Two major political parties of Australia

The two major political parties in Australia are the Labor Party and Australian Liberal Party. 

Thus, there is a bitter rivalry between the two as Australia is a democratic country which incorporates a two party system. Although there are numerous political parties, lesser parties commonly become aligned to either of these two larger factions as the mentioned parties have been ruling the nation for decades. Each obtaining a vast support foundation with their own ideology and policies, thus, in this article I will draw attention to the disparity between the Australian Labor party and the Australian Liberal Party.

The Australian Labor party, also known as ALP and Labor for short, is the current political faction in charge and who emerged victorious in the last parliamentary elections held in 2010. Its government is leaded by Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister of Australia. The Labor party historically upholds a centre-leftist view and it is the oldest political party in the country.

On the other hand, the Liberal party is a comparatively younger party, being created in 1948. The Liberal party is headed by Tony Abbott. As its name indicates, the Liberal party is upholds liberal views and is concerned with its citizens freedom of will, independence and individual rights. It believes that the government should not interfere with the individual’s lives. They deem that government interference contravenes an individual’s right to liberty.
 Due to this, many social reforms have come into existence under their government; the Australian Liberal Party upholds a central view.

Similar to other social democratic parties, Labor has a tendency to deem that the government is in general a constructive strength compelled to intervene in the operation of the economy and society in general to improve the lives of its populace. Labor believes that the government must guarantee that all members of nation-state are entitled to have a respectable standard of living; it does this through providing monetary support to the unemployed. They uphold that fact that everyone should be treated equally under the law and should be treated equally by government. In its eyes the government is an entity struggling for social justice and that nothing should obstruct it from achieving its goals.

In view of the fact that Labor is a social democratic party it has incorporated free market principles since the beginning of the 1980s. An exceptional example of this, is its support and implementation in dismantling the trade barriers and deregulation of industry. Labor never fall’s short to contest that changes under its reign are conducted in a superior manner than Coalition would have. Labor's policy shift has had critics from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. Recently, Labor has been under scrutiny from both sides of the spectrum; the right contest that the ALP needs to incorporate additional neo-liberal economics, whilst the left argues that Labor needs to return to its traditional base  

The Liberal Party on the other hand is in favor of economic liberalism and promotes free markets. This has been from the nineteen-eighties; the party has gradually shifted further to the Right in terms of economics, and thus mounting elements in its policies.

The Liberals are commonly perceived as a conservative party. It has historically supported Australia's traditional allies; Britain and the United States. The Howard era has added security in regards to illegal entry into Australia, by large for political asylum. Nevertheless, it statistically had the highest intake of migrants in Australia's history.

The differences in ideology between the major parties are evident; the Coalition is in favor of private enterprise, whilst the ALP supports public venues.
In foreign affairs, the Liberals remain pro US and UK and are at times against multiculturalism. The Labor party on the other hand are trying to establish new allies, (ex: Kevin Rudd and China.), and since the nineteen-eighties have supported multiculturalism and generally is more acceptant to immigration in contrast to the Liberals. Labor is the primary supporter of issues that affect indigenous Australians such as land rights, it is the government that introduced the1967 Referendum in order to include Aboriginal people in the census and is the government that set a formal apology under Kevin Rudd in 2008 in regards to the stolen generation, in contrast to Howard’s refusal to do so. They are also more likely to support additional rights in favor of homosexuals, introduce female choice legislation in regards to abortion and are also more inclined to become a republic than the Coalition which wishes to maintain its status as a Commonwealth nation-state. The Liberals were an active force in the 2003 invasion of Iraq whereas Labor opposed it. Moreover, Labor has typically proposed additional tax schemes such as the mining and carbon tax, thus it is safe to assume that the public generally pays more tax under this regime than its counterpart. This is due to the fact that, as a socialist party it promotes government empowerment in order for it to promote a better future. The Liberals assert that taxes and government interference should be minimal, and that the reigning government is to only assist those whom care for themselves.

Encapsulating my argument, the Coalition deems that there should be little or no administration, interference or examining free market capitalism. Nor would they control business or trade and propose taxation. Labor generally support free market capitalism, yet they introduce legislation in order to place strict regulations on banks, markets, businesses and trade. They generally place taxes on all capital made in the markets to fund social programs.

Furthermore, they are in favor of government involvement in areas such as health care, (as seen in Medicare, Medi-bank and publicization of hospitals.), retirement entitlement programs and welfare programs such as superannuation and Centre-link. The Liberals commonly do not support government intervention and place a heavy emphasis on an individual’s rights. Labor believes that the government should aim to create a utopia whilst the Coalition judge that society should be shaped in its own image. For example, to oppose the dilemma of homeless families the Coalition have opted to enhance education levels and training opportunities for all citizens, whereas the Labor government have set its priorities by investing 5 billion to provide accommodation by installing new institutes by 2020. In less than three years the Gillard Labor Government has doubled education funds than its predecessor, 63 billion to 32 billion.

The Labor party also supports additional rights to homosexual couples such a de-facto status and obtaining a child whether through IVF or adoption, whilst the Coalition approaches a more conservative manner and are against same-sex personal relationships and reproductive rights such as abortion and IVF. Moreover, the Coalition tend to perceive themselves with a superior management skill of economics and quote Labor’s seventeen-percent interest rate under Keating, yet the record high is under treasurer John Howard with above 22 percent in the 1980’s.

 Although the differences are evident only twenty-percent believe there is considerable difference between the two whilst thirty-percent believe the disparity are minor. This can be due to the fact that numerous policies implemented by the preceding Howard government, are still intact under the Gillard government. Furthermore, both parties mutually wish to attain an overseas detention centre in response to asylum seekers, have a policy in concern to climate change and broadband. In addition, both parties are in favor of government bail outs, the Labor with its socialist policies in order to gain more influence and Liberal with its history of supporting private companies. Both factions share a similar outlook in education as both have focused on school infrastructure, student welfare programs and literacy and numeric subjects. The difference is unrecognizable due to the fact that both parties will employ fifty new student support officers. Moreover, both parties are in favor of internet censorship of illegal content.

Nevertheless, it is in the acute details that the differences are revealed.  The Labor party wishes to censor illegal material to all ages viewing the network while the Coalition is focused on protecting the children from the network. Furthermore, the ALP is prepared to spend a hundred and fifty million for education whilst the Liberal party planned its budget for sixty million. The two parties have always had a different means to manage their expenses, with the Coalition commonly choosing the ‘economical’ manner and ALP spending as much as it wants. As evidenced through the broadband scheme costs of parties, ALP over 35 billion while the Liberals a faction of the cost with 6 billion. Labor arranged to construct a costly, high-tech NBN (National Broadband Network), ensuring its services will be available to ninety-percent of Australian households. Whereas the Coalition has set six                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         billion promising that by 2016, 97 percent of the populace would have access to high-speed.

Additionally, The Labor party has been an advocate of climate change where as the Liberals implemented policies due to popular support. The Coalition, under Tony Abbot appears fundamentally opposed to carbon tax as evidenced through his statement, "there will be no carbon price on consumers under a Coalition government, none whatsoever."-Tony Abbott. On the other hand, the ALP has a stern commitment to implement a carbon price through an emissions trading scheme.

The masses in reality, glancing at the broad picture, believe there really is not as much difference between most popular political parties as there once was. For them the ALP or Labor tends to be a slightly left of center party and the Liberals or Coalition a slightly right of center party.  Yet, if you reflect upon both parties stance on the vital matters such as global warming, the internet and the role of government in the economy and society, it is simple to become aware of the difference that formulate each party and its unique characteristics.