Row divides Queensland ALP Socialist Left

@FM24 WIDE = Row divides Queensland ALP Socialist Left

By Bill Mason

BRISBANE Four federal Labor MPs who are members of the Socialist Left faction in Queensland have publicly dissociated themselves from the SL's newspaper Keep Left, as the row inside the state ALP deepens.

In a letter to Keep Left editor Tony Reeves, they called on him to consider his position and take appropriate action.

Senator Bryant Burns and federal MPs Garrie Gibson, Marjorie Henzell and Peter Dodd said they were concerned that Keep Left's tone had become aggressive, negative and personal in the extreme and harmful to the faction.

Gibson, member for Moreton, resigned from the SL on September 1, saying he was no longer prepared to tolerate the immature and irresponsible actions of individuals within the Socialist Left.

There are the strong attacks on the Goss government in the latest issue of Keep Left. The paper describes state ALP president Bob Gibbs and secretary Mike Kaiser as liars and abject failures who should be dumped.

Keep Left's front-page report, headed Fruits of Betrayal, accuses the Goss government of acting more like a conservative administration than a Labor government.

It said Queenslanders voted against Goss' economic rationalist approach and against a government that thought reduction of state debt was more important than meeting the social needs of voters.

State parliament meets on September 5 to elect a new speaker, and dumped Labor incumbent Jim Fouras may stand against Goss' selection, Henry Palaszczuk.

Fouras would probably win, with the support of the Coalition and independent Liz Cunningham, leading to his expulsion from the Labor Party, and a hung parliament.

From GLW issue 201