Bracks Watch

Bracks for Stacks, ignores talent

Former Labour Premier Joan Kirner has written to Steve Bracks, warning him that accommodating branch stackers will come at the expense of talented women. Bracks' pledge of affirmative action in the Victorian Branch also threatens to fall short if current trends of preselection continue. For women to hold 40% of winnable seats in Victoria by 2012 requires leadership the Bracks is unable to give.

"It drags the party into disrespect. You can't talk about quality and then move to relegate hard-working women. [...]"This word renewal is a farce. There is plenty of room for new talent if the branch stackers weren't being rewarded."

Bracks should stand by his commitment to the women of the ALP. He would face embarrassment if the National Executive forced the Victorian Branch to repeat preselections if short of the affirmative action target.

posted by Michael @ 2:19 AM