Fed: ALP boss pleads for unity over leadership

AAP General News (Australia)
04-20-2003
Fed: ALP boss pleads for unity over leadership

By James Grubel, Chief Political Correspondent

CANBERRA, April 20 AAP - Labor's federal president Greg Sword made a plea for the party
to unite behind Leader Simon Crean today and for critics to concentrate on election policies.

Mr Sword said Mr Crean had been subject to a group of people intent on undermining
his leadership by feeding damaging stories to the media.

He blamed the war on Iraq and difficulties pushing domestic policies since the September
11 terrorist attacks as the main reason for Labor's poor performance in the polls.

But he said there was no magic bullet for the ALP and it was now time for unity and
to develop policies to take to the next election.

"I think that the Labor Party and in particular the parliamentary party as a whole
need to understand that for Labor the issue of leadership is not really the problem that
we have to deal with," Mr Sword told the Nine Network.

"The problem we have to deal with is unity, and the problem we have to deal with is
having policies to go to the next election with."

Earlier, a new Fairfax-Taverner poll suggested voters wanted NSW Premier Bob Carr to
move to Canberra to lead the party out of its current woes.

The poll, published in the Sunday Age and Sun-Herald newspapers, said Mr Carr would
be preferred as prime minister by 64 per cent of respondents compared to only 18 per cent
for Mr Crean.

It found support for the Howard government to be 51 per cent compared to 32 per cent for the ALP.

The poll also said 45 per cent of those questioned believed Mr Crean should be replaced
as Labor leader, while 40 per cent believed former leader Kim Beazley would make a better
leader.

It found 25 per cent support for Mr Carr to lead the ALP, eight per cent for Labor's
foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd and only seven per cent for Mr Crean.

But Mr Carr again ruled out moving to federal politics.

A spokesman said the premier, who won a record third term at the March 22 state election,
had no federal ambitions.

"The premier has ruled out any move to Canberra," the spokesman said.

"He's happy as premier of NSW and is looking forward to the challenge of the next four years."

Mr Sword said until the fall of Baghdad, Labor was holding a strong 49 per cent on
a two-party basis, despite the difficult political climate for opposition parties around
the world.

He said the polls were worthless because they asked people about things that were unlikely
to happen, such as Mr Carr's move to federal politics.

AAP jg/sek/de

KEYWORD: LABOR NIGHTLEAD

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