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May 15, 2005
These are conservative times we live in, as we learn to come to grips with the impact of living in a global economy, the effects of the culture wars, and the decay of liberalism. These are big changes working themselves out behind our backs and they are transforming the political landscape.
In Australia, you can see the conservatism of the times illustrated by the difficulties the Australian Labor Party (ALP) is encountering in regaining the Treasury benches. David Burchell has an op. ed. in Saturday's Australian Financial Review (subscription required) about the decline in the ALP's percentage of the primary vote. Burchill says:
"From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Labor's percentage share of the primary vote hovered around the mid-40s. But in the 1996 election it dipped below 40 per cvent and, aside from a brief rally in 1998, has been falling ever since. It's now heading into the mid-30s. This is territory modern Labor has never occupied before. If the trend continues, Labor could cease to be a viable alternative government."
It is not just the ALP vote. The Labor electoral brand is also in trouble as a decreasing number of Australians say that the ALP best represents their views on issues other than the core ones of health, education and enviornment. Burchill says:
'In 2001 and 2004 alike, a mere 27 per cent of respondents identified with Labor as "best representing their views". In other words, little more than quarter of the electorate identifies with what they think of as Labor values. In contrast, almost 44 per cent of respondents now believe that one or other of the coalition parties best represents their views. You could say the ALP is undergoing a crisis of relevance.'
Burchill says the ALP is primarily seen as a big-hearted party of social assistance but little else, whilst its stress on infrastructure rebuilding and skills and training is a slender platform for renewal.
Where to for renewal?
Burchill says that:
"Labor clearly needs to give voters positive reasons to vote for it. Purely defensive commitments to the survival of quality public schooling and public health are not enough---nor is a largely "me-too" approach to economic policy."
The ALP does appear to be locked into a defence of the old welfare state even though Mark Latham, its previous leader, tried to break new ground with his Third Way. Burchill makes some suggestions to what is needed:
"To generate a sense of relevance, Labor needs not just a defence-of-public schooling policy but innovative strategies for quality schooling. It needs not just a policy on hospitals and pharmaceuticals but a general strategy on health improvement and "wellness."'It needs to find creative approaches to welfare and employment that encourage independence and self-reliance, rather than simply reinforcing a now descredited and unpopular culture of welfare dependence."
I reckon that is the right pathway and one that the ALP had started to walk along.
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