Date: Friday 24 July
Time: 12:00pm – 12:50pm
Location: Fringe Room 1
Format: Panel discussion
Organisation: McKell Institute
Many in the labour movement define themselves as progressive. But what does it actually mean, and what can it deliver?
The McKell Institute is bringing together leading voices from across the country to consider what it means to be a progressive in the Australian labour movement.
This session looks at the reality of modern Labor politics, built on the uniquely Australian progressive tradition that is pragmatic, union-rooted, and egalitarian.
Can Labor stay progressive while winning over the outer suburbs and regions? Is universalism a progressive principle, or a political convenience? Can real change happen incrementally? And in an era where the right claims to be the “disruptors,” does defending our institutions make progressives the new establishment?
This is a conversation about what it means to be a progressive and whether it’s enough to win.
Panel:
- Wayne Swan, Former Federal Treasurer; Outgoing National President, ALP
- Ellie Whitaker, WA Senator
- Aemon Bourke SA Labor Secretary
- Wil Stracke, Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council
- Moderated by Mary Patetsos AM
