For the past few decades, the counter-cyclical nature of British and Australian politics has allowed a steady flow of campaign and policy ideas between the UK and Australia.

Date:  18 February 2008

During their lean years in the 1980s, British Labour drew lessons from the successes of the Hawke-Keating Government. The most profound was the need to marry economic modernisation with the longstanding social justice traditions of both parties. They also needed to challenge the old orthodoxies that were deeply rooted in the earlier struggles and forge modern social democratic agendas with broad appeal to ensure long-lasting reform and electoral success.

Like Tony Blair’s historic win in 1997, Rudd’s 24 November 2007 victory showed the strength of focussing on the future, not the past, but it also demonstrated the value of international friendships in winning election campaigns.

Kevin Rudd committed to work with fresh ideas, energy and determination to tackle Australia’s future challenges. John Howard got stuck in a rut - defending his record, not making a case why he was better placed to face the big challenges confronting Australia.

Labor’s campaign was fought and won on a platform of tackling those challenges - building a world class education system, embracing the long-term funding needs of our public hospital system, meeting the challenges of climate change and water, building the infrastructure for a 21st century economy, balancing fairness and flexibility in the workplaces of the nation and ensuring that working families in Australia get a fair go - all while ensuring our economic prosperity continues.

Rudd and Labor learnt many of these lessons from international experience, especially from our close friends in New Labour.

The relationship has been bolstered in recent years by the strong institutional ALP-BLP links and through personal friendships such as that between Kevin Rudd and Alan Milburn, Tony Blair’s former Secretary of State for Health.

Milburn observed the 2007 election as part of Labor’s historic election exchange program with New Labour.

As a candidate in Tony Blair’s 1997 winning campaign and in his crucial role as the chair of Labour’s campaign strategy team in the 2005 general election, Milburn brought with him the experience of having pitted a young, intelligent leader against a long term government that had lost its way. Milburn’s insights from these campaigns added impetus to Australian Labor’s 2007 campaign.

In coming years, the observations made by New Labour in Australia may well be significant in the campaign against a resurgent Tory Party.

The ongoing friendship with New Labour is founded on a series of cultural, historical and political parallels between the UK and Australia, particularly the Westminster system of Government that brings the Government and Opposition together in close combat on a regular basis.

The success of the observer program was the ability of people like Milburn to bring fresh eyes to our campaign challenges without losing an appreciation of local nuances (such as our compulsory voting system).

Milburn noted: “Kevin Rudd knows that the election is about the future but the future he wants to see is one which is based on long-standing Australian values - a fair go, opportunity for all, a belief in the potential of every citizen.”

Over the years, the flow of people and ideas has grown into a wide-ranging program of friendship and exchange. Friendships such as these will continue to play a key role as Labor and Labour respond to the challenges of government in Australia and the UK.