Pining for stability, Labor backs Beazley  January 23, 2005
<i>Illustration:</i> Phil Burgoyne  Illustration: Phil Burgoyne
A has-been and two wannabes have been battling over what could
be a job to lose to Peter Costello, or John Howard, in 2007,
writes Michelle Grattan.  The tree of knowledge at Barcaldine in
Queensland, site of the Labor Party's birth, has come through
trying times to survive. Peter Beattie announced the good news
on Friday.  The ailments and problems that afflicted the tree
sound a bit like those of federal Labor: termites, dying
branches, soil compaction around its base, attacks by insects.
The experts removed dead wood and gave it nutrients.  Now the
tree has been fixed up. ALP federal members are hoping something
of the same can be done for the party.  Since the Keating
government burned at the polls in 1996, Labor has had three
leaders. Kim Beazley gave the job up gracefully after two
defeats; Simon Crean was executed slowly and painfully; Mark
Latham imploded extraordinarily, driven