Today, I’ll be reviewing George Megalogenis’ book, The Australian Moment, for you*. It is notable for two things. Firstly, it is hymn to Australia’s class war from above reform era of the 1980s and 90s — but tinged also with regret that since about 1993 the political class has lost the will to fight the good […]
26 Mar
When watching the last few episodes of US cable TV series The Walking Dead, it struck me that the title has a double meaning, that Sheriff Rick and the other survivors of the zombie apocalypse are also among the dead who roam the planet’s surface. They’re still animated to do all the usual human things […]
13 Mar
Comments Off on Is the ALP’s condition terminal? A crisis of social democracy
My latest piece for ABC’s The Drum was published yesterday. Here is the original text for your reading pleasure. Comments most welcome, and I will try to respond. A flurry of excitement gripped federal politics in the last fortnight — from Kevin Rudd’s failed challenge for the Labor leadership to the parachuting of Bob Carr into […]
15 Sep
Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 2: Greens trapped in a prison of their own making
Since when did building a climate movement mean cheerleading neoliberal government policies? In the last post I argued that the deep crisis of the Gillard government is also a crisis of the Greens and the Left more generally. By effectively entering a “Left” government the Greens have replicated the disastrous strategy of Italy’s main party of the […]
13 Sep
Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 1: The graveyard of progressive politics?
The stench of death surrounds the Gillard Government. It is impossible to exaggerate the historic depths to which the ALP has fallen in the polls, with last week’s 27 percent in Newspoll confirming that there would be no “bounce” once the carbon tax announcement was digested by the electorate. Even the temporary revival of sleaze allegations against […]
11 Jul
Comments Off on Where is the alternative? The Tasmanian Greens join the deficit hawks
Nick McKim faces protests over school closures Political debate in Australia seems firmly hinged on a cognitive dissonance over questions about the economy. Setting aside the ever-present obsession of discussing economic questions as if they are somehow separate to political ones, we have a federal government simultaneously arguing the economy is strong and we are […]
27 Jun
Comments Off on The age of austerity: Social polarisation, fake partisanship & the Left’s strategy
Austerity (noun): 1. Enforced or extreme economy. From the Greek, austēros, meaning “harsh” or “severe”. 2. Merriam-Webster Word of the Year, 2010. The conversion of the present ALP federal government from new-era Keynesian stimulus apostles to sovereign debt doom merchants did not take place overnight, but if it happened anywhere it was in Toronto at the […]
11 Apr
Comments Off on Last rites for the Labor Party? Part Two: An impasse for post-materialist Greens politics
If you need any proof that the Greens did reasonably well in last month’s NSW election it would have to be the tide of opinion telling us just how badly they did. Such commentary was almost inevitably accompanied by “advice” for the party to moderate its “hard Left” policies/stick to the environment/disappear altogether. If the Greens […]
27 Mar
Comments Off on Rock-bottom redux: Last drinks rites for the Labor Party? Part One
As a party able to offer itself as a viable government, Labor is not just under existential threat. It is finished. Unless, of course, it can engineer an extraordinary resurgence. Labor’s looming death as a stand-alone political entity is the biggest story in contemporary Australian politics. —Peter Hartcher, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 March 2011 How […]
20 Feb
Comments Off on Have the Australian Greens become Julia Gillard’s ‘useful idiots’?
Since the dust from the August election settled, something strange has been going on in the Australian Greens camp. I think it’s probably a conscious “strategy,” but I’m not privy to the discussions in the party room, so I can’t be sure. But here is my stab at it, and why it worries me deeply. […]
08 May
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