On Charlatans (Hachette) is required reading for Labor. Ahead of Labor’s national conference next month, to be held online, Bowen’s essay about where the party has gone wrong and how it should respond ought to be front and centre of Labor’s thinking.
The problem is that it may have come too late. Labor, like the US Democrats and British Labour, has seen its traditional constituency eroded by moderate centre-right politicians and populist politicians on the right.
Bowen’s central argument is that politicians such as Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have exploited grievances and appealed to economic insecurity and cultural anxiety. But they offer nothing but empty rhetoric.
The defining event for the rise of right-wing populists was the global financial crisis. It caused a political disruption on a global scale. The traditional left-right divide with a battle over the centre was no more. A new cohort of politicians who claimed not to be politicians drew support from disaffected working-class voters with false promises to improve their lives. Bowen acknowledges working-class voters have “real and valid” fears about job security as industries such as manufacturing and resource extraction decline, and they worry about their economic futures. They feel let down by governments and want someone to blame. He accepts that the centre-left has struggled to counter the appeal of right-wing populists with their simplistic solutions.
He advances four “key tactics” used by charlatans: deception and dishonesty fuelled by social media; weaponising identity politics; hyper-partisanship; and “fear and loathing” over climate change. He writes that Coalition attacks on Labor policies at the 2019 election invariably were framed as us v them, tradies v greenies and regions v suburbs. It fostered division and resentment.
In response, Bowen offers four “key points” that Labor must accept to defeat populists: that they are a symptom and not a cause of voter dealignment; that messages of social mobility and merit-based advancement do not resonate with all voters; that Labor must be in touch with and be strong in the suburbs; and it should offer a message of unity, not division.
Labor must recognise the anger in suburbs and regions over future employment, declining industries, rising inequality, dying towns and hollowed suburbs. These are only legitimate concerns and Labor must provide policy responses to them. He says Labor needs to better articulate the benefits of freer trade, immigration and global engagement.
In summary, Bowen wants Labor to anchor itself in the suburbs with a focused appeal to “working people”. Moreover, he wants the party to “hear the anger and share the anger” that many voters feel. He wants Labor to be indignant. Labor must also provide a genuine alternative to the Coalition that addresses their concerns. He rejects the small-target policy approach.
“Following the last election, in which Labor had a large policy agenda, it is tempting to assume we should roll into a little ball and not offer any large policy differences on which our opponents can run a scare campaign,” he writes. “The lesson from the last election is not that we shouldn’t have key points of policy difference with our opponents. It’s that we need a policy agenda that better connects with the everyday lives of the people we are asking to vote for us.”
The use of the term charlatan is loaded and does not always sit comfortably while reading the book. Sure, Trump and Johnson are charlatans. The Greens are populists and so is Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer. There are populists in the Nationals and on the fringes of the Liberal and Labor parties. But is Scott Morrison a right-wing populist?
It is a view that has currency within Labor. It views Morrison as a lucky politician, addicted to spin and marketing, and unworthy of the prime ministership. This is a trap. While there are echoes of Trump and Johnson, Morrison is more pragmatist than populist. Given his government has intervened in the economy more than any other post-war government, and followed medical and scientific advice on COVID-19, he is hardly a right-wing ideologue.
Bowen writes candidly in the book that he was “quietly confident” Labor would win the 2019 election. The party’s polling said as much. He acknowledges the party made mistakes with its policy choices and how it explained them to voters. He accepts his share of responsibility. It prompted a serious look at what went wrong and how to learn the lessons from it.
There has not been much deep thinking within Labor since the 2019 election. The party’s election review ignored longer term challenges. There has been no systematic policy review. No refreshing of Labor’s enduring values and governing principles. Reforming internal structures is deemed an indulgence. With Labor at a crossroads, Bowen’s book is essential reading. He shows how Labor can rebuild its fractured constituency and craft a winning election strategy. It is about addressing the concerns of voters without dictating or condescending to them but understanding and identifying with them.
Whatever Labor’s future is, Bowen must play a lead role.
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Chris Bowen has outlined a persuasive roadmap for Labor renewal and revival, combining public policy and political strategy, in a new book to be published this month. He examines why centre-left political parties, including his own, have lost voters to the centre-right in recent decades and articulates how to win them back to the fold.