CATHOLIC politicians and political observers believe the huge Labor Party win and the decimation of the Coalition at last weekend’s Queensland election has signalled a voter revolt against economic rationalism.
While the Labor Government’s return was not a surprise, its unprecedented landslide win did raise eyebrows.
“The message from the electorate is that the Coalition has run its course,” said Queensland University lecturer in social policy, Dr Paul Smyth.
“Since the 1980s, federal politics has gone down the economic rationalist track with things like the National Competition Policy.”
“The Government has to work with the Catholic Church and other community organisations to come up with solutions to the problems that globalisation has been throwing up,” he said.
Dr Smyth suggested a range of decisions made in Canberra made the Coalition unpopular.
“Petrol prices, the Goods and Services Tax, Business Actitivity Statements, de-regulation, they’re all results of the economic rationalist model which has hit a brick wall.”
Brisbane archdiocesan Catholic Justice and Peace Commission executive officer, Peter Arndt said the vote reflected a divide between people in regional areas where people were “doing it tough” and those in the larger cities.
“Certainly there is a large number of Catholics and other people who are concerned about the way economic change is being managed because it’s not distributing wealth equitably,” he said.
Labor Party whip in the previous Government and Member for Stafford, Terry Sullivan, said Premier Peter Beattie’s ability to address “everyday” issues like unemployment, health, education and family services was the reason the Government retained office.
National Party Member for Toowoomba South, Mike Horan, conceded federal issues had an impact including the automatic excise increases on fuel and cigarettes.
He, however, believed the “presidential style of campaigning with leader and against leader” and the splintered conservative parties also influenced the Coalition’s poor performance.
Dr Smyth said One Nation’s political resurrection could be partly owed to conservative economic policies which left communities, like the dairy farmers, feeling marginalised.
“It’s a voice of protest but (with One Nation) there is still a policy vacuum,” he said.
“The challenge is how do you have globalisation but distribute the rewards and opportunities in a way that no one feels left out,” he said.
