Labor Party wins against the odds
International Viewpoint #245 May 1993
AGAINST all predictions, the Labour Party defeated the LberalNational coalition in national elections held on March 13. But Prime Minister Paul Keeting can hardly claim enthusiastic endorsement for his pro-capitalist policies. KEN DAVIS - Melbourne, March 23, 1993
A LTHOUGH still based on
the trade union leaderships, the Labor party's policies have become more and more business oriented, leading to a withering of party membership. The left factions within the party have failed to mount any resistance to the government's policies. After 10 years of Labor federal governments unemployment remains over 11%.
Despite the almost unanimous support of the mass media, voters rejected the reactionary strategies and economic rationalism of the Liberals, the traditional party of the Australian bourgeoisie. Although they marginally increased their representation, the election confirmed the decay of the Nationals, a conservative farmers' party in permanent coalition
Working people show no signs of becoming more conservative; indeed there were large swings back to Labor in industrial areas. The unexpected swing to Labor came just days before the ballot, when unprecedented numbers of voters reacted against the threats posed by the
Hewson, the leader of the LiberalNational coalition, waged a demagogic and populist campaign, centred around an economic rationalization plan called Fightback!, which attempted to capitalise on the anger generated by mass unemployment. In recent years, unpopular Labor state governments have been voted out in Tasmania, NSW, Victoria and
### AUSTRALIA
Western Australia. Only in Queensland does the state Labor government retain some level of popular support.
The Liberal-National coalition campaigned on a platform of restoring employment and prosperity by abolishing taxes on business and creating a 15% Goods and Services Tax to shift the burden to consumers.
The Liberals planned a head-on attack on the union movement. Legislation would outlaw strikes and abolish industrial awards in favour of individual or enterprise contracts with employers. These laws would prevent union defence of penalty rates for night and weekend work, overtime, parental leave, study leave, long service leave, meal breaks and national wage increases. Individual workers could be jailed for breaching enterprise agreements dictated by
The Liberals proposed to cut wages for young workers to A$3 per hour, and threatened to cut off unemployment benefits after nine months. Many unions warned members that under Fightback! they would face an average loss in pay of A$10,000 per year.
While Labor has privatized banks and airlines, the Liberals were planning to hasten the sell-off of public utilities, with the state-owned Telecom communications company, the Australian National (shipping) Line and airports first in line for disposal. They planned a A$10bn cut in public spending and an A$50 million cut for the Australian Broadcasting Commission.
Labor reintroduced fees for university students, raised subsidies to private and church schools and shifted the cost of onthe-job training from employers to the government. The Liberals pledged to accelerate the privatization and classpolarization of education.
Labor has undermined health expenditure, but the Liberals promised to force 13 million people to pay private health insurance, to pay for consultations with doctors and use profit-making hospitals.
Under Labor, immigration has been cut from 140,00 per year to 80,000 per year. Hundreds of Asian refugees have been imprisoned and deported. The Liberals wanted to bring immigration down to 50,000 per year, prioritizing business migration and cutting family reunion and humanitarian programmes.
The Liberals also pledged a direct attack on land rights and resources for Aboriginal communities and sought to reverse gains made by the environment, women's and lesbian/gay movements.
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Weakness of electoral alternatives
SMALL party and independent tickets proliferated in this election. With preferential voting for both Houses and proportional representation in the Upper House
(Senate), it is easy for Australian voters to specify their support for smaller political formations without endangering their ability to influence the choice of which major party forms the government. However, in this election neither pro-
*The DSP (Democratic Socialist Party) publishes the weekly paper Green Left. The IPP (Indigenous Peoples
Party) is a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Party in Queensland. The SLL (Socialist Labor League)
are former supporters of the British Workers Revolutionary Party; the CL (Communist League) are supporters
International Viewpoint #245 May 1993
Labor is attempting to reposition Australian imperialism within East Asian capital. Labor governments have supported US military interventions, committing troops to the Gulf and Somalia as well as supporting the regional wars pursued by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The gressive nor reactionary alternative tickets were able to capture the frustration Liberals pledged to dramatically increase of voters or mount coherent challenges to the two dominant parties. the size of the Australian armed forces, and cut the hardly generous overseas The Greens, who are attempting to establish a functioning nation-wide electoral development aid budgets. network fared well, but in many cases lost ground on previous results. The libe-
In the excitement of its unexpected ral petit bourgeois Democrats, the official third party, lost two thirds of their vote, but retain the balance of power in the Senate. win, the Labor leader, Paul Keating, pledged a return to "traditional Labor values" In a working class district of Melbourne an independent candidate, Phil Clary, and paid homage to the "true believers" was re-elected, beating the labor candidate with Liberal preferences. Ruled out who stayed with Labor - industrial wor- of office some months ago on a legal technicality, he has strong support as an kers, women, migrant communities and articulate campaigner against the reactionary Kennett state government in Victhose active in social justice campaigns. toria and against the anti-working class policies of the federal Labor govern-
The re-elected government is promising that the recession is over and that The Democratic Socialist Party (formerly the Socialist Workers Party) ran the capitalism in Australia is being effective- only substantial socialist campaign with a total of 15 candidates, almost all ly restructured, though there is no sign women. Some DSP members ran as independents and as Green Alliance or that unemployment will decrease. The local green candidates. They directed preferences to the mainstream Green ticseventh Accord between the government kets unless local Greens were promoting anti-immigration views. In most cases, and union leaderships — a further the DSP also directed preferential votes to the middle class Democrats over attempt to guarantee industrial peace while real wages continue to fall - was While there were socialist or progressive options in various constituencies, ovetentatively announced before the election. rall there was an absence of a coherent working class political alternative in the
Republican sentiment, linked more to electoral arena. No sector of the Labor party, the unions, the Greens or the bourgeois nationalism than working class Democrats waged campaigns posing anti-capitalist solutions to unemployment resistance, has been fostered by Keating. In the aftermath of the election even A large number of reactionary formations attempted to capitalise on the alienasome Liberal leaders are conceding that tion of voters from the major parties but their tallies remained marginal. In this the current flag with the British Union election the potential constituencies for fascist, religious and xenophobic camJack should be replaced and that the paigns were swept up in the populism of the Liberals' campaign. This does not Queen of England should be replaced as preclude the possibility that such reactionary outfits might congeal into a more head of state by an elected president. * coherent force during the term of the re-elected Keating government. * ment.
Labor.
and poverty.
Election results
Lower House Electorates
Senate (23 seats elected this poll)
1990
Labor
39%/77 seats
34%/54 seats
Liberal
8%/14 seats
National
Independent
6%/2 seats
Democrat
11%/0 seats
1993
45%/80 seats
36%/49 seats
7%/16 seats
7%/2 seats
5%/0 seats
1990 1993 32 seats 30 seats 30 seats 31 seats 4 seats 4 seats 8 seats 8 seats 1 seat
Green
Independent/Right
Scores of small leftwing parties*
Lower House no. of electorates no. of tickets
Greens
63
DSP
14
SUL
8
CL
1
IPP
9 of the US Socialist Workers Party.
average vote
4.3% 8
1.2% 1
0.6% 0
0.2% 1
0.6% 0
2 seats
1 seat
1 seat
Senate average vote
3.3%
0.08%
0.004%
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