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LIFESTYLE
—————TALKING POINT ^
Labor in SA 'appears
From our South Australian Correspondent
44IJJOLD on, the going
will be rough. That's
the message for social de
mocrats throughout Aus
tralia, but especially in
South Australia, this
month".
So reads the opening nen
tence of the August issue of
the Labor Party's monthly
journal the Herald, which
ha» jmt reache-d iub*cribcrs.
The Herald warns that ex
tremists of the RiRht are
making extra attempts to
"capture a foothold on pub
lic support".
And it goes on:
"Unable to offer accept
able solutions to economic
hard times, these Rightists
are concentrating on under
mining the Australian and
South ' Australian Labor
Governments.
"Avowedly against anarchy
they are in fact working to
wards it.
"Fascists see the present
economic climate as one in
which they can come out into
the open".
The Herald's warning is
interesting bccause it is the
first time for years that this
official Labor Party public
ation has front-paged an ad
mission that the Party might
be encountering some erosion
of its popular community
support.
As the poorest mainland
State with the lowest general
living standards, SA has long
been recognised as a "Labor
State". It was only the out
rageous electoral gerryman
der of the Liberal and
Country League under Sir
Thomas Playford which kept
the ALP out of office contin
uously from 1933 until 1965.
Revamping
of LCL
But former Premier, now
Senator, Steele Hall's cou
rageous dismantling of this
gerrymander in 1967 changed
the State's political history
and gavo tho outstanding
lawyer Don Dunstan and hit
colleagues the opportunity to
entrench themselves almost
as firmly M Sir Thomas
Playford. and 'with far more
genuine popular support.
The Liberal and Country
League has sines made a
genuine attempt to come to
terms with the 20th century.
]t has revised its archaic
constitution, adopted & new
platform, appointed new
young Party officials and
organisers and now changed
its name from the "LCL" to
the Liberal Parly.
The new platform ha* been
modelled on that of the Vic
torian Liberal Party, in the
hope that the formula which
worked there will do the trick
in SA, too.
Without a change in the
political tide, it would seem a
forlorn hope.
The SA Liberal parlia
mentary leader, Dr Bruce
Eastick, a deeply earnest vet
erinary surgeon in his mid
forties, has about as much
charisma and popular appeal
as any of the handsome farm
animals he cares for in his
professional practice.
It would seem a miraclc if
he and his Liberals could
win an election under nor
mal circumstances from the
remarkable Dunstan.
But just as the Prime
Minister has seen fit to warn
his supporters that union ex
cesses could lose Labor the
Government in Canberra, so
it appears that State Labor is
becoming edgy about the
combined effects of inflation
and a record number of
strikes in SA.
Life is no longer as easy as
it was in SA. Labor's tariff
cuts have hit both primary
and secondary industry
hard here. More and mors
refrigerators, washing
machines, stove* and dish
washers from Italy. Ger
many, Britain and Japan aro
stacked up in tha shops.
Fewer and fewer are rolling
off the assembly lines of Ket
vinator Australia Ltd, Simp
son Pope Ltd and other firms
which had helped make SA
the white Roods manufac
turing centre of Australia.
The firms themsleve* are
apparently able to survive by
importing instead of manu
facturing. But naturally they
don't need as milch labour
for the task.
Production
problems
Philips Industries Ltd. the
electronics company, warned
it was recently prepared to
close down its manufacturing
operations altogether in SA
and import its requirements
from abroad. Premier Dun
stan had a hand in its chang
ing its mind. Some observers
say it was only a political
stunt. Its employees are not
so sure, however.
Then there are the big
motor plants, of Holdens.
and Chrysler. Everybody
knows the stresses under
which the motor industry is
operating at present un
der the impact of com
petition from overseas.
Labor's plan to ration
alise the industry may
not now go ahead. But if it
does, there are likely to be
fewer jobs on the assembly
lines in SA.
As in every other State, the
housing industry has suffered
a chilling d9wnturn in recent
months as interest rate!, and
wage rises have combined to
force thousands of young
home buyers out of the mar
ket. A switch is beginning to
Government housing, and the
building societies are likely to
have more money to lend
soon. But here again, there is
|
a growing undercurrent of
anxiety, in the work force, as
well as frustration among
those whose housing plans
have been at least tempor
arily shelved.
In' this climate, even
though the next State election
is still 18 months away, the
Liberals can scent the possi-i
bilily that if 1975 proves a
bad recession year, the swing
ing voter may well be in
clined to vote against Labor,
however reluctant he or she
may bo to switch to the
Liberals as tho principal al
ternative available. |
Of course it isn't only the
Labor Party that the Liberals1
have to fight. ,
Senator Steele Hall's de
luge of national publicity
since Federal Parliament re
sumed has given tremendous
heart and strength to his
State Liberal Movement.
Observers concede that in
1976 it could well double its
average State-wido 8 per cent
vote recorded at tho recent
Federal election. And the re
vived Country Party is busy
at work in rural areas, chip
ping away at the loyalty of
former supporters of the re
named LCL.
"The hand of the League
of Rights is obvious in the
lies and distortions now
being spread about", says the
Labor Herald. "Historically,
fascist* thrive when times are
bad, or look as if they are
going bad. Troubled people
turn to political quakers if the
quacks are smart enough to
offer a convincing scape
goat
It is much too soon to read
the electoral *tar» of 1976.
But for a party with such, a
good record in lu few years
of government, and with
such an outstandingly able
State Cabinet, Labor it look
ing and sounding particularly
edgy at the moment.
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