DEGREES OF SEPARATION

John Muscat

1.

“There is a deepening national division on essentially cultural lines in Australia….
This division, both in society and politics, is not between left and right, rich and poor, but relates to perceived differences between elitist and populist beliefs and priorities”.[1] 

So writes former Labor Party President Barry Jones. While some associate this analysis with the rhetorical stock-in-trade of the political Right, it is now undeniable that Australian society is fractured by a cultural divide of sorts. What is not so certain is whether this divide corresponds neatly with particular social strata or gradations of wealth, power and influence. This uncertainty defines the territory on which the current war over "elites" is waged. Conservatives claim the relative privilege of the cultural Left renders their egalitarian posture a sham. The Left retorts that the charge of elitism is pure hypocrisy on the part of middle class conservatives. The contest has degenerated into a sterile exchange of slogans. After "the twilight of the elites" comes "anti-elitism in Australia".[2] But the truth about the cultural divide is of more than academic interest to Labor, which is in danger of being rent asunder by its ramifications.

The conventional line of political analysis following the defeat of the Keating government focused on the supposedly malign effects of “economic rationalism”. Thirteen years of deregulation, privatization, fiscal discipline, free trade and micro-economic reform, it was argued, alienated traditional Labor voters who joined the stampede to the Coalition. This was always a one-dimensional analysis that slowly faded in the course of three more election victories by the economically rationalist Howard government. This is not to say questions of economic philosophy have receded from the political arena. Issues such as interest rates, taxation, health care, employment security, and housing affordability retain their potency and potential to drive the agenda.

While economic credibility may be the principal lesson of the 2004 election, however,  Labor must not lose sight of a lesson from all elections since 1996: the cultural content of social policy also matters.

Two short and two long term developments have coalesced to push cultural issues to the foreground of the political landscape.

To a lesser extent, relatively stable economic conditions prevail in Australia at the commencement of the new century. Growth rates have exceeded the OECD average, while the interest and inflation rates are at historic lows.. [more . . .]