An open letter to Eddie Obeid from Frank Sartor

Dear Eddie,

You should go now and without any further delay. In fact, you should have left the parliamentary party a decade ago. You epitomise the malaise within the Labor Party.

Why did you create the Terrigals sub-faction? How are your philosophy and values so different from the rest of the right-wing as to warrant a new grouping? In fact, what do you stand for, Eddie?

In my eight years in the parliamentary Labor Party I never learnt what exactly you stood for, other than the exercise of influence. Helped by your mate Joe Tripodi (who was a bit brighter than you), you only ever seemed interested in running the shop. You loved telling your colleagues that if they did the right thing (your bidding) they would be looked after.

And they were looked after. An analysis I did of Labor MPs in 2009 showed about 90 per cent were earning a salary above the base entitlements of backbenchers, because they attracted appointments as ministers, as parliamentary secretaries, and to various committees. I dare say some committees were probably even created just to provide these financial rewards.

If only that was all you did. You also wanted to be kingmaker, so you shifted your allegiance between premiers and premiership candidates. I am sure Carl Scully remembers that well, after you encouraged him to go for the premiership and then stabbed him in the back. And then, aided and abetted by Karl Bitar, you stabbed Morris Iemma in the back and installed Rees. You also marshalled the numbers to remove me from cabinet.

When Rees woke up to you and Joe, due to your pervasive influence on the government, and dumped Joe and Ian Macdonald, you stabbed him in the back and installed Kristina Keneally - to stop Sartor at all costs, because he wouldn't deal with you.

Meanwhile, you were busy trying to peddle influence. You undermined me on development matters, saying that I ''wasn't a team player''. I wonder what that meant? Is being a planning minister with statutory responsibility a team thing? I couldn't find that reference in the Planning Act.

You and Bitar constantly harassed Iemma about the Barangaroo development behind my back. Well you got what you wanted. Keneally became planning minister, she approved much higher density for the site and now you have a controversial development built, in part, over the harbour. Brilliant public policy, Eddie. Well done, mate!