The first thing the ALP needs to do now Belinda Neal has lost her pre-selection for the seat of Robertson is tell Kevin Rudd that the new candidate likes to be known as Deb O’Neill, not Debbie as he called her yesterday.

Well this is awkward ... O'Neill and Neal on Saturday. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The second thing is they need to stick a big picture of Neal on the wall of the state secretary’s office as a reminder that the members of the party are much better at choosing candidates than they are.

It sounds pretty simple, but it’s a lesson that’s been long in the making, and one the Labor heavies in NSW are yet to fully grasp. And it’s not just important for voters and party members, as contrary to what you’d expect, being imposed on one’s constituency is no tea party for a candidate either.

The Member for the Illawarra-based seat of Cunningham, Sharon Bird, has lived to tell the tale. But in 2002 I was sitting in the back of a stuffy room at the Wollongong Iron Workers Club as the then-HQ-imposed ALP candidate was raked over hot coals backwards by the union movement.

Bird had been what they called in those days “N40d” in by head office as the candidate in a by-election after the retirement of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Stephen Martin.

It wasn’t pretty. One woman even cut up her ALP membership card, and Bird spent much of the meeting looking and sounding like she was about to cry.

She lost the seat for the ALP for the first time in its history in that by-election to the Greens Michael Organ. Organ was a most unspectacular MP, who Bird then knocked off in the general election in 2004, and thus Cunningham was recovered.

Lesson learned? No.

Belinda Neal was dropped in the laps of the people of Robertson in a sweeping move by ALP head office at the 2007 Labor conference that mostly relied on the dazzle provided by the then-new candidate for Bennelong, Maxine McKew.

Deb O’Neill didn’t get the chance to run for pre-selection in her home seat that year. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The Liberals might have been calling for the disendorsement of the controversy magnet Neal, but there’s no getting away from the fact their candidate Darren Jameison has a much tougher fight on his hands now.

Not only is Deb O’Neill well-liked and well-spoken, she now has 98 of a possible 169 rank and file ALP votes safely tucked in her back pocket, something Neal never had to catch her when she fell.

Robertson, the most marginal seat in the country, will now be a must-watch during the campaign.

Lesson learned? Not quite.

The NSW ALP state secretary Matt Thistlethwaite was politically assassinated by the union movement last month. To console himself he’s been given a Senate spot.

The powers that be obviously deemed him incapable of running the party, but perfectly up for the job of representing the people of NSW in the Upper House.

The more things change ...

20 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Phil says:

      06:58am | 08/03/10

      Good Riddins to Ms Neal.

      Bet there was a celebration at Iguana’s on Saturday night.

    • Michael says:

      07:40am | 08/03/10

      I hope she runs as an independent I was really looking forward to putting up posters with her demon baby quotes.

    • hellohello says:

      07:52am | 08/03/10

      Congratulations to Deb O’Neill I am sure she will do a brilliant job. I never liked Belinda Neil but since she is not in my electorate, she had minimal effect on me.

    • RJB says:

      08:13am | 08/03/10

      No doubt an image of O’Neill now shares a place alongside the frozen peas in Neal’s freezer.

    • Joe says:

      08:53am | 08/03/10

      Rudd wouldn’t sack Belinda Neal but her preselectors did at the first chance. When is Peter Garret’s preselection? grin Oh that’s right he was parachuted into his seat without a preselection also. How can the members of the Labor party put up with this in our democratic nation?

    • Macca says:

      08:56am | 08/03/10

      @Tors, I hardly doubt they’ll learn the lesson, mostly because for every Belinda Neal they have a Julia Gillard.

      Belinda Neal will be viewed as the exception to the rule, and nothing more.

      Looking forward to the next Labor movement parachute / train wreck in a few years, any early tips Punchers? Paul Howes maybe?

    • Phil says:

      09:17am | 08/03/10

      If he had the time Steve Waugh in Hughes. With Dana Vale retiring it would be a master stroke, even though I dont agree with labor policies.

      Dont know is there is any truth to it but I heard on the grape vine that the libs were looking for Grant Hacket for Rudd’s seat.

