Australian Labor Party

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Friday 20 June 2014

Young Labor Left Back Revolt on Asylum Policy | newmatilda.com

Young Labor Left Back Revolt on Asylum Policy | newmatilda.com

Young Labor Left Back Revolt on Asylum Policy



By Pete Landi





Members
of Young Labor Left in NSW have voted to withdraw support to candidates
who do not commit to a rethink on asylum seeker policies, writes Pete
Landi*.




The asylum seeker issue is one of the most important issues of race and representation in our generation.


The status of our so-called “Immigration and Border Protection”
policy is utterly debauched. And it is one the Liberal Party inherited
from the Labor Party.



The government contracted the man who beat Reza Berati to death with a
rock, clearly demonstrating the operation of the centre unviable,
dangerous and an exemplification of brutality against the powerless.



Richard Marles the Opposition Spokesman for Immigration continues to
endorse the centre’s operation. Even after the trauma of this event,
Marles initiated a cruelty bidding war with Scott Morrison, challenging
him to restate that no asylum seeker on Manus Island would receive an
Australian protection visa.



Young Labor Left took a step in the right direction recently; we
decided that we will not campaign for any candidate at the state or
federal election who does not publically oppose mandatory detention and
offshore processing.



In a practical sense this means that we will not door knock,
letterbox or call on behalf of any candidate that does not support an
end to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers in detention centres,
and encourages rank and file activists from Young Labor all around the
country to move similar motions in their respective branches, with a
view to putting pressure on the leadership from the ground up.



There is no reason why dissenting voices within the rank and file of
the ALP can’t create a movement internally to hold our representatives
to account.



After the PNG solution was introduced by the previous Labor
government, members of YLL convened in Newcastle, unanimously approving a
motion to petition the Senior Left, urging the party to change its
position on refugees.



Not alone in outrage at the actions of the Parliamentary caucus, the
Australian Council of Trade Unions also condemned the policy when it was
announced, yet this too was to no avail.



Although frustrated by the indifference shown by the ALP, even in the
face of dissent from both the parties own youth wing and the labour
movement at large, Young Labor Left continues to engage in community
campaigns around the issue.



This internal dissent is more than a way to show Anna Bourke and
Melissa Parke that they are not alone in their stand in federal caucus
against labor’s current position.



We should not have to rely on the benevolence of elected MPs for
direction on policy. Rank and file pressure needs to be immediate, and
the youth movement can play its part with a well-publicised boycott of
anti-refugee candidates.



To end this policy, all forms of agitation, both external and
internal to the Labor Party need to be engaged with to ensure the best
chance of success, and this cannot exclude the open criticism of my own
party.



Young activists in the Labor Party need to make a decision about how
they intend to reconcile their progressive views on asylum seekers with
their Party Membership, and what role they intend to play in changing
Party Policy.



* Pete Landi is a member of NSW Young Labor Left.


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