Saturday, 29 January 2005Returned Labor leader Kim Beazley nominated the economy and national security as the major political battlegrounds as he pledged to sharpen distinctions between the Government and Opposition.
Elected unopposed yesterday to the position he held from 1996 to 2001, Mr Beazley declared he would win the election due in 2007.
"I am proud and excited to be given the chance to lead Australia's longest-serving political party back into office," he said.
While not altering the front-bench line- up decided on by former leader Mark Latham in the wake of the October 9 election loss, Mr Beazley announced he had collapsed the distinction between shadow cabinet and the outer shadow ministry.
He put his whole front-bench team on notice, saying, "I want to look at them all and see all their strengths and we'll see people's effectiveness as time transpires."
His message of unity and discipline was echoed from the Caucus meeting that appointed him, to the shadow ministry meeting that came after it, one frontbencher saying the new leader had been "sharp and clear and very much to the point" in his first senior-team talk.
Mr Beazley said he had told his colleagues "to put a sock in it" and he dismissed the statement of backbencher Rod Sawford that he was on notice as leader, with the party set to review his performance after 12 months.
"That's enough," he said of party in- fighting. "We have got to feel passionately in ourselves, not what's happening to us, what's happening to our [promotion], but what is happening to ordinary people in this country."
Labor faced "three central tasks": reuniting as a party, holding the Government accountable and providing a true alternative.
"The whole political world changes on July 1," he said. "The Government has absolute legislative power. Accountability will no longer depend on what the minor parties are doing in the Senate; it'll depend on how effectively the Labor Party holds the Government accountable."
Policies would be developed over the course of the full three-year parliamentary term to reflect the "sharp differences" of the major parties.
"I promised my party this morning three years of hard work, clear focus and total commitment, total commitment to the task of putting the Labor Party back into office," he said.
"I am going to give John Howard the fight of his life and we're going to win the next election."
Source: The Canberra Times, 29 January 2005 |
Saturday, 29 January 2005
By Andrew Fraser
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