In the Wilderness: Federal Labor in Opposition Author Lavelle, Ashley Published 2004 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School School of Politics and Public Policy DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/1005 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366181 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au IN THE WILDERNESS: FEDERAL LABOR IN OPPOSITION Ashley Lavelle BComm (Hons) (Griffith University) Presented to the Faculty of International Business and Politics Griffith University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2003 Abstract This thesis is a study of the federal Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Opposition. It seeks to identify the various factors that shape the political direction of the party when it is out of office by examining three important periods of Labor Opposition. It is argued in the first period (1967-72) that the main factor in the party’s move to the left was the radicalisation that occurred in Australian (and global) politics. Labor in Opposition is potentially more subject to influence by extra-parliamentary forces such as trade unions and social movements. This was true for this period in the case of the reinvigorated trade union movement and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, whose policy impacts on the ALP under Gough Whitlam are examined in detail. While every one of the party’s policies cannot be attributed to the tumult of the period, it is argued that Labor’s Program embodied the mood for social change. The second period (1975-83) records a much different experience. After Labor’s Dismissal from office in November 1975, the enduring conclusion drawn by the party was that it had failed in government as economic managers, and that in future it would need to embrace responsible economic management and to jettison programmatic-style reform. This conclusion was accepted and argued by both federal leaders during this time, Gough Whitlam (1975-77) and Bill Hayden (1977-83). The thesis argues that the key reason for Labor’s abandonment of reformist politics was the dramatic shift in the economic context wrought by the collapse of the post-war boom in 1974, which undermined the economic basis of the Program. The degree to which “economic responsibility” governed Labor’s approach to policy-making is highlighted through case studies of uranium mining and the Prices-Incomes Accord. The final period of Opposition (1996-2001) commences with the party’s landslide defeat at the 1996 Federal Election. Under the leadership of Kim Beazley, the party continued in the pro-free market policy tradition of Labor Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. In conjunction with this, it employed a “small-target” strategy that pitched its electoral success on community anger towards the government, rather than any alternative policies of the Opposition. The free-market policy continuity is set in the context of the ideological effects of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, in the aftermath of which all political players accepted that there was no real alternative to the market. Furthermore, the overall state of the Australian and world economies was not conducive to a return to “tax and spend” policies. The party’s bipartisanship on globalisation and economic rationalism effectively robbed it of an alternative political approach to that of the Coalition. Thus, in a sense it was hemmed into the “small-target” strategy. The thesis concludes by comparing and contrasting the three periods, and assigning weight to the various factors that shape Labor in Opposition. ii Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iii TablesandFigures vii Abbreviations viii Statement of Originality x Acknowledgements xi Part A The Research Problem One Introduction 1 Limitsofthe Dissertation 4 Theoretical and Methodological Approach 4 TheArgument 6 A Summary of the Literature Review 11 Structureofthe Dissertation 13 Sources 15 Two LiteratureReview 18 InstitutionalVariables 19 Non-Institutional Variables 29 Conclusion 33 Part B The First Whitlam Opposition (1967-72) Introduction: the Mood for Change 36 Australia in an Age of Protest and Rebellion 36 Labor in Opposition and Extra-Parliamentary Movements 39 The Whitlam Labor Opposition 41 Three The first Whitlam Opposition (1967-72) – the Impact of the Vietnam War and Conscription 46 Early Labor Policy on Vietnam 47 Vietnam Policy in the Lead Up to the 1966 Federal Election 50 Vietnam Policy Post-1966 Federal Election 51 The Australian Anti-Vietnam War Movement 54 iii Changes in Labor Attitudes to Vietnam 57 Labor and the Vietnam Moratorium Campaign 63 Labor and Draft Resisters 68 Changes to ALP Policy on Vietnam and Conscription 70 Reasons for the Shift