The ripple of one man's decision

This year marks 100 years since the creation of the Fusion Party, uniting the Protectionist and Free Trade Parties, as the first Anti-Labor major party, a symmetry which has endured to this day with the Liberal-National Coalition bound more in being anti-labor than any real philosophical cohesion.

Norman Abjorensen of ANU has a good short write up of this history if your're interested.

I had initially wanted to do my PhD on this period, even going so far as to begin examining Deakin's personal papers for comments about the reason and motivation for creating the Fusion party. But circumstance and opportunities led me astray. Still, I'm hoping to write a few pieces this year on this crucial centenary, and its implications for Liberalism in Australia. In my view if you want to understand Australian Politics, the first decade set the pattern for the entire 20th century, and whilst some of the issues changed (ie end of protectionism/white australia) the nature of the parties debate and the inherent contradictions have not.

Deakin's choice in 1909 to join the conservative free-traders, and not the Labor party (of whom he had more philosophical and political agreement) set that pattern. It's a great australian politics 'what-if' had he made a different decision. (Though my initial research led me to quickly realize how unlikely that would have been).

So go read Abjorensen's article if you have a few minutes and want to know why Australian politics is as it stands today.