Avoiding debate won’t bring policy change, says Labor MP

Politics is being undermined by an aggressive party loyalty that is causing many progressive voices to retreat from civic debate, federal opposition frontbencher Anthony Albanese has told an Australian Labor Party meeting in Melbourne.

“One of the consequences of the increased polarisation of politics is that compromise and searching for outcomes are seen as weakness,” he said.

“In many countries, parties of the radical right have emerged with disillusioned working-class people as their social base. The disruption of economic change in these economies has incubated a group of people who are angry that change has not benefited them.”