Key Points
- Former Labor senator Kim Carr says the Labor party is losing touch with its blue-collar roots.
- Carr said it was “disturbing” that votes for Labor appear to be going down in socially disadvantaged areas.
- He said the government lacks the ambition required to transform the country and advance the Labor agenda.
Carr, who was a senator for 30 years and a key figure in the party’s left faction, said it was “disturbing” that votes for Labor appear to be going up in affluent areas and down in more socially disadvantaged areas.
When asked whether he thought Anthony Albanese had been a good prime minister, Carr acknowledged Albanese had faced “difficult circumstances”.
Kim Carr has raised concerns about the Labor party’s ambition and direction. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
But Carr said the government had gone into office with a “small target strategy”, leaving many people unable to identify the key issues Labor was pursuing.
“So we are in a difficult circumstance, and I think some of the issues that we’ve taken lack policy ambition.”
‘The Labor project is in trouble’
“We need to be able to appeal more broadly across the community to ensure that the Labor Party fulfils its historic mission to represent the whole country, but particularly people who are disadvantaged by life circumstances.”