Kicked out for speaking out - a Labor lifer
Alan Ramsay
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday April 28 2006
Bob Brown is old-style Labor. Not the Green Brown from Tasmania. The Robert James Brown from Newcastle. The one who was a minister for five years in the Hawke and Keating governments of the late '80s and early '90s. I wrote about him on this page 12 years ago when federal Labor was still in office and he was still in Parliament. Let me remind you about Bob Brown, Labor true believer from another time.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/kicked-out-for-speaking-out--a-labor-lifer/2007/04/27/11774599773I don't find Alan Ramsey's articles to be as good as they used to be -his blind defence of Latham three years ago for example clouded his analytical judgment. But in articles such as this one, he is dead on the mark.
When I lived in the Hunter region, Bob Brown was the one who inspired me to get involved in the Labor Party and who inspired my passion and enthusiasm for the Labor Party. He represented the true spirit and heart and soul of the Labor Party.
This is a disgusting and reprehensible move on the part of NSW Head Office -as was the move to dump Bryce Gaudry, a hardworking MP with a commitment and passion for local issues who was also an inspiration for me in my early days involved in Labor politics. Mark Arbib and Morris Iemma are an absolute disgrace to all the Labor Party represents and they should be ashamed of themselves. I will never, never vote for either Morris Iemma or Mark Arbib again. In fact, since Arbib is heading the Labor Senate ticket in NSW, I won't be voting for the Labor Senate ticket this time around -I'll either be going for the Greens or the Democrats.
What an absolute disgrace the Labor Party has become