The Write Stuff Voice of Unity on Labor's Future

The Australian Labor Party has forgotten how to win national elections. Federal Labor finds itself with only one in three Australians prepared to give it their vote. It has arrived at a historic tipping point that if not fixed potentially spells the end for one of the world's oldest and most successful social democratic parties. Caught between its more conservative working-class base in Australia's suburbs and regions and its inner-city progressive activists, Labor appears unable to bridge a growing chasm, and unable to build winning national coalitions. The 129-year-old ALP only succeeds when its right-wing, known as Labor Unity or Centre Unity, is on top of its game. The Write Stuff: Voices of Unity on Labor's Future features thirty essays on the way forward for Labor and Australia. Its contributors are drawn from across the nation's expanses - new and established voices, members of federal and state parliaments, and leading unionists. With the defeat at the last election and postponement of Labor's national conference there is a vacuum at the heart of the ALP - a genuine battle of ideas and vigorous policy debate. The Write Stuff provides that contest in spades. As its chapters testify, ideas remain powerful tools in our nation's public debate. Big ideas and sharp thinking - politics with purpose - will underpin a Labor comeback in the twenty-first century. We do not intend to be the last ones to turn out the lights on the way out for the ALP. Labor needs to be bigger, not smaller: a bigger and more diverse party reflective of modern Australia, and a party of bigger ideas and national ambition. Millions of working Australians rely on the nation's oldest political party and more than ever they need Labor to li429ght the way nationally. The Australian way of life is really the Labor way. It can remain so only if we choose the Right way. Nick Dyrenfurth and Misha Zelinsky have rendered the Labor movement an extraordinary service in having The Write Stuff published. It encourages a contest of ideas, but perhaps more importantly provides a signpost which begins the journey back to government in Canberra. - Stephen Loosely