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A Proud Tradition of Mediocrity

By Neale Towart

Budgets always generate hype and a media circus, especially in the lead up to elections. This one is no exception and the Coalition consistency in panic and lack of ideas is reassuring in its lack of ideas.

	Ben Chifley

With Costello presenting a budget comprised of re-announced spending promises (all well into a safe future so they can be safely discarded as non-core promises), a wonderfully generous $300 to the wealthy retired for the ongoing odorous GST, and totally without ideas for what the future course of the country will be, it a look at the budget debate of 1982, when Howard tried the same approach, is revealing.

As the whole rationale for the Coalition is to be anti Labor, rather than pro-anything, the bankruptcy of ideas is consistent in the Liberal Party. The Chifley example demonstrates an ongoing commitment to equality, people and industry, while the Whitlam vision of 1972 shows a party concerned with people, and a willingness to trust peoples feelings of equality, social justice and participation.

Contrast this with the preparation of the Fraser-Howard budget in 1982, as reported by Paul Kelly in The Hawke Ascendancy: 1975-1983. There is a striking familiarity in the advice Tony Eggleton, director of the Libs, gave to Malcolm Fraser that the "Government must use the budget as a means of restoring its lost political credibility." Fraser chose to do this by spending, despite a track record of lowering the deficit every year until then (Costello has been bragging about the surplus he has delivered each year, which is looking pretty shaky now). "Howard's authority (he had been trying to minmise any deficit blow out) was flouted each day, until relations between himself and Fraser reached their nadir."

With a big spending budget designed a vote winner, the election didn't happen until the next March (largely because of the unforeseen fallout from the Costigan Royal Commission), by which time the face of the ALP had changed and the government's political fortunes had waned. David Barnett diagnosed the fatal flaws for Fraser (after the loss). "The answer, I believe, was a loss of faith in basic principles, and with that loss of faith a loss of direction. The Government delivered tax cuts, a soft budget....The Prime Minister and the Government went into the election campaign without a philosophical direction."

A eerie similarity faces us. HIH has collapsed and a Royal Commission looms. The Howard-Costello face of financial rectitude is being tossed aside in the panic to shore up the Government. Tony Abbott must be aware that the last building industry royal commission was Greiner's witch hunt run by his own property investor, Gyles, that showed that the developers were the problem, not the unions.

If we look at past ALP approaches, we can see that its "vision thing', despite its detractors, has been shaping the society and even when the wet blanket of conservative rule has been thrown over us for long periods.

The blanket can be thrown off, as Beazley points out by his approach of making a fairer Australia by simply spending the money where it is needed, rather than on conservative looking, older middle class voters who have been tempted away from the safety of the Libs by the decay of their living standards.

Whitlam in 1972 answered the critics who claimed that "a Labor victory in November...would not make much difference. hose who hold that view reach it by a variety of roads. Some fear that the Australian people are basically too conservative to accept radical change, or any real change at all."

Whitlam went on to say "I reject these views and the conclusion drawn from them - the conclusion that a Labor Government would not make much difference. True it is, the Australian people are predominantly middle class in outlook even perhaps more than income. But there is no inherent reason why such a people should be immovably conservative. The truth is that we do not really know what the Australian people are capable of."

This is the message the ALP should hammering. Whitlam had many flaws but he was at least willing to trust people would appreciate ideas. The promoters of the "Knowledge Nation" should remember this.

On the view that Labor in power would not make any difference, Whitlam promoted moves on 3 themes -

� the promotion of equality

� public participation in decision making

� the liberation of the talents, the uplifting of horizons of the Australian people.

If you like, the relevance and application in contemporary Australia of equality, fraternity and liberty.

With Costello and Howard increasing the subsidisation of private schools, diverting funding to well provided for sectors and making it even harder for those disadvantaged by unemployment, disability and ill health, these themes are crucial for the creation of a fairer and dynamic society.

Ben Chifley made the same point in summing up his 1948-49 budget. Equality must be the key. "I believe that the best incentive that can be given to workers is a sense of security - security of employment and security against sickness, unemployment and the disabilities of old age." Howard and co have continued to undermine those who depend on pensions in favour of wealthy retirees. Equality is out the window.

Industry was in focus too, with Chifley pointing out that "the industrialist, again, can forward his project with most confidence if he knows that demand will be sustained." The Libs have no industry policy, with industrialists now disappearing overseas or going "belly up." Demand management are dirty words these days.

Chifley went on to say "security, in the largest sense, has all along been the keynote of the government's financial and economic programme. We have aimed to reduce taxation and have done so.... We have aimed to lift standards of social benefit and have done so."

In his last political speech, given to the 1951 NSW ALP Annual Conference, Chifley articulated the strength required of the ALP if they were to have any claim to leadership and support from the Australian people. "I could not be called a young radical but if I think a thing is worth fighting for, no matter what the penalty is, I will fight for the right, and truth and justice will prevail."

Whitlam in 1972 was about articulating a new approach, rather than defending an extending a government as Chifley was too was brave enough to address and exceed expectations. The Costello-Howard-Abbott version of "mutual obligation" is where the disadvantaged are dragooned into unpaid work, whilst the rich get tax subsidies and cheap labour. Whitlam was willing to believe in people and act on a governments obligations to people "because so much depends on the degree to which people themselves can define their own future, once they are freed from the straightjacket of accustomed attitudes. we are indeed living in a time of rising expectations. It might be more prudent politically to downgrade the prospects of change as a kind of political re-insurance, but I do believe the people should have the highest expectations from their government....

The expectations of the people, not the reservations of the politicians, will provide the thrust and direction for the next Labor Government."

****************

Quotes from: Labor n Power: What is the difference? by Gough Whitlam and Bruce Grant (from the 1972 Fabian winter lecture series)

The Hawke Ascendancy: a definitive account of its origins and climax 1975-1983 by Paul Kelly (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1984)

Things Worth Fighting For: speeches by Joseph Benedict Chifley selected and arranged by A W Stargardt. Melbourne: Australian Labor Party, 1952.

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  Issue 97 contents

»	Spotlight on HIH�s WorkCover Link
»	Construction Industry Faces Safety Crisis
»	Statewide Strike Off But Della on Notice
»	David and Goliath Battle at IBM
»	Natasha�s Democrats Face Senate IR Test
»	Howard Abandons Working Families
»	City Councils Recognise Birth � Now for the Bush
»	BHP Forced to Back Off Kembla AWAs
»	Impulse Bores Workers Into Submission
»	Coach Drivers Win Permanency
»	Boss Pockets Compo Payment
»	Union Wins Battle in AWA War
»	Publicans Want to Reduce Bar Pay
»	Abbott Agrees to Ban Asbestos
»	Union Acts to Save Leichhardt Refuge
»	Trade Union Choir Turns Ten
»	Activists' Notebook

»	The Soapbox
»	The Locker Room
»	Trades Hall
»	Tool Shed

»	Thanks from Indonesia
»	Hester Spot On
»	Fuelling Voter Anger
»	May Day - The Debate Continues
»	Not a Chaser Fan

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