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ANGE:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack. This is 7am.

Australia is ageing rapidly - and our country will look very different by the turn of this century. That’s the prediction laid out in the government’s latest intergenerational report, which forecasts the state of the nation. So, what vision does Labor have in guiding Australia into the future? And how urgently are they addressing these issues?

Today, contributing editor to The Monthly Rachel Withers on what she learned at Labor’s conference about their plans for the future.

It’s Friday 25 August.

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ANGE:

Rachel, you've just been at Labor's conference in Brisbane last weekend. Can you tell me what actually happens there, who goes and why it's considered such a big deal?

RACHEL:

Yeah. So Labor's national conference is the party's highest decision making forum where all the state and territory branches get together to, in theory, decide Labor's official policy platform. It's kind of like Christmas for the Labor Party, although it only takes place once every three years. The conference is attended by all senior party people, by the MPs, all the unions, the factions, as well as around 400 delegates who are elected by the rank and file to represent their views on the conference floor. Plus, a whole bunch of other party members come along as observers and to drink and meet with their faction mates. And there are also fringe events where internal interest groups and external NGOs come along to have stalls and put on panels and seminars. So it's quite a big deal to the Labor Party. This conference they just had in Brisbane was the first one they've had in person since 2018 because of the pandemic and the first one they've had in government since 2011. So it was a highly anticipated event for political junkies, although probably not necessarily for your average punter. And Labor conferences can be, or at least used to be really fiery affairs. You had these genuinely tense debates happen in the eighties, for example, when Bob Hawke was leading the party.

ANGE:

And at the centre of this conference was the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. What was he hoping to achieve going into it?

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“Delegates, 15 months ago the people of Australia put their trust in our Labor government”.

RACHEL:

So he spoke a lot about the Voice as he does at the moment and how proud Labor Party people should be about their advocacy of that.

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“All of us can be proud that we belong to a movement campaigning for a Yes vote in this year's referendum and our whole nation will be lifted up.”

RACHEL:

He talked about wanting to stay in office and win the next election…

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“Today, each of us understands that winning and holding government is not only true to our principles, it's actually essential to fulfilling them.”

RACHEL:

…and he also acknowledged all the members who come to this event and said that's why he's here.

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“And to the true believers here representing our extraordinary Labor rank and file, your dedication gives us all strength. My colleagues and I stand on your shoulders and we thank you.”

ANGE:

Right. And in the lead up to the conference, you were talking to rank and file members, people from different interest groups. Who did you speak to and what were they hoping to get out of going?

RACHEL:

Yes, I was following these quite closely in the lead up to find out what amendments to the platform were being proposed and by whom and what chance they had of actually getting up. There are quite a few special interest groups within Labor who usually seek to push their agenda. You have groups like Labor for Refugees who advocate for more humane asylum seeker policies, or the Labor Environmental Action Network, otherwise known as LEAN, who advocate on environmental issues. And I guess you could say these are like the quote unquote Greens inside Labor. There was reporting showing that Labor for Refugees wanted a royal commission into the cost of our mandatory detention system, while Lane wanted a ban on native forest logging. And I was especially interested in a couple of motions on housing that were being flagged first by a young socialist left delegate named Juliana Todorovic, who is the convenor of Labor for Housing, who announced in May that she wanted to get negative gearing reform on the agenda.

Archival Tape - Julijana Todorovic:

“We treat housing as an investment in this country and not the human rights that it is. And until we actually deal with tax reform, I don't think we're ever going to be able to meaningfully deal with housing affordability.”

RACHEL:

And then more recently by the new CFMEU boss Zach Smith, who used a speech to the National Press Club to announce his push for a tax on big corporations profits, which would be used to fund a huge boost in social and affordable housing.

Archival Tape - Zach Smith:

“We can't keep telling people who are struggling that corporate super profits are off limits. We just can't right now. We're not just in a housing crisis. We're in a very real cost of living crisis.”

RACHEL:

And Smith argued there was a real appetite for this. And the CFMEU actually put on a huge rally on the first morning of the conference.

Archival Tape - CFMEU protestors:

“Who are we! CFMEU! Who’s taking it up to the Labor party! CFMEU!”

Archival Tape - Zach Smith:

“The money exists, the wealth exists, but it doesn't exist in ordinary Australian households. It exists in the profit columns of a very small and very elite group of corporations.”

RACHEL:

The other interesting thing tonight was that the Left faction had a majority of the delegates on the floor this time, something that reportedly hasn't happened since 1979. Anthony Albanese is himself from the left, although he purportedly doesn't do much factional stuff these days because he's busy being prime minister. So, you know, it really feels like this is a moment for big ideas and big debates. Labor did win the last election with a small target strategy. But when? Now, in this cost of living crisis, on top of our housing and climate and inequality and debt crises, and so all of these issues actually feel even more relevant this week with the government releasing its latest intergenerational report, which predicts our population is ageing rapidly. And that's going to add some serious pressures to the budget in terms of health and aged care, with less money coming in from tax, from people working. And so the conditions were perfect for Albanese to do something really bold here if he wanted to.

ANGE:

So, which bold ideas got up? That’s next, after the break.

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ANGE:

Rachel, you spoke with a number of people from the left of the Labor Party who were going to conference with some really big ideas that they wanted to debate things like housing. Did any of those debates happen?

