment of local Labor members.
We need to change our party.
If we don’t change – we are putting our very future at risk..."
ALP Platform:
Chapter 1: Our Enduring Labor Values
As times change, our values endure. The Australian Labor Party was formed 120 years ago to help build this nation and improve the lives of ordinary workers and their families, giving them fair shares in a growing economy and supporting the vulnerable. In the 21st century, we still strive to create a fair, prosperous Australia where everyone has opportunity and nobody is left out or left behind....
Labor is a democratic party.
Labor believes that every person has the right to a say, directly or indirectly, in the decisions that affect his or her life. We believe in an individual’s freedom of conscience and their right to express beliefs without fear.
We are committed to open, democratic and accountable government and to empowering citizens and improving their participation in governance....
Fairness
At the core of Labor’s history, beliefs and aspirations is the need to make sure everybody gets a fair go.
Were GreyPowerLabor to cause our great party to properly implement fair democratic Governance processes and procedures as espoused on this page, we will have achieved our objective.
It can be achieved if enough R&F members demand such change.
It is 'Our' ALP, and we want it back from the colluding undemocratic factions.
CLICK THIS LINK TO JB`S EDUCATION BLOG FOR THIS CHART
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What we do - What can we possibly do?
For too many years many others have already traversed the conventional route to party rule reform without significant success.
We must attempt something different, as us oldies haven't got 10 or 20 years to spare-
we are not interested in being handed down titbits of concessional reform, we want the ALP to commit to the enduring values of Labor's Chapter One in deeds - not just hollow words.
We ask for proper democratisation of party governance processes that is in tune with todays available communication technologies - not a token democratic system locked into 1970's vintage practicalities.
A suggested ‘left field’ approach to rectifying the problem of undemocratic appointment of union delegates to ALP Annual Conference may be to mount a challenge to the validity of certain registered union rules. - which allow undemocratic executive appointment of union delegates to ALP conference.
Under current NSW IR laws ‘Officers’ of unions must be democratically elected by financial rank and file members of that union. Refer: IR Sec 238
At present, unions have conveniently avoided applying a specific classification to union appointed ‘delegates’ to ALP conference/s.
Appointed union ’delegates’ are generally not specified as holders of an ‘office’ in union rules.
They have no security of tenure, no specified term of office, no code of practice, no performance criteria, and no proper dismissal procedure in most union rules.
Do they serve their Union's interests, do they serve the ALP's interests, do they serve their appointee's interests, or do they only serve their own interests ?
To whom do they owe allegiance?
What is their "official" duty - on what criteria is task performance evaluated - how is improper (corrupt) conduct addressed - to whom are they accountable?
Are they frivolous 'troublemaking' questions? - I think not.
The ALP grant this group of appointed individuals unconditional (apart from requisite ALP membership) 50% sway over ALP executive management decisions - to steer ALP policy, set priorities, rules and values - potentially steering Australia's national course.
The National Executive has fiduciary responsibility to ensure our political party is not hijacked by vested interests, whether those hijackers be from within the Labor movement or from the external corporate sector, or from a collaboration of aligned ambitious power addicted autocrats.
No such protective "firewall" has been put in place despite years of complaint and many public reports ( Report 1, Report 2. ) of blatant improper conference voting and procedural practices.
These matters could perhaps be commenced to be addressed/rectified through an appeal to the IR courts to seek clarification of the status of “union delegates to conference”.
The most important and legally contentious point to be clarified is whether or not an affiliated union ‘Delegate to conference’ is classified as an “officer” of the union for the purpose of application of union rules and the provisions of industrial law.
I am of the opinion that a delegate to conference is indeed an “officer” of both the union and of the ALP for industrial law purposes.The basis of my contention is set out below: (any/all comments are welcome)
Summary of claim:
Query – Are NSW union executive appointed “Delegates” to ALP State Annual Conference categorised as “officers” for the purpose of the application of the NSW Industrial Relations Act 1996.
If they are not “Officers” what is their classification, status and authority ?
