Limited union role likely in Labor policy

It's hard to avoid the factional undertones regarding Peter Tinley’s recent demotion from cabinet.

Widely seen as a team player and a competent minister who helped repair the state government’s relationship with the fisheries industry, Mr Tinley has received his marching orders, in part to make way for new faces in Mark McGowan’s second-term cabinet.

They include Tony Buti, John Carey, Reece Whitby, Don Punch and Amber-Jade Sanderson.

What is perhaps more telling, however, is Mr Tinley’s ties to the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, one of the largest unions by rank-and-file membership in Labor’s right faction.

To put it simply, the SDA’s power within the party’s state parliamentary caucus has waned in recent years as the left faction has gathered significant representation due to the organisational influence of the United Workers Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union.

That’s attributable to several factors, the most significant of which has been a series of mergers that brought together an array of miscellaneous unions throughout the 1990s and 2000s to form United Voice.

UV merged with the National Union of Workers in 2018, rebranding as UWU and counting about 20,000 rank-and-file members in Western Australia, according to Data & Insights.

That makes it the largest union in the state affiliated to Unions WA as ranked by overall membership.

At a political level, UWU exerts near-unmatched dominance over preselection, with newly elected members often paying thanks to the union when delivering their inaugural addresses to parliament.

Its state secretary, Carolyn Smith, is also president of WA Labor.

Coupled with AMWU, UWU and the broader left faction is allied with more than half of the Labor-endorsed candidates who were elected to either house of state parliament earlier this month.

By comparison, the right faction, which is far looser and nowadays is thought to encompass several former left faction allies, including the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, is allied to just less than a third of the party’s caucus.

The remaining members are either unaligned or without clear factional backing.

Part of the reason for the right’s standing has to do with the downfall of the erstwhile Progressive Labor faction, which, led by the CFMEU and the MUA, was meant to counteract the political muscle of the party’s dominant left faction.

Rumours of the faction’s formulation swirled ahead of Mr McGowan’s 2017 election win; however, the events of Labor’s 2019 state conference, at which delegates from the CFMEU, MUA and SDA walked out to protest the premier’s and UWU’s dominance in the party, portended an abrupt end to the alliance.

While members of the party’s old right, new right and Progressive Labor factions are still generally considered part of the overall right faction, its organisational strength is not thought to exist in any meaningful sense.

Likewise, opposition to these unions or their allied members doesn’t appear particularly strong, with Mr McGowan having chosen to elevate several backbenchers from the party’s right faction to serve as parliamentary secretaries.

Mr McGowan revived the role of parliamentary secretary in 2017 and it is generally seen as a strong indicator of who the premier and party would like to elevate to the ministry in future governments.

Kyle McGinn, a chef, former MUA organiser and manager of Ali Kent’s winning campaign for the seat of Kalgoorlie, was probably the most notable appointment of this sort, given he is understood to be the only MUA-allied member of Labor’s caucus.

Christy Cain, the union’s state secretary, is a well-known adversary of the state government owing to his opposition to Westport and role in the advent of Progressive Labor.

Despite this, the feuding is unlikely to translate into parliamentary strife, as Mr Cain ultimately acknowledged he would support Labor ahead of the state election.

Two members with ties to the CFMEU were also promoted: Matthew Swinbourn, a former lawyer for that union; and Simon Millman, a former industrial relations and employment lawyer for Slater and Gordon.

At the same time, UWU-allied Chris Tallentire, first elected in 2008 and a spokesperson for the party during Mr McGowan’s time as opposition leader, was demoted as parliamentary secretary, creating a balance between members in that role backed by the left and right factions.

Nevertheless, the right’s declining presence in the party’s caucus is a likely explanation for Mr Tinley’s exit.

It may also partly explain Kate Doust’s demotion as president of the Legislative Council in favour of former AMWU secretary Alanna Clohesy.

Ms Doust had drawn Mr McGowan’s ire in his battle to reappoint John McKechnie to the Corruption and Crime Commission and was, like Mr Tinley, allied with the SDA.

