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Robust parliamentary debate

By Chris Lewis - posted Thursday, 30 September 2010


What does the present Labor minority government indicate for Australia’s major political parties?

There are several possible messages. First, the Coalition should not rely on negative politics in order to bring the Labor minority government down. A negative Coalition would merely enhance Labor’s message selling itself as the most progressive major party by it simply appearing slightly more progressive than its centre-right counterpart on a variety of issues.

Second, Labor and the Coalition should pay more attention to why independents were elected in Australia’s federal parliament. For example, with many voters rejecting the current economic orthodoxy by voting for independents in some rural areas, is it wise for Gillard to declare she will not reverse Labor’s dismantling of tariff barriers?

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Gillard’s dogmatic policy stance is an approach that should be avoided by politicians if Australian governments are to better demonstrate their prowess to balance domestic and foreign considerations in regards to trade.

The Australian parliament should discuss various issues affecting rural areas. For instance, to what extent is good agricultural land now subject to new mining bids; why are some dairy farmers struggling even in the most productive areas of Australia; and why are food imports increasing, a trend which is likely to lead to future cost pressures on domestic producers.

And forget any plea urging bipartisan economic policy support, which is tantamount to an individual or group thinking that they know best. The last thing Australia needs is a parliament with universal agreement on major policy issues when clearly there are varied impacts on different regions and demographic groups.

While aggregate data may suggest that all is not bad in regards to a variety of issues, all evidence should be exposed if we are to understand and address future trends. For instance, just as we know our population is ageing, so it should be that great attention is given to a variety of issues, including housing, immigration, infrastructure and the environment.

Policy answers are not easy, even for lucky Australia, still one of the more prosperous nations of the world. After all, we are light years from addressing the obvious contradiction between economic and environmental considerations. Further, it is difficult to abandon freer trade given it is a rare political concept that does encourage co-operation between those nations seeking to benefit from their interaction with the international economy.

But if we are to encourage the best possible society, including in both social and environmental terms, we should not merely accept the dominance of status quo politicians mostly inclined to accept a blind adherence to certain policy trends.

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The parliamentary process can be enhanced by policy discussion that should address a variety of perspectives rather than the present policy agenda dominated by Labor and the Coalition.

Certainly, minority governments are unstable. With support needed by other parties or independents in order to avoid no-confidence motions, minority governments are often short-lived or fall before their term expires. In 1940, the incumbent Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, after securing the support of two independent MPs to continue government, later lost their support to Labor. Further, Canada’s relatively numerous minority governments last, on average, 18 months.

I hope the current House of Representatives can vote on private member bills on a variety of issues, including the disclosure of foreign ownership of land and houses and analysis of its impact. I also hope individual MPs express their concerns about domestic trends, just as I hope that debate about a carbon tax continues to help create new industry trends and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

While minor parties and independents might not have much legislative success, given that Labor and the Coalition can unite to defeat certain proposals, they can give important public attention to issues that may encourage reform in the longer term by influencing public opinion.

Robust parliamentary debate can feed the media to reflect greater diversity of opinion to the public through newspapers, television and radio. This would also give the electorate and major parties something to think about come the next election. In other words, politicians would have to work that much harder to address more issues.

Minority governments can work. Notwithstanding the regular occurrence of minority (or Coalition governments) in Western Europe, aided by proportional voting systems, history has demonstrated that such governments can work in Westminster systems. For instance, the New South Wales minority government between 1991 and 1995 achieved some significant policy achievements when the four independents supported the Coalition on most major bills to guarantee “stability”, except where corruption or gross maladministration had been established.

During this period, the NSW independents helped influence substantial reform: four-year terms, expanding the Speaker’s powers, extending sitting days, a bigger role for private members, increasing protection for whistleblowers, and establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. Most memorable was the role that one independent (Hatton) played in exposing organised crime which helped establish the Wood Royal Commission into the NSW police.

Even Premier Greiner had to resign (replaced by Fahey) after the Independent Committee against Corruption found he acted “corruptly” by seeking the appointment of a former minister, Terry Metherell, to a job in a government agency. (Charges of corruption against Greiner were later dismissed in court.)

And, during Australia’s first nine years after federation, prior to Labor forming a government in its own right, Australia experienced minority governments with the ALP part of alliances that introduced many policies perceived then by a majority to be progressive. This included the establishment of major institutions (High Court, the Navy and the Bureau of Meteorology); and legislation for an arbitration system and tariff protection.

In Britain, minority governments also introduced significant legislative measures: the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, which had protected landholders and kept the price of food high through tariffs; the Second Reform Act of 1867, which enfranchised the urban working class; and the abolition of the slavery trade in 1807.

So do we really need such an adversarial two-party system? No, if greater awareness about the complexity of policy trends is to be exposed, then we should encourage more members of parliament who are elected in accordance to the issues their electorates represent rather than merely accepting what the almighty party says. This is as true for middle-class electorates concerned about the environment, just as it is for rural electorates who feel they have been abandoned by the major parties.

After all, despite many still biased with their support for Labor or the Coalition for ideological or self-interested reasons, more and more Australians have eclectic tastes which should mean that more individual legislation is decided accordingly rather than based on a two-party division.

I hope that the current minority government serves as a wake up call for Australia’s two major political forces. There are just too many issues that need greater attention but are often swept under the carpet with the current general acceptance of a policy status quo.

If not, then more Australians may avoid voting for Labor or the Coalition in the future, despite the number of non-Labor or Coalition MPs elected to the House of Representatives already increasing to 21 between 1990 and 2010 after just two were elected between 1949 and 1987.

While Labor and the Coalition remain Australia’s major centre-left and centre-right political parties most attractive in terms of adopting a broad policy mix, a greater number of independents and minor parties can enhance the House of Representatives, and thus government performance. At the very least, the current minority government can remind the major parties to lift their game.

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About the Author

Chris Lewis, who completed a First Class Honours degree and PhD (Commonwealth scholarship) at Monash University, has an interest in all economic, social and environmental issues, but believes that the struggle for the ‘right’ policy mix remains an elusive goal in such a complex and competitive world.

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All articles by Chris Lewis

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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