As I was reading the Financial Review this morning, this quote caught my eye:
“The Howard government has raised the art of hypocrisy to levels not previously seen by mankind, but …. to actually block the [Qantas] takeover would be breathtakingly bad policy, politics and plain dumb.”
I haven’t really been following what’s happening with Qantas, but I think it’s fascinating that Howard’s natural support, business, is getting increasingly impatient with the pork-barrelling and populist politics that the Liberal party has been increasingly displaying over the past three or four years (repealing the petrol excise in 2001 was the first egregious example).
We’re going to end up with the most consistent support base being the “Howard battlers” – the aspirational voters from the working class/ middle class cusp seats.
I find myself – self-described social liberal/economical conservative – getting annoyed with the government from both parts of my politics. If they’re not careful, they may start being at risk in the seats that voted for the Republic in 1999 – Mosman type seats – people like me who don’t care for pork-barrelling, but care about social justice (although I don’t think I’ve ever voted liberal in my life, so I probably don’t count).
PU,
As much as they ever vote as a block, I doubt the business community will vote Labour strongly, or even in a majority while Julia Gillard is likely to be running IR. The thought of a left-winger with her long history of support for the unions running the policy under which most Australians are hired or fired would be too much.
I disagree (strongly) with the centralisation under workchoices particularly because it has meant that the Federal IR portfolio is now one of the most powerful. Business owners though, will focus on the policy priorities of the minister.