Heat on Gillard to tackle the Right after power stoush

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This was published 13 years ago

Heat on Gillard to tackle the Right after power stoush

By Phillip Coorey CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

JULIA GILLARD has been urged to take action against one of the kingmakers who delivered her the leadership as the Left faction struck back against an assault by the Right on the push for gay marriage.

Incensed that a delegation of right-wing Labor senators had prevailed on Ms Gillard on Wednesday to withdraw support for a Greens bill to give territory governments more authority, a delegation of five factional conveners from the Left met the Prime Minister late yesterday.

It is understood they demanded she ''take action'' against the South Australian senator Don Farrell, who was central to the coup to depose Kevin Rudd and one of the three senators who leant on Ms Gillard about gay marriage.

Senator Farrell is a frontbencher and the Left delegation charged that he, as a member of the executive, had conspired with the opposition to undermine a decision by the caucus.

The gay marriage row fuelled opposition claims yesterday that the government was beholden to the Greens' agenda.

But Ms Gillard scoffed at this as ''political spin''. She said there were areas of common ground but also ''huge issues that we don't agree about and never will''.

She listed mandatory detention of asylum seekers, the US alliance and national security, taxation, open markets, free trade, competition and other ways ''we generate prosperity in this country''.

Labor will debate gay marriage policy at its national conference in December and Ms Gillard urged her troops to save the fight until then. ''The focus always has to be governing in the national interest,'' she said.

The Left delegation comprised the senators Doug Cameron and Gavin Marshall, and the MPs Stephen Jones, Graham Perrett and Maria Vamvakinou.

They complained that Senator Farrell and his Senate colleagues, Steve Hutchins and John Hogg, had brought the party into disrepute by publicly standing over the Prime Minister. The trio had support for the bill pulled and, after discussions with the Liberals, sent it off to a Senate committee.

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The stoush began when caucus was briefed on a Greens bill that would remove the ability of a federal minister to veto laws passed by a territory government.

Instead, a veto would require the agreement of both houses of Parliament. The caucus agreed to support the bill, but afterwards the Right claimed it had been amended to advance the cause of gay marriage and euthanasia by vesting ultimate authority with the territory governments.

This has been disputed by the Greens and even the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, who have pointed out that federal laws on euthanasia and gay marriage override any changes the states or territories make.

The Left believes the Right - some members of which claim the Greens are setting Labor policy - ''beat up'' the issue to pick a fight on gay marriage and highlight their case.

Sources said gay marriage was causing far more consternation in the party than the proposal for a price on carbon.

After the meeting on Wednesday between Ms Gillard and the Right, one newspaper featured a mocked-up photo of the three senators in a defiant pose. ''They might have a football pose but we're going to have a football team,'' said a Left source who claimed the faction would triumph on gay marriage.

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