{"id":11542,"date":"2022-05-18T08:52:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T08:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/2022\/05\/aus-elec\/"},"modified":"2024-11-21T00:09:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T21:09:08","slug":"the-australian-federal-election-result-will-have-an-impact-on-the-health-of-democracy-tezcan-gumus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/2022\/05\/the-australian-federal-election-result-will-have-an-impact-on-the-health-of-democracy-tezcan-gumus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Australian Federal Election Result Will Have an Impact on the Health of Democracy -Tezcan G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Australia will\ngo to the polls on May 21 to elect a new federal parliamentary government, but\nthe climate in which the country heads to the polls is troubling. The\nthree-term conservative coalition between the Australian Liberal Party and\nNational Party is hoping to be re-elected while COVID-19 has killed more Australians\nin 2022 than in 2020 and 2021 combined. The economy is also suffering. There is\na slow deterioration of living standards, accelerated by the increasing cost of\nliving and inflation. Wages have been stagnant for a decade and the recent Reserve\nBank of Australia interest rate hike signals higher stress for households. And\nsociety is experiencing creeping divisions spurred by the extended lockdowns,\nundermining its social cohesion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under this\nclimate, voters have the chance to re-elect the Liberal-National coalition, headed\nby Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the leader of the Liberal Party. On the other\nside, in Australia\u2019s two-party system, vying for the governing seat is Anthony\nAlbanese\u2019s centre-left Australian Labor Party. Albanese has been unable to ignite\nenthusiasm from the electorate, yet Labor is, nonetheless, ahead in the\npre-election polls. Overall, despondency is directed at both sides by the\nelectorate. This has led journalist Ben Eltham to describe the situation as \u201cthe\nmost remarkable thing about this election is the almost total absence of hope. The\nchoice is between almost certain disillusionment under Labor and the\ndevastation of a fourth Coalition term; that is a choice between unhappiness\nand double unhappiness.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The undemocratic trend under\nthe Coalition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The election also\nholds importance for the faltering standard of democracy experienced under the\ncoalition government. Over the nine years of Liberal-National rule, troubling trends\nand behaviours have etched away at democratic institutions and norms. These\nrelate to the lack of accountability in the government; the use of public money\nfor party electoral advantage rather than the public interest; serious\nallegations of misconduct against government politicians; foregoing long-term\ninterests of the country to pursue immediate political advantages; and general\nhabit of eschewing proper ethical conduct. Governmental behaviour has\nultimately been damaging to democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are\nmaterial indicators democracy has taken a hit during the coalition\u2019s time in government.\nTransparency International\u2019s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) in 2021 revealed\nAustralia is one of the most significant decliners, dropping 12 points since\n2012. The CPI report placed Australia in 18th place, scoring 73 points on the\n100-point scale, which is Australia\u2019s worst score on record. The declining score\nsignifies systemic failings in tackling public sector corruption by the\ncoalition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though there are\nstrong public calls and previous promises have been made by the Prime Minister,\nit has refused<\/a>\nto establish a federal anti-corruption commission to investigate corruption. In fact, Morrison has repeatedly\nattacked the New\nSouth Wales (NSW) Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation<\/a>.\nThe government has also cut\nfunding to<\/a> the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) in an attempt to\navoid scrutiny. The Coalition has stacked the Administrative Appeals Tribunal\n(AAP), the independent body that reviews administrative decisions<\/a>\nmade by the Australian Government, with more than 30 former Coalition MPs,\nstaffers and allies. The government\u2019s partisan appointments in the public\nservice have seen it politicised, with a long-term Liberal Party apparatchik<\/em> now in\ncharge of the public service<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Press freedoms\nhave also taken a hit. Reporters Without Borders has relegated\nAustralia down from 25 to number 39 out of 180 countries on the 2022 Press Freedom Index<\/a>. This is\ndue to the ultra-concentration of media ownership, combined with growing\nofficial pressure, endangering public-interest journalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two mega-companies dominate the media industry, making Australia\u2019s\nmedia landscape one of the most concentrated in the world. The high\nconcentration offers these two companies exceptionally large political power,\nalong with harming the diversity of voices in the media. For instance, News\nCorp, part of the Australian-American magnate Rupert Murdoch\u2019s global media\nempire, controls more than two-thirds of the country\u2019s leading papers, as well\nas most online news portals. The company uses its monopoly to attack and\ndisparage opponents of the Liberal-National government while suppressing the Coalition\u2019s\nmistakes. Such has been News Corp\u2019s direct and unapologetic partisanship and\nthe power it wields it is now labelled \u201ca danger to Australia\u2019s democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together with this, in 2021, a Senate\ncommittee confirmed<\/a> the existence of a growing culture of secrecy by the\nadministration regarding the press, finding the existence of informal pressure on\njournalists not to reveal certain matters, and intimidation of whistle-blowers\nunder the pretext of protecting national security. The Morrison Government\nrushed through the Surveillance Legislation\nAmendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill<\/em> that provides unprecedented\npowers for the Australian Federal Police and Australian Criminal Intelligence\nCommission that will lead to improper use against whistle-blowers and\njournalists. The Law highlights the lack of wider entrenched safeguards for\npress freedom and free speech in Australia. In response to the climate of\nintimidation, a\nsurvey by the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA)<\/a>, found nearly\n90 per cent of journalists surveyed were “fearful of threats, harassment,\nand intimidation” starting from the government. Coalition politicians have\nalso employed Australia\u2019s\ndefamation laws<\/a> with much more frequency to silence journalists and critics.