Dobell

Welcome to the main strip of the small town of Wyong, in New South Wales’ Central Coast region. The strip straddles the Pacific Highway - a couple of pubs, a butcher and a few fish ‘n’ chip shops on one side; the train station on the other.

It’s 11am and there’s barely anyone walking the streets. “Look how dead it is out there,” says Danielle Suarez, who works at the printing store opposite Wyong station. Choked by traffic but not people, the quiet town is a key centre in the federal electorate of Dobell.

Local MP Craig Thomson’s office is wedged between Ecco Shoes and Express Noodles at Tuggerah’s Westfield shopping centre, just ten minutes down the road. Since 2009 Thomson has been beset by scandal over his use of a business credit card while he was at the Health Services Union. But it’s just one part of his relationship with his electorate.

Continue reading "The on-the-ground reality of how stuffed Labor is" »

It has become an article of faith in Australian politics that a background as a union official is an undesirable and unrepresentative form of life experience for anyone embarking on a career as an MP.

Like any sweeping generalisation it is sometimes rubbish and sometimes true. There are plenty of former unionists in our Parliaments who have a sound knowledge of the industry their members worked in, a desire to see those industries prosper, and who were generally ambivalent towards industrial action, preferring to see negotiated outcomes which looked after the interests of both workers and employers. 

At the other end of the spectrum you find party careerists who relish the political power and lifestyle afforded by being a union official and use their position largely _ if not entirely _ as a springboard to land a seat.

Continue reading "Credit card Craig a problem Gillard doesn’t need" »