At the election party for Australia’s new coalition government, former Prime Minister and conservative heavyweight John Howard remarked: “Queenslanders are good common-sense people. They got a whiff of the Labor party undermining their job prospects, and they responded accordingly.” Howard, with his cold calculation, understands something about the history of this colonial nation that the Left has been slow to grasp: workers’ expectations are limited by our past collective gains.

It’s easy for conservatives to wheel out the defense of “jobs” rhetoric. This is because many Australians define their collective and moral identity through waged labor. While this is hardly unique, this identity is shaped by the particular history of Australia’s labor movement — both our gains and the limits of those gains.

The Australian labor movement was forged during the hungry nineteenth century British imperial project. Early on, it won its biggest victories around working time, compensation, and conditions of work. Victoria was the first jurisdiction in the world to win the eight-hour day. We stridently marched into federation in the twentieth century by winning a dignified, living wage. These achievements were translated into wage-setting institutions that were internationally envied and which went on to ensure that wages better reflected the wealth workers toiled to create.