<
https://theconversation.com/did-australia-just-make-a-move-to-the-left-183611>
"Political commentators often use the idea of a political spectrum from left to
right as shorthand for understanding political ideologies, parties and
programs. Derived from the arrangement of the National Assembly in the French
Revolution, it has been a remarkably resilient form of political shorthand.
Is it useful is explaining what has happened in the 2022 Australian federal
election?
The customary way of considering such matters has been to regard the Liberals
and Nationals as parties of the right, and Labor and the Greens as parties of
the left. Terms such as centre right and centre left have sometimes been used
to provide greater refinement, seen to be necessary especially with the
proliferation of xenophobic and extreme parties further to the right in many
countries. The term “centre party” has sometimes been used for smaller parties
that seem to sit between the others, however uncomfortably – the Australian
Democrats was an example.
If the spectrum does indeed remain a useful concept, an argument can be made
that the 2022 election discloses an electoral shift to the left. It is perhaps
the most significant since the combined momentum of the elections of 1969 and
1972 that brought the Whitlam government to office.
Changes of government in federal politics don’t happen often. There have been
eight since the second world war, and three of those were in a turbulent decade
between late 1972 and early 1983. Australian voters are in the habit of
returning governments and they tend not to discard an incumbent lightly. When
they do, it is reasonable to ask if it signals some wider shift in voter
attitudes and leanings."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
