Division in power

After the vote to sell off the electricity grid to the private market was defeated at the Labor state conference 702 votes to 107, Premier Morris Iemma has said he will defy the party and go through with the sale.
Iemma’s decision is, in his mind, and in the minds of Labor heavies like Michael Costa, the best way forward for NSW. But, it could also be a way backward for the party and the government, with his defiance threatening to split his MPs in Parliament. A number of MPs spoke against the sale during the state Labor conference, and Paul Gibson, the MP for Blacktown, sat behind the Premier at the conference in an anti-privatisation shirt.
Rudd has already called for unity among ALP members following the vote, telling them to “move forward”, but the NSW ALP president has called an urgent meeting of the party’s joint campaign committee following Iemma’s comments. Iemma will be forced to explain his position and his reasons for holding his ground to the committee.
There are three possible outcomes of this meeting. The committee could agree to back Iemma regarding the sale, which is unlikely. The second outcome is a stalemate, which will not be stale for long, given Iemma and Michael Costa’s determination to press ahead with the sale. Or it could cause a leadership spill.
The third option is the worst step the ALP can take. It will certainly damage the Labor party further than it has already, and it could also have a negative effect on Federal Labor. Rudd warned the NSW Labor conference yesterday that Labor held a slim margin federally and that too much division could cost the Federal Government public support at the next election.
This is not the time for the ALP to start questioning Iemma’s leadership of the party. That step may yet come, even though the Union’s NSW Secretary John Robertson said he would not speculate about Iemma’s leadership. Meanwhile, politicians from the other NSW parties are.
Malcolm Turnbull, a Federal member of NSW, said that the vote at the State Labor Conference was a rejection of Iemma’s leadership, and that Iemma has lost the confidence of the Labor party.