Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 1 About This Book ...... 1 Foolish Assumptions ...... 2 Conventions Used in This Book ...... 2 How This Book Is Organised ...... 3 Part I: Politics: You’re in It ...... 3 Part II: The Australian System of Government ...... 3 Part III: Party Time! ...... 3 Part IV: Citizen Power! ...... 4 Part V: The Part of Tens ...... 4 Icons Used in This Book ...... 4 Where to Go from Here ...... 5

Part I: Politics: You’re in It ...... 7

Chapter 1: Australian Politics: The Basics ...... 9 What Is Politics? ...... 10 Compulsory Voting ...... 11 A Lot of Government ...... 11 Governing the nation ...... 12 Governing the states ...... 13 Administering the territories ...... 13 Roads, rates and rubbish: Local government ...... 14 From Government to Politics ...... 14 Political parties ...... 15 A two-party system? ...... 16 Interest groups: Fighting for causes and advancing interests ...... 17 Promotional interest groups ...... 18 Sectional interest groups ...... 18 Umbrellas and peaks ...... 20 Understanding Politicians ...... 21 Who becomes a politician? ...... 21 Heavy hitters: Interest group politicians ...... 22 Politics: You Can’t Escape It ...... 22 Chapter 2: Hot Topics in Australia: The Political Debate ...... 23 Apathetic or Engaged? ...... 24 Awareness of issues ...... 24 The ‘isms’ in politics...... 25

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Things We Never Tire of Talking About ...... 28 Tariffs ...... 29 The role of the unions ...... 29 Immigration ...... 31 Reconciliation ...... 33 Women in politics ...... 35 Great and powerful friends ...... 36 New Things We’re Talking About ...... 37 The environment ...... 37 Climate change and water ...... 39 The republic ...... 40 Globalisation...... 41 Nation building ...... 41 Complex Issues, Simple Choices ...... 42

Part II: The Australian System of Government ...... 43

Chapter 3: One Country, Many Rulebooks ...... 45 Australia Is a Federation ...... 45 The Constitution and power-sharing ...... 46 The constitutions as rulebooks ...... 46 The Path to Federation ...... 46 The constitutional conventions ...... 47 The states came fi rst ...... 47 The need for a national government ...... 49 Big States and Small States ...... 52 A house for the states: The Senate ...... 52 You get at least fi ve lower house seats if ...... 53 Changing the Constitution ...... 54 The Australian System of Constitutional Government ...... 55 The governors and the governor-general ...... 55 The Executive in Council ...... 57 Ministers of the Crown ...... 58 The parliament ...... 58 The electors ...... 60 The courts...... 61 Australian Constitutionalism: More than the Written Word ...... 63 Chapter 4: Westminster: Much More than Big Ben ...... 65 A Constitution without a (Written) Constitution ...... 66 What do conventions cover? ...... 66 The Crown...... 67 The parliament ...... 68 The executive ...... 70

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Responsible Government ...... 72 Forming a Responsible Government ...... 72 Resign! Resign! ...... 74 Collective Responsibility ...... 74 Ministerial Responsibility ...... 75 Westminster as Adversarial Politics ...... 76 The alternative prime minister ...... 76 The shadow ministry...... 77 Westminster and Party Politics ...... 77 Tyranny of the executive? ...... 78 Winner takes all? ...... 79 Westminster and Australia ...... 79 Chapter 5: Washminster: The Australian Hybrid ...... 81 British or American? ...... 82 American federalism: A model for Australia ...... 82 A Senate, a court and a written constitution: The American legacy ...... 83 Limits to Americanisation: Responsible Government...... 84 Responsible Government the Australian Way ...... 84 Executive in Council or Cabinet? ...... 85 The governor-general or the prime minister? ...... 85 What about the states? ...... 86 House of Representatives or the Senate? ...... 86 Deadlocks ...... 88 The joint sitting ...... 90 Clash of the Houses: The 1975 Constitutional Crisis ...... 91 The politics of the crisis ...... 91 The crisis: The deferral of supply ...... 92 The governor-general: The reserve powers exercised ...... 92 The governor-general’s actions: The controversies ...... 94 The meaning of the 1975 crisis...... 94 Kerr’s argument: Parliamentary Responsibility ...... 95 After the crisis ...... 96 Chapter 6: Parliament: The House on the Hill...... 97 Housing the Houses of Parliament ...... 98 The new house ...... 98 The old house ...... 100 Westminster parliaments: An overview ...... 101 Never the twain shall meet? ...... 102 Who’s Who? Putting People in Their Place ...... 103 The Speaker ...... 103 The President ...... 104 Frontbenchers and backbenchers ...... 104

