Extract from The Guardian
A few progressive social policies shouldn’t make Malcolm Turnbull the
darling of the left. He’s a devout neoliberal who has supported
economic policies that entrench inequality
‘But what is the substance of Turnbull’s divide-crossing appeal? It’s a
mere handful of social policy positions that contrast to the majority of
his party.’
Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
I’ll admit, as someone who identifies as an actual lefty, I find
Malcolm Turnbull’s positive reputation with a certain kind of Australian
progressive hard to fathom. I look at the new prime minister’s elite
education, his first attempt at a Liberal preselection back in 1981, the
career as a lawyer who represented Kerry Packer, then as a partner at
Goldman Sachs, and then his entry to parliament in a seat so blue ribbon
it has never once been won by Labor, as the trajectory of the
consummate modern Tory.
Australian politicians are often criticised by their egalitarian electors for courting the big end of town; Turnbull is the big end of town, with a $50m view from Point Piper to prove it.
And yet some progressives persist with a conviction that he’s some kind of cuddly champion. When he was first elected Liberal leader in 2008, Catherine Deveny claimed: “The left are reluctant to admit it, but they’re pretty rapt Malcolm Turnbull’s the Liberal party’s new Head Boy.”
It’s a sentiment that has not abated in the years since and frothed over on Twitter and Facebook in the ructions that propelled him to the leadership on Monday night. Social justice advocate Father Rod Bower is hoping Turnbull will bring back true Liberal values.
Fairfax, the news outlet denounced as waging a leftist “jihad” by Turnbull’s colleague Peter Dutton, has celebrated the Turnbull leadership victory as “a breath of fresh air” and author and columnist Benjamin Law was praising Turnbull’s bon mots on the internet on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, powerful acolytes of the right dislike him: Andrew Bolt, Ray Hadley, Alan Jones, Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Kennett have all been loudly keening his bloody knifing of Abbott. Despite polls that consistently place him behind Abbott amid Coalition voters, fans from the progressive side have ensured he’s currently the most popular politician in the country. It’s not hard to understand why the likes of Liberal Kelly O’Dwyer, whose once-safe seat of Higgins is now under threat from the more progressive Greens, have thrown themselves into the Turnbull team.
But what is the substance of Turnbull’s divide-crossing appeal? It’s a mere handful of social policy positions that contrast to the majority of his party. Much is made of his attitudes towards marriage equality and abortion – but Australia is far ahead of the calcified reactionaries in Turnbull’s caucus and these are mainstream positions now, core to modern Labor as well as the Greens and shared by many more Australians than just both halves of the centre.
Marriage equality is supported by more than 70% of us – although Turnbull himself actually voted against legislating it when Gillard’s Labor government brought the policy to a parliamentary vote in 2010. Again, his support for abortion rights is not maverick: his views may stand out against a large chunk of his far-right caucus, but they represent of 80% of the Australian population.
Of more concern to progressives currently pumping his “liberal” credentials is what the word means in Turnbull’s economic lexicon: he’s a devout neoliberal, and while he may be the only Liberal to front Q&A in leathers, he’s amid the Liberal-National majority in support of cutting penalty rates for workers and repeating the mythology that minimum wage rises “discourage employment”, while claiming unfair dismissal protection is a “tax on employment”.
In his speech announcing his leadership challenge Turnbull affirmed he’d been provoked to action not to go against Abbott’s economic policies – but to give them better “advocacy”. Crucially, he declared support for the China free trade agreement (Chafta) that will allow non-union labour to be shipped into Australia from China on projects worth more than $150m.
In what should ring alarm bells for the Turnbull epoch, his first speech after his caucus victory committed him to the principles of “freedom, the individual and the market”, echoing earlier statements that “the most efficient way for people to resolve their employment relations is by direct dealings between the employer and the employee”. How lucky Turnbull is to have enough privilege to ignore just what that power differential means in a country where unemployment is now over 800,000, there will be between 150,000 and 200,000 more jobs lost when the car manufacturers close and where 40% of workers have already been casualised.
Those considering how much social equality is possible when women and other traditionally disadvantaged communities are exposed to the labour politics of free-market ideology need only look at the disadvantage these economics have entrenched in the US.
