Trans-Tasman political influence runs deep

Strong political links are part of a shared Tasman history between Australia and New Zealand, says AUT University Professor Ray Markey, convenor of the Trans-Tasman Labour History Conference being held in Auckland this week.

New Zealand's first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand Michael Savage was an Australian, as was the country's Labour Party first leader Harry Holland. And Australia's first Labour Prime Minister John Christian Watson was raised in New Zealand.

"History is still shaping the labour movement's approach to its environment in each country, and its response to new global influences," says Professor Markey.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries political activists and unionists moved regularly between Australia and New Zealand, and more widely between the other outposts of the Pacific as far as to San Francisco. Historical global influences are not new, he says.

Professor Markey says the conference will examine the global historical forces which influenced New Zealand and Australia.

"It will look at the influences which they exerted on each other and the common experiences of New Zealanders and Australians as a result of global influences," he says.

"We hope to contribute to understanding a joint history as a step towards the development of global history," says Professor Markey.

"At the same time we hope to rescue the ordinary worker - male and female, European, Maori, Aboriginal or Asian - from the enormous condescension of traditional history which focuses on great white men and their military and diplomatic achievements, and to celebrate the achievements of ordinary workers over the past century and a half."

AUT Vice Chancellor Derek McCormack will open the two-day event. Conference topics include: Gender and the trans-Tasman common labour market; Michael J. Savage: MP for Auckland West; and Trade unionism and the struggle for democracy in Tonga.

Trans-Tasman Labour History Conference
Tuesday January 30 - Thursday February 1
AUT University City Campus
Conference Centre
Room WA220
55 Wellesley Street East
Auckland

The conference is being presented by the Centre for Work and Labour Market Studies (CWaLMS) and AUT University School of Social Sciences.

Ends

© Scoop Media