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The crossbenchers ...... 106 In the Senate? ...... 106 The Whips ...... 107 Question Time ...... 108 Pairing ...... 109 Voting in the Parliament ...... 109 Ring the bells! The division ...... 110 Crossing the fl oor...... 110 Conscience voting ...... 110 Government rules, OK? ...... 111 Making Laws in the Parliament ...... 111 Amended bills ...... 112 Legislating: The Representatives versus the Senate ...... 112 The People’s Forum or a Rubber Stamp? ...... 114 Adjournments and grievances ...... 114 A privileged position ...... 115 The rise of standing committees ...... 115 Chapter 7: Governing the Great Southern Land ...... 117 The Constitution and the Division of the Powers of Government ...... 118 Section 51 ...... 118 Federal–State Relations ...... 120 The Uniform Tax Act (1942)...... 120 Controlling the purse strings ...... 121 Cooperative Federalism ...... 125 COAG ...... 125 Ministerial councils ...... 126 Intergovernmental agreements ...... 126 Uncooperative Federalism ...... 127 The High Court of Australia ...... 127 The Federal Court ...... 127 Policy-making Australian Style ...... 128 Public policy ...... 128 Cabinet government the Australian way ...... 128 Creating policy ...... 130 Ministerial advisers ...... 132 Statutory authorities ...... 132 Big Government or Small Government? ...... 133

Part III: Party Time! ...... 135

Chapter 8: Parties, Parliament and Politics ...... 137 What Is a Party? ...... 138 Majors and Minors ...... 139

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Oddities of the Australian majors ...... 139 Issues for the Australian minors ...... 140 Minor parties in the parliament ...... 141 Beyond the Parliament: Party Organisation...... 142 Mass membership, mass parties ...... 143 The party machine...... 143 Raising money ...... 144 Raising candidates ...... 146 Preselection ...... 146 Factions ...... 147 Alternatives or Wellsprings: Interest Groups and Social Movements ...... 148 Promotional interest groups ...... 148 Social movements ...... 149 Chapter 9: The Australian Labor Party ...... 151 The Unions Create a Party ...... 152 The strikes of 1891 ...... 152 The union movement’s delegates? ...... 153 Root and branch representation ...... 154 The Party Organisation ...... 155 The supreme organ: Conference ...... 156 State and National Executive ...... 157 From 36 faceless men to 400 delegates ...... 158 A youth wing: Young Labor ...... 159 The Labor Organisation: Internal Politics ...... 160 The importance of factions ...... 161 Left versus right ...... 162 Labor and Policy: What Labor Stands For ...... 164 The Socialist Objective ...... 164 Ben Chifl ey and bank nationalisation ...... 165 The Splits ...... 167 Labor and Catholicism: 1916 ...... 167 Labor and the Great Depression: 1931 ...... 168 Lead-up to the 1955 split: The Industrial Groupers ...... 168 Many tensions, one big split ...... 170 Modernising Labor: From Whitlam to Gillard ...... 172 The Whitlam policy legacy ...... 172 Hayden: Farewell the Socialist Objective ...... 173 The Hawke government ...... 173 Keating: From treasurer to prime minister ...... 176 The rise of Rudd ...... 176 Pragmatism in Action: Labor in the States ...... 177 Labor in the Future ...... 178

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Chapter 10: The Liberal Party...... 179 Early Origins: Free Traders, Protectionists and Fusionists ...... 180 A new anti-Labor party: The Nationalists ...... 181 Anti-Labor Uniting (Sort Of) ...... 182 United they stand: Creating the United Australia Party ...... 182 United they fall: The collapse of the UAP ...... 183 From the UAP Ashes: The Liberal Party ...... 184 The Liberal Party Organisation...... 185 Getting together: State and Federal Council ...... 186 Follow the leader! ...... 188 The Party Room ...... 188 By Menzies, of Menzies, for Menzies ...... 189 A structure for government or opposition? ...... 190 The branch membership strikes back! ...... 190 The Young Liberals ...... 191 Liberal women ...... 191 Liberal Factionalism ...... 191 Liberals versus conservatives ...... 192 Moderates versus Hardliners ...... 193 Wets and Dries...... 193 State-based alliances ...... 194 Leadership alliances ...... 194 The Liberal Party in Government ...... 195 Pragmatism or programs? ...... 197 Liberals and the unions...... 197 Menzies in government ...... 198 Malcolm Fraser’s government ...... 199 The Howard government ...... 200 The Liberal Party in the States ...... 201 The Liberal Party and the Future ...... 202 Chapter 11: The National Party ...... 203 The Origins of Rural Party Politics: The Country Party ...... 204 A farmer’s party ...... 204 Soldier settlements ...... 205 A shared constituency ...... 205 The Country Party consolidates ...... 206 Coalition Politics ...... 207 The coalition agreement ...... 207 Limits to coalition ...... 208 The National Party Organisation ...... 209 A small parliamentary party ...... 210 Queensland: A Country Party heartland ...... 210 Factionalism in the National Party ...... 212

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The National Party in Government ...... 213 The early coalitionists ...... 214 John (Black Jack) McEwen: A Country Party giant ...... 215 Doug Anthony: A moderniser ...... 216 Tim Fischer: Back to Basics ...... 216 Future Challenges ...... 218 Chapter 12: The Minor Parties and Independents ...... 219 Minor Parties: People’s Tribune or a Waste of Time? ...... 220 The importance of the electoral system ...... 220 Preference wheeling and dealing ...... 221 Measuring minor party success ...... 222 Senate-based minor parties ...... 223 Here today, gone tomorrow? ...... 223 Out on Their Own: Independents ...... 224 Independent success ...... 225 Once were party men (and women) ...... 226 The Who’s Who of Minor Parties ...... 226 The Democratic Labor Party ...... 226 The Australian Democrats ...... 227 The Nuclear Disarmament Party ...... 229 The West Australian Greens ...... 231 The Australian Greens (the Greens) ...... 231 Pauline Hanson’s One Nation ...... 232 Family First ...... 234 Minor Parties of the Future ...... 234

