Quote:
Originally Posted by gmeteer
Mothy, so could I assume the Labor party is left of center? Glenn
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Yes - thats about it, traditional just left of centre.
In Australia the main parties tend to win government by by taking the middle ground. Labor Party did it years ago (1980's) when Bob Hawke became PM. Liberals couldn't budge them till they changed PM to Paul Keating and he moved the party to the left. Libs then took over the middle ground and won office 11 years ago.
For most of that 11 yrs they have stayed close to the middle except in the last 3 yr period where they have moved strongly to the right, allowing Labor back to the middle ground. One of the biggest changes was to bring in massive changes to the work/employment laws which may well have been good for the economy but were quite unpopular due to the impact on job security.
Climate change and the Environment were also a big issue in voters minds and the Liberals were seen as not taking it seriously until it emerged as a major election issue.
Whats interesting is that the new Minister for the Environment is quite likely to be Peter Garrett - former lead singer of rock band Midnight Oil.
Tim