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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 17. July 16, 1973

Books — From Tweedledum to Tweedledee: The New Labour Government in Australia by Robert Catley and Bruce McFarlane

page 11

Books

From Tweedledum to Tweedledee: The New Labour Government in Australia by Robert Catley and Bruce McFarlane

Man standing on a path that is hovering over the land

From New Zealand's quirt political scene, the recent happenings over in Canberra seem both exciting and confused. The sacking of a Deputy Prime Minister is never a very ordinary affair - it is a mark of the times that Dr Cairn's sacking is treated much as the next in a long series of sensations. The recent heavy swing against Labour in a by-election indicates that the electorate is getting very annoyed with the antics of Whitlam and his mates. This picture is very much confused by the common description of Cairns (and other ALP ministers) as a 'socialist.' This 'socialist' has been known to speak at price tribunal hearings in favour of increased profits for private companies and is also known to strongly favour the development of Australian transnational companies. Closer to home, there is another good example recently in the papers - the free trade agreement between NZ and Australia. Trade has been running at about 4 to 1 in Australia's favour since this was signed, and Mr Freer recently visited Canberra to sort a few things out. Despite Whitlam's previous noises about equity and international morality, Freer got nowhere.

If its any help, many Australians seem rather bemused by their Government's antics as well. To help sort out the confusion is one of the explicit aims of Catley and McFarlane's book From Tweedledum to Tweedledee. The authors try to cut through the confusion, arguing 'there is a discernible coherence to what the Labour government has done since it was elected to office in December 1972' (p1) Their basic thesis is that the Australian Labour Party (ALP) is now dominated by the ideas of 'technocratic Laborism' - a concern for efficiency and management rather than a commitment to ideals one normally associates with a 'socialist' party-greater equality, nationalisation, etc. Even within the Parliamentary framework it confines itself to the ALP is bad - Catley and McFarlane put it on a par with some of the more Liberal Tories in Britain.

Gough Whitlam up shit creek without a shovel

Gough Whitlam up shit creek without a shovel

To help illustrate their argument, the authors point to the distinction between the traditional Labour policy and the policy followed by Whitlam. (p70-1). There are four basic points of the traditional creed:
1.nationalisation of major sectors of economic power.
2.social justice - some allowance for people's needs rather than their ability to pay.
3.taxes on wealth such as death duties etc. to redistribute wealth.
4.progressive taxation to pay for social services.
Against these ideas, Catley and McFarlane argue, the new ALP 'line' (following the line of many Labour parties in Europe, especially Sweden's) is:
1.no nationalisation, but state 'control' through Government share-buying
2.A 'Meritocratic' concept of social justice - not the equalisation of rewards but equal opportunities to compete for the elite positions
3.no wealth taxes but more subsidies on education etc for middle groups.
4.the replacement of central revenue funding of social security by a series of funds (like the Government Superannuation Scheme here) to be paid for by the workers themselves.

Beyond these policy planks (if one can call them that) the ALP has two other broad guidelines - the use of orthodox financial techniques (eg fiscal policy) to manage the-economy more successfully and secondly the adherence to a European model of economic development, stressing growth and stability above all.

Catley and McFarlane trace these ideas through various policies of the Labour Government from its election, spending some time on the 1973 Budget and some time on the idea of wage and price controls (which are seen as a cure for inflation but have shown themselves remarkably ineffective nearly everywhere they have been tried). Other chapters, to which the model outlined above is less vital, concentrate on foreign policy, 'destroying class politics' and reactions to Labour. As the authors note in their introduction, they could well have covered more - and particularly absent is an analysis of the education reforms, since these are seen as so important a part of the Whitlam policy. Other areas that could be expanded (or even mentioned) are social services generally and aboriginal rights. The concentration of the bonk is too much on economic policy - while not denying its paramount importance other areas have seen developments too.

On those areas they do look at, Catley and McFarlane argue a strong case well. On Australia's oversea's policy for example, they cite to great effect Whitlam's mid-1973 trip to North America (p63). In Mexico, the Prime Minister suggested Australia could work in with other raw-material exporting countries to ensure fair returns. The next week, in New York, Whitlam talked about closer cooperation with international corporations. This is a contradiction Australia (and New Zealand as well) is well and truly caught in - as a capitalist country it is enmeshed in the net of international capitalism (e.g. the ALP has introduced many incentives for Australian firms investing abroad, especially in Indonesia) yet as a resource owner it attempts to impose national restrictions on the international economy. Come the crunch, the author's validly argue, the former will win out.

On the domestic scene the book is less impressive. Particularly questionable is the part on 'destroying class politics' where protest movements such as consumer rights, womens liberation, environment are seen as totally misguided if not reactionary. The analysis is weak here on two grounds:
1.the protest movements are treated not as areas of legitimate concern but as part of a conspiracy by the Government to split any opponents and
2.there is no prospect of 'greater understanding' stemming from these groups if people on the left are going to adopt arrogant attitudes toward them. A far more productive line than Catley and McFarlane's cynicism would be to argue that these groups are all concerned with negative aspects of capitalist society, and that until the basis of the society is changed, those aspects will remain. Dismissing people's qualms over their rights and their environment seems to me both arrogant and counterproductive.
Dr Cairns—The message finally got through

Dr Cairns—The message finally got through

For its 88 pages (plus four appendicies including some very revealing speeches) the book thus covers a great deal of ground. There is plenty of meat included in the text, very well drawn together in the sections specifically on economic policy, planning and foreign investment and trade issues. As noted above however, there are failings in not covering, even for a general outline, important fields and in taking a probably mistaken attitude in another. While conspicuous, these failings should not blind us to the real virtues of the book, and its powerful insight into the seeming confusion of Australian politics. The New Zealand Labour Party, like its trans-Tasman counterpart, has strong leanings in some of the paths suggested by Catley and McFarlane. We have a somewhat different situation here, and the technocratic hold over the Labour Party is possibly not as strong, but From Tweedledum to Tweedledee can illuminate many of New Zealand's contemporary experiences as well. It has failings, but powerful insights as well.