Labour party's Chalmers: 'Path to victory lies in outer suburbs'

In a speech in Melbourne on October 31, Labour party's shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers says that there is no path to victory that doesn't travel through the ring roads and growth corridors of outer metropolitan Australia. He further adds that the nation can not have a strong national economy without good jobs and rising living standards in the suburbs and Australia succeeds when the economic policy has a suburban sensibility. Chalmers' uses his speech to argue that the Labor party is at its “best and truest self” when it acts as the “party of the outer suburbs”. The party is also trying to reposition itself after the May election defeat. 

Chalmers points out the importance of connecting to the outer suburbs but he also says that the cities are as important. However, he adds that the third of all federal electorates are classified as 'outer metropolitan' by the Australian Electoral Commission. “The suburbs are where the political contest between the major parties is most frequently and most prominently joined. The suburbs determine whether Labor prevails or fails”. Chalmers also acknowledged that Prime Minister Scott Morrison had targeted outer suburban Australian. 

“If the PM understood anything about life in the suburbs he’d know the quiet Australians are faring badly under a Liberal government in its seventh year and third term.”

“Morrison celebrates the silence of the quiet Australians instead of understanding their struggles – we want to give them a voice.”

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'Shorten shouldn't carry the can'

The Labor party has been reviewing its policies. The party has also been facing a lot of criticism as it is believed that it moved too far to the left and was focused more on redistributing wealth rather than growing the economy. However, Chalmers claims that there were a number of reasons for Labor's failing and they should not be oversimplified ahead of the election review that is to be released next week. In the end, he says, as the party has been divided over the future of its tax-and-spend agenda and climate policies since the election defeat Chalmer believes that all members of the party should share the blame instead of blaming Bill Shorten for the loss. 

"Bill Shorten shouldn't carry the can on his own for our collective failures at the last election. We simply couldn't build a big enough constituency for our agenda. Our problems in the campaign did go beyond one leader or one election; there is a structural problem with our primary vote." 

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