Labor won’t make Kamala Harris’ mistakes against Trump, ALP boss says

Labor’s national secretary has vowed the party will not repeat the mistakes of Kamala Harris’ US election campaign and will instead focus on the economy in his first closed-door briefing to MPs since the failed Indigenous Voice referendum.

Paul Erickson gave the private speech to the federal caucus in Canberra on Tuesday morning, outlining the lessons the ALP had learned this year when incumbent governments in the United States, United Kingdom, India and France were either booted out of office or had their majorities slashed.

Labor national secretary Paul Erickson argued Labor could hang on to its blue-collar base by pointing out that its economic, workplace and cost-of-living policies would benefit them.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Erickson, who heads the party’s organisational wing, gave a scathing assessment of Harris’ presidential campaign, according to three MPs who were present but spoke on condition of anonymity.

“You have to have a policy offering that is about the future, and we think that in the US, for example, Kamala Harris just campaigned against Trump – ‘Vote for me as I’m not him’ – and didn’t put forward enough of an alternative plan for the next four years,” one source recalled Erickson saying. “That’s not a mistake we will make.”

One of the key lessons from the global swing away from incumbents was that the economy mattered most to voters and, Erickson argued, “Labor is placed well to campaign on its economic record.”

“If you look at unsuccessful campaigns around the world, they haven’t focused enough on the economy,” Erickson said.

Another lesson, he said, was that “ordinary people and their voices can be just as powerful as a message from a political party”.

Harris’ campaign made extensive use of celebrity endorsements, including rappers Cardi B and Eminem.

US voters approved of Trump’s economic record in his first term, Erickson said, “particularly on the pre-COVID economy, and that is not the case when people think back to the Morrison government or [Opposition Leader Peter] Dutton’s record as a minister”.

He said Labor needed to argue that its economic and industrial relations policies had contributed to wage rises and that the cost-of-living relief it had delivered would be at risk under a Coalition government.

Australians have consistently rated the Coalition as better economic managers in the Resolve Political Monitor conducted for this masthead over the last year, despite Labor running budget surpluses.

Erickson spoke for about 45 minutes and received about 15 questions from MPs on Labor’s strategy ahead of the federal election, due by May 2025.

They included queries about the party’s preparedness for an online and social media campaign, whether Labor could retain its blue-collar base when those voters deserted Democrats in the US, policy areas, including housing, and whether a negative campaign against Dutton would work.

Erickson said Labor’s attacks on Dutton in two byelections held earlier in this term of parliament had worked as people remembered his record as health minister.

He argued Labor could hang on to its blue-collar base by pointing out that its economic, workplace and cost-of-living policies would benefit them, while it would seek to deliver its message to young men through podcasts and other non-traditional media.

Erickson declined to comment.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.