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Tasmanian Labor Leader Appoints Long-Time Education Unionist as Chief of Staff
The new leader of Tasmania’s opposition, David O’Byrne, has appointed former unionist Grahame McCulloch to be his chief of staff despite concerns over the influence of left-leaning factions within Tasmanian Labor, which are believed to have driven voters away from the Party at the previous elections.
McCulloch, who was the National Tertiary Education Union leader for 25 years (from 1993 to 2018), will hold the most senior position in O’Byrne’s executive team staff.
“We know we’ve got a lot of work to do to rebuild the faith and trust with the Tasmanian community, to not only keep the Gutwein government to account … but also to build a vision and a platform that the Tasmanian community can support and vote for at the next election,” O’Byrne told reporters.
The result in the Upper Hunter by-election deepened the trend seen in the 2019 federal election, when Labor’s vote fell to just 33.3 percent, the lowest level in 85 years.
The government risked losing its majority and the pressure was on Labor to win Upper Hunter for the first time. Working-class voters in Muswellbrook and Singleton, in the centre of the electorate, had helped Labor build up its vote to nearly 30%, making the seat winnable.
However, Labor’s Jeff Drayton, a Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) official, failed to get traction on his strongly pro-coal platform, polling just over 21%.
The drop in Labor’s vote is comparable to the 13% won by anti-coal independents.
Kirsty O’Connell, supported by former Prime Minister now climate activist Malcolm Turnbull, polled 9% and Tracey Norman, former mayor of Dungog in the east of the electorate, won 4%.
The fall in Labor’s vote in the Upper Hunter by-election underscores the collapse of its support in key working class areas, after decades of implementing the dictates of the corporate elite.