Fed: Beazley declares ALP ready for election

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2000
Fed: Beazley declares ALP ready for election

By James Grubel, Chief Political Correspondent

HOBART, Aug 3 AAP - Opposition Leader Kim Beazley declared Labor was ready to fight
the next election after winding up a trouble-free ALP national conference today.

Mr Beazley said the ALP platform adopted at the conference gave Labor a new focus on
health, education and family issues which would help differentiate the party from the
coalition.

And he said Labor would be ready to fight a federal election within weeks, although
he expected the next poll would not be held for at least 12 months.

"We now have as a political party not just an excellent platform ... we also come out
of this conference with some campaigning points, particularly in the area of education
and health and the family," he told reporters.

"They now are a clear-cut point of difference between ourselves and the government."

He said the ALP conference had successfully shifted the national debate away from hard
economics issues and tax.

The final day of the conference included an emotional farewell to outgoing party president
Barry Jones, who was dumped in preference for Victorian union official Greg Sword.

Mr Jones, who took over the presidency in 1992 after the resignation of Stephen Loosley,
was given a new job as the head of a new taskforce on the knowledge nation.

He said he left the party in a healthy shape.

"The party comes out of the 42nd national conference in great shape and good heart,"

he said to a lengthy standing ovation from the 200 delegates.

The conference earlier passed resolutions to renegotiate the Timor Gap treaty to help
secure the fledgling nation's economic viability.

It also watered down Labor's opposition to mandatory sentencing, condemning the Northern
Territory's laws and their impact on juveniles, but endorsing the Western Australian laws
for adults convicted for serious property offences.

The conference also passed a series of rule changes designed to stamp out branch stacking.

Mr Beazley went into the conference determined to stamp his authority on the party
and quell internal concerns over his GST rollback policy.

Over the four days of the conference, the controversial issues - the union push to
abandon free trade, mandatory sentencing and GST rollback - had been resolved with little
or no opposition and only a hint of genuine debate.

He said the party was now on a sound election footing.

"I believe that within a few weeks we'll be in a position to fight an election," he said.

"But whether we fight an election this year or next is not in our hands."

He promised more policies would be released over the coming 12 months as Labor attempted
to build some electoral momentum.

But detailed costings would not be released until midway through the election campaign.

AAP jg/was/br

KEYWORD: ALP NIGHTLEAD

2000 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.