The Spirit of Accommodation

325 Pages·2017·3.95 MB·English

The Spirit of Accommodation: The Influence of the ALP's
National Factions on Party Policy, 1996-2004
Author
Faulkner, Xandra Madeleine
Published
2006
Thesis Type
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
School
Griffith Business School
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2069
Copyright Statement
The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
Downloaded from
http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366353
Griffith Research Online
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The Spirit of Accommodation:
The Influence of the ALP’s National Factions
on Party Policy, 1996−2004.

Xandra Madeleine Faulkner, BA (Honours)

Griffith Business School
Department of Politics and Public Policy
Griffith University
Nathan Campus

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy

June 2006

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Disclaimer

This work has not been previously submitted for a degree or
diploma at any university. To the best of my knowledge and
belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or
written by another person except where due reference is made in
the thesis itself.

Xandra Faulkner

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the many people who have supported me in the course of researching
and writing this thesis. Foremost, I am indebted to the support I have received from my
principal supervisor, Richard Eccleston, and associate supervisors John Wanna and
Joanne Scott. While they provided enthusiastic and effective feedback on my progress,
which enabled my skills and knowledge to improve, they allowed me the necessary
autonomy to have full ownership of my work. I am also thankful for the financial
support I received from Griffith University’s School of Politics and Public Policy. The
postgraduate seminar series, which I attended over the years, was a welcome stimulus
and contributed to the collegial atmosphere I experienced at Griffith University.

My study on the Australian Labor Party’s national factions would not have been
possible without the co-operation of many Party members. I am grateful to the Caucus
members who all patiently gave of their time during their busy schedules. Wayne Swan,
in particular, was very supportive, and I thank him for his patience and good humour
during my frequent contacts with his office. Special mention must be made of the
thoughtful comments, and extra time, provided by Arch Bevis, Stephen Conroy, Craig
Emerson, Laurie Ferguson, John Hogg, Duncan Kerr, Matthew Linden, Daryl Melham,
Claire Moore and Ruth Webber.

The tedious chore of proofreading was greatly assisted by family members and friends.
Of these supporters I would like to particularly thank my good friend Peter Seaman and
my husband Bob Faulkner. I also thank Bob for driving me to most of the interviews
and for listening endlessly to my ideas on factions. This acknowledgment could not be
complete without once again thanking Joanne Scott, not only for being my supervisor
but also for being a friend whose confidence in my abilities made the PhD research and
writing experience a constructive and enjoyable journey. To her, I will be forever
indebted.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the influence of the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP’s) national factions on
Party policy. The specific emphasis is on policy development during Labor’s 1996–2004 period
in opposition. Through a total of 88 interviews, predominantly with members of Caucus
including Kim Beazley, Simon Crean and Mark Latham, this thesis has been able to examine
not only the formal policy development processes but, significantly, also the informal processes
within the Party.

The thesis begins with an overview of the national factions’ organisation and operations in
relation to policy development in both the organisational and parliamentary wings. It
concentrates on exploring how the informal processes of the faction system dominate the formal
Party structures, and demonstrates how the factional elite control these decision-making forums.
The thesis then concentrates on analysing in-depth the factional influences on policies
developed within the Immigration, Trade and Family and Community Services portfolios. These
case studies were selected because they provoked debate, to varying degrees, in the Party. An
understanding of how consensus was reached among the diverse perspectives, particularly
between the factions, within the Party is critical to exploring the relationship between the
national factions and policy development. The case studies cover a range of policy development
modes, and therefore provide ample opportunity to explore factional dynamics in relation to
policy formulation under different circumstances throughout the 1996–2004 period.

This thesis utilises Arend Lijphart’s theory of the Politics of Accommodation, which was
originally developed to explain inter-party negotiations within the Dutch coalition government
during the twentieth century. This theory is relevant to the study of the ALP’s modern factions
because, similar to the Dutch political system, the faction system operates on the power-sharing
principle of proportional representation (PR). By applying Lijphart’s theoretical framework, this
thesis provides a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the ALP’s factional dynamics in
relation to policy. It gives an in-depth analysis of the elite control of the faction system in the
domain of policy development. It demonstrates that faction leaders resolve contentious policy
issues by negotiating in a ‘spirit of accommodation’ and when the factions adopt a policy
position, the unwritten rules of the ‘factional game’ are applied to ensure the national factions
reach a consensus on Party policy. Given that the national factions compete for power and
sometimes pursue a different set of policy objectives, this ‘spirit of accommodation’ appears to
be paradoxical; this palliative application of factional power is arguably in contrast to the
general perception of faction politics. Through the presentation and analysis of original primary
data this thesis makes a valuable contribution to the study of the ALP and factions in general,
significantly advancing existing knowledge.
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Contents

Disclaimer ii
Acknowledgments iii
Abstract iv
Abbreviations ix

CHAPTER ONE
Introduction 1
(cid:131) Definition of a Faction and the Thesis Focus 2
(cid:131) Research Methodology 5
(cid:131) Overview of the Chapters 15

CHAPTER TWO
Analysing Factions: Literature Review and Theoretical Framework 21
(cid:131) Management: The Main Advantage of the Factional System 23
(cid:131) Patronage: A Major Criticism of the Faction System 28
(cid:131) The National Factions and Ideology 31
(cid:131) The Faction System and Policy Debate 34
(cid:131) Standard Approaches to the Study of Labor’s National Factions 36
(cid:131) Stepping Outside Traditional Faction Theory: The Politics of 37
Accommodation

