Labor Party Ideology in the Early 1990s: Working Nation and Paths not Taken

Abstract

Although left critiques of the Hawke Government were gathering pace before the recession of the early 1990s, the unemployment and other debilitating effects of the recession opened up political space to extend these critiques and explore alternatives. It is all the more momentous then that the parliamentary Labor Party responded to the events of the early 1990s without any significant revision of ideas or policy. The Keating Government continued along the neoliberal trajectory that had been established from the mid 1980s, albeit one latterly travelled with a softer rhetoric. Rarely do political circumstances present themselves in such a way that political parties can change direction sharply. This paper revisits the political-economic circumstances of the early 1990s, argues that these circumstances were sufficient for a fundamental change in policy direction, and sets out some alternatives that were not taken.