Well of course, after the triumph and the shouting in Victoria comes the hungover dawn, and the realisation — what one already knew — that Labor will be intolerable. With a twenty plus seat majority, and a hammering of the Greens (even though, on the numbers, they avoided disaster), any chance of exercising some leverage from the left is going to be hard yards indeed.
The stability of majority government is clearly what many people voted for — crossing from the Libs to do so — but it’s bad news for those that Labor is leaving behind, and for causes they don’t have much time for. Chief among those are people of Melbourne’s North and West, sequestered in safe Labor seats — now, stonkingly safe seats — who have been utterly ignored by Labor, as it pursued votes in the marginals in the south and east (remember marginals?).
For years, the so-called “most progressive government in Australia” has presided over the steady decline of these areas of Melbourne, with unemployment heading towards 25% and beyond in areas such as Broadmeadows and Craigieburn. Local members are largely useless — Broadmeadows MLA Frank McGuire commuted from Brighton for a while, before being shamed into moving… to Fitzroy. And there’s no public industry policy plan in place to compensate for factory closures. Almost nothing has been done after fires at “recycling” plants — waste dumps — bathed the area in toxic fumes.
Boring, unglamorous things, like double-tracking rail lines and improving train signaling to ease SRO trains through peak hour, are left undone, in favour of the “in twenty years” Metro Two and suburban loop tunnels. No wonder the Victorian Socialists — which, disclaimer, I am associated with* — took 8% in Broadmeadows from a standing start.
In the inner city, Labor took up the Baillieu Liberals’ sell-off of public housing land — chiefly dilapidated walk-up flats — to private developers who promised “affordable” housing. As the study of this program in inner-west Kensington has shown, unit replacement didn’t occur, decades-long communities have been scattered and public housing tenants who want to live in the inner city can’t. This is the worst of Labor’s age-old “middle-strata” class approach — its relative lack of interest in the poor and excluded.
The truth is that Andrews’ Labor is a centre-left neoliberal government, with Andrews initially put in the leadership in 2014 as a placeholder for an inevitable 2018 loss. Now he’s the “most powerful Labor man in Australia” — except of course for Tim Pallas and half a dozen other members of the right standing behind him. Thus they are steadily and unnecessarily capitulating to that juggernaut of left neoliberalism, the NDIS, which is hollowing out public care across the country.
A state government could set up public care service providers to provide the services that NDIS tenders out — but don’t wait for this socialist left government to.
Left neoliberalism? How about a North-East Link road that’s a holdover from the disastrous 1969 freeways plan, makes a Doncaster rail line impossible and pours state money into Transurban’s coffers, which they then send across the border, not back into our community? How about giving away a public space the community support as such, so a computer shop can have its own forecourt? Old growth logging continued in the Central Highlands, to keep two mills going, which could source alternative timbers — but would prefer to keep hacking into the practically free trees on offer, and Labor too scared of CFMMEU Forestry division blowback to sort it out? And so on.
Well, there’s one thing about a stonking majority — it gives the Socialist Left faction, and the separate Industrial Left faction, no excuse now to not put forward some real demands about the direction of travel. The Industrial Left had no demands except finding Jane Garrett a seat. Now that she is safely pickled in the upper house, presumably history has concluded and full communism has arrived.
Though some good stuff has been done on energy, renewables and other matters, Socialist Left focused too much on social measures — gender-neutral traffic lights and the like — during their first term. De facto, they acted as an alibi for the right’s agenda. If they want to deserve their factional adjective, they have no excuse now not to raise hell.
For the rest of us to the left, they’re going to be unbearable.
*hence no commentary during the election. I don’t feel so constrained now.
Is Victoria’s Danslide hangover coming, or is Labor’s new vitality a sign of things to come? Send your comments to boss@crikey.com.au.
On one hand in a sister story you say “What this election has done is tell us something about the transformation — not only of Victoria, but of Anglosphere polities. Arguably, this is the first such election in the post neocon-neoliberal era”
On another it’s “The truth is that Andrews’ Labor is a centre-left neoliberal government”
So are we in this new era yet? are we transitioning toward it? Perhaps the election itself was post neo-con but the participants weren’t? Or should we just give up and go down the pub?
Hi RH
I mean that for decades, combining ‘traditional values'(neocon) with free market (neolib) worked as a whole package. Now it doesnt. The new package is milder neo liberalism with social progressivism. That’s the new era
“A kinder, gentler red in tooth’n’claw Labor neolib”?
what an absolute load of crap article this is.
Perhaps a bit exaggerated, but certainly not a load of crap.
The record of the Andrews government definitely shows them to be a centre right party implementing neoliberal policies. The Northeast link, their approach by Transurban for a revised East-West link, and their selling off of public land to developers indicates this form of corporate welfare only too clearly.
If, however, they do increase use of renewable energy to 50%–still not enough to prevent climate catastrophe in a few decades time, if not earlier–, and if they build the outer ring rail, and if they put real money and staff into technical education and Tafe, and if they engage in some longterm planning regarding urban development, then the neoliberal mantle may have slipped off. Until then, no it has not.
Of more immediate interest is the question of whether the federal LNP will try and change their spots away from their rampant neoliberalism and cultural individualism, in order to return to the “(in) sensible centre”? I suspect not.
Long time listener, first time caller. So what has brought me out of my commenting slumber? The fact that this article is the biggest load of tripe I have come across on Crikey in a long time.
“what one already knew — that Labor will be intolerable” – what a load of rubbish. All I know is that the majority of voters in this state voted for this government and 3 days later I doubt any of those except you feel that they are intolerable.
One thing I do already know though, is that you clearly believe that the voters in those “now stonkingly safe seats” are fools. The feeling of superiority must be of great comfort to you in these dark days of Labour’s second term.
I said intolerable – is smug – to the left. I think yr taking that bit a bit seriously.
> with Andrews initially put in the leadership in 2014 as a placeholder for an inevitable 2018 loss…
I think you mean “put in the leadership in 2010 as a placeholder for an inevitable 2014 loss”
I did indeed. Tks
tall poppies just be hewn, it seems. Or maybe Guy forgot this was meant to be a journalistic/comment piece for Crikey! and thought it was a Full Frontal sketch.
Either way it just doesn’t work