The Next Party

Generations X and Y are a paradox when it comes to politics. This week saw a launch function for a book about Generation Y by a 33 year old X?er (Rebecca Huntley?s ?The World According to Y?) and a book by a 25 year old Y about what?s wrong with baby boomers (and Australia in general), Ryan Heath?s subtly named ?Please just F* off it?s our turn now?. Ryan is an ex Australian student activist now in ?exile? working in the cabinet office in UK. Both authors highlighted what they believe is culturally different about Generation X and Y, how they believe business and government needs to change to meet their demands and what?s wrong with the two main political parties in Australia.

Despite their self professed innovative abilities, tertiary education, enthusiasm for change and close connectivity to their generations, these opinion leaders seem begrudgingly aligned to current political parties (Labor in the case of these two authors) and not interested in the concept of a brand new political party to represent their 4.6 million tribal members who will have a vote at the next Federal Election. Maybe life isn't really all that bad at the moment and action on innovation doesn't extend past the features on their next mobile phone!

Hugh Mackay in his book ?Generations?, highlighted how the children of the baby boomers (mainly X and Y now) were the first generation to withdraw from traditional religious attendance in formative years. So why are X and Y not also withdrawing from traditional political parties and all their institutionalised frictions to change? Maybe that requires a bit more effort than to stop going to Sunday school. Anyway the next couple of years will be interesting to see if a pop star, sports icon or tech millionaire makes life easy for them and founds a new political party branded for X and Y. But then again maybe Pauline Hanson?s stint in jail is a bit discouraging for newcomers who might upset the faction bosses. Maybe we will have to wait for hard times and Generation Next before we see the Next Party.

The last attempt by a freethinking entrepreneur to start a new political party was the late Gordon Barton (died in April 2005 aged 76) who made his money in a trucking empire IPEC. He publicly opposed the Vietnam War in the late 1960's and founded the Australia Party in 1969 (when he was 39) which morphed into the Australian Democrats in 1977. He also established a weekly provocative newspaper, Nation Review.

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