RACHEL:

Sort of. So these ideas were definitely debated… somewhere. But despite the Labor leadership's constant boasts that they are the only party that does this out in the open, most of the real debate happens ahead of time behind closed doors. So these days most delegates negotiate with the government and other factions to massage their emotions to a point where they can be passed ideally without the need for a vote. It's all about consensus and compromise and actually getting something into the platform, which means in practice that they generally watered down their motions quite a bit. So these negotiations take place over weeks. Some of them were only settled the night before the conference, but almost everything that went to the floor passed as everybody knew it would. For example, the tax on big corporations profits became a vague commitment to a, quote, progressive and sustainable tax system, including corporate tax reform. Although Zach Smith still spoke passionately about a super profits tax as he spoke to the amendment so people knew what he meant. Negative gearing reform became a commitment to look at intergenerational inequality and tax, which was seconded by the housing minister. So Julianna and Zach got their point across and they can point to these wins, but they don't actually have anything concrete to hold the government to in terms of policy. In fact, we've already seen government sources this week rule out any major tax reform this term in response to the Intergenerational Report.

ANGE:

So did you talk to the delegates afterwards? What were they saying about how they felt it went?

RACHEL:

Yeah, these delegates were hot property after their motions were passed, but I did manage to track them down. I spoke with Juliana after her motions passed and asked how she felt about how it had all gone.

Archival Tape - Rachel Withers:

“First of all, how do you feel about how conference has gone for you have your goals.”

Archival Tape - Julijana Todorovic:

“And I think we got a lot closer than I thought we were going to get.”

RACHEL:

And she said that she got much more than she expected and really talked up the need for party unity, but there were some obvious disappointments

Archival Tape - Rachel Withers:

“I guess… are you disappointed the left wasn't able to get more, considering you had a majority?”

Archival Tape - Julijana Todorovic:

“...I'm not going to answer that.”

RACHEL:

And so, you know, being around at this conference, everything very much went to plan. Nothing happened that wasn't meant to happen. No surprise motions, no debates or votes that were lost by the government. And, you know, it really did seem like a very stage managed event. And I was told by people who've been around the Labor Party for a long time that it had actually driven any sense of momentum out of the conference.

ANGE:

So the conference was over represented by the Labor left faction, and yet they didn't really use that leverage to get more progressive policies debated. Why was that?

RACHEL:

Yeah, I guess we have to wonder, does Labor's left still exist and what state is it in? Or has it been completely subsumed by Anthony Albanese, who is in theory the leader of the faction, but also the leader of the Government?

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“We seek long term government because it's a difference of whether we shape the future or the future shapes us. All of this depends, of course, on bringing people with us on the journey, earning and repaying people’s trust…”

RACHEL:

We've been hearing from Anthony Albanese for some time that he wants to be a long term government. You know, he's got his eyes on the prize of 2025 and it's all about this long term strategy where you don't do anything too dramatic to upset the electorate to, you know, scare the horses.

Archival Tape - Anthony Albanese:

“Now, this may not always grab every headline. It mightn't suit the agenda of those who prefer protest to progress who imagine that grand gestures and bold declarations are better than the patient work of ensuring lasting change”

RACHEL:

And so even though he is from the left and obviously the left would traditionally like things to move a little bit faster, he has managed to convince everyone around to his way of looking at things, which is that we can't yeah, we can't do anything too big this term. And so, you know, I think the overwhelming message of this conference and the leadership at the moment is don't rock the boat. And this is actually the vibe of a lot of the people from the left who I spoke to while they all said they got more than they expected. It's clear none of them got what they actually wanted and they all felt like they couldn't really push for more and in many cases just accepted that there wouldn't be debates on issues they really cared about because it would be too damaging for a first term government to do that publicly.

Archival Tape - Julijana Todorovic:

“I think we did the best that we could as a first term government. I think that after nine years trying to unwind the last nine years, we are petrified of going backwards. And we've seen the damage that it's caused with nine years without Labor being in government…”

RACHEL:

But I wonder if the Left may have passed up its best opportunity to control the agenda and to get things such as a ban on native forest logging and a super profits tax locked into the platform.

ANGE:

Do you think it shows that Anthony Albanese actually has full control of the party and that even if people don't agree with him on every issue, they are willing to fall in line because they trust his judgement?

RACHEL:

Yeah, I think a lot of people do trust his judgement and a lot of people in Labor are also still really, really scarred by what happened in 2019 and 2016 and all the other years they lost elections. But you know, they have put forward ambitious agendas before and they have lost those elections and the party believes it's because of some of those more ambitious economic reforms that they put on the table. And so they are very, very reticent to go anywhere near anything like that again. But I will say I did sense some frustration from some sort of left powerbrokers - or former powerbrokers - who are frustrated about the real lack of momentum and lack of energy in the party right now.

ANGE:

Rachel, thanks so much for your time today.

RACHEL:

Thanks, Ange.

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ANGE:

Also in the news today…

The federal government has delivered a clearer look at what the next 40 years of Australian life might look like… in its first Intergenerational Report. The report warns of how an ageing population and sliding birth rate will impact the economy as Australians become more reliant on the care sector. It also predicts that higher temperatures could wipe away anywhere between 135 to 420 billion dollars in productivity over the next 4 decades.

And…

The first debate of the Republican presidential primaries has taken place, with former president Donald Trump opting not to attend. Trump instead sat for a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson, which was published online right as the debate began.

7am is a daily show from The Monthly and The Saturday Paper.

It’s produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon, Zoltan Fecso, Cheyne Anderson, Yeo Choong, and Sam Loy.

Our senior producer is Chris Dengate. Our technical producer is Atticus Bastow.

Our editor is Scott Mitchell. Sarah McVeigh is our head of audio. Erik Jensen is our editor-in-chief.

Mixing by Andy Elston, Travis Evans, and Atticus Bastow.

Our theme music is by Ned Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Audio.

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ange McCormack, see you next week.

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