Dimensions
168 x 235 x 9mm
The 2001 federal election saw the Australian Labor Party enter a period of crisis from which it has not yet emerged.
In the latest 'Quarterly Essay', John Button unveils his thoughts on what has gone wrong and what is needed to fix the woes of his beloved party.
Button has interviewed players both inside and outside Labor to produce this fiercely independent portrait of a party at the crossroads. As even Simon Crean admits, reform is necessary, not only for the party to be viable for voters but for its very survival.
Why did Labor flounder so badly when it seemed like it was headed for a sure victory only a few months earlier? Has it lost its relevance to the ordinary Australians that it purports to represent? Do Labor's ties with the union movement need reform?
With more than twenty-five years of experience in the Labor Party, no one has greater insight into these questions than John Button. This will be a wake up call that Crean and the ALP cannot afford to ignore.
