Beating The Rank and File Drum

I know I do go on about this, but it's interesting to see both sides of politics speaking out on the topic of rank and file preselection.

Firstly the Liberals of Goulburn aren't happy about the notion of Pru Goward being parachuted in. For all his complaints about the ALP dictating who goes where, Peter Debnam has gone through an awful lot to place his preferred candidate but not had a lot of luck until now. Despite a local outcry, it appears the only local challenger, Martin Laverty, has been heavied out of mounting a challenge and spending the rest of the day denying suggestions that the commands came from John Howard himself.

Things aren't much better in Newcastle, where local ALP members are outraged at the dumping of local MP Bryce Gaudry, as I have already discussed (and Alan Ramsay has essayed at greater depth).

Both cases illustrate the same essential principle: head offices of both parties have got things around the wrong way. Talented potential MPs need to be attracted to parties at the grass roots level, rather than scouted out in some sort of political equivalent to Australian Idol. Achieving this requires complete renovation of party processes. Unfortunately, that's something that doesn't seem to be particularly high on anyone's agenda at the moment.