Part IV: Citizen Power! ...... 235

Chapter 13: Elections: A Festival of Democracy...... 237 Democratic Origins ...... 237 Federal and State Elections ...... 239 Australian elections: Compulsory democracy ...... 240 Conducting elections ...... 240 Different electoral systems ...... 242 Many elections ...... 242 Double-dissolution elections ...... 243 Calling elections: Who has the power? ...... 244 The role of the prime minister ...... 245 Fixed-term parliaments? ...... 245 The Importance of Electoral Systems ...... 246 Up the majority! Preferential voting ...... 246 Lowering the electoral bar: Proportional representation ...... 249 The Senate ballot paper: It’s a whopper! ...... 251

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Who Wins and How? ...... 253 Recounts and disputed returns ...... 254 Exaggerated majorities...... 254 Paradoxical outcomes ...... 255 Ransom-holding minorities...... 256 After the election is over ...... 257 In between elections: By-elections ...... 258 Chapter 14: Let the Campaign Begin!...... 259 The Rules of the Game ...... 260 Elections: It’s Party Time! ...... 261 Show me the money ...... 261 Preselections and nominations ...... 263 Directing preferences ...... 264 The Campaign ...... 265 Raising money and conducting campaigns ...... 265 Battle of the leaders? ...... 266 The television campaign: The Great Debates...... 266 Launching the campaign ...... 267 At the Press Club ...... 268 The Big Day! Sausage Sizzles and More ...... 268 Counting the vote: Saturday night fever! ...... 269 Who Votes How and Why? ...... 270 Electing oppositions in or voting governments out? ...... 271 Seats: Safe, marginal and swinging ...... 271 Predicting election outcomes: The pendulum ...... 272 Focusing on the marginals ...... 274 A Guide to Voter Types ...... 274 The rusted-ons ...... 275 The swingers ...... 275 The donkey vote ...... 275 Informal voters ...... 276 Battlers ...... 276 Working families ...... 276 Doctors’ wives ...... 277 Chapter 15: The Fourth Estate: The Media...... 279 The Role of ‘the Press’ in Politics ...... 280 Press corps and press galleries ...... 280 The Australian press gallery ...... 281 The Media ...... 281 Newspapers ...... 281 Television ...... 283 Radio ...... 284 The internet ...... 285

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Kingmakers? Journalists and Commentators ...... 286 Journalists...... 286 Opinion writers ...... 287 Political cartoonists...... 288 Opinion pollsters ...... 288 Government Broadcasting? The ABC ...... 289 Balanced or left-wing bias? ...... 289 Covering elections ...... 290 The Power of the Media? ...... 291 Agenda setting ...... 291 Spin doctors ...... 292 Opinion polling ...... 292

Part V: The Part of Tens ...... 295

Chapter 16: Ten Politicians Who Made an Impact...... 297 John Christian Watson (1867–1941) ...... 297 John Curtin (1885–1945) ...... 298 Robert Menzies (1894–1978) ...... 298 Gough Whitlam (b. 1916) ...... 299 Malcolm Fraser (b. 1930) ...... 299 Bob Hawke (b. 1929) ...... 300 John Howard (b. 1939) ...... 300 Don Chipp (1925–2006) ...... 301 Bob Brown (b. 1944) ...... 301 Pauline Hanson (b. 1954) ...... 302 Chapter 17: Ten Speeches Worth Listening to Again...... 303 Sir Henry Parkes: The Crimson Thread of Kinship, 1890 ...... 303 John Curtin: We Are Fighting Mad, 1942 ...... 304 Robert Menzies: Forgotten People, 1942 ...... 304 Ben Chifl ey: Light on the Hill, 1949 ...... 305 Neville Bonner: Aboriginal Rights, 1971 ...... 305 Gough Whitlam: It’s Time, 1972 ...... 306 Paul Keating: The Redfern Speech, 1992 ...... 306 Pauline Hanson: Inaugural Speech to Parliament, 1996 ...... 307 John Howard: Bali Terrorist Attack, 2002 ...... 307 Kevin Rudd: Apology to the Stolen Generations, 2008 ...... 308 Chapter 18: Ten Acts of Political Bastardry in Australia...... 309 The Hopetoun Blunder ...... 309 Aspiring to Conscription ...... 310 Fleeing a Sinking Ship? ...... 310 Spoilsport! ...... 311

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Over a Barrel ...... 311 Forcing the Hand ...... 312 The Dismissal ...... 312 The Drover’s Dog ...... 313 Bringing out the Knives ...... 313 Kiss and Tell?...... 314

Glossary ...... 315

Index ...... 327

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