\nWe are witnessing defamation law wielded as a \u201cpolitical\nweapon\u201d<\/a> by the conservative side of politics, to protect the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old and new voices in the\nelectoral race<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What has also been\nworrying is that the Liberal-National government has moved further to the right\nof the political spectrum over the nine years in government. Certain\npoliticians from the Coalition have even started expressing right-wing populist\nrhetoric to stave off the rise of a smattering of small right-wing parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, the stresses\nof the pandemic have pushed a segment of Coalition voters further toward small right-wing\nparties, such as Pauline Hanson\u2019s One Nation and billionaire Clive Palmer\u2019s\nUnited Australia Party. These parties are tailored with populist and anti-immigration\nundertones and embraced the anti-vaccination and conspiracy theory groups with support\ndrawn generally from rural areas in Queensland and New South Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partly owing to\nthe rightward drift, the Liberal Party is also losing support in its\ntraditional urban strongholds, especially among women. The tacit support expressed\nfor anti-vax protesters in 2021 from key Liberal figures including the Prime\nMinister, has left affluent city voters disturbed by this creeping populism. The\nlack of any ambition to act on climate change represents another critical\nreason. The government\u2019s appalling policy record on gender equality and women\u2019s\npolicy has also aided the declining support among professional women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A group of\nindependents known as the \u201cTeals\u201d for the blue-green colour of their campaign have\nstepped in to fill this breach. These are a group of mostly wealthy white\nprofessional women, that are running in affluent electorates historically held\nby the Liberals. Campaigning on progressive policies, these are candidates who have\nbeen spurred to run by the Coalition\u2019s dismal record on climate (even climate\ndenialism), financially backed by the political action committee Climate 200. If\nthe Teal candidates win seats held by Liberal\u2019s, there is a strong possibility\nthat the independents could hold make them important players in deciding the\nnext government and influencing future policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the government\nchanges, it will be Labor that will win the seat of power. Led by Albanese, Labor\nhas lost much of its progressive visionary policies over the recent years, pandering\nto the shift of the political spectrum to the right. What sets it apart from the\nCoalition is that it is as promised a wide-ranging new anti-corruption body,\nsure to uncover governmental misconduct. Though, not comprehensive enough, Labor\nhas plan to address climate change, while there is also a promise of labour-market\nreform and increase of the minimum wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is\nthe Greens Party. They have garnered around 10 percent of the national vote for\nthe last decade, yet their social democrat and progressive policies have not\nincreased the party\u2019s support beyond their urban strongholds. Realistically,\nthey won\u2019t win office, rather their hope is to win enough seats to hold the balance\nof power in Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inclusion of\nthe Teal independents and more Greens in the Parliament could hold the key for\na more inclusive and progressive legislative climate. This will be enhanced by\na Labor government that will likely be reliant on the support from the Teals and\nGreens, if these latter groups can successfully win a handful of seats in the\nLower House and Senate. Their crossbench support for a Labor government will\nlikely be premised on stronger climate action, wider social and economic\nreforms, which otherwise a Labor majority government is unlikely to pursue on\nits own. Whereas, if the Coalition remains in power, there is every possibility\nmore damage to democracy will be incurred, considering the recent trend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence, the\nresulting parliamentary make-up after the election, alarmingly, puts a lot at\nstake for the country, regardless of how uninspiring the electorate might feel\nabout the major parties. The next government will either reverse politics moving\nfurther to the right or see it continue down its current undemocratic path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Tezcan G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tezcan G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f obtained his PhD from Deakin University in 2019 and has held lecturing positions at The University of Melbourne and Australian Catholic University and as a Research Fellow at Deakin University. His PhD dissertation received the 2020 Australian Political Studies Association Thesis Prize. Dr G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f\u2019s book Turkey\u2019s Political Leaders: Authoritarian Tendencies in a Democratic State<\/em> will be available through Edinburgh University Press (Studies on Modern Turkey) in late 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

To cite this work :<\/strong> Tezcan G\u00fcm\u00fc\u015f \u201c The Australian Federal Election result will have an impact on the health of democracy \u201d, Panorama<\/em>, Online , 18 May 2022, https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/blog\/2022\/05\/18\/aus-elec\/ <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Copyright@UIKPanorama. All on-line and print rights reserved. Opinions expressed in works published by the Panorama<\/em> belongs to the authors alone unless otherwise stated, and do not imply endorsement by the IRCT, Global Academy, or the Editors\/Editorial Board of Panorama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia will go to the polls on May 21 to elect a new federal parliamentary government, but the climate in which the country heads to the polls is troubling. The three-term conservative coalition between the Australian Liberal Party and National Party is hoping to be re-elected while COVID-19 has killed more Australians in 2022 than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":9137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[486,505],"tags":[546,556,560,656],"class_list":["post-11542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","category-world","tag-australia","tag-democracy","tag-election","tag-english"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalpanorama.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}