Labor’s working-class woes

Traditional voters turning away from party

LABOR insiders fear their party is no longer the voice of the working class.

Working-class electorates Bass, Braddon and Lyons have voted Liberal in three state elections across the past seven years, and the big question is how many times “disgruntled Labor voters” can vote against their historical party of choice before they can be counted as rusted-on Liberals.

“It’s a legitimate question, this is the third straight election defeat for Labor,” former deputy premier Peter Patmore said.

Dr Patmore said the socioeconomic make-up of Tasmanian voters had changed over the past 20 years and traditional working-class voters no longer saw themselves as such.

Former Tasmanian Labor senator and MHA Terry Aulich agreed.

“Tradies don’t see themselves as working-class. They see themselves as independent small businesses,” he said.

Mr Aulich said new voters aged 18 to 25, the sons and daughters of traditional Labor families, had failed to respond to the Labor message.

“Most hardly read newspapers, don’t watch free-to-air news,” he said.

“They get news via Twitter, they don’t care about health because, as we know, at that age we feel bullet-proof.

“To get through to this group is difficult. They’re not joiners, they don’t join parties or sporting clubs.’’

He said these voters got their sense of community in cyberspace and were less aware of neighbourhood concerns.

“The Liberals are not the party of the working class, not yet, because they have simply kicked their problems down the road, they’re facing budget issues and, at some point, they will have to deliver or be seen to have failed,” Mr Aulich said.

Former Labor premier David Bartlett said voters could come running back to Labor once the Gutwein government’s financial management became an issue as the JobKeeper stimulus dried up.

Dr Pete Hay, former speech writer for Labor PM Gough Whitlam and adviser to former Labor MP Michael Aird, said Labor was today another party of capital, but with a progressive social agenda.

“The working class these days is increasingly attracted to conservative parties, less for reasons of economic policy than for social values,” Dr Hay said.