The Australian Labor Party is now in government in all states and territories and federally. The highest ranking elected Liberal Party politician in power is the Lord Mayor of Brisbane.
In the national tally room in Canberra on Saturday night you could clearly hear chants from the floor of "throw them out" as results were being posted up signifying a political rout for the conservatives. There were cheers each time the Prime Minister's own electorate results were posted up showing he was likely to be defeated in a close race with high profile former ABC journalist Labor candidate Maxine McKew. In the Prime Minister's Sydney electorate of Bennelong and several more where the outcome is close, it will be Green preferences strongly favouring the Labor party that decide the result.
The issues of the election were many and varied but included reaction against the 'Workchoices' anti-union legislation, concern on environmental issues especially climate change, and support for public infrastructure in health, education and communications. After 11 turbulent years of conservative Federal Government many voters expressed simply a need for change: to Vote the Bastards Out. As indeed it was.
Just days before the election the husband of Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Lindsay, as well as the husband of Jackie Kelly the retiring Liberal member, were caught red-handed letterboxing a fake leaflet in the name of a fictional muslim organisation congratulating the ALP on its supposed support for muslim extremism. A third person caught was a member of the Liberal Party state executive. Although John Howard attempted dissociation from this incident, the damage to Liberal Campaigning was done and showed the extent of the desperation of the Liberal Party this election. It resulted in a strong swing to the Labor candidate in the seat of Lindsay, and averaged 7.9% across NSW electorates.
The greatest swings to the Labor Party were felt in Queensland, the home state of Kevin Rudd, where several safe Coalition seats swung to Labor with an average state swing of 8.7%. Industrial relations changes were said by the Labor Party to be a major factor, although degredation of the Great Barrier Reef by climate change may have played a part. There is still a high rate of unionism in Queensland.
In Tasmania the proposal by Gunns Ltd to build a controversial $1.3billion pulp mill in the Tamar Valley, approved by the Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, almost certainly boosted the green vote. Activists are likely to continue challenging the pulp mill through all legal and social avenues, and then through civil disobedience if necessary to stop the pulp mill from being built.
In other states climate change was highlighted as a prominent issue with a march by up to 150,000 people across Australia two weeks before the election, and activist protests and blockades in NSW and Western Australia highlighting CO2 emissions from coal exports and coal fired power stations.
Anti-union legislation and individual work contracts - Australian Workplace Agreements - are having an increasing effect on working people in reducing their conditions of employment. Howard's battlers, aspirationl working class families - finally decided this election to desert the conservatives. The Australian Council of Trade Unions campaigned against the Government on this legislation. Three high profile unionists: Greg Combet, former secretary of the ACTU, Richard Marles from the ACTU, and Bill Shorten from the Australian Workers Union, were all elected as Labor candidates this election.
This election saw a record vote for the Greens of 7.8% nationally. Senator Bob Brown, the Greens Leader from Tasmania, easily won a full quota (14.5%) for himself with 17.74% of the primary vote. The Greens are likely to win the sixth Senate spot for South Australia and Western Australia. With two Green Senators not up for election this time, this election is likely to increase their representation to 5 Senators, a level which guarantees them minor party status and extra parliamentary resources.
Due to preference flows Green Senate candidates in NSW and Victoria are unlikely to win enough preference votes to achieve a quota (14.5%), despite winning 10.11% of the vote in Victoria and 8.36% in New South Wales, and clearly being the third party on primary votes after the ALP and the conservative Liberal National Coalition. NSW Greens Senator Kerry Nettle, who has supported many activist and progressive campaigns over the last 6 years, appears likely to lose her Senate Seat.
Activists need to keep the pressure up on the Rudd Labor Government in office to ensure business, social, welfare, and environmental reforms are instituted to adapt the social infrastructure to face the global challenges of peak oil, global climate change and inequalities of wealth distribution. The Liberals campaign slogan of "going for growth" was rejected at the polls. It is now time for the Labor Party to govern for sustainability and for activists to keep these new bastards honest.
Labor Government
So what does the electoral change pressage for Australia? As the Liberal National Parties have moved more right wing to embrace free market neo-liberal policies and jettisoning small 'l' liberal social policies, the Labor party has followed them to the right. They are both parties supported by big business now. The new Labor Government of Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd has highlighted the priorities of industrial relations and climate change for immediate attention.
The new Government will be slighlty reformist on social and environmental policies, but will attempt to set a conservative economic course. There will be some rollback of the anti-union legislation that Howard pushed through in his last term, but many people in the labour movement doubt it will be a total rollback.
The Rudd Government will move to sign the Kyoto Protocol immediately, and will attempt to have a bargaining role at the UN climate treaty discussions held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2007. The new Environment Minister for Australia is likely to be Peter Garrett, former lead singer of the progressive rock band Midnight Oil and a former President of the Australian Conservation Foundation. Garrett has been an outspoken critic in the past of the US-Australian military alliance and for anti-war, anti-uranium, and indigenous rights issues, but has had to subsume some of his person views to publicly spruik the more conservative policies of the Labor party.
