This is lucky Phil Cleary…

Yeah I know. ‘Whoever you vote for, government wins’. Also: ‘Don’t vote: it only encourages them’ and ‘If you think it’s humiliating to be ruled, how much more degrading is it to choose your master?’ and ‘A change of rulers is the joy of fools’.

But still.

Old school labour has (re-)entered the battle for the seat of Brunswick following former Federal MP Phil Cleary‘s announcement that he’ll be pulling on the guernsey to once again join the fray. This is gonna make things even more difficult for law-talking gal (and former Yarra Council Mayor and Steve Bracks staffer) Jane Garrett, and perhaps force her to deviate from the path worn by previous generations of industrial relations lawyers. On the other hand, it’ll likely please Greens candidate Cyndi Dawes, now with an even betterer chance of stealing the seat from Labor.

Or to put it another way: “…if Phil Cleary decides to throw his hat into the ring, Garrett’s fuct”.

Elsewhere, party hacks are probably still fuming over the clumsy smears of last week (hat tip to Steve Newnham — “whose wife Fiona Richardson is desperately trying to beat off Greens candidate Anne Martinelli in Northcote”) while in Richmond Steve Jolly is also causing headaches for the True Believers. (Steve is one of several Socialists standing for State Parliament.)

Oddly enough, Steve’s campaigns for Yarra Council in years past was supported by Corinne Grant. Now, however, Corinne is trying to help Labor get re-elected by way of presenting a topical and (presumably) humorous review of the election campaign on the party’s YouTube channel.

Of course, aside from a lack of lulz, the central problem for Labor is that, whatever the particular qualities of their candidates in the inner-city, the policies of the party as a whole are becoming increasingly unappealing to a large minority of voters. Absent a progressive left within the party capable of influencing party policy as a whole, it’s inevitable that voters looking to support a more meaningful alternative will turn to the Greens… Which will develop along the lines of similar parties in, say, Germany, and create conflicts between the realos and the fundis.

I believe it’s called recycling.

See also : Greener pastures, Kate Legge, The Australian, November 8, 2010 | The Greens – more than a protest vote, Rob Burgess, Business Spectator, November 6, 2010 | ‘After Labourism: The Neoliberal Turn by Labor Parties and the Response by Trade Unions’, Jason Schulman, 2009 (PDF).

Finally, some words of wisdom from Paul Howes, National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union John Groves, President of the One Nation Party in Victoria: