We didn’t get what we deserved

Australian Industry Group chief executive Heather Ridout said that a hung parliament was a “worrying outcome for business” that could lead to “instability, uncertainty and short-termism in policy development”. What was crucial, above all else, she said, is that the independents commit themselves to “supporting stable government”.

The editorial in the same issue of the AFR read: “Regardless of whether the Coalition’s Tony Abbott or Labor’s Julia Gillard leads it, this is the worst possible outcome for stable government and the unpopular economic reforms required to reinforce the Australian economy against another global recession, the expiry of the resources boom and the challenges of an ageing population.”

Big business’ concern is not whether Abbott or Gillard runs the government, because they know that both will run it in their interest. Their concern for “stability” is really about parliament and the two parties restoring legitimacy - critical if either are to be able push through unpopular attacks on working people.

Both parties agree, as their platforms indicate, that neo-liberal measures are becoming increasingly necessary as the global economic crisis continues. Australia is not immune either: its rising debt looks likely to rise further as the Chinese economy, which has buffered Australia for the crisis, starts to slip.

The election result also opens up more cracks in the hegemony exercised by the two old parties. Their ability, and that of the corporate media, to silence dissident voices will be much harder in this new framework.

But for different views to better represented, we need far reaching electoral reforms that better reflect the will of the people and ensure that every vote counts.

It is also necessary for the progressive social movements to build on the 1.2 million-strong vote for the Greens. Undoubtedly a significant proportion of the Green vote was a protest vote, particularly against the ever rightward shift of the ALP. But, for an increasing number it was a conscious vote for a new progressive alternative.

In Melbourne, the Greens won their second ever lower house seat in the face of a ferocious campaign by Labor and the cravenly pro-ALP union bureaucracy against one of the most pro-union candidates with a chance of winning a seat.

Importantly, unions such as the Victorian Electrical Trade Union broke with the ALP to come behind the Greens in the seat of Melbourne and the Victorian Senate.

This, together with the Greens managing to turn the inner west NSW seat of Grayndler from the second safest ALP seat into a marginal seat, is a powerful message to millions looking for an alternative to the two corporate parties.

This is particularly true for the remaining rank and file ALP members disgusted by the direction of the party and who realise that the reason for Labor’s crisis is a lot deeper than a few cabinet discussion leaks.

With NSW Labor so on the nose, the Greens have a real chance of winning lower house seats in the 2011 March state election.

How the Greens move now to continue to build a third force in politics will be crucial to converting protest votes into a serious and lasting “new movement” as Bob Brown put it on election night. We need a political force that can continue to weaken the monopoly of the two corporate parties and work with the social and trade union movements to bring about real change.