THE NSW Labor Party is poised to back a motion today allowing officials to give preferences to the Greens last after substantial changes were made to ease concerns among the Left that the move was a ploy to shift the party to the right. But the debate at today’s ALP state conference is still expected to be fiery.

Many members of the Left are unhappy that the broader attack on the Greens which the motion has sparked could alienate the progressive voters Labor is trying to win back.

They will argue that policy reform, not blaming the Greens, will bring the voters back.

”The debate will benefit from less discussion about the value of our preferences and more discussion of progressive values,” the NSW Labor Left assistant secretary, John Graham, said.

A copy of the motion, first revealed by the Herald online, contains a preamble making significant mention of Labor’s social achievements.

The motion was finalised at a meeting between the NSW ALP general-secretary, Sam Dastyari, and the NSW left powerbrokers Doug Cameron and Mr Graham.

Mr Dastyari did not quibble.

“The NSW Left has raised a legitimate concern that a move towards a re-definition of our relationship with the Greens should occur in conjunction with a continued effort to win over Labor voters who have voted Green in recent years. I agree with that sentiment entirely,” he said. ”The motion has been drafted to reflect this view. “

The motion does not force Labor to give preferences to the Greens last, but gives officials such as Mr Dastyari the option of using this threat as leverage during preference negotiations.

The strong anti-Greens rhetoric which accompanied the announcement of the motion – including claims by Mr Dastyari and others that the Greens were more extreme than One Nation – alarmed the Left that it was a de facto ploy by the NSW Right to push the party to the right.

Consequently, the motion contains a preamble which notes that ”for over 120 years, Labor has advocated for social and economic justice, the environment, the arts and civil liberties”.

In includes such achievements as compulsory superannuation, universal paid parental leave, Medicare, floating the dollar, ending WorkChoices, introducing anti-discrimination legislation and formal native title rights, apologising to the stolen generations and introducing environmental protection laws.

”Labor has a strong and proud history of delivering for all Australians by advocating a positive message of hope and opportunity, and building broad public support on social and economic issues,” it says.

But it also points out that the Greens refused to give preferences to Labor ahead of One Nation and other right-wing parties at last year’s state election. Instead, the Greens issued an open ticket, giving preferences to no one. It also notes the NSW Greens backed ”Coalition Government legislation prohibiting unions and environmental NGOs from running campaigns such as ‘Your Rights at Work’.”

”In view of these circumstances, Conference resolves that NSW Labor should not provide the Greens Party with automatic preferential treatment in any future preference negotiations,” it says.

The state opposition frontbencher and senior Left figure Luke Foley expressed displeasure at the nature of the motion.

Unemployed … Charif is being treated for depression. Photo: Ben Rushton

THE federal government faces a wave of costly litigation for compensation over its treatment of refugees in immigration detention centres, including Villawood, as lawyers examine the cases of scores of former inmates.

The Social Justice Network, an advocacy group based in western Sydney, has referred more than 40 cases to the law firm Slater & Gordon to assess their eligibility to sue the Commonwealth for allegedly breaching its duty of care towards asylum seekers who developed mental illnesses while in detention.

”This could cost Australia hundreds of millions of dollars,” said the network’s spokesman, Jamal Daoud, who describes it as a ”mass action”.

”We want to see these people compensated because they have suffered a lot. A lot of them immediately after they were released into the community were granted disability pensions and were very young people,” Mr Daoud said.

One of the cases being considered is Charif Asaad, 35, who came to Australia 12 years ago on a visitor’s visa from Syria in fear for his life. After working illegally in the construction industry until 2005, he was held at Villawood for three years. There, he claims he was handcuffed during epileptic seizures. A serious lung condition which left him short of breath and prone to collapse was left untreated.

Since being released he has been unable to work and has been taking medication for depression. “I always feel angry all the time. Anything stresses me out. I feel short of breath.”

“I feel very bad that a country such as Australia treat a refugee as an animal or less than an animal. Whatever they give me is not enough because they have taken the best of me. Now if I walk for 15 minutes I feel like I am going to fall down in the road”, Mr Asaad said.

Ben Phi, the practice group leader for Slater & Gordon, which has already successfully pursued several compensation cases for former detainees, said people who come out of detention with psychiatric injuries after having been found to be refugees enter the community “already at a serious disadvantage rather than being able to go out to work and contribute”.

The time people are spending in detention has increased, which contributes to mental illness, he added.

In a legal caution which has implications for federal and opposition plans to process asylum seekers offshore, including Malaysia, Mr Phi said the federal government owes the duty of care to provide adequate medical and psychiatric services to detainees found to be refugees wherever they are held.

By late last year, the federal government had paid $18 million in compensation to asylum seekers for unlawful detention and $5 million for negligence to former detainees.