Those praising the “glorious” performance of “Turbo Turnbull” when he appears on Q&A with or without a leather jacket, or cheering his comebacks to Alan Jones may wish to consider what happened in the UK when the neoliberal conservatives styled themselves hip. David Cameron may have rocked up in chucks instead of his leathers, but the rising inequality of Britain under his rule has been anything but progressive. It won’t be here, either.
Australian politicians are often criticised by their egalitarian electors for courting the big end of town; Turnbull is the big end of town, with a $50m view from Point Piper to prove it.
And yet some progressives persist with a conviction that he’s some kind of cuddly champion. When he was first elected Liberal leader in 2008, Catherine Deveny claimed: “The left are reluctant to admit it, but they’re pretty rapt Malcolm Turnbull’s the Liberal party’s new Head Boy.”
It’s a sentiment that has not abated in the years since and frothed over on Twitter and Facebook in the ructions that propelled him to the leadership on Monday night. Social justice advocate Father Rod Bower is hoping Turnbull will bring back true Liberal values.
Fairfax, the news outlet denounced as waging a leftist “jihad” by Turnbull’s colleague Peter Dutton, has celebrated the Turnbull leadership victory as “a breath of fresh air” and author and columnist Benjamin Law was praising Turnbull’s bon mots on the internet on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, powerful acolytes of the right dislike him: Andrew Bolt, Ray Hadley, Alan Jones, Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Kennett have all been loudly keening his bloody knifing of Abbott. Despite polls that consistently place him behind Abbott amid Coalition voters, fans from the progressive side have ensured he’s currently the most popular politician in the country. It’s not hard to understand why the likes of Liberal Kelly O’Dwyer, whose once-safe seat of Higgins is now under threat from the more progressive Greens, have thrown themselves into the Turnbull team.
But what is the substance of Turnbull’s divide-crossing appeal? It’s a mere handful of social policy positions that contrast to the majority of his party. Much is made of his attitudes towards marriage equality and abortion – but Australia is far ahead of the calcified reactionaries in Turnbull’s caucus and these are mainstream positions now, core to modern Labor as well as the Greens and shared by many more Australians than just both halves of the centre.
Marriage equality is supported by more than 70% of us – although Turnbull himself actually voted against legislating it when Gillard’s Labor government brought the policy to a parliamentary vote in 2010. Again, his support for abortion rights is not maverick: his views may stand out against a large chunk of his far-right caucus, but they represent of 80% of the Australian population.
Of more concern to progressives currently pumping his “liberal” credentials is what the word means in Turnbull’s economic lexicon: he’s a devout neoliberal, and while he may be the only Liberal to front Q&A in leathers, he’s amid the Liberal-National majority in support of cutting penalty rates for workers and repeating the mythology that minimum wage rises “discourage employment”, while claiming unfair dismissal protection is a “tax on employment”.
In his speech announcing his leadership challenge Turnbull affirmed he’d been provoked to action not to go against Abbott’s economic policies – but to give them better “advocacy”. Crucially, he declared support for the China free trade agreement (Chafta) that will allow non-union labour to be shipped into Australia from China on projects worth more than $150m.
In what should ring alarm bells for the Turnbull epoch, his first speech after his caucus victory committed him to the principles of “freedom, the individual and the market”, echoing earlier statements that “the most efficient way for people to resolve their employment relations is by direct dealings between the employer and the employee”. How lucky Turnbull is to have enough privilege to ignore just what that power differential means in a country where unemployment is now over 800,000, there will be between 150,000 and 200,000 more jobs lost when the car manufacturers close and where 40% of workers have already been casualised.
Those considering how much social equality is possible when women and other traditionally disadvantaged communities are exposed to the labour politics of free-market ideology need only look at the disadvantage these economics have entrenched in the US.
Those praising the “glorious” performance of “Turbo Turnbull” when he appears on Q&A with or without a leather jacket, or cheering his comebacks to Alan Jones may wish to consider what happened in the UK when the neoliberal conservatives styled themselves hip. David Cameron may have rocked up in chucks instead of his leathers, but the rising inequality of Britain under his rule has been anything but progressive. It won’t be here, either.
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