    • Macca says:

      11:39am | 08/03/10

      @Phil, those are both Gold, any others?

    • Phil says:

      01:50pm | 08/03/10

      Macca

      Sorry champ. I have a feeling Labor have courted Steve in the past and he didnt want it then. Who knows. I dont know if they are still trying, but time will tell. Wouldnt vote for him, but went to school with him and he is the genuine article and a top bloke, who is generally very humble. (well except if your a South African, Pakistani, Indian, English, West Indian, Kiwi or Sri Lankan cricketer. He was by all acounts a great sledger.

      l hate to admit it, but think Steve would win the seat and make an excellent policitian, and not be the sacrificial lamb labor usually put up as a candidate.

    • acker says:

      10:18am | 08/03/10

      This should be a warning to everyone on both sides of politics, family dynasties are on the nose with Australian’s..Albanese & Trebbut…Ferguson Brothers ... and any other political power couples, father/sons and political siblings…beware.

    • First Geoff of Sydney says:

      10:31am | 08/03/10

      Bonafide removal; now Rudd.

    • Mick says:

      10:35am | 08/03/10

      It appears the ALP locals in Wollongong aren’t too happy with Stephen Jones National Secretary of the CPSU being parachuted in to replace Jennie George another union careerist.  It will intereating to see if Jones can make a contribution unlike Jennie George who sank without a trace once elected

    • Fran says:

      12:08pm | 08/03/10

      Sacking Neal has only help the ALP out for the swinging voter. Obviously the standard ALP voter will vote ALP even if they had a conplete idiot as candidate.

      Married to Della never helped her either.

    • True Blue says:

      12:49pm | 08/03/10

      Good riddance to a horrible person that gives women a VERY bad name!

    • stephen says:

      01:44pm | 08/03/10

      Looks like time a lapse photo : before and after.

    • Bob H says:

      04:40pm | 08/03/10

      Belinda Neal and Deb O’Niell are one and the same, Barnacle Neal is fiendishly cunning

    • D. Carter says:

      12:10pm | 09/03/10

      How would you know? Do you know either personally? Deb O’Neill. She’s brilliant and will be an asset to our community once voted in!

    • Daniel says:

      05:03pm | 08/03/10

      The deadwood is starting to crumble away in the ALP.Its good to see and about time there was a shake up in the ALP.Good bye to bad rubbish.

    • formersnag, neither labour nor liberal stooge. says:

      06:49pm | 08/03/10

      Neal/O’Neill, is there really a difference? Sure the new candidate is better known among the “true believers” of “Robertson” but she is obviously, another “humanities academic” from the radical, extremist, loony, left, fauxmanista faction, like Julia Gillard.

      Those “aspirational voters” who supported the conservatives, throughout the “Howard” years will hardly be impressed with yet another “shrieking woman”.

      http://www.themonthly.com.au/monthly-essays-louis-nowra-better-self-germaine-greer-and-039the-female-eunuch039-2298

    • Kate says:

      09:10am | 10/03/10

      Deb O’Neal will have a huge fight on her hands if she is to win Robertson if for no other reason than Labor in NSW is on the nose and many Seats will fall into Liberal hands.  Deb has to realise that she is not Irish, in fact she was born in Australia so I guess she needs to stop making foolish comments about being an ‘Irish Brunette’ - her arch rival Belinda was a very untidy dyed blond.

      Now on the other hand, local identity Snr Det. Sergeant Darren Jameson has lived in the area since he was a young boy, he is President of the Terrigal Chamber of Commerce, President Robertson Conference, Past President Terrigal SLSC ‘Terrigal Surf Lifesaving Club, Past Director of Surf Life Saving NSW and Australian Lifesaver of the Year (1999). 

      Darren is a Christian family man with a lovely young wife and two beautiful little children. He has worked tirelessly on the Central Coast of NSW dedicating many hundreds of hours a year to voluntary work. He will most certainly be no easy ‘push over’ for Ms O’Neal.


      Now on the other hand, local identity Snr Det. Sergeant Darren Jameson has lived in the area all his life, he is President of the Terrigal Chamber of Commerce, President of the Federal Electricate Conference,

 

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