Commentary The decision by Joel Fitzgibbon, federal member of Parliament for Hunter, to retire at the next election means the Australian Labor Party (ALP) will lose one of the very few MP’s who have dirtied their hands in manual work for any extensive period. Fitzgibbon was an automotive electrician for 12 years, a real worker in traditional Labor terms. When it is recalled that the Labor Party rose from the unions and was established to represent the interests of the working class, principally manual workers, this is indeed ironic. At the same time the unions, once the source of ALP support, are losing members. In 1992, 40 percent of the Australian workforce was unionised. Now it is 14 percent, comprised mostly of public servants, teachers, and health workers. The only way to judge what a party stands for is through the policies it advances and what it actually does in …
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