Labor and the new political Centre

The South Australian landslide shows Labor is building a new political center and pushing divisive grievance politics to the extreme, writes Michael Thorn.

Since then end of 18^This CenturyPolitics was framed as a conflict between Left and Right. This metaphor comes from the French Revolution, where legislators of the then National Assembly aligned with revolutionary change sat on the left of the chamber, and defenders of the monarchy and other basic forms of hierarchical tradition sat on the right.

Over time, the seating arrangement of baby birds is first French Republic coalesced into a global way of thinking: politics as a line, an argument and then a counter-argument; a central point serves as the point of balance between each. Left, Right when necessary, and a logical and chewable political Center by default.

A neat concept. It’s also incredibly misleading – especially these days.

The Left/Right framing brings with it a kind of dialectical promise: politics is a functional struggle between opposing positions, in which public life progresses and flourishes through this binary conflict. But politics rarely behaves this neatly, especially these days.

In practice, this model often hides the much more complex realities of the operation (fragmentation, drift, managerialism, spectacle, and system stress). This is especially evident in a period of serial economic crises, where the old trust in stable political coordination has gradually eroded in this century.

Locally, South Australia is the latest evidence of this trend. last weekend, Labor wins SA election easilyThe Liberals are suffering a dramatic collapse and One Nation is encroaching on territory once belonging to the mainstream Australian Right. Late polls showed thismore votes show: Similar pattern emerging at the federal level.

But this is not just an election fluctuation. This is a structural change in the political sphere.

To be clear, this is not an attempt to prosecute a new grand theory, nor is it an attempt to push a reformulated theory”Third Way“or wave the flag of Albo, Gough Whitlam, Kevin ’07 or some other revived Labor catechism. The point is simpler: the ground is shifting, and the old Left/Right/nougat Center story no longer describes it very well.”

What South Australia is suggesting is that the Australian Labor Party is no longer competing solely for the Centre. It defines him more and more.

The Political Center is not neutral. It’s not just a positive midpoint between Left and Right, and it’s certainly not some kind of candy. It is a political structure: a place where legitimacy is asserted and policies are framed as responsible, reasonable, and “normal.” When a party can consistently occupy this space, it is not just “winning the middle.” It sets the conditions for public debate.

Australia’s oldest political party ALP’s long-term project. More recently, if 1998 was still new, former ALP Leader Mark Latham wrote Civilizing Global Capitalwas introduced as a renewal Labor Party’s social democratic program in a globalized economy. And even more recently, Federal Finance Minister Jim Chalmers used the following language: “Values-based capitalism”We advocate not just markets, but an economy and civil institutions that strengthen society and democracy. Different moments but similar instinct: Capitalism cannot be overcome, it is managed, shaped and stabilized.

The irony is obvious. Latham has since become a creature of the populist right; “Folk” is what ABC later called it. “former federal Labor leader turned One Nation ardent supporter”. And even now it’s too much Firearm for One Nation it seems to keep.

But the irony proves it. The old Labor instinct here was never revolutionary; He was protective. This was about creating sufficient social and institutional buffers so that Australian politics did not simply devolve into basic forms of grievance, fragmentation and reaction.

This helps explain the present. Mainstream political forces grapple with the pressures of late capitalism – Cost of living tension, energy volatility, declining confidence and a fundamentally insecure political economy. The difference is that Labour’s strategy is about managing capital in a way that makes it appear stable and legitimate, even if it is ultimately cautious, beige and often far from transformative. Liberals, on the contrary, are caught between institutional orthodoxy and populist reactionism. One Nation offers sharper emotional clarity. But the ALP offers the promise of lasting rule.

So what appears to be a “new” political Center is actually an old Labor project facing weaker resistance. But you can’t buy a bird with three wings. And people are no longer I don’t seem to have much confidence in the standard biplane model..

What you get is a reshaping political space where one power defines the center while its rivals oscillate and wail around it.

The question now is not whether the old Left/Right map can be given intellectual legitimacy. It’s about defining what emerges in the new space. Is there room for real political alternatives here, or are we just waiting for populism to catch up and competition to continue? The second is boring.

Michael Thorn is a long-time community worker, trade unionist and enthusiastic activist writer.

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