Not Going Green: The Higgins By-Election of 2009

In identifying the demographic and ideological characteristics of Australian voters, Charnock and Ellis (2004) have proposed a two-axis schema on which parties and their supporters are situated according to their attitudes regarding both economic and postmaterialist values and issues. The economic axis represents the traditional left–right spectrum of political competition, covering statist to individualist approaches to economic matters. This is the spectrum on which the long-established parties, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Liberal/Nationals (Coalition), are most differentiated. The postmaterialist spectrum covers a number of more recent trends, reflecting the shift in focus from 'maximising economic gains to maximising subjective well-being' (Inglehart 1997, 86) through a focus on civil rights, the environment, and liberal attitudes towards sexuality and religion.