After that, with the elevation of Michelle Roberts to speaker of the Legislative Assembly, three of the five promotions to cabinet were for members backed by the left, meaning nine of 17 ministers are now considered factional allies of UWU or the AMWU.

By comparison, just two ministers are backed by the right faction.

Much of this has more to do with organisational strength than it does any ideological credos.

Dr Buti, for instance, has in recent months been classified as part of the right, despite not being allied with any union and having professional experience as an academic and author on Aboriginal rights prior to being elected in 2010.

Still, despite having been praised for his work leading the public accounts committee’s inquiry into the WA Football Commission, allying with one of the factions may have been the most straightforward way for him to reach cabinet.

This was the case even for Mr McGowan, who, while notionally unaligned, is thought to have owed his preselection in the seat of Rockingham at the 1996 state election in part to the manoeuvring of Kim Beazley and his right factional allies.

Nowadays his base of support is thought to be drawn from the left faction’s UWU.

But even if factions do not exert control over the party’s ideological direction, the question remains how much the union movement influences ministers themselves.

According to Daniel Smith, who was a senior figure to Mr McGowan’s successful 2017 election campaign and adviser to Alan Carpenter and Geoff Gallop during their respective premierships, the influence can be overstated.

“In my experience … universally, when people enter the cabinet room, they leave any factional alignments or union affiliations at the door and focus on performing their constitutional duties and their obligation to serve the people of WA,” said Mr Smith, who is also the founder and executive director of CGM Communications.

“I’ve heard people talk about the collegial nature of cabinet focusing on the public interest many times in successive governments.

“I’ve no doubt that’s how this government operates.”

While Mr Smith concedes Labor draws on unions for personnel and talent, he argued there was still a significant variety of positions that contributed to decision-making at a cabinet level.

“Given the union movement represents a range of different sectors and industries, I think, collectively, there’s a fair bit of knowledge and understanding of the economy that arrives at the table,” he said.

“Obviously, that’s not the only viewpoint, and it’s important for industry to have a significant voice at the table as well.

“I note there are a number of people within the party who have backgrounds in business, industry and a range of different sectors.

“That’s all positive and adds to the perspectives that get brought to the table when policies are developed.”

Even if unions do not exert overwhelming influence within the party, their presence within both the cabinet and the caucus at-large is prominent.

While the background of each minister paints a complex portrait of dividing lines within the party’s caucus, the reality is that the union movement is currently the most useful springboard for anyone looking to enter state parliament and become a minister, with at least seven of 17 ministers counting some experience with a union prior to entering state parliament.

Of them, four are directly associated with UWU, with the most prominent being left faction powerbroker Dave Kelly, a former state secretary of UWU’s forerunner, United Voice.

The remaining three are: Sue Ellery, who served as an advocate for UV’s predecessor the Australian Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union; Simone McGurk, who served as a secretary of both UV and Unions WA; and Ms Sanderson, who was an assistant state secretary to UV.

By far, though, UWU’s most prominent ministerial ally is Roger Cook, who was briefly president of WA Labor in the late 1990s and served as a founding member of the National Union of Students in the 1980s.

On the right, the party’s former state secretary Bill Johnston is now the only minister allied with that faction, having previously been an official with the SDA.

The final minister to log significant experience with a union is John Quigley.

His factional ties have become circumspect over time, however, given he was expelled from the Western Australian Police Union in 2007 after he used parliamentary privilege to weigh in on the wrongful conviction of Andrew Mallard for murder in 1995.

Currently, he’s unaligned with any union and has been reported to maintain loose connections with both factions.

This situation is not uncommon for several ministers, who have either assembled their own base of support or are personally supported by Mr McGowan.

Not including the premier, there are five ministers who are considered unaligned to any faction or union.

That includes former state finance and federal treasury department official Rita Saffioti, who came to office after serving as chief of staff to Messrs Gallop and Carpenter during their premierships.

