What’s to become of Labor now?

ALP still struggling to come to grips with loss of traditional voters, says Gary Bakker

ICAN’T be the only traditionally Leftist voter to be completely frustrated at the lack of coherent, consistent policy coming from what appears to be a leaderless, directionless, vacuous Australian Labor Party.

Federally and at state level, and not only in Australia, the role of opposition has been taken up by centrists, independents, Greens and the smaller parties, as the ALP cements its small-target, we’re-the-same-you-know strategy on issues such as coal exports, offshore detention centres, hysterical ‘antiterrorism’ laws, voluntary assisted dying and so on.

Instead of developing an inspiring policy direction narrative, and going out to sell this to the community, ALP members are each pointing to their own area of concern as the main reason Labor lost the May federal election, and are recommending a shift to the Right on each of those issues.

Witness Joel Fitzgibbon on what Labor used to regard as “the great moral challenge of our generation”, as he called for the ALP to drop its current CO2 emissions target of a 45 per cent reduction, in favour of the Coalition’s of a 26-28 per cent cut by 2030.

It is arguable that none of these individual policy blames are right, and that an overall lack of inspiration, plus Clive Palmer’s millions of dollars in spoiler tactic advertising, were the real cause of the loss, especially as the biggest nonmajor-party vote in Australia’s history occurred.

This does not suggest that all of the ALP’s policies were wrong, and all of the Coalition’s were better. It suggests that some of the Coalition’s policies were detested or misunderstood less than some of Labor’s. In fact the Liberals, the Nationals, and Labor all had swings away from them. So becoming even less of a clear, inspiring alternative is not the answer.

Meantime the new leader, Anthony Albanese, continues to struggle with the worldwide demographic and structural changes over the past 40 years that have seen union membership as a proportion of the workforce in Australia drop from 51 per cent to 14 per cent. No longer do all the poor and the blue collar workers vote Labor, while the rich and the aspiring vote Liberal.

Votes have been lost by both groups in different directions and for other than Left-Right reasons. So other parties have benefited, both to the Left (eg Greens) and to the Right (eg One Nation).

So, what is the ALP to do, if it is not to water itself down until it becomes a vacillating centrist alliance with some minority unionist support?

There is a clue in the loss of this simple Left-Right distinction. There are three underlying dimensions that have defined the Left-Right political spectrum throughout history. And they have varied in relative importance at different times. They are:

(a) Communitarianism or Collectivism versus Individualism. Is the individual person the basic unit of humankind, for which the state is formed? Or does the tribe, community, or nation need to succeed, so that the individual can survive? The answer may vary depending on the circumstances, such as the strictures of a subsistence existence versus the freedoms allowable in conditions of affluence.

(b) Egalitarianism or Equalitarianism versus Hierarchicalism or Elitism or Authoritarianism. Are we, or should we be, aiming toward a country in which the fittest survive, the smartest (or most ruthless) rule, and the richest create dynasties? Or one in which a progressive taxation system counters the inevitability that money makes money?

(c) Conservatism versus Progressivism: Are our goals stability, tradition, the moral ‘correctness’ of religion, and conformity? Or are they more toward social freedoms, scientific progress, and multicultural openness?

Historically, the ALP has had its focus mostly on (b). It has represented especially the underclasses in the struggle for some sort of parity, at least an equality of opportunity. But now the poor are mostly no longer “on the breadline”. Few are union members. More lower socioeconomic status people are voting elsewhere.

The emerging issues determining their votes are social and environmental.

But because the ALP is so mealy-mouthed on these issues, not wanting to upset the coal miners and conservative Christians, people are turning to the Greens, the centrist independents (generally economically conservative but socially progressive – true ‘liberals’), or even simplistic populists such as One Nation or Clive Palmer, because at least they have a direction, a narrative, a plan, however misguided it may be.

So, the dimension of ‘Leftism’ that the meandering, confused, abandoned ALP must embrace if it is to rebound, indeed to survive, is that of (c) Progressivism. In these changing (read ‘climate changing’) times, it should allow the Liberal Party to become the party of the past. Dragging their feet, leaving Australia to fall behind, in a world that is changing direction. Embrace change. Give people jobs, but good jobs. Jobs that will last, and pay well into the future. New tech jobs. Even the bosses, the big companies and your kids want this.

Here is a narrative that can

THE ROLE OF OPPOSITION HAS BEEN TAKEN UP BY CENTRISTS, INDEPENDENTS, GREENS AND SMALLER PARTIES AS THE ALP CEMENTS ITS WE’RE-THE-SAME-YOU-KNOW STRATEGY ON COAL EXPORTS, OFFSHORE DETENTION, ANTI-TERRORISM LAWS AND VOLUNTARY ASSISTED DYING

unite the poor, the workers, the entrepreneurs, trendies, parents, farmers … Everyone but the coal, oil, and gas millionaires who want to keep digging it up and shipping it off for as long as the big corporations overseas are willing to pay for it.

There is but one thing missing for the ALP. I advocated “developing an

inspiring policy direction narrative, and going out to sell this to the community”.

The ALP has no Whitlam, Hawke or Keating to do this for them. Anthony Albanese doesn’t have the persona for this, as well as not believing in it anyway. A true Progressive is required, as well as one with chutzpah.

Tanya Plibersek? Mark Butler? I hope so, but they will need to really believe in this quest. And then to find the leadership qualities to rally the party, and to inspire the people. I can’t see it happening. Please prove me wrong.