(cid:131) Conclusion 41

CHAPTER THREE
Historical Context: Labor’s National Factions (1984–1996) 43
(cid:131) Factionalism: An Inherent Characteristic 44
(cid:131) Reforming the Faction System: Proportional Representation 48
(cid:131) The Centre-Left and the Creation of the Modern Factions 51
(cid:131) Sub-factions in the Caucus Left: The Hard and the Soft Left 56
(cid:131) The Modern National Factions in the Hawke−Keating Governments 58
(cid:131) Conclusion 63

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CHAPTER FOUR
The National Factions in the Organisational Wing 65
(cid:131) The National Factions: Coalitions of State and Territory Factions 67
(cid:131) Elite Control over Branch and Union Membership 71
(cid:131) Faction Elite Control over Organisation and Policy Debate 75
(cid:131) Factional Process Dominates the Official Party Structure 81
(cid:131) Subtle Control by the Faction Elite over the National Policy 86
Committee

(cid:131) National Conference: Factional Activity Behind Closed Doors 90
(cid:131) Conclusion 95

CHAPTER FIVE
The National Factions in the Parliamentary Wing 99
(cid:131) Communication Channels through the Faction System 100
(cid:131) Policy Debate within a Caucus Faction: A Rare Occurrence 105
(cid:131) The Subtleties of Factional Influence on Policy: Avoidance of 108
Repudiation?

(cid:131) Building Consensus on Policy through Consultation 115
(cid:131) Caucus Policy Committees: Right and Left Wing Tendencies 124
(cid:131) Conclusion 128

CHAPTER SIX
National Factions and the Labor Leader’s Policy Strategies 131
(cid:131) Electoral Strategy under Kim Beazley’s Leadership 132
(cid:131) Electoral Strategy under Simon Crean’ Leadership 141
(cid:131) Electoral Strategy under Mark Latham’s Leadership 151
(cid:131) Conclusion 160

CHAPTER SEVEN
Refugee Policy and the Parliamentary Wing 163
(cid:131) Labor’s Refugee Policy During 1996−2001: Brooding Acrimony 165
(cid:131) The Three Most Contentious Issues in the Refugee Policy Debate 173
(cid:131) Forging a New Refugee Policy: The Parliamentary wing 2001−2004 175
(cid:131) Conclusion 186
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CHAPTER EIGHT
Refugee Policy and the Organisational Wing 189
(cid:131) Consultation Outside the Faction System 190
(cid:131) The Shift from Cross-factional to Factional Divide 196
(cid:131) The Working Group: A Token Gesture 201
(cid:131) Refugee Policy: A Cause for the National Left 203
(cid:131) The 2004 National Conference: Factional Discipline and Debate 206
(cid:131) Conclusion 211

CHAPTER NINE
Negotiations Between the Right and the Left on Trade Policies 215
(cid:131) Background to the Fair versus Free Trade Debate 216
(cid:131) 2000 Trade Policy: Following Some of the Rules of the Factional 221
Game

(cid:131) 2004 Trade Policy: Adhering to the Rules of the Factional Game 228
(cid:131) Labor Leader Accommodates both the Left and the Right 236
(cid:131) Conclusion 245

CHAPTER TEN
Welfare Policies: Dominant Cross-factional Consensus 247
(cid:131) The National Factions’ Perspective on ‘Mutual Obligation’ 249
(cid:131) Labor’s Response to ‘Work for the Dole’: Purely Electoralism 253
(cid:131) Sole Parents Legislation: Factional or Gender Debate? 257
(cid:131) Labor’s Tax and Family Package: Cross-factional Disapproval 262
(cid:131) Labor’s Baby Care Payment: Cross-factional Support for a Dual 266
Approach

(cid:131) Conclusion 272

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Conclusion: the National Factions and the ‘Spirit of 275
Accommodation’

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Reference List
(cid:131) Interviews 287
(cid:131) Observations at ALP Conferences and Meetings 291
(cid:131) Primary Documents 292
(cid:131) Unpublished Theses 297
(cid:131) Secondary Sources 297
(cid:131) Newspaper Articles 308

Charts and Tables
(cid:131) Chart 1.1: Members of the National Factions Interviewed 9
(cid:131) Table 4.1: National Factions at the 2002 National Conference 68
(cid:131) Chart 4.1: The Delegate System and the National Factions 83
(cid:131) Chart 5.1: Formal Policy Consultation Processes 117
(cid:131) Chart 5.2: Caucus Factions and Caucus Policy Committees 125
(cid:131) Chart 5.3: Factional Ratio of the Executives of the Caucus Policy 126
Committees

(cid:131) Chart 8.1: 2004 National Conference Vote on Refugee Policy 210

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Acronyms

ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions
AGM Annual General Meeting
ALAC Australian Labor Advisory Council
ALP Australian Labor Party
AMWU Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
AWU Australian Workers Union
CEPU Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union
CFMEU Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
CPSU Community and Public Sector Union
CTFU Clothing, Textile and Footwear Union
FACS Family and Community Services
FEC Federal Electoral Council
FTA Free Trade Agreement
ILO International Labour Organisation
LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex
LOGS Loyal Old Guard Socialists
MHR Member of the House of Representatives
MLC Member of the Legislative Council
MP Member of Parliament
MWU Miscellaneous Workers Union
NPC National Policy Committee
PR Proportional Representation
PRC Policy Review Committee
SDA Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association
SEC State Electoral Council
TPV Temporary Protection Visa
TWU Transport Workers Union
USFTA United States Free Trade Agreement
WTO World Trade Organisation

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