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August 30, 2006
Don Chipp's phrase 'Keeping the bastards honest' is a good political slogan and program isn't it. It has become a key part of political culture and shapes how we think about Canberra. I guess that a lot of the commentary around Don Chipp's death yesterday will be about whether the Australian Democrats, the political party he founded in 1977, can arrest their own slide into political oblivion as a centrist force in federal politics.
I presume the consensus judgement will be that Chipp failed in his attempt to refashion the political landscape, given the slow fading of the Australian Democrats after they lost the balance of power and so their ability to negotiate better outcomes by taking the rough edges off either party's policies, as well as force inquiries and so put their own issues on the agenda. The Canberra press gallery has written off the party as a viable, centrist political force.
Sean Leahy
What should also be remembered in our reflections on the history of our political culture is that Chipp left the Liberal Party in the 1970s because it was becoming increasingly illiberal in its turn away from the progressive or social liberal tradition. The social liberals who are left are marginalised and under threat from the conservatives. If there is any committment to liberalism, then it is to a truncated market liberalism counterbalanced by a strong and heavy handed state.
Sure there is a gap on the political spectrum for a party appealing to the educated liberal-progressive middle class and, at this stage, it looks as if the Greens may fill it. At the moment they position themselves to the left of the ALP and not self-consciously sitting in the middle between the two major parties endeavouring to "keep the bastards honest".
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The Democrats "slow fading" began long before they lost the balance of power.
Some believe the fade started the day Meg Lees rolled over on the GST. While I'm not convinced this was the defining moment, though it certainly was one of them. Kernot's defection to Labor, the Lees/Stott Despoja infighting, drunken escapades, etc all played a part.
The voters lost confidence in them and its difficult to win that back when they can't affect policies that worry voters - interest rates, IR laws, housing affordability, etc. But their not exactly helping themselves ATM, are they? When did you last hear any of their Senators arguing a case on any of these matters. Yes, I appreciate the media isn't interested in providing a platform, but there are other ways of getting attention.
I doubt voters will be wanting to give either of the majors a Senate majority again, so the opportunity is there for the Dems, but they're going to have to win it, its not going to get it handed to them on a plate!