Frontline in trouble?

By Sue Bolton

MELBOURNE -- The non-appearance of progressive newspaper Frontline for four months has been accompanied by rumours in union and left circles that the paper has collapsed.

Frontline was a free newspaper established in 1992 by unions aligned with the Pledge (recently renamed Labor Left) faction of the Victorian ALP. The paper featured articles exposing the economic rationalist policies of the Kennett government, and strongly criticising the Victorian ALP for adopting a policy platform based on those same principles. However, it never suggested any alternative to the ALP.

It is believed that the former editor, David Spratt, wanted to make the paper more critical of the ALP. This put him on a collision course with the Labor Left, which in late December had made a deal with the right-wing Labor Unity faction to support the Brumby leadership in its attempt to ditch any last vestige of progressive policies.

Spratt, who has refused to comment on the rumours, resigned as editor in December, and a replacement is still being sought.

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