Australia: still the lucky country?

The polls are now revealing that beneath the complacency fostered by strong economic growth, dissatisfaction is real and not confined to traditional Labor supporters. Some of the prime minister’s most strident critics are former leaders of the Liberal Party, affronted by the reactionary insularity that has been encouraged by his willingness to foster an “us and them” mentality, targeting Muslims, refusing to apologise for past injustices to Aboriginal people or most recently to Dr Haneef for his “crime” of association.

Just as British Labour learnt how to develop and implement an inclusive modernisation agenda from the Hawke-Keating years, John Howard learnt from Margaret Thatcher, his political heroine - a photo of them together is on proud display in his Canberra office and both his official residences.

Howard’s libertarian agenda has been almost as pervasive, but marked by less confrontation. Howard mastered the code words that ensured sufficient numbers responded “quickly, effortlessly, automatically and emotionally” to his agenda. He skilfully pitched this message to a media that had been bullied and wooed and used his favourite medium - talk-back radio - to reach lower middle class and working class “battlers” who were rewarded with a complex system of family income support, noisy nationalism and force-fed fear. In this he became the “stealth bomber of libertarian politics”.

The competing visions at the heart of the Australian story were once categorised by historian Manning Clark as the battle between the “enlargers” and the “punishers and straiteners”. The last decade has not belonged to the enlargers.

In 1964 Donald Horne sought to jolt the complacency of another era when punishers and straiteners prevailed, he famously described Australia as “a lucky country run mainly by second-rate people who share its luck”. There is still a lot of luck in the country, fewer second-rate people, things work, life is good, but the spark of creativity, imagination and flair has not burned brightly for a long time.

Even if the polls are wrong and Labor does not win the 16 seats it needs to form government later this year, a new spirit is blossoming. It promises to displace the fearful cynicism that has prevailed and pushed many people abroad. Over the past year more than 300,000 people have flocked to see Keating the Musical, a high camp, witty political cabaret that celebrates Paul Keating’s bold vision, his flamboyant language and personal style.

It is a sure bet that in 2017 Howard the Musical will not be the sell-out show of the year.