cam, 222 words, 1 comment, Changes in Government Graphs, NSW, Elections, Parties, Labor, Liberal

NSW has two periods of party activity. The first is prior to the 1930s when most governments were minority governments and elections highly competitive. Since the 1930s and the UAP winning the election after Lang's dismissal NSW has seen the increasing party discipline form of government with strong majorities and long electoral success.

The party system as we know it in Australia is Labor's innovation. Prior to Labor's appearance in Australian electoral politics the governments were fluid bodies of coalitions who would often form around a strong leader. Because of the pledge and Labor's discipline to the party's national executive this factional form of organisation was broken.

The Liberals formed in 1904 as a response to Labor and basically out party organised the Protectionists and Ministerialists such that the latter two parties were not electorally competitive. (more)

cam, 542 words, 0 comments, Labor, Liberal, Left, Right, Binary Political Descriptions

I remain convinced that left-right are useless descriptors for determining political beliefs. Its main value appears to be partisan, in that the world can be divided approximately 50/50 between true believers and unbelievers. This artificial division can then be used for all manner of monolithic descriptions and projections of behaviour - not just political. The two modern political parties, Labor and Liberal, which supposedly define the left-right divide are so similar in outlook it is embarrassing. As a binary description left-right is only useful for the construction of strawmen. Is there a binary descriptor that is useful for describing political choices? (more)

cam, 492 words, 0 comments, Labor, Peter Beattie, Water, Queensland

Labor has been in government in Queensland since 1998. So any discussion of the Beattie government's policies on water come with the caveat that they have had eight years to put policies in place. The Labor policies on water cover increased water for outdoor use and statewide approaches to infrastructure. (more)

cam, 1338 words, 4 comments, Liberal, Labor, Protectionists, Free Traders, Caucus, Alfred Deakin, George Reid, Joseph Cook

The early elections at the federal level were three cornered contests between the NSW free traders, the Victorian protectionists and the first organized political party in Australia: Labor. The NSW and Victorian contingent were not the tightly disciplined parties that we see today, they were more amorphous in the loyalties, but were of similar class, social standing and ideology. The Victorians, led by Alfred Deakin, and Labor, led by Chris Watson, agreed on many common political principles; protectionism, restricted immigration, unemployment benefits and minimum wages. After numerous minority Victorian Protectionist governments, propped up by the support of Labor, finally the Deakinists split with Labor for good. Judith Brett argues that the reason for the schism wasn't policy, but instead principles of party organisation. (more)