Hard Labor? The crisis of social democracy in the Australian state level

Only a few years many observers predicted an era of Labor political hegemony at the state level. Voters preferred Labor to deliver human services such as health and education that are the focus of state politics. Today however the fortunes of state Labor are in rapid decline. The once mighty NSW Labor party crashed to it’s worst-ever defeat in March 2011 and in November 2010 Labor suffered a surprising defeat in its Victorian heartland. 

This conference, hosted by the Alfred Deakin Research Institute, combined academic and practitioner comment on the experience of state Labor administrations with particular reference to New South Wales and Victoria. 

View Conference Program (805 KB)

Participants are invited to submit their papers for publication in a volume of the refereed Alfred Deakin Research Institute Working Paper Series.

Venue: Deakin University Melbourne City Centre, Level 3, 550 Bourke St, Melbourne
Date: 5 November 2011

For further information, please contact Dr Geoff Robinson: geoffrey.robinson@deakin.edu.au.

Victorian environment loses as reform agenda proves politically unsustainable for Labor

Academics, journalists, politicians and staffers do a day's hard labour all in the name of politics