Fed: Kerr says greater pressures on frontbenchers

AAP General News (Australia)
04-12-2001
Fed: Kerr says greater pressures on frontbenchers

CANBERRA, April 12 AAP - Federal frontbenchers were in a pressure-cooker environment
where every wrong word was pounced on, opposition justice spokesman Duncan Kerr said today.

Opposition employment spokeswoman Cheryl Kernot made a valid point when she said frontbenchers
were under more pressure than backbench colleagues, Mr Kerr said.

Ms Kernot, who joined the Labor frontbench after defecting from the Australian Democrats
in 1997, has come under attack for saying both major parties lacked the image to attract
young voters.

But she has defended her comments, saying it was a curious system that allowed other
members of the party to write columns expressing opinions contrary to Labor policy.

Labor backbencher Mark Latham has a regular weekly column in Sydney's The Daily Telegraph
newspaper and has criticised Labor's education policy.

Mr Kerr said Ms Kernot made the straightforward point that there were greater pressures
on frontbenchers.

"Any statement they make, any word that is inconsistent with expressions of the leadership,
any of that can be pounced on, and is pounced on," he told ABC radio.

"We do work within a pretty pressure cooker environment and there are greater disciplines."

AAP jb/kjp/gmw/br

KEYWORD: KERNOT KERR

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