Julia Guillard will become the deputy Prime Minister, the first female to achieve this office in Australia. Conservative politicians attempted to discredit her during 2007 for 'being barren' and being a left-wing front person for trade unions, but failed dismally in their campaign. As a highly articulate former labour lawyer she has deflected these criticisms and remained focussed on labour policy during the campaign, and is widely respected in the Labor party and wider labour movement for her principled political dedication.
While Labor has achieved a majority in the House of Representatives and will form Government, it will face a conservative controlled Senate for the next seven months. In July 2008 the new Senators take their seats which will result in the 5 Greens Senators, the single Family First Senator, and independent anti-gambling senator Nick Xenophon (anti-gambling, pro-consumer protection, attention to the water crisis, ratifying Kyoto, opposition against what he calls a decrease in state rights, and opposition to WorkChoices) having the balance of power.
Foreign Policy
Labor has committed to withdrawing troops from Iraq but will maintain forces in Afghanistan for the moment. Kevin Rudd is a former diplomat fluent in Mandarin, so we are likely to see greater diplomatic relations with China and Asia generally.
Migration Issues
The Labor Party is committed to maintaining mandatory detention of asylum seekers, although the Pacific solution where asylum seekers are housed in concentration camps on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea will be phased out. The new detention facility on Christmas Island will be used for asessing refugee status of asylum seekers. Refugee assessments may be viewed with more sympathy under the new Labor Government.
Health and Education
Addressing the growing inequities in health care through the subsidisation of private health insurance, and funding of private eduction while public education stagnates are key issues which Labor will have problems addressing with out alienating aspirational voters. The new Federal Government is likely to sit down with State Health Ministers to discuss increasing the efficiency and funding of the public hospital system, a long overdue measure given Australia's aging population demographic.
Uranium Mining
Australian Labor Party uranium Policy (adopted April 2007) states that "Labor will only allow the mining and export of uranium under the most stringent conditions" but has dropped opposition to new uranium mines being developed. In relation to exports, "Labor will allow the export of uranium only to those countries which observe the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), are committed to non-proliferation policies, have ratified international and bilateral nuclear safeguards agreements and maintain strict safeguards and security controls over their nuclear power industries."
See Nuclear Free Australia scorecard
Environment
Australian Comservation Foundation (ACF) Executive Director Don Henry said in a press release shortly before the election “Labor has pledged to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, has a strong renewable energy target and good policies to encourage energy efficiency, while the Coalition has none of these. Neither major party has committed to a 2020 target to cut Australia’s greenhouse pollution."
“Unfortunately neither of the major parties has shown the strong commitment that’s needed to urgently return the Murray River to health and both have expressed support for the Gunns pulp mill that will entrench the destruction of Tasmania’s forests for decades to come."
Climate change is likely to produce increased drought conditions across Australia which will affect food productivity and water supplies. Already overallocation of water resources in the Murray Darling river system is a big concern both in terms of potable drinking water, and water for agricultural production.
Some of the key environmental commitments by the Labor Party include:
- Ratify the Kyoto protocol
- 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, based on 2000 levels.
- 2020 target will be announced in 2008.
- cap and trade carbon scheme will be implemented in 2010.
- renewable energy target of 20% by 2020.
- $500million fund for development and commercialisation of renewable energy technologies,
- $150million energy innovation fund.
- $500m Green Car Innovation Fund to tackle climate change by manufacturing low emission vehicles in Australia.
- Promotion of less greenhouse intensive forms of transport including public transport, cycling and walking.
- Introduce energy and greenhouse efficiency minimum standards and review every 3 years.
- $300million housing retrofit program to phase out inefficient water heating by 2012,
- energy efficiency programs including $15m Green Precincts community grants for energy and water efficiency.
- $250 million water security plan for towns and cities for programs to reduce water losses.
- Commit to return 1,500 billion litres in annual environmental flows to the Murray by 2017.
- commit to science-based environmental flows and a national rivers program that provides adequate flows to rivers, addresses encroaching salinity and enables the restoration of river systems currently in crisis.
- $240million for a clean business fund.
- Commitment to repeal the Act that imposes a nuclear waste dump on the Northern Territory.
- $1 million commitment to identify illegally logged timber and restrict its import.
- $150million for a climate change adaption program in the region in aid program.
See Australian Conservation Foundation election scorecard (PDF)
Desalination
The NSW and Victorian State Governments have started building Desalination plants to provide drinking water for their capital cities following the construction of a desalination plant in Perth. Such plants are high intensity energy users (resulting in increased greenhouse gases and thus further climate change). The plant in Victoria will be built under a public-private partnership which will obligate the Government (and thus the public as consumers) to purchase water even when there is sufficient water stored in the water catchments.
Source: Sydney Indymedia
This article by John Englart (Takver) was originally posted at San Fransisco Bay Area Indymedia on Sun, Nov 25, 2007 4:48AM. IT has been added to this archive on 18 January 2025.
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