Cabinet papers 1996-7: identity politics not new, says Howard
John Howard believes identity politics was evident even during his prime ministership.
John Howard believes that key threats to freedom of speech and political institutions posed by identity politics and social fragmentation were in their nascent stages during his prime ministership, but argues they have become a global phenomenon and are now most pronounced in the US.
Speaking to The Australian ahead of the release of the 1996-97 cabinet documents by the National Archives, the former Liberal prime minister said the emergence of a more ideologically driven political culture would challenge both major parties in years to come.
He said a key challenge was for politicians to better flag and prepare the ground for major economic challenges and to better manage expectations ahead of major reform initiatives.
“Politics around the world has become more fragmented,” Mr Howard told The Australian.
“It’s ideologically divided more on single issues and on many social issues and … that’s produced the fragmentation.
MORE: Full coverage of the Cabinet Papers release
“There’s been a worldwide reduction in faith in institutions. One of the reasons people lose confidence in institutions is that things happen without warning. Nobody had any warning about the global financial crisis. That came from nowhere, didn’t it?”
He cited the 2017 debate over same-sex marriage and the ongoing discussion about protections for religious freedoms as key examples of a more ideological and divisive politics, but suggested its roots were apparent when he was in office. “There were elements of it there, but it’s just become more intense,” he said.
Mr Howard argued the new identity politics was more likely to capture the Labor Party.
He pointed to Labor’s decision not to support government amendments that, while protecting gay students against discrimination, would also have preserved the ability of faith-based schools to uphold their ethos.
“A lot of people who are active in these groups see the Labor Party as more fertile ground and they are more receptive to some of these arguments,” he said.
“I do think politics is going to be a bit of a problem in the future more for the Labor Party than for us (the Liberal Party), but it’s affecting us as well.”
In late 1996, the Howard government was caught in its own dilemma over how to best protect “freedom of political speech” given two cases were then before the High Court with the potential to overturn the landmark Theophanous and Stephens decisions of 1994. The decisions were widely seen to have broadened free speech because the High Court found a defamation action could be defended if the publisher of the offending material was unaware the material was false, did not publish it recklessly and if the publication was reasonable.
In an October 1996 cabinet submission, the then attorney-general Daryl Williams argued that the government should clearly “support freedom of speech” but voiced deep concerns over the implications of the Theophanous decision.
He urged the government to argue against the High Court’s 1994 judgments because they were “based on a process of constitutional interpretation which has serious, widespread and undesirable implications for commonwealth powers generally”.
He also warned this position could appear “inconsistent with the government’s stated policy of encouraging free speech”.
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