Buoyed by Labor's success at these two elections, defeating first-term Coalition governments, Luke Foley has also taken a micro approach to the NSW campaign. While the Baird government plans to use electricity privatisation to fund a bold infrastructure program, Foley's promises have been limited to demountable classrooms and koala parks. He might as well be running to be mayor of NSW.

In Australia's three biggest states we've witnessed a political role reversal: the Liberals as the party of policy initiative, the ALP as the party of reaction. What's happened to the once-great Labor movement, so that it now resembles a whining pressure group, rather than a conduit for big thinking and big ideas?

Public taste

Tactically, marshmallow politics has three advantages for the ALP. First, it gives the appearance of fiscal restraint – an electoral necessity following the profligacy of the Rudd-Gillard years. Micro-policies are relatively easy to finance, reassuring the electorate state Labor governments won't blow the budget.

Second, it allows Labor to make the Coalition the issue, running scare campaigns on contentious matters such as asset sales. As a pressure group reliant on a dwindling trade union base, this is the perfect issue for the ALP. It props up public sector employment and draws in large campaign donations from the union movement.

Third, during an era of cynicism and distrust in modern politics, micro-policies have the virtue of believability. The electorate has little faith in the capacity of politicians to deliver on big commitments. Voters are more likely to support tangible local initiatives, such as removing level crossings, than grandiose city or state-wide plans.

In campaigning for the next federal election, I expect Bill Shorten to follow Labor's marshmallow strategy. What other options does he have?

Labor won't take on serious microeconomic reform because of its adverse impact on union featherbedding. Likewise, given the budgetary situation, it has no room for major spending initiatives. On the environment – the great moral challenge in combating climate change – it would be political suicide to promise the restoration of carbon pricing in the first term of a Labor government.


Let me assure you: Shorten is no kamikaze. He's an opportunist, someone with a shameless record of using people and political issues to satisfy his personal ambitions.

He's sitting in his office right now, lining up his marshmallows for public consumption.

Mark Latham is a former leader of the federal Australian Labor Party