The Labor Party has done what it had to do and squared away the US FTA by recommending Caucus vote in favour of it tomorrow. It was a good move from the opposition and sensible to try and neutralise the issue before parliament returns tomorrow - but why did they allow it to bubble away for so long?
The move was immediately attacked by unions and the minor parties, which said Labor had sold out Australia's national interest in a bid to avoid the political fallout from not agreeing to the deal.
Since the free trade agreement (FTA) was struck in February, Labor has been split between the left and the right on whether to back the deal.
But what about the performance by former Trade Minister Peter Cook? Crikey notes:
"The lad has been disendorsed by his own party, goes into a Perth hospital tomorrow for cancer surgery and still put on a good performance over the speaker-phone. That's got to go down in political history as one of the braver efforts we've seen."
Also from Crikey:
"We all know what the vox pop questions from the junior hacks will be as the Labor backbenchers head into Parliament tomorrow, but how many of them will say it is a dud deal?"
Most of the Left will because tonight's Left Caucus meeting voted to vote against the deal but the Left don't have the numbers so it won't matter much
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