The Australian Labor Party’s Betrayal of the White Working Class, By Paul Walker

The Australian Labor Party (ALP), once a champion of the working class, has increasingly alienated its traditional White working-class base through a combination of cultural disconnect, economic neglect, and ideological shifts that prioritise progressive elites over the needs of ordinary Australians. Drawing parallels to the British Labour Party's detachment, as outlined by Professor Jo Phoenix in her critique of Labour's response to trans rights rulings, the ALP's trajectory reflects a similar betrayal. This article argues that the ALP has abandoned the White working class by embracing globalist policies, multiculturalism, and identity politics, while failing to address the economic and social concerns of its core constituency, leaving them disenfranchised and vulnerable.

Founded in the 1890s amid strikes and economic hardship, the ALP emerged as the political arm of the trade union movement, representing workers against exploitative employers. Its early platform, including support for the White Australia policy, was rooted in protecting local wages from low-cost immigrant labour, a stance driven by economic pragmatism and the sound racial attitudes of the time. As noted in historical analyses, the ALP's commitment to tariffs, arbitration, and immigration restriction formed the "Australian Settlement," designed to secure a "workingman's paradise" for White labourers. This alignment with the White working class—predominantly Anglo-Australian—cemented Labor's electoral success, culminating in milestones like the Chifley government's post-World War II welfare reforms.

However, the ALP's shift began in the late 20th century. The Whitlam government's formal abolition of the White Australia policy in 1973 marked a pivot toward multiculturalism, reflecting global human rights trends and Australia's postwar immigration needs. While initially pragmatic, this shift laid the groundwork for a broader ideological transformation under Hawke and Keating in the 1980s and 1990s, where neoliberal reforms—deregulation, privatisation, and enterprise bargaining—eroded the industrial protections that had shielded working-class jobs. The White working class, once Labor's backbone, began to feel sidelined as the party courted cosmopolitan elites and diverse voter bases.

The ALP's embrace of globalisation and high immigration has directly undermined the economic security of the White working class. Since the 1980s, Labor governments have championed free trade and mass migration, policies that have flooded labour markets with low-wage workers, depressing wages and increasing job competition. Data from the Department of Home Affairs shows net overseas migration reached 518,000 in 2022-23, with international student arrivals hitting record highs of 166,840 in February 2025. These inflows, often justified as economic necessities, have strained housing markets and public services, disproportionately affecting working-class communities. Social media posts, capture this sentiment, accusing Labor of ensuring "wages are depressed" and forcing workers to "compete directly with third world migrants."

The ALP's failure to protect industrial jobs exacerbates this betrayal. The decline of manufacturing, once a stronghold for White working-class men, has been stark: from 16.5% of employment in 1985 to 6.7% in 2023, per Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Labor's neoliberal reforms, including tariff cuts and workplace deregulation, accelerated this trend, prioritising corporate interests over unionized workers. The 2020 Jacobin article on Labor's pro-coal faction highlights how even left-leaning leaders like Anthony Albanese have capitulated to industry pressures, neglecting the broader working-class interest in sustainable job creation. Meanwhile, wage theft scandals, such as universities underpaying staff by $400 million, underscore Labor's inaction on workplace fairness, further eroding trust among blue-collar voters.

Paralleling Phoenix's critique of the British Labour Party, the ALP's obsession with identity politics has alienated its White working-class base. The party's focus on issues like trans rights, Indigenous recognition, and climate activism often overshadows the practical concerns of workers—jobs, housing, and cost-of-living pressures. For instance, Labor's 2023 push for the Voice to Parliament, was perceived by many working-class voters as elitist and disconnected from their daily struggles. The referendum's 60% "No" vote, particularly strong in outer-suburban and regional areas, reflected this disconnect, with social media users lamenting that "Labor doesn't represent average blue collar workers anymore."

The ALP's handling of gender and cultural issues mirrors the British Labour's missteps. Labor MPs, such as Tanya Plibersek, have endorsed progressive stances on trans inclusion, often dismissing concerns about women's spaces as reactionary. This echoes Professor Phoenix's frustration with British Labour's refusal to align with public sentiment on biological sex, a stance that alienates socially conservative workers. The ALP's 2022 election platform, emphasising "equity" and "diversity," has been criticised as catering to inner-city progressives rather than the battlers of Western Sydney or regional Queensland. As Phoenix notes about Labour, Labor's silence or equivocation on contentious cultural issues—like the 2024 debates over trans athletes in women's sports—signals a party "hopelessly out of touch" with its base.

The ALP's betrayal has created a political vacuum, with the White working class increasingly drawn to populist alternatives. The rise of One Nation and Clive Palmer's United Australia Party, which polled 5% and 4% respectively in 2022, reflects this shift. These parties capitalise on working-class frustrations over immigration, cultural change, and economic insecurity, issues Labor has failed to address. The 2017 "Employ Australians First" campaign, criticised for its racial undertones, was a clumsy attempt to reclaim this base, but its backlash revealed Labor's inability to navigate the tension between multiculturalism and worker advocacy. As Bob Gould's 1999 Marxist analysis notes, the ALP's historical flip from White Australia to mass migration has left it vulnerable to accusations of "flooding the country with Asian migrants," fuelling populist narratives.

Labor's internal dysfunction compounds this betrayal. The party's factional wars, as detailed in the 2010 World Socialist Web Site, have prioritised power struggles over policy coherence. The decline in union membership—from 40% in 1990 to 12.5% in 2023—has weakened Labor's ties to the working class, leaving it reliant on corporate donors and public funding. This shift, coupled with a shrinking grassroots base, means Labor no longer speaks for the "light on the hill" Ben Chifley envisioned but for a fragmented coalition of urban elites and minority groups.

Like Phoenix's hope for a reformed British Labour, the ALP could theoretically reconnect with the white working class by prioritizing economic protectionism, wage growth, and cultural pragmatism. Policies like capping migration to ease housing pressures, as suggested by economist Leith van Onselen, or investing in regional manufacturing could rebuild trust. However, Labor's entrenched commitment to globalism and progressive orthodoxy makes this unlikely. The 2025 budget, with its focus on green energy and international student revenue, signals continued neglect of working-class priorities. As Phoenix warns, a party that ignores the law—or in Labor's case, the will of its base—risks being branded "dinosaurs."

The Australian Labor Party's betrayal of the white working class mirrors the British Labour Party's detachment, as critiqued by Jo Phoenix (discussed in another article at the blog today). Through economic policies that favour global markets over local workers, a cultural shift toward elite-driven identity politics, and a failure to address grassroots concerns, Labor has abandoned its founding mission. The White working class, once the heart of Labor's electoral strength, now faces wage suppression, housing crises, and cultural alienation, driving them toward populist alternatives. Without a radical reorientation, the ALP risks permanent irrelevance among the very workers it was created to serve, leaving a legacy of broken promises and lost trust.

Electoral/political comment authorised by Arnis J. Luks, 13 Carsten Court, Happy Valley SA