T-t-t-t-that’s all folks

12:47 PM, 9/4/2010 .. 0 comments .. Link

Today we were greeted with the shock news that SA Parliament’s Porky Pig, Pat Conlon has deserted the Left Faction. This is not the first time that he has done this, but it is the first time that he has done so publicly. Conlon first stormed out of the left a few years ago, when his attempts at going Federal were stymied, probably by the new guard, or Weatherill-Wong Left. For some reason, he then reconsidered his move, and returned cap in hand asking for their forgiveness. While the Left faction accepted his vote, they probably never forgave him for this impetuous move. The crushing of his Canberra ambitions may have been part of the falling out, but a few other factors would have played a role.



Pat Conlon has long been a member of the SA ALP leadership quartet which also consisted of Rann, Foley, Atkinson. Two of his three leadership allies are members of the right, and Rann is unaligned. Being a member of the leadership team has two consequences. Firstly, due to necessity, Conlon would have been jointly involved in many decisions etc with Right members. This may have given the appearance within the Left that he was in cahoots with the Right. The Foley-Conlon relationship, in particular, blossomed due to a shared love of power and boozing on. Readers may recall the infamous Xenophon Parliamentary Bar incident, where a heavily intoxicated Foley and Conlon abused Mr X in unsavoury terms (or at least one of them did). The Right Faction in general has a boozy culture, which I freely admit to partaking in; too much on many occasions. The personalities of members of the Right have much more in common with Mr Conlon than the left.



Politics, and factions in particular, have changed over the years. Once upon a time they were all about ideologies, whereas now they are mainly concerned with personalities. Sure, the hierarchy of the Right is still predominately Catholic, and the hierarchy of the left wore Che Guevera t-shirts in their youth. At the grass roots level, however, it is more about indoctrinating the new recruits into a pack mentality; us versus them. It is more about the battle than the cause. In SA in recent years, factional allegiance is more about survival than ideology. For example, I remember being at the meeting which announced that Michael Wright had joined the Right ( I believe it was the same meeting as when Kate Ellis was announced as candidate for Adelaide). He hadn’t changed his opinions on the class struggle or preferred economic model. He was at risk of being booted from the Ministry by the Left, and sought refuge or asylum within the Right. Wright broke the barrier, and many more were soon to follow. Traditional enemies, such as Lea Stevens, the Wortley’s, John Camillo and Robyn Geraghty (and staff/supporters) began turning up at Labor Right fundraisers. This was done purely out of self interest. I remember the shock of a leftie meat workers trade unionist when I told him Russel Wortley was at a Makin School (right) Dinner. He proclaimed “But he was more left wing than me”. Wortley now has a standing order on corporate box soccer tickets at Adelaide United, where he can sip chardonnay and cast his gaze down upon the huddled masses. Survival doesn’t explain Pat’s departure, however.



In a previous blog, following the reshuffle, I noted that Conlon has been in a stagnant cabinet position for some time. It appeared that he had reached the pinnacle, the highest point available to a left wing minister. The positions of AG, Treasurer and Premier seemed out of reach. With Jay Weatherill stealing the left’s support as their preferred choice for future Premier, Pat didn’t really have any reason to remain in the fold. While Conlon has never been mentioned in newspaper predictions as future Premier material, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t envision the possibility in his little pink head. His defection from the left means that he is positioning himself for one of two options. He has either accepted that he has achieved as much as he can, and is preparing to bow out OR he is positioning himself as a middle ground option in a future leadership ballot. Time will tell what his strategy is.



One final question to ponder is the loyalties of Conlon acolytes Leon Bignell and Paul Caica. Paul Caica strikes me as someone of strong left wing beliefs, and I would lose much respect for him if he chose to defect. Bignell, on the other hand, started out political life as a Conlon adviser, and his ideologies probably followed on from there. He is an even money bet on switching with Conlon in my view, although I am not an expert on this area.