This article expresses what we feel is true but can't afford to admit to ourselves. With the demise of the Democrats as a force in politics where do those who believe in social justice and progressive goverment turn to? Lindsay Tanner is a voice of compassion and reason as his contributions to this site attest. If he has no chance then we have no chance.

Labor is out of touch because its not in the "reform minded centre" on economic issues the way Blair is in Britain. The schlerotic nature of the ALP did work in the 1980's because Keating didn't pay attention to the problems Labor had with economic reform.

Is Labor wanting to win enough that will it reach out to middle Australia -- the way Blair reached out middle England -- even if that is at the expense of some of its' traditional values!

Political primaries are the only long term method of connecting Labor to electorates in the outer-suburbs on the centre-right.

The ALP barely has a pulse, the heart has stoped and the brain is being deprived of oxygen.

Corin Mccarthy,
What is this centre right you talk about? If you are trying to sell the ALP on the third way, you should know that Blairism is based on the Hawke/keating strategy, with a dash of Gladstonian imperialist notalgia thrown in for the Daiy Mail readers. What is 'middle Australia'? What groups live there? How much do they earn? Are they in debt? Do they rely on secure jobs that include overtime and penalty rates to allow them to particiapte in the 'aspirational economy'? The term 'middle Australia' is short hand twaddle that echoes Howards 'mainstream'. It is rhetoric, not analysis, and is a very poor basis for doing the hard yards of policy development and political mobilisation.

Labor needs to recognise that the political spectrum has shifted markedly to the right.

I think this happened in part as a natural realignment after the Labor years when Hawke and Keating took the country much further to the left than the vast majority of Australians wanted. They fostered the idea that anything white/anglo-saxon/male was bad while anything multicultural/non-white/feminine/gay was good. They destroyed our national self-confidence with a spurious debate about identity and our place in the world. By 1993 middle Australia was well and truly over the politically correct madness of this era. It was only a politically naive Hewson who allowed Keating to run the mother or all scare campaigns (over the GST) and allow Hewson to snatch defeat from the jaws if victory. By the next election in 1996, and three more years of Labor moving the country to the looney left, middle Australia was so fed up that all Howard had to do was keep his mouth shut and say nothing to achieve a landslide.

At that time the country was much, much further to the left than Howard would have liked. He patiently began to move the country in the direction he wanted.

If Labor wants to regain government they need to pick up where the country is now and then begin to move it in the direction they want. This means, initially at least, accepting a big move to the right to match the aspirations of the people (not the urban elites). But when you look at the ideologues which make up the party, I don't think they'll be able to do it until they've tasted defeat for a long time to come (a bit like Britain's Labour before Blair).

Tanner's suggestion that Labor shift it's emphasis from wealth redistribution to creation would be a good place to start.

Hi Peter

Thanks for your article. As an "ex" Labor voter I find your analysis very interesting.

I am 57 years of age. Dad was a hard core Labor man who believed in social justice issues. When I look back it is clear that he held and practised "feminist values" with respect to people's rights.

So, it was easy for me to vote for Labor at my first chance. And I did so for many, many years - with a swing here and there to the Democrats.

But after Hawke and Keating I lost the plot. I have since voted for the Libs - not because I favour their ideologies so much as the fact that they have some{ideologies}.

Labor has lost the plot! I can't find their ideologies in practice. What are their ideologies in 2005? They are out of touch with reality - well for me and Corin. They are not a team and they do not have a manager. Without team spirit and good management businesses always fail.

Tieran - your post had me in stitches of laughter. Good one!

Josh - thanks for your post - very interesting.