State Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas’s pitch for middle-class voters

State Labor leader Peter Malinauskas has outlined his plans to change the party, staking a claim for middle class voters and snubbing “culture warriors”.

State Labor leader Peter Malinauskas is staking a claim for middle-class voters and pointedly snubbing “culture warriors” as he outlines his plans to change the party.

In an agenda-setting contribution to national debate about Labor’s electability, Mr Malinauskas declared the ALP had to focus first on creating jobs, then important causes like health and education.

Technological change was wreaking havoc on workplaces across the world, he said, and working people were angry that politicians were “engulfed by an argument on the culture wars” rather than the future of work for them and their children.

The Opposition Leader was responding to an essay by former UK Labour prime minister Tony Blair, titled “Without total change Labour will die”.

Senior national Labor figures, including South Australian Senator Penny Wong, also have warned the ALP must change to win support after its shock defeat at the 2019 federal election.

In an interview with The Advertiser about his plans to position the party for next March’s state election, Mr Malinauskas declared Labor was formed to be an economic party and was the only political party with work in its name.

“So focusing on the social issues is part of who we are but not at the expense of the future of work, not at the expense of the economy and people being able to provide for themselves and their families,” he said.

“That has to be the core focus. In my humble opinion, when people make an assessment about who should govern the state and govern the country they legitimately ask who is best placed to provide decent working jobs for their family.

“ … The culture warriors can do their thing but I’m gonna do mine – and that’s making sure that as a party of government that we develop a policy that speaks directly to a growing middle class that is becoming increasingly prosperous.”

State Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas. Picture: Sam Wundke

Mr Malinauskas stressed the middle class had always underpinned the SA economy. These were working people and, increasingly, small business owners.

“We’ve got to talk to those people. We’ve got to have a policy and an ideology that is consistent with those people’s interests, because if we’ve got a strengthening middle class, then we’ve got a fairer society and that’s what Labor is all about,” he said.

Mr Malinauskas said voters at a state level were particularly focused on health and education.

A former shop assistants’ union state chief, Mr Malinauskas echoed his 2013 speech to the union’s national council, in which he declared prosperity and well-paying jobs was Labor’s core business and the party should not be distracted by other ventures, even if some were important.

“If this agenda is not ideologically pure enough for you, if you need more social engineering in your politics, then join the Greens,” the-then union leader said.

Mr Blair’s New Statesman essay, published on May 11, argued progressive parties, like the ALP, were being marginalised across the Western world and had to modernise their economic message to survive the central political challenge – the transformation unleashed by the technological revolution.

Former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair in 2019 with executive chair of the International School for Government at King’s College London Alexander Downer, a former Australian foreign affairs minister. Picture: David Tett https://www.davidtett.com/

In a speech in Melbourne on Tuesday night, Senator Wong outlined a vision for Australia to seize a “once-in-a-century opportunity” to forge a social justice agenda for the nation.

Delivering the Joan Kirner Oration, Senator Wong said this agenda should include lifting wages and ensuring they keep rising; investing in advanced manufacturing and skills and training with public TAFE at its heart; providing affordable childcare; addressing the housing crisis; championing equality for women; and emerging as a renewable energy superpower.

“Labor’s vision – and our policies – are about seizing the opportunity to build a better future, improve living standards and promote fairness,” Senator Wong said.

“ … As we have always done, Labor understands the role of government to address structural inequality because we accept structural inequality exists.”

Senator Wong, Labor’s Senate Leader and a key Left faction figure, said Labor needed ambition but also needed to convince people who did not agree with the party.

“At the last election, Labor fell short of a majority. We won’t change the government without respecting where people are at and earning their trust,” she said.

“That’s how change happens. That’s how we write a new chapter.”