Are they Officers? – Industrial laws in support of the “Officer” classification claim:
Even though Federal Law does not directly apply to State registered union rules, the following definitions of the word "Office"/"Officer", and the law specifying that members should directly control committess may provide a helpful precedent.
AIRC Federal Law may apply to any Nationally registered organisation:
Federal FAIR WORK (REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS) ACT 2009 –
SECT 9: Meaning of office
(1) In this Act, office , in relation to an organisation or a branch of an organisation means:…..
…….. b) the office of a voting member of a collective body of the organisation or branch,
Federal Workplace Relations Act 1996 – As at 28 March 2008
Chapter 2—Registration and cancellation of registration
Part 2—Registration
Division 3: — Prohibited conduct in relation to formation or registration of employee associations
24 Certain actions considered to be done by organisation or employer
(1) For the purposes of this Division:
(a) action done by one of the following bodies or persons is taken to have been done by an organisation:
(i) the committee of management of the organisation;
(ii) an officer or agent of the organisation acting in that capacity;…..
(2)……..
(3) In this section:officer, in relation to an organisation, includes:
(a) a delegate or other representative of the organisation; and
(b) an employee of the organisation.
Chapter 5—Rules of organisations
141 Rules of organisations
(1) The rules of an organisation:
(b) must provide for:(i) …(ii) … and, (iii) the removal of holders of offices in the organisation and its branches; and,
(iv) the control of committees of the organisation and its branches respectively by the members of the organisation and branches; and .....
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Were it to be established that union appointed delegates were to be classified under NSW industrial law as “officers”, then the following NSW IR Acts apply:-
NSW IR Sec 237 Rules to provide for procedural and administrative matters
apply to the relevant union –
The rules of a State organisation must provide for:
(i) the election or appointment of members of the committees, and
(ii) the terms of office of members of the committees, and
(iii) the grounds on which, or the reasons for which, the office of a member of a committee becomes vacant, and
(iv) the filling of casual vacancies occurring on the committees,
NSW IR Sec 238 Rules to provide for elections for offices:-
(1) The rules of a State organisation must provide for the election of the holder of each office in the organisation by:
(a) a particular direct voting system, or
(b) a particular collegiate electoral system that, in the case of a full-time office, is a one-tier collegiate electoral system.
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Further to above claim based on confirming union 'delegate to conference' has "Officer" status under industrial law:
A secondary independent 'fallback' claim may be possible to directly challenge the inability under current union rules for R&F to bring about rules change/s to ensure proper democratic nomination/election processes are put in place to select union 'delegates to conference'.
Such claim may be possible under AIRC Federal Law against a nationally registered organisation (such as CFMEU).
Refer: AIRC, Chapter 11—Miscellaneous, ....Part 2—Validating provisions for organisations
Section 322
Federal Court may make orders in relation to consequences of invalidity
(1) An organisation, a member of an organisation or any other person having a sufficient interest in relation to an organisation may apply to the Federal Court for a determination of the question whether an invalidity has occurred in:
(a) the management … or
(b) an election or appointment in the organisation or a branch of the organisation; or
(c) the making or alteration of the rules of the organisation or a branch of the organisation.
Section 323
Federal Court may order reconstitution of branch etc.
(1) An organisation, a member of an organisation or any other person having a sufficient interest in relation to an organisation may apply to the Federal Court for a declaration that:
(a) a part of the organisation, including:
(i) a branch or part of a branch of the organisation; or
(ii) a collective body of the organisation or a branch of the organisation;
has ceased to exist or function effectively and there are no effective means under the rules of the organisation or branch by which it can be reconstituted or enabled to function effectively; or......
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This extract from 2014 NSW ALP Rules confirms the basic constitutional principle that ALL State conference delegates are intended to be elected by R&F members;
Basic Principles of the NSW Labor Party….
D. Membership and Organisation
Australian Labor Party policy is made by National Conferences comprising the National and State parliamentary leadership of the Party, together with elected delegates from all States, the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and Australian Young Labor.
Party policy within the States and Territories is framed by conferences of delegates
elected by constituent branches and affiliated unions.
to be continued ..................work In progress ................
