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October 5, 2008
Niall Lucy and Steve Mickler's The War on Democracy: Conservative Opinion in the Australian Press identifies Australia's conservative movement as seeking to comprehensively replace the notion of 'democracy as social progress' (with inherent safeguards for minority groups) with an understanding of 'democracy' as mere representation of the will of the majority. For Australian conservatives, they argue, democracy is not about protecting all within the social body; it is about protecting a variously defined 'majority'. Thus, a democracy is not government by will of the people, but government by will of the majority.
So conservatives see Prime Minister John Howard as a democratic leader, not because he gives expression to the rights and interests of the least powerful individuals and groups in a society, but rather because he represents the will of the majority.
Protecting a variously defined 'majority' is a "repressive liberalism", particularly in relation to immigrants in Australia. When Australian conservatives seek to justify anti-immigrant policies, they no longer invoke nationally-distinctive myths, identities or narratives, but rather invoke Australian values, and argue that immigrants are a threat to these Australian values.
Current conservative opinion writers argue that Australian politics and culture continues to be infiltrated and dominated by left-wing ideologues, ‘Marxists’ and ‘extremists’ who are at odds with the honest conservatives who see themselves as representing the interests of ‘ordinary’ Australians against 'the left'. The latter are intent on imposing their undemocratic views on the media, schools, universities and other public institutions and cultural practices.
Update: 5 October
My own interest in this is less the media commentariat than the conservative discourse. It is marked by aggressive rage towards their revolving door of enemies coupled to a sense of being the victim because their enemies oppress them, despite the conservatives being in power for a decade or more. Glenn Greenward's comments about the mentality of the American conservatives apply to Australian conservatives:
The objective, as always, is to believe that they are weak and hapless victims being stomped on by some Evil, Unfair Force, and that self-pitying worldview can then explain away every last one of their failings. That is the mentality that lies at the heart of today's right-wing ideologue; more or less, it's all there is..
Not only have the Australian patriotic conservatives played the victim; they’ve used this perceived victimhood to fuel their dominance, as their “everyone’s against us” attitude bolsters their rage in attacking their opponents.
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With the benefit of hindsight, L and M's arguments were heavily context-dependent. Without Howard the columnists they looked at are much reduced and kind of aimless without the culture wars to justify their existence.
For mine, it would be more productive to consider the commentariat as a whole. Neither side is terribly good at accommodating what they both like to call dissent. Neither is prepared to accept their failings. Both can be said to have extremist views considering the average.