The Guardian 17 May, 2006
Editorial
Can the Labor Party win an election?
Kim Beazley’s budget reply speech was billed as a make-or-break event to shore up his standing as the leader of the Labor Party among his parliamentary colleagues. In this he probably succeeded — at least in the short term.
His second objective had to be to make a contribution that would put the ALP on the path to win the next 2007 Federal election. Whether he succeeded in that remains to be seen. Will Beazley’s pact with "middle Australia" and the policies put forward do the trick? Not likely!
Policies to provide child-care centres associated with primary schools, to overcome skill shortages by subsidising TAFE fees, action against unfair dismissals, denying visas to skilled foreign workers and an upgraded broadband service for schools are hardly the stuff of an election winning program.
Budgets are about using economics to serve political ends and it is their political ends that Howard and Costello never neglect for one moment. From their point of view it’s about returning Liberal governments into the future and about bolstering the capitalist system in a world where capitalism is facing its most serious crisis in many countries if not yet in Australia.
This was the occasion for the ALP to clearly differentiate on political and philosophical questions, to separate the ALP from Howard’s conservatism and to dissociate the ALP from Howard’s pro-corporate economic policies. There was no such vision nor will it come from the present ALP leadership because they basically agree with Howard’s economic policies. And when it comes to important matters of foreign policy, Beazley & Co merely criticise the government because it didn’t go far enough or should have done what they did earlier.
While making a very brief mention of the war in Iraq, which received a round of applause from the parliamentary gallery, he did not develop the issue. Would an ALP government actually withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and Afghanistan?
The ALP supports and, in fact, initiated economic rationalist policies. It implemented "competition policy" and the privatisation of public enterprises and still does. It was the first to start the process of award-stripping and the introduction of individual work contracts. There was no mention of abandoning any of these policies.
While Kim Beazley had announced that an ALP government would tear up Howard’s IR legislation this was limited in his Budget speech to changing unfair dismissal legislation. Furthermore, the ALP is not in the forefront of the campaign of the trade union movement to expose and oppose the anti-worker and anti-trade union WorkChoices legislation. It seems to oppose any significant extra-parliamentary action on the streets.
Both Costello and Beazley omitted to say anything about education yet this is one of the most important issues in the community. There is a need for the ALP to support the public education system but it did not come. It was an opportunity to really tear into the Howard government over its extreme right-wing and conservative social policies. It was an opportunity missed.
There was no criticism of the huge and ever-increasing military expenditure which is now set to be increased by a guaranteed three percent every year up to 2016. The Federal government is spending more on the military than on education.
Both Beazley and Kevin Rudd have supported the military intervention in the Solomon Islands and the dispatch of two warships to the East Timor region. They are also at one with Howard in his attempts to cozy up to Indonesia over refugees from West Papua and do not appear to support the justified demand of the West Papuan people for independence.
Basic to the ALP’s foreign policy is the alliance with the US and support for its military adventures which could in the future become even more widespread and dangerous.
Beazley’s budget speech missed the opportunity to show political vision and a clear cut differentiation from the policies and the conservative outlook of the Howard government. That’s why the ALP’s present limited policies are not likely to stir the blood and generate the enthusiasm and confidence needed to win an election.