Daniel Wills: New-look Labor delivers image of change, but must accept it strayed from mainstream values to rebuild

NEW Labor Leader Peter Malinauskas has changed the party’s image, but a fundamental review of its stand on key issues like the economy and energy are crucial for a real political rebuild, writes Daniel Wills.

LABOR has a new look, and early signs of a changed outlook, as a party which has known nothing but political power in SA for the last 16 years grapples with where it went wrong and how to fix it.

Three weeks ago, Labor suffered its only election loss this century, and former premier Jay Weatherill delivered a gracious and early concession speech in which he described himself as “like one of those horses that has won four Melbourne Cups” and apologised to the party faithful that “the handicapper has caught up with us on this occasion”.

In the moment, it struck exactly the right note as he spoke to a room full of long-term supporters and dedicated staff, many of whom were preparing to join 55,000 other unemployed South Australians in search of a new job.

The immediate response of many in the labour movement was to blame external factors for their rejection at the ballot box. The “it’s time” factor that builds up after four terms in power, and new electoral boundaries that gave Liberals the advantage in critical seats decisive to the final result, were blamed for Labor’s failure to get over the line.

These are comforting thoughts that coddle the ego, but Labor will be badly missing the point and setting itself up for multiple terms on the wrong side of State Parliament if it doesn’t confront the core failings of its time in power.

The first key point to understand is that Labor has not been a popular party in SA for the best part of a decade.

While Labor has played to the rules of the game and fairly won elections in 2014 and 2010 by securing the key marginal seats needed to form government, it has not won the popular two-party vote or had a level of higher primary support than the Liberals since 2006.

Problems that manifested in last month’s election loss had been building, uncorrected, for a very long time.

New Labor leader Peter Malinauskas. Picture: AAP / Kelly Barnes

New Labor leader Peter Malinauskas has made a near flawless start since officially taking charge of the Opposition on Monday. He’s presented well in the media and committed to a listening tour aimed at hearing grassroots voter concerns and making change.

In a symbolic first step, he’s thrown off the class war rhetoric or mindless opposition favoured by many other Labor leaders and backed the State Government’s plans to abolish payroll tax for small business. He’s offered an open mind to allowing public hearings of the secretive Independent Commission Against Corruption and signalled possible support for shield laws to let journalists protect confidential sources.

At some point, there will have to be a deft articulation of what was learned on the listening tour and how Labor will change under new leadership. It will have to be carefully delivered without trashing the achievements of Mr Malinauskas’ predecessors, including Mr Weatherill who sits on the backbench.

One problem that began to reveal itself before the 2010 election was a creeping sense of arrogance in the administration. The so-called “hard man rule” of Mike Rann and Kevin Foley’s era, which Mr Weatherill characterised as an “announce and defend” outlook, made a return in the final days of his own leadership as vengeance was meted out against Labor’s political opponents and a “whatever it takes” attitude seized the party. Mr Malinauskas this week made sly reference to that in his pledge to hear voters’ concerns, and not dictate “what is good for them”.

Labor also narrowly avoided a catastrophe at this election, as the bust that became SA Best threatened to sweep though its working class heartland as Liberals took the mortgage belt.

Labor has for a long time taken its most reliable and dedicated supporters for granted, favouring the interests of a relatively privileged inner-city clique enamoured with city vibrancy, small bars and the glow of renewable energy.

The election of US President Donald Trump should have been a wake-up call. His surprise success was built on flipping voters in the “rust belt”, where people who felt left behind by globalisation and an out-of-touch political class moved away in large number from the party that claimed to represent them.

There are many similarities between Adelaide’s working class north and south, as well as Whyalla, and de-industrialised US states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. Cost of living, chiefly skyrocketing energy prices, and job security were major factors for traditional Labor voters and must be addressed.

The conflict between cheap and renewable energy is a false choice. Handled properly, it’s likely new technology can deliver a medium-term transition that ultimately results in both.

But Labor’s intoxication with wind farms and seeming disregard for the accelerated closure of Port Augusta’s coal-fired power station, which cost nearly 500 blue-collar jobs and spiked household power bills everywhere, was a dramatic statement of its short-term ideological priorities. Picking a fuzzy warm feeling over a pensioners’ ability to keep the heat on in winter and forcing low-wage workers to choose between power or food isn’t mainstream.

In Mr Malinauskas and his deputy Susan Close, Labor has new-look team with superficial appeal and a real ability to make this a one-term Government.

But the entire party must take this moment for an unflinching look inward if it is to truly been seen differently.