Politics in Australia
Australian Government and Politics. By J. D. B. Miller. (Duck- worth, 15s.)
HERE is a useful book, not only for the student of political science, for whom it was primarily written, but also for those' who hove a more general interest in Australia and its way of life. It is not an exciting book, but the style suits its purpose. Mr. Miller sets out to explain the whole field of Australian government and politics against the environment of a vast island-continent which still has plenty of open spaces but also heavy concentrations of Population in the six state capitals, and of an economic structure whose viability still depends largely upon high export prices for commodities produced by the rural population but which in terms of occupational distribution is at the same time one of the most highly industrialised systems in the world.
When the subject is thus examined, the reader can begin to appreciate the complexity both of the 'three tiers of government (federal, state and local) and a multitude of statutory bodies' which provide a means of livelihood for approximately one in every five and a half gainfully occupied persons, and of what Mr. Miller aptly calls the 'syndicalist pressures' exerted upon govern- ments by such sectional economic interests as trade unions, manufacturers, pastoralists and wheat farmers. Thus, as Bryce observed, politics in practice have less concern with abstract theory than with material interests, short views and the desire for quick results. Approached from this angle, we can also begin to under- stand such apparent contradictions as the Country Party's rigid opposition to the 'socialism' of the Labour Party but support for 'socialised' rural development.
Mr. Miller rightly emphasises the untidiness of the Australian political system, but the constant shouldering and jostling over finance, functions and sectional interests have been inevitable in the attempt to work a Constitution, 'rigid in form but confused in utterance,' which was written over half a century ago and which anticipated neither a Communist Party nor an Atomic Age. Yet the system still works, and Mr. Miller's book helps to explain both how it works and why it is neither practicable for probably desirable to aim at replacing federalism by a nice, tidy system of unification.
W. D. BORRIE
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