OVERVIEW
MANAGEMENT
PERFORMANCE
POSSIBILITIES
CAPITALS
ACTIVITIES
ACTORS
BURGESS
|
AUSTRALIA
NEW PRIME MINISTER The Economist Newspaper ... A new era in Australian politics ... From our chief economist Original article: Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | ||
A new era in Australian politics ... From our chief economist
Simon Baptist ... Chief Economist, The Economist Newspaper
May 27th 2022
The Australian election last weekend produced a victory for the opposition centre-left Labor Party, but its victory is not the most significant outcome of the election. Changes of government between the centre-right and centre-left are periodic occurrences in Australia, and typically do not result in large policy swings owing to the combination of compulsory and preferential voting that is in use. This election is a watershed because of the large advances made by independents and, to a less surprising extent, by the Greens. Of the 19 seats the outgoing centre-right Liberal-National coalition appears to have lost, representing close to one quarter of its pre-election total, nine were lost to either the Greens or independents, who also picked up a couple of seats of the incoming governing Labor. This will make it very difficult for the coalition to retake government next time, as it will need to win seats not just from Labor, its traditional opponents, but also from the Greens and a diverse range of independents. A coherent policy setting to do this will be tough, especially as many more centrist members of the outgoing government lost their seats.
So what can we expect Labor to do with its likely next six or more years in power? Three campaign priorities were the establishment of an anti-corruption agency, action on climate change, and constitutional recognition of indigenous people. The last priority will need a further public vote, and it isn't yet clear what will be achievable. On the first two, however, we expect to see early legislative action, but Labor will continue to tread carefully on climate, wounded by negative public reaction to emissions-reduction policy in the past. The mood on that looks to have changed, but Labor will play it safe and allow the Greens and independents to do the campaigning for tougher action.
Read more about the Labor Party’s policy agenda here.
Simon Baptist
Simon Baptist
Chief economist
EIU
Twitter: @baptist_simon
EIU Top 5
| The text being discussed is available at | and |