- by Tom Pearson
- The Guardian
- Issue #2145
People line up outside a polling station on referendum day, Brisbane, 1899. Photo: State Library of Queensland
A bit of context to the federal election. The Federation of the Australian states in 1901 was the first step away from British colonial control. However, imperialist interests continue to dominate Australian politics to this day.
At the time of Federation, Australia was overwhelmingly populated with people of British background, who did not have to campaign and fight for freedom as did many other British colonies. The British certainly did not wish to push the call of Australia’s Anglo-Saxon communities for independence to a military conflict as it had with the American War of Independence.
The rights of the Indigenous peoples, who were subject to genocidal policies, their prior occupation and ownership of Australia’s land, was wiped away in the Federation Constitution with just two words: “terra nullius” (empty land).
The Australian political system was created at a time when democratic rights struggles had already achieved much in Britain and on the continent of Europe. The French revolutions of 1789 and 1849 had a considerable influence in shaping Australia’s political system. The British Chartists, many of whom were transported to Australia as political prisoners, contributed to the establishment of the representative parliamentary system.
The Eureka stockade of 1854 led to the establishment of adult male franchise. The struggle of the British suffragists was reflected in the extension of female franchise – in State parliaments towards the end of the 1800s, and then by an Act of the Federal Parliament in 1902.
So the scene was set for the establishment of a parliamentary capitalist system, which has persisted since.
The two major parties see themselves as a white, Anglo-Saxon, imperialist bastion in Asia with the responsibility of guarding imperialist interests in the region. Their distorted view of Australia’s past history is that the capitalist class is “born to rule.”
Throughout its more than 100 years Australian governments have, with the exception of some Whitlam government decisions, implemented foreign policies which bow to the needs of the major imperialist powers – first to those of Britain and now to those of the United States.
Being a US deputy sheriff runs counter to Australia’s long-term economic and political interests.
