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Ah Babushka, remember 1984?

Article Excerpt
The 'Tweedledee and Tweedledum' or 'Tweedledumber' thesis encapsulates the idea of major party convergence. This phenomenon is ascribed to changes in the Australian electorate, economic conditions and the symbiosis between politicians and media. Clearly the 'Me too' federal election of 2007 exposed similarities between the policies of the Labor and non-Labor sides of politics.

This trend away from bi-polarity implies homogenisation at some central point. Centralisation suggests moderation, but rejection of radical solutions is a victory for conservatism. A stark example is the dominance of foreign policy by the United States alliance. Despite assertions by the Labor Opposition that its policy to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq differentiated it from the Coalition government, the alliance remains sacrosanct. Labor's endorsement of the alliance is not new, but today there is little evidence of internal dissent, which could relate to the weakness of challenges from outside the party. A generation ago, in 1984, the political milieu was quite different.

When Alternatives Seemed Possible

In 1984, that year of Orwellian predictions, Labor cynically thwarted the political ambitions of Peter Garrett, famous as lead singer of Midnight Oil. Garrett ran for the Senate as an anti-nuclear campaigner, but Labor directed preferences away from his Nuclear Disarmament Party. The election was held against a background of alarm about nuclear war. In the darkest days of the Cold War, US policy was made by President Reagan, who steered the West towards the nuclear...

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