Australian politics | Dacka's Razor

With the ALP seriously on the nose pretty much throughout Australia, there has been an interesting trend with some of Labor’s high profile MPs not readily identifying themselves as being members of the Labor Party.

But I suppose who can blame them after Julia Gillard has helped them to trash the Labor brand so convincingly over the past few years? Gillard’s and indeed Labor’s unique blend of politics has undeniably focussed on class and gender war, racism and xenophobia, and dodgy deals that kowtow to the Prime Minister’s supporters in some of Australia’s most militant unions.

The Australian has an interesting article this morning outlining a who’s who of Labor politics who are a bit scared to admit that they are in the red corner. Because the article is behind Evil Rupert’s Evil Paywall, I will summarise the list for you all, as well as list some others that The Australian didn’t find.

Chris Bowen – Former Immigration minister (recently sacked after supporting Kevin Rudd)

Mr Bowen doesnt even use the traditional colours of Labor, red and blue, instead choosing a lovely shade of orange.
In his header there is no mention that he is a member of the Australian Labor Party.

Peter Garrett – Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth

Mr Garrett does use the old red and blue of the ALP, but doesn’t mention in his header that he is a Labor MP
You have to scroll down all the way to the bottom of the page before you see a Labor logo anywhere on his site

Anthony Albanese – Leader of the House, Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, and Minister for Regional Development and Local Government

Mr Albanese is another who dare not use the traditional colours of Labor; red and blue, instead choosing a lovely shade of orange
You have to scroll down 3/4’s of the way down the page to find a small ALP logo
It’s down there underneath his rather voluminous Twitter feed

Kevin Rudd – Former PM, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and current devil incarnate

Big Kev doesn’t even use his surname in his header, instead opting for Kevin Connects to mask his true allegiance (that being to himself)
Kevni doesnt mention the dreaded Labor Party name anywhere on his site, but who could blame him?
Judging from his website thumbnail, Kevni has chosen the colours red and yellow as his corporate branding, which as we all know is featured in the flags of both China and Russia back in its heyday

Mike Kelly – Parliamentary Secretary for Defence

Mr Kelly does have the guts to place the word “Labor” in his header but there is no logo present on his page at all.
Guess he’s hoping that you mightn’t see it there wedged between the pretty pictures of him
As Mr Kelly obviously doesnt like the ALP logo, he might want to have a word to one of his Facebook followers who has insensitively used the dreaded moniker as their profile picture. It’s the only time you see the logo anywhere on his site.

Mark Butler – Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform

Aside from being a rather busy boy these days with three separate Ministries, Mr Butler certainly doesn’t have time for any Labor logos on his site either
But he does have a series of lovely images rotating on his flash banner. Just don’t ask him what party he’s from.

Simon Crean – Former Minister for Regional Australia (sacked for calling leadership ballot last week)

Well, Mr Crean’s long history of being a Labor stalwart obviously doesn’t extend to including the ALP logo anywhere near his face
Mr Crean has dispensed with the traditional red and blue of his beloved ALP, instead choosing a rather fetching shade of green

Martin Ferguson – Former Minister for Resources & Energy (resigned after failed leadership coup last week)

Another Labor stalwart whose long history of standing for the union party doesn’t extend to including the ALP logo on his site
Mr Ferguson has also dispensed with the traditional red and blue of his beloved ALP, instead choosing a rather lovely shade of blue with some pretty stars

Well, there you have it folks. That looks like plenty to me and there may well be more but looking at their sites and seeing their rather blatant attempts to disassociate themselves from the toxicity that is the ALP brand is making my breakfast of Vegemite toast begin to climb back up my gullet.

What can we say about these senior members of the Gillard government who just dont want their constituents to know that they are in fact part of the most dysfunctional caucus that Labor has ever produced?

I’m sure you all have a few words that readily spring to mind. If not, here is the word cloud that ABC readers and listeners provided after Julia Gillard’s first year in office. I don’t think that there are many on there that are no longer applicable, but I will let you be the judge of that.

The faceless men of the ALP.

No one really knows who these power brokers and back room dealers are, but they certainly have a lot of say in how Labor works.

But the current situation of faceless men deciding what the voting public really should isn’t something new for Left in Australian politics.

In fact it was the same kind of deal way back when Arthur Calwell was leader of the ALP back in the early 1960’s.

For those who are unfamiliar with Mr Arthur Calwell, he was a was a powerful unionist before he entered Parliament and a staunch supporter of the White Australia Policy before Gough Whitlam ousted him from the ALP leadership.

Some of that sounds pretty damn familiar doesn’t it?

Perhaps this is where Julia Gillard is getting her inspiration for her recent demonisation of productive 457 visa holders and promising to “put Australian jobs first and foreigners to the back of the queue“.

Hmmm… seems like Australian’s havent really learnt much in the past 50 years, have we?