Labour’s Weakness In Victoria

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30487, 8 July 1964, Page 16

Labour’s Weakness In Victoria

Although the Liberal Party Government in Victoria has finally lost one seat as a result of the election last month, the Australian Labour Party has little reason for satisfaction in the voting. While the Democratic Labour Party continues to attract the support of nearly 15 per cent of Victorian electors, Labour has no chance of winning either a Victorian or a Federal election. Had Labour been able to gain only one Victorian seat in the close 1961 Federal election (when it did so well in other States) Mr Calwell and not Sir Robert Menzies would have been Prime Minister then, and perhaps now. Labour holds only 10 of the 33 Victorian seats in the Federal House. The D.L.P. itself cannot win seats, but it can •Stop the A.L.P. from winning them; and that is apparently what will happen as long as the A.L.P. in Victoria is dominated by the Left wing, as it has been since the big split nearly 10 years ago.

What makes the continuing influence of the D.L.P. remarkable is that it has not waned with the death of Archbishop Mannix and the resulting withdrawal of official Roman Catholic support. The D.L.P. was established in an atmosphere of sectarian acrimony generated by the clash of Communist and Roman Catholic groups in trade unions, particularly in Victoria. It still finds most of its active support among Roman Catholics, but it is by no means certain that that is also true of its electoral support. Electors who vote for the D.L.P. may do so because they have reasons other than religion for disagreeing with Communists and their friends. When Archbishop Mannix died shortly before the Federal election last year his successor, Archbishop Simonds, promptly withdrew diocesan support for the D.L.P. That did not, as was expected, give the A.L.P. seats in Victoria; the D.L.P. still polled 12.38 per cent of the votes. Any belief that that could be explained by the short time Roman Catholics had had to become accustomed to the church’s new attitude of neutrality was exploded in the Victorian poll last month, when the D.L.P. proportion of the vote rose substantially.

The A.L.P. has been more successful in other States in controlling the Left; but Victorians stubbornly adhere to old alliances and practices, such as “ unity ” tickets for union elections. There is no evidence that the D.L.P. will be less obdurate. While the faction fight continues Labour will be in the wilderness in Victoria, and in Federal politics as well.