Sidney Dalvey

Donald Trump just won the US Presidential election. For many his victory is painful. The blatant misogyny, the open racism, the disregard for facts and reason. The man is odious. For others these were not a factor. Either they didn’t care or they were happy to overlook it because their lives are worse now than they were before. Trump’s victory reveals the dead end of lesser evilism.

More than anything else the victory of Trump represents the failure of liberal capitalism. Democrats in the US and their centrist, both centre-left and centre-right, ilk around the world are indignant that a man lacking in character such as Trump could win more votes that the clearly ‘rational and qualified’ candidate in Kamala Harris, similar to the shock and dismay following Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. What this perspective fails to see is that for most people their lives are going backwards. 

Housing is in crisis and is unattainable for most. Increases in the cost of living are outstripping increases (where they exist at all) in wages. Permanent and secure jobs are more and more a thing of the past. People watch the slow motion car crash that is the global response to climate change with a sense of trepidation and horror. The Russian invasion of Ukraine highlights the unstable nature of global relations, with threats of conflicts breaking out in any number of regions. The Israeli State murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians, with the full backing of the US and major European powers, continues unabated. While liberal capitalism has no answers to these issues it is completely unsurprising that people search around for an alternative. To be clear Trump and the right-wing populism he represents offer no such solutions. However his simple message captures the yearning for change.

The same trap will befall the Albanese Labor government at the upcoming Australian federal election, due before May 2025. The only remaining question is whether this will result in a reduced majority, minority government, or an outright victory for Peter Dutton. Already Dutton and the Coalition are feeding out the same Trumpian messages: Are you better off now? We will be tough on crime. We will be tough on the borders.

The Albanese government is a wet fish, even by the standards of liberal capitalism. Labor is so terrified of being wedged on any number of issues that they are paralysed to inaction. The biggest issue facing Australia, aside from the existential threat of climate change, is housing. 

Policies from successive governments, both Liberal and Labor, have seen the value of Australian housing skyrocket. Housing in Australia is now first a vehicle for wealth and only second a place to live. At its heart the basic issue is that the ratio of the value of housing to income has gotten out of control. The average house in Australia costs over 16 times the average wage, 25 years ago that ratio was 9. Migration to Australia is outstripping the number of houses being built. Additionally policy settings around negative gearing continue to artificially inflate the value of housing. Some simple changes to negative gearing could go a long way to at least initially stopping the problem from getting worse, however, Labor is paralysed by the ‘lesson’ from their defeat under Bill Shorten that any changes to negative gearing are electoral suicide. An even simpler policy – build more houses – is too complicated to even consider. Much better to set up an obscure financial vehicle that may invest in housing if profits are sufficient.

Under pressure the Labor government is seeking to shore up support by spreading around a few crumbs. Labor has promised to wipe 20% off student loans if reelected. The Greens jumped at this urging Labor to put the bill up immediately and offered to wave it through the senate. They have made similar offers to compromise on Labors stalled housing bills. Predictably Labor has declined, this is election policy, it’s about votes. Treasurer Jim Chalmers also announced a $900 million fund for states that boost productivity, for instance by cutting regulations on house building. Labor is in election mode and is looking to remind voters that the crumbs are more plentiful under them than the alternative. Remember the stage 3 tax cuts, anyone?

The Albanese government is lesser evilism personified. As the election approaches those on the ‘left’ will call for a vote for Labor on the basis of stopping the Coalition from coming to power. They will point to attacks on workers’ rights, delayed action on climate change, and a host of other issues. Many, if not all, of these issues are legitimate criticism of the right wing populism preached by the Coalition, however, the fallacy is that Labor offers an alternative. 

As Margaret Thatcher claimed her greatest achievement was Tony Blair, the modern Labor party stands to the right of ex-Liberal leaders such as Malcolm Fraser in many respects. Following the collapse of the soviet union working class consciousness has been thrown backwards and without the example of a planned economy, despite the distortions of Stalinism, the mass social democratic parties and union leaders have drifted ever further into the arms of neo-liberalism and globalisation.

Under Labor living standards continue to go backwards, the housing crisis remains, wages are not growing in any meaningful way, there is no real action on climate change, inhumane refugee policies are still in place, ministers take perks from large corporations such as Quantas without shame, ALP electorates benefit from pork barrelling just as Coalition ones did, the trade union movement continues to operate under draconian legislation, the right to protest is being further curtailed, all while the largest companies continue to rake in massive profits and pay little to no tax. In what material sense does Labor offer anything better than the Coalition?

Labor is boasting that the wage price index is outstripping inflation, claiming that real wages are growing, just. What this ignores is that the basket of goods that makes up the CPI doesn’t include housing. If you have a mortgage you are still going backwards. It also misses the patchy nature of wages growth, for example if you work in the arts or the public sector your wages are not growing in real terms. 

Despite this many workers are willing to give Labor a chance, particularly following a decade of coalition rule where real wages fell substantially backwards. However, Albanese will only pave the way for another populist right wing government, sooner or later, while offering nothing more than not being the other guy.

The only way to break the continual cycle of Liberal and Labor governments is to build a left-wing socialist alternative. A new workers’ party could bring together trade unionists, like those from the CFMEU construction division, with environmentalists, anti-racist campaigners, and others on the left ready to tackle the big issues in our society and to fight for a better standard of living for all. This new left party must have at its core socialist policies such as nationalisation under workers control, immediate action on climate change, and a plan of production that utilises the wealth of society for the benefit of all not the billionaires.