Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

CAMBRIDGE LETTER

Photo: AFP

Uneasy relationship: John Howard (Left) with Peter Costello.

What I did not expect was that I would find myself observing a political drama which had uncanny echoes of what had been going on politically in the United Kingdom during the past year. As we arrived, the long-serving Premier of Queensland, Peter Beattie, announced that he was resigning. A day later, Anna Bligh was sworn in as Premier, the first woman to hold the post in Queensland’s history.

Inevitably, this was the main news in Brisbane, the State capital, but the change at the helm in Queensland had wider, national, implications. It was followed immediately by the announcement by John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, that he would leave his post during his next term of office (if his Liberal Party wins the federal election due fairly soon), and hand over to Peter Costello, the Treasurer.

For a visiting Brit, that, of course, was what produced a sense of déjÀ vu. Tony Blair’s announcement last year that he would give up his role as Prime Minister before the next election immediately produced a frenzy of speculation about his precise departure date, and a frenzy of discussion also about the relationship between Blair and Gordon Brown. Gordon Brown, like Peter Costello, was at the time Chancellor of the Exchequer (in Australian terms, Treasurer). The relationship between Blair and Brown was notoriously poor. Their “friendly collaboration” on major issues of policy was proclaimed through gritted teeth.

So it is with the relationship between John Howard and Peter Costello.

Another similarity between the U.K. and Australian situations is that the incumbent government is unpopular, and support for John Howard as party leader has fragmented. In Britain, after a record period in power, Tony Blair had become a wasting asset, and, particularly over Iraq policy, had lost the trust of the electorate. The first task of Gordon Brown when he took over was to make it clear that, though this was in a sense the same government, it was going to move in a different direction. Whether Gordon Brown will succeed in this remains to be seen. The next election will be the test.

In Australia, similarly, the election will be the test, but with the significant difference that Mr. Howard plans to remain in office until after it. It will be the “old” Prime Minister rather than the new who leads the party into the contest. The political pundits are busily analysing what chances the ruling Liberal Party has of winning, against a background of rumbling rebellion within the party.

Finding similarities between the situation during the past year in Britain and the situation as it unfolded here in Australia as I arrived is, I guess, inevitable. Taking that too far would be naïve. That said, there is another feature of the Australian political scene that may be worth observing through U.K. eyes.

I refer to the balance between the centre and regions. Australia, of course, is a federation and the U.K. is not. In Australia at present the governments of all the States are formed by the Labor Party, whereas the Federal Government is a Liberal Party administration. In the U.K., the devolved administration of Scotland — the nearest we have to a State government, though the constitutional position is different — is now led by the Scottish National Party. It is a minority administration, but so far, and the regional elections were quite recent, Alex Salmond, First Minister and SNP leader has certainly managed to impose his party’s imprint.

From the point of view of anyone in charge of a national government, it must be frustrating to be constantly battling with other centres of power whose aims and priorities are not the same. When I look at the situation as a citizen, my point of view is different. I relish the fact that a central government, of any political complexion, does not have everything its own way. For that reason, among others, I would favour an extension of devolution within the U.K. — but that is a development which we are not likely to see in the near future.

Meanwhile, in Australia, as in the U.K., democrats can find reassurance in the robust political commentary in the media, and the practice of satirical, often perceptive, albeit quite frequently unkind, treatment of politicians: another thing that gives arriving in Brisbane a familiar feel.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail