POLICY COMMITTEE REPORT

Dr Sherry Sufi
Jun 9
4 min read

G’day Team,

As we all know, we neither have a federal election to campaign for over the next three years, nor a state one for the next four.

That’s plenty of time to listen, reflect, adapt and come back stronger for fed 2028 and state 2029.

This is exactly what the Policy Committee will be assisting our Parliamentary team with, as we’ve done in previous terms.

We’re all aware of the need to get smarter with campaigning using digital platforms, listening closely to expectations and staying true to our values.

At the same time, we must acknowledge the shifting political landscape.

We have a more diverse voter base clustered in key seats, plus millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and Gen Zs (born between 1997 and 2012) who often think and vote differently from our traditional base.

These are real challenges, but ones we're more than capable of meeting head-on.

Our side does well to preach free speech and open debate yet often dismisses opposing arguments instead of actually refuting them in a manner that is both plain and persuasive.

Young folks under 30 are more switched on than we realise.

If they see one side debating seriously and the other resorting to dismissiveness, they naturally start to lean towards the side that appears to be putting in more effort to win them over.

Generational change is nothing new.

The way we campaigned under Colin Barnett and Tony Abbott was different from the way we campaigned under Sir David Brand and Sir Robert Menzies.

We’ve always adapted and come back stronger. This time will be no different.

To assist us in our journey, Party HQ has enabled the Policy Committee to receive donations directly.

The last State Council on 24th May 2025 endorsed Cr Peter Hudson as the Policy Committee’s inaugural Treasurer and Ms Steph Jackson as our incoming Deputy Chair.

Your generous contributions will help cover printing costs for our policy journal The Contributor which, for a decade, has been your voice for advancing good policy ideas in our Party.

Its publication has traditionally been sponsored by our Members of Parliament.

We ask for your support to enable greater diversity of thought, more flexibility and continued high quality content.

Your generosity will also go a long way towards covering the cost for venue hire to support our initiatives.

That way, we can host quality events, continue to listen to your ideas and consult experts across all major industries and policy portfolios.

Click here to: Donate to the Policy Committee

Remember that in addition to lay party members, we also have six parliamentary reps on the Policy Committee:

● State: Hon Steve Thomas MLC, Hon Neil Thomson MLC and Hon Tjorn Sibma MLC.

● Federal: Hon Andrew Hastie MP, Senator Matt O’Sullivan and Senator Dean Smith.

These reps have always been there to ensure that your policy ideas don’t fall on deaf ears.

They have all played an instrumental role in conveying your policies to the party leadership and should be commended for their roles.

Looking ahead, our party ultimately needs unity not unrest, policies not posturing, reflection not retreat.

We will get this right.

All of this means being realistic about turning our core values into sound policy.

Our values, as enshrined in the We Believe statement, have stood the test of time.

There has never been any doubt about what we believe in.

The challenge for us always has been about dealing with how we interpret our values.

There is enough on that We Believe statement to leave room for ambiguity when converting those values into actionable policies.

As a recent example, take the entire debate about vaccine mandates.

Supporters of mandates cited from the same We Believe statement the line that says we believe “In Government being sufficiently responsive so that it can meet its proper obligations to its citizens.”

Opponents of mandates cited from the same statement the line that says we believe “In the importance of voluntary effort” and “the right to be independent”.

Both camps in our party referenced the same We Believe statement yet came to opposite conclusions.

There are many other examples.

There is this persistent myth in our party that when a leader promotes a particular policy that the base dislikes, somehow, they’ve betrayed our values.

99% of the time, this isn’t the case.

No leader deliberately makes a policy announcement knowing it contradicts our values.

If you see it through their eyes, it’s a classic case of interpreting that We Believe statement differently, but in good faith.

So, let’s spend less time debating whether the statement matters (we already agree that it does) and more time working out how to reach agreement on what it means in practice.

If you have thoughts on this, feel free to get in touch.

Finally, I want to caution against the sort of doomsday narratives doing the rounds in centre-right circles.

Let’s remain inspired knowing that we were the ones in government at the federal level for 20 out of the 30 years gone by.

First under Howard (1996–2007) then under Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison (2013–2022).

Things will turn around. They always do.

We must avoid falling into this trap of assuming the worst.

Remember that during Labor’s time in the wilderness, it was their insiders and commentators who thought Labor faced an existential crisis and would never be electorally relevant again.

Check out these articles below for some comfort in knowing we too can and will bounce back just as they did in 2007 and 2022.

2002: Beyond Belief: What future for Labor? By John Button

2006: Is Labor near extinction? By Clive Hamilton

2012: Labor in existential peril? By Jim Middleton

2012: The End of the Party? By Liam O’Callaghan

2013: Where it all went wrong for Kevin Rudd and the ALP by Jeff Sparrow

2019: How the Libs stole Labor’s light on the hill by Guy Rundle

2021: Without a Mass Membership, ALP is on the Road to Nowhere by Ben Halliday

If you read some of these, you might find the similarity in the way they were the ones fearing the worst during their years in Opposition.

We always bounce back. We will do it again.

The road ahead will be bumpy, but we will walk it together.

The Policy Committee is always here to help.