Fed: ALP to continue strong ties with unions - Crean

AAP General News (Australia)
12-05-2001
Fed: ALP to continue strong ties with unions - Crean

CANBERRA, Dec 5 AAP - Labor's relationship with trade unions would continue to be a
strong one regardless of the outcome of a review of the 60-40 rule, Opposition Leader
Simon Crean said today.

Mr Crean has called for an examination of the rule which allows unions a majority of
votes at ALP party forums, raising questions about Labor's continued relationship with
the union movement.

But the opposition leader today said the ties between unions and the ALP would always
remain strong.

"Sure, we will reassess our relationship with the trade union movement but it will
be a strong one," he said on Sky TV.

"It needs to be because they are representative of ordinary working Australian families."

Mr Crean, a former president of the ACTU, said his past ties with the unions made his
job easier because he understood the workings of the trade union movement.

He said just as he was not dictated to by the unions, he was not controlled by factions
within the Labor Party.

"I didn't go to the factions," Mr Crean said of his new frontbench.

"I went to the party and said that we needed to have generational change.

"What we've got to do is to promote people not just based on factionalism but on talent
and that's what I sought."

Mr Crean said he wanted to encourage a party that rewarded an individual's talent and
contribution.

"It's also a message that I want to send out in encouraging people to think of standing
for us," he said.

"It's building this notion that what we want is quality candidates, not just high-fliers
but people who are good, connected representatives of their community.

"This is what a modern political party has got to do.

"It's got to be connected, it's got to have ideas, it's got to use that connection
to advance their ideas and improve the way in which our society develops."

AAP sm/daw/ph

KEYWORD: LABOR CREAN

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