JB Chifley
Australian Prime Minister
1945-1949
Matthew Taylor Speaking Tour
Chifley Research Centre Event - March 2003
In March 2003, the Chifley Research Centre hosted a Speaking Tour by Matthew Taylor.
The Future of Progressive Politics
Talk Outline
The subject I'll be talking about very much represents work in progress, thinking which is developing in the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) and has been developing over some time and I would really value reflections from you about whether or not what I say has any resonance in relation to the Australian experience, whether it seems to fit, the ways in which you're thinking about the challenges that we now face on the centre left.
There are five core parts to the argument that I want to make to you today. Each in a sense I think is a freestanding argument but I hope that you'll see that they all knit together to form a narrative.
The first part is, I want to explore what I see as being a significant political divide on the centre left. A divide as significant as maybe the traditional left/right distinction.
Secondly, I want to argue that major processes of social change require us to bridge that divide and to rethink out political story.
Thirdly, that at the heart of this new story needs to be the articulation of what might be called a practical utopia, a vision of universal citizenship in the good society.
Fourthly, I want to explore what this account of our, this new account of our destination might mean for the ways in which the left thinks about social inequality.
And finally, I want to explore very briefly what this might mean for the very way in which we do politics on the left and if I have time I might end with a few small examples in practical terms of this new progressivism.
