CENTRISM IS STILL ON LIFE SUPPORT

 

 Was Labor's landslide victory in the Australian general election really a vindication of centrism?

LABOUR'S KIERAN McAnulty was in Australia to observe its general election and, no doubt, get some possible pointers on how Labour should conduct its election campaign next year. Judging by the observations he expressed on TVNZ's six o'clock news bulletin, he was clearly impressed by Labor's determinedly centrist campaign.The rump of New Zealand Labour Party supporters who, even now, still think the Labour Party can be parted from its centrist ways, cannot take any encouragement from what McAnulty has said. Even if he still claims to be a socialist.

The association of Liberal leader Peter Dutton with Donald Trump allowed Labor to present itself as the 'acceptable face' of Australian politics. It resonated with an electorate largely hostile to the far right politics of 'Trumpism', even if its supportrers, like the pundits on Sky News, tried to disguise it as a 'war on woke'.

While Kieran McAnulty might claim the Australian election result is a vindication of centrism, it isn't. There is still widespread disaffection with the two major parties. Neither Labor or the Liberal Party are capable of attrcting the majority support of the electorate, polling in the low 30 percents. Approximately a third of the electorate now vote for a third party or independent candidates.

At best, the Labor Government will do little but tinker with the economic settings when a fundamental overhaul is required. As Tom Bramble of Red Flag has observed:

'Labor has promised next to nothing to reverse the decade-long stagnation in living standards. All the things that have pissed off Labor supporters will continue—environmental vandalism, support for Israel, refusal to tackle tax breaks for the rich, rising inequality, denial of Aboriginal rights, billions for nuclear submarines and US bases and so on. The government will not say or do anything that will seriously antagonise business, nor do anything to give workers the power to go on strike or fight for their rights.'

It's unlikely that the National Party will allow itself to be associated with Trumpism, and risk the kind of backlash we have seen in Australia.

Perhaps it would be wiser for Kieran McAnulty and the Labour Party to study the dramatic fall in popularity for the UK Labour Party since it came to office. Under centrist leader Keir Starmer, the Labour Government has denied the British people the fundamental and transformational change that they want and have reaped the consequences as a result. It would be a stretch indeed to argue that the UK Labour Government represents a 'revival of centrism'.