in ALP policy on Vietnam 71 Conclusion 74 Four The first Whitlam Opposition (1967-72) – Industrial Relations Policy and Labor’s Relationship with the Unions 75 The Union Movement Rises 75 TheO’Shea Dispute 78 Labor and Direct Action 83 PoliticalStrikes 90 StrikePenalties 92 Conclusion 96 Conclusion to Part B: the First Whitlam Opposition (1966-72) 97 Part C The Whitlam/Hayden Period Introduction to Part C: “Learning the Lessons” 99 The Constitutional Crisis and the Dismissal 100 The FPLP’s Response to the Dismissal and the 1975 Election Result 102 Labor Learns the Lessons 106 The Role of Hayden as FPLP Leader 115 Conclusion 119 Five Labor in Opposition in a New Economic Paradigm 120 The End of the Post-War Boom 120 Labor’s Response to the Economic Downturn 125 Alternative Explanations 131 The Whitlam Government Retreats 134 Other Influential Factors 137 Conclusion 140 Six The Labor Opposition and the Uranium Debate (1976-82) 142 The Emergence of the Uranium Debate 142 The 1982 National Conference 150 Conclusion: Reasons for the Change in Policy 154 iv Seven The Labor Opposition and the Accord 157 The Development of the Accord 157 The Accord and the Union Movement 162 The Post-Whitlam ALP-Union Relationship 168 Conclusion 171 Conclusion to Part C: Comparative Assessment of the Whitlam (1967-72) and Whitlam-Hayden periods (1975-83) 173 Part D The Party under Beazley (1996-2001) Introduction: Another Step to the Right 176 The 1996 Federal Election and Labor’s Response 178 Conclusion 188 Eight Labor’s Political Direction, 1996-2000 – Continuity Between Government and Opposition 189 The Aftermath of the 1996 Federal Election 190 Labor Defends the Hawke-Keating Record 195 The Kernot Defection 202 The 1998 National Conference: a Missed Opportunity 202 The 1998 Federal Election and After 203 The 2000 National Conference 211 The Third Way: New Route or Well-Worn Path? 213 Conclusion 215 Nine Beazley Labor and Globalisation: the Continuation of Bipartisanship 217 The Free Trade Debate 217 Beazley Labor’s Attitude to Globalisation 220 Labor’s Response to the Anti-Capitalist Movement 223 Conclusion 229 Ten Beazley and the “Small Target”: the Tampa, September 11, and the 2001 Federal Election 231 The Lead-Up to Tampa and September 11 231 Labor and Asylum Seekers 232 TheTampa Crisis 236 v September 11 240 Explaining “Parsimonious Social Democracy” 247 Other Factors Influencing Beazley Labor 251 Conclusion to Part D: The Beazley Years (1996-2001) 255 Falling Membership and Voter Support 255 A Less Democratic Party 257 A Party of “White-Bread Politicians” 259 Conclusion 261 Part E Conclusion Eleven Labor in Opposition: Contrasts and Continuities 263 The Research Problem 263 The Three Periods Compared and Contrasted 263 Assigning Weight to the Various Factors Influencing Labor in Opposition 267 Other Factors Shaping Labor in Opposition 271 Structure and Agency 273 Labor in Opposition and Opposition Theory 275 Limitations of the Research 277 Future Research Opportunities 278 Appendix: Trade Union Policy on Uranium 279 References Primary References 280 Secondary References 317 vi Tables 3.1 "Do you think we should continue to fight in Vietnam or bring our forces back to Australia?" 54 4.1 Industrial Disputes in Australia, 1966-1972 77 5.1 Australia’s Economic Performance, Pre and Post-1974 (percent) 123 5.2 OECD Economic Performance, Pre and Post-1974 (percent) 123 5.3 Attitudes about Australia in the 1980s 139 7.1 Industrial Disputes in Australia, 1976-1983 166 8.1 The 1993 Vote (percentage support) 180 8.2 The 1996 Vote (percentage support) 181 10.1 Australian and World Economic Performance, 1960s-1990s (annual average percent) 248 10.2 Industrial Disputes in Australia, 1996-2001 253 Figures 7.1 Labor and the Unions under Hayden 169 vii Abbreviations AAFI Australians Against Further Immigration ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACC Australian Chamber of Commerce (later became the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry) ACOSS Australian Council of Social Services ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions AEC Australian Electoral Commission AES Australian Election Studies AEU Australian Engineering Union ALP Australian Labor Party AMIC Australian Mining Industry Council AMWU The Amalgamated Metal Workers’ Union (later became the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union). ANC African National Congress ANZUS Security Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States of America APEA Australian Petroleum Exploration Association ASIO Australian Security Intelligence Organisation AWA Australian Workplace Agreement AWU Australian Workers’ Union CEDA Committee for Economic Development of Australia CEPR Center for Economic and Policy Research CFMEU Construction, Forestry,