So what does it mean when some people say they’re putting the labour back in Labor? Who are they standing for when they say they are fighting for the Labor base? It’s unlikely they’re talking about the nurse living in Cambridge Park, the Indian-Australian retail worker in Revesby, the receptionist in Woy Woy, or the school cleaner in Seven Hills. They are normally referring to a very narrow segment of Labor’s electoral coalition and one that cannot deliver us government on its own.
Electoral campaigns are full of contradictions and opportunity costs. A policy offering that wins you votes in one community can often come at the expense of votes in another community. At the heart of it, [Joel] Fitzgibbon is offering a strategy to hold on to his seat of Hunter but at what cost? As a party of government, we have a responsibility to find a platform that can win the full range of seats we need to form government while staying true to our enduring values.
To win the next election, Labor can build a platform capable of meeting the aspirations of people being left behind by this government and this economy. Those who are being left behind are diverse. If we want to win back trust and support amongst communities that rejected us in 2019, we should fight for all of them.
