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Has Australian Federal Politics Become Presidentialized?

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Has Australian Federal Politics Become Presidentialized? Has Australian Federal Politics Become Presidentialized? Author Kefford, Glenn Published 2013 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Business School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/90 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366314 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Has Australian Federal Politics Become Presidentialized? Glenn Kefford Bachelor of Commerce (Griffith University) Master of International Relations (Curtin University) School of Government and International Relations Business School Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2013 i | P a g e Abstract This thesis examines the idea that Australian federal political leaders are becoming more powerful. This idea, often referred to as presidentialization, generates heated debates in academic circles. Using one of the more systematic frameworks, namely the Poguntke and Webb (2005) model, and combining a behavioural component, this thesis seeks to explore whether Australian federal politics has become presidentialized. Poguntke and Webb viewed presidentialization as consisting of three separate but inter- related faces. These were: the executive face, the party face and the electoral face. This thesis undertakes this task by examining four leadership periods from the Australian Labor Party (ALP). This includes: The Chifley leadership period (1945-51), the Whitlam leadership period (1967-1977), the Hawke Leadership period (1983-91) and the Kevin Rudd leadership period (2006-2010). In the Chifley leadership period it is argued that very little evidence of the presidentialization phenomenon as described by Poguntke and Webb (2005) is identifiable. This finding adds to their hypothesis that many of the causal factors that contributed to presidentialization did not emerge until after 1960. This section of the thesis also highlights how different Australian society and the ALP were during this period than to the later periods examined in this thesis. The second period, the Whitlam leadership period, is vastly different. Clear increases in the capacity of leaders to exert power began to emerge. Hugely important structural changes to the ALP occur during this period which fundamentally alters intra-party power. Some evidence of leaders being able to exert greater power within the executive of government can also be identified during this period. The elections that Whitlam contested display a mixed level of personalisation. ii | P a g e It is argued in the Hawke period that intra-party power for the leader increases even further. In the executive, policy is increasingly centralised due to a combination of structural and conditional factors empowering the leadership even further. Due to Hawke’s personal popularity, the ALP runs campaigns vastly more personalised than the Whitlam period. The Rudd leadership period is the final period examined. This section argues that in a continuation of what occurred during the Hawke period, the capacity of the parliamentary leadership to exert power in the Executive and within the party continues to increase. However, evidence of presidentialization during elections is mixed. This thesis concludes by attempting to identify any trends or counter-trends across the periods examined. It also compares the findings to the international data-set Poguntke and Webb (2005) have compiled. Finally, it explores the future of political leadership studies and suggests some future research opportunities. iii | P a g e Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Glenn Kefford iv | P a g e Acknowledgements While writing this thesis I have been heavily reliant on the support of the academics from the School of Government and International Relations. I owe particular thanks to Gideon Baker, Dennis Grube, Robyn Hollander and Ashley Lavelle who were my supervisors throughout this thesis. Robyn and Ashley as principal supervisors, in particular, deserve special mention. Each of them challenged me and the way I view the world ultimately leading to a better quality of thesis. A large number of other staff at the School of Government and International Relations provided insightful comments on this and other work and I thank them also. This included Jason Sharman, Pat Weller, Haig Patapan, John Kane, Giorel Curran and Wes Widmaier. I also would like to thank the administrative staff in the school, Julie Howe and Angela MacDonald, who are critical to the effective functioning of the school. I would like to thank the Griffith Business School for providing a research scholarship for part of the degree and also to the Griffith Graduate Research School for providing me with a completion scholarship. Finally, I would like to thank those who allowed me to interview them as well as Professor’s Paul Webb and Thomas Poguntke whose framework I used and who happily responded to countless emails. v | P a g e Table of Contents Page Abstract ii Statement of Originality iv Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vi Tables, Figures and Charts viii Abbreviations x Chapter One Introduction Introduction 1 Research Questions 4 Central Argument of the Thesis 4 Research Methodology and Methods 5 Measuring Presidentialization 9 Structure and Agency 11 Boundaries of the Thesis 13 Sources 13 Structure and Overview 16 Chapter Two Literature Review Introduction 18 Political Leadership 19 Literature on the Australian Labor Party (ALP) 27 Conclusion 36 Chapter Three The Chifley Leadership Period (1945-1951) Historical Background 38 Analysis 43 Conclusion 69 vi | P a g e Chapter Four The Whitlam Leadership Period (1967-1977) Historical Background 72 Analysis 77 Conclusion 102 Chapter Five The Hawke Leadership Period (1983-1991) Historical Background 105 Analysis 110 Conclusion 137 Chapter Six The Rudd Leadership Period (2006-2010) Historical Background 139 Analysis 142 Conclusion 163 Chapter Seven Conclusion Has Australian Federal Politics Become Presidentialized? 165 The Periods Compared and Contrasted 166 Identification of Trends 169 Conclusions on the Australian Case 172 Structure and Agency 173 The Presidentialization Thesis 176 Future Research Opportunities 177 Tables and Graphs 179 References 183 Appendix List of Interviews Completed 240 vii | P a g e Tables and Figures Chart 1.1 - The Three Faces of Presidentialization as Conceptualised by Poguntke and Webb (2005) 3 Table 3.1 – Print Media Focus During the Election Campaigns of the Chifley Leadership Period in The Age and SMH 68 Table 4.1 – Print Media Focus During the Election Campaigns of the Whitlam Leadership Period in The Age, SMH and The Australian 99 Table 5.1 – Print Media Focus during the Election Campaigns of the Hawke Leadership Period in The Age, SMH and The Australian 133 Table 6.2 – Print Media Focus during the 2007 Election Campaign of the Rudd Leadership Period in The Age, SMH and The Australian 161 Table 7.1 – Signs of Presidentialization Identified During the Four Leadership Periods Examined in This Thesis 179 Table 7.2 – Print Media Focus During the Election Campaigns Examined in this thesis 180 Graph 7.1 – Percentage of Articles That Mentioned the Leader 181 viii | P a g e Graph 7.2 – Percentage of Articles Based on Policy 181 Graph 7.3 – Percentage of Articles Based on the Leader's Personality/Family or Polls 182 Graph 7.4 - Number of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office 182 ix | P a g e Abbreviations ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions AJPH Australian Journal of Politics and History ALP Australian Labor Party APSA Australian Political Science Association ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Office CPA Communist Party of Australia DLP Democratic Labor Party ERC Expenditure Review Committee ETS Emissions Trading Scheme FPLP Federal Parliamentary Labor Party GFC Global Financial Crisis GSE Government Sponsored Enterprises HECS Higher Education Contribution Scheme IR International Relations MHR Member of the House of Representatives MP Minister of Parliament NDP Nuclear Disarmament Party NPM New Public Management NSW New South Wales NT Northern Territory OECD Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development PM&C Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet PMO Prime Minister’s Office PR Proportional Representation QLD Queensland RSPT Resources Super Profits Tax SA South Australia x | P a g e SMH Sydney Morning Herald SPBC Strategic Priorities and Budget Committee TARP Troubled Asset Relief Program UK United Kingdom US United States WA Western Australia xi | P a g e Chapter One - Introduction Are contemporary political leaders more powerful than their predecessors? Are prime ministers becoming more like presidents? These questions have been intensely debated in the literature over the last two decades and the ‘presidentialization thesis’ has been central to this. 1 According to Poguntke and Webb (2005: 1) “[P]residentialization denominates a process by which regimes are becoming more presidential in their actual practice without, in most cases, changing their regime type”. In other words, presidentialization is the idea that leaders have more resources and autonomy, within the institutional parameters of their regime, than their predecessors. Presidentialization has become one
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