Like everyone else, it seems, I'm doing my own bit of thinking (& breast beating!) about the current position of Labor following the election. Here's an article by Barry Jones, which makes a lot of sense to me:
The capitulation of modern Labor
October 22, 2004
The ALP has failed to treat its cancer. Now the party's heart and
mind are in imminent peril, writes Barry Jones.
Australia now has two mainstream parties of the right: the ALP in the centre right and the Liberal Party on the hard right. This is an illustration of "political compaction", like being offered a choice between McDonald's and KFC. Is there any room for a party of the left in Australia, representing people who believe that the world and the nation should be improved, rather than settling for the status quo?
... (During the election campaign) ..There was no sustained debate on weapons of mass destruction, security, intelligence failures, the Iraq war, or politicisation of the public service and armed forces. It is as if Howard said to Labor, "Don't mention the war, or Aborigines or refugees," and the ALP responded, "We were never going to mention them anyway." George Bush and Tony Blair have suffered collateral damage over Iraq, but Howard has been completely unscathed. The US ambassador would have been thrilled by the campaign. Howard was quoted as expressing surprise at Labor's restraint.
Labor failed to pursue the issue of credibility and truth in government. Truth in government was raised by the 43 retired diplomats and military officers, but Labor let the subject drop. The "truth in government" issue produced a very cynical reaction in Australia: "All politicians lie." Labor senator John Faulkner made a powerful point: all his investigative work in the Senate on issues on which the Government was indefensible appeared to make no public impact. Australia seemed to have a more cynical reaction than the US or Britain, along the lines of: "So what? Who cares?"
..Aborigines were never mentioned in the campaign, nor refugees, because they are perceived as minority causes, completely repudiated under "wedge politics". We are more affluent but meaner, more divided, more preoccupied with immediate economic self-interest. The division between rich and poor has never been wider - a plurality of Australians are doing well, and bugger the rest. Economics triumphed; ethics, compassion and diversity came nowhere. The Government is morally bankrupt - and Labor is not too far behind.
...Labor suffers from policy anorexia, except in education and health. The 2004 ALP national conference produced masses of policy papers - but how many party activists, let alone citizens, could identify the five most important policy decisions adopted at that conference? What could we have put on the T-shirts or the bumper stickers?
Too many policy areas were left out - arts, Aborigines, refugees, water, foreign affairs, women, "the third age", the ABC, science, population and immigration, trade and industry, industrial relations.
....
The ALP is not, and should not be, simply a machine that organises election campaigns every few years - it needs to provide spiritual, ethical and intellectual nourishment to the Australian people, and promote a creative, generous nation. Labor must promote an inclusive agenda, not an excluding one.
At present, there is a significant disenfranchisement of Labor's traditional vote, people who feel lonely and alienated from the party they have always voted for. If Labor does not bring them home, the party's heart and mind will die.
http://theage.com.au/articles/2004/10/21/1098316784887.html