Mr Carpenter had supported her preselection for the seat of West Swan in 2008 amid a broader attempt to clear out what he deemed to be improper factional influence in the party’s parliamentary ranks.

Paul Papalia was similarly supported by Mr Carpenter for preselection at a 2007 by-election for the seat of Peel, as was former treasurer Ben Wyatt, who was replaced by Hannah Beazley in the seat of Victoria Park.

Messrs Papalia and Wyatt are unaligned, while Ms Beazley, who has worked at consultancy firm Hawker Britton, is considered part of the party’s right faction.

Reece Whitby’s preselection for the seat of Morley was also supported by Mr Carpenter during that year’s election; despite this, Mr Whitby would go on to twice lose the seat to Ian Britza.

Mr Whitby was eventually elected as the Labor-endorsed candidate in Baldivis in 2017 after serving as Mr McGowan’s point man on communications during his stint as opposition leader.

Still unaligned, his promotion to the racing and gaming, emergency services, volunteering and small business portfolios was understood to have been made because of his personal and professional relationship with Mr McGowan.

Another major unaligned figure from Mr Carpenter’s premiership is Alannah MacTiernan, who was instrumental to the expansion of Perth’s railway and highway infrastructure in the 2000s as planning minister.

Ms MacTiernan was a vocal critic of factional influence during that time; she left state politics in 2010, returned in 2017 and was immediately given the agriculture, regional development and ports portfolios, again, largely at Mr McGowan’s behest.

All of this is to say that the interplay between factional politics and closeness to the premier in deciding ministerial appointments is more complex than binary factional groupings may make it seem.

For instance, Mr Carey, who is allied with UWU and is thought to be close with Mr McGowan, was understood to have been elevated at Mr Tinley’s expense and will take from him the housing portfolio.

Few would argue merit wasn’t a factor in that move, given Mr Carey, who represents the electorate of Perth, has experience with the state’s growing homelessness crisis.

Mr Carey was also made local government minister, which may be a nod to his vocal support for transparency and accountability reforms in the sector at a WALGA AGM in 2016 while he was mayor of the City of Vincent.

It is worth mentioning that these promotions came at the same time as Mr McGowan declined to award a member allied with either faction the treasury portfolio.

Instead, the premier decided to take it on in exchange for the jobs and trade and state development portfolios, which are now the responsibility of Mr Cook.

Further, the sheer size of Labor’s caucus, replete with candidates who triumphed in otherwise unwinnable contests, means the ratio of union officials serving in elected office overall has diminished.

Indeed, of the 13 Labor-endorsed candidates who defeated incumbents for seats in the lower house, just Stuart Aubrey and Kim Giddens had any experience within party politics, advising Messrs Tinley and Cook, respectively.

Paul Lilburne, Lara Dalton and Caitlin Collins, meanwhile, were the only candidates to have contested an election before this year.

And while factions and unions backed most of these newly elected members, none has any prominent experience working in the union movement.

This outcome may be a boon for the state government, according to Martin Drum, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Notre Dame Australia.

While Professor Drum noted an array of concerns with one-party control of state government – including the opposition’s diminished oversight powers and the difficulty the state government may face in balancing the concerns of its 53-member caucus – he argued the broader experience of these newly elected candidates could pave the way for fresh perspectives towards governing.

“Sometimes, you might get people in a landslide like this who wouldn’t [ordinarily] get elected,” Professor Drum told Business News.

“The big business and legal professions are important recruitment rounds for politics, but maybe [in landslide election wins] you get FIFO workers and schoolteachers elected in a bigger caucus that you wouldn’t normally see elected.

“You will get additional people from the union movement as it is a Labor caucus … but I think you’ll find a smattering of experience there.

“There are extra union officials but there are teachers, small business owners, doctors, nurses and FIFO workers.

“I don’t know if they’ll all make great contributions, it’s too early to judge, but you’re getting people not ordinarily elected to parliament [and] there are upsides to that as well as downsides.”