Dear John,

Let me say at the outset how much I respect your persistent calls for the Australian Labor Party to embrace significant internal change & reform.

Having said that, I would like you to be aware that, as a non-member but occasional supporter of the Labor Party in the past, no amount of organisation reform would persuade me to support your party again.

My permanent disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party is not just a function of the appalling machine corruption evidenced in NSW, nor the dreadful battle of egos played-out between Gillard & Rudd – with both apparently concerned more about the trappings of power than the national interest; nor the current federal Opposition Leader’s unflinching ‘me too’ support for our latest military folly in Iraq, nor the Party’s support for the latest vicious attack on civil liberties occasioned by the current round of ‘anti-terror’ legislation (the fact that this legislation was originally conceived & promoted by Labor appears lost on but a few).

Nor is my permanent disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party simply a function of its failure to embrace & articulate genuine aspirational policies, based on principles which reflect a commitment to the well-being of all Australians, not just the vested interest groups with whom your party has become so comfortable; nor your Party’s silence on the wholesale export of jobs to foreign countries by companies willing to plunder this country for profit, whilst giving back nothing in return, whilst an increasing number of young Australians are consigned to penury as a result; nor your party’s silence on the creation of a new ‘underclass’ of millions of Australians, sentenced to eke-out survival for themselves & their families as casual servants of business & government alike, without the ‘usual’ protections enjoyed by the majority of Australians, including you & your cosseted colleagues.

Nor is my disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party simply a function of its silence on the rampant scale of organised tax avoidance in our country, almost to the point where it is actually becoming the biggest business we have; nor your Party’s refusal to support & pursue genuine reform of our social welfare system so as to remove access to benefits for those who have no genuine financial need, apart from greed; nor your Party’s apparent comfort with & support for monopolies, duopolies & oligopolies in almost every field of endeavour in our country – be it in banking, supermarkets, energy, gambling, the media & even politics, it doesn’t matter; nor even that the leadership of the Australian Labor Party stood resolutely mute whilst the current Prime Ministerial pretender & ‘liar-in-chief’ stole its proudest claim - that it represents a ‘light on the hill’ for all Australians.

Nor is my permanent disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party a function of your Party’s apparent fear of advocating genuine structural reform of the Australian economy & its institutions for fear of alienating well-established rent-seekers who bleed this country dry unhindered & unashamedly on a daily basis; nor your Party’s silence on the crimes of government perpetrated in the name of our ignorant citizens, be it illegal spying on the government of East Timor or corrupt behaviour by directors of our country’s central bank or the wilful & dishonest lies perpetrated by our so-called ‘intelligence agencies’, intent on gripping our citizens in the thrall of ‘continuous fear’ or your Party’s corrupt support of the inhumane treatment of the most helpless of our fellow human beings – be they asylum-seekers or indigenous Australians alike.

No, John, none of those things; nor the too many others to name here, are primarily responsible for my disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party.

John, the main reason for my disenchantment with the Australian Labor Party is simply the fact that I can no longer tell your party apart from the criminals who currently ‘govern’ our country.

So, when the Australian Labor Party is ready to seriously address that very simple issue, please let me know.

In the meantime, farewell, adieu, adios, goodbye & good luck: in my humble view, you’ll certainly need it!!