The Age: Six Weeks Behind With The News

The lead story in this morning's Age newspaper by Phillip Hudson, Labor on the skids, warns top MP, is based on a "confidential" submission to the ALP's internal review being conducted by Bob Hawke and Neville Wran. In the submission, Lindsay Tanner, member for Melbourne and Shadow Minister for Communications, argues that the ALP's "membership base is in serious decline and that the organisation needs an overhaul".

Tanner argues that the ALP needs radical restructuring: "Our problems are structural, not cyclical. A new coat of paint might help, but restumping is the main priority." As The Age belatedly reports: "It also includes the view that Labor's proud past 'littered with heroes, myths and legends' could make the party appear backward-looking and out of touch when it was over-emphasised."

Regular readers of this web-site would be unsurprised to hear of Tanner's views, since his submission was published here on February 5. Publication of the submission was accompanied by a summary of its recommendations.

Tanner's submission was made available on an Internet discussion group, Open Australia, sponsored by Social Change Online Pty Ltd.

• Read the report in The Age today
• Read our report from six weeks ago
• Read Tanner's submission to the ALP Review

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