Alex’s blog about strategy, campaigning, growth, politics and climate (among other things).
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Feeling disillusioned?
In March 2026, the ABC had a writeup of the McKinnon Foundation’s poll that found that most Australians are thoroughly disillusioned with politics. Apathy toward elected officials was high, with three in four people saying they thought politicians focused on short-term gains and re-election rather than long-term challenges, and felt MPs “mostly” served themselves or… Read more
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How economic inequality helps the far-right
If you want to understand why the far-right is surging, look at your payslip and the Reserve Bank of Australia. We are living through a deep systemic contradiction where the majority of Australia’s economy relies on consumer spending, while Australian businesses actively try to suppress wages and the RBA believes that to reduce inflation it… Read more
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Why won’t Australia ever tax mining, gas and fossil fuels?
Think Australia controls its own fossil fuel wealth? Think again. The gas extraction and mining industries that dominate our politics and digging up our continent act as local managers for the American-led global order, ensuring our natural resources serve US investors rather than domestic needs. You just need to see who actually owns the largest… Read more
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Winning working class voters (in the US)
How can the US Democrats win working class voters? Political scientist Nicholas Jacobs tackles this question in a detailed and thought-provoking article on The Conversation. Here’s a big clue: In 1958, working-class voters and Democrats were within 5 points of each other on whether government wastes a lot of tax money. By 2024 that gap… Read more
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The answer to the rise of the far-right and One Nation in Australia?
The rise of far-right parties like One Nation in Australia is the direct result of decades of soaring inequality and neoliberal capitalism. Unfortunately, the way progressives typically respond has failed time and time again. For decades, the working class and petit bourgeoise have been immiserated by neoliberal policies. Secure jobs have been replaced by precarious… Read more
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What I’m reading (May 2026)
Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers. Inequality and the economy Global affairs Unions Workers’ rights Data, tech and privacy AI and the future of work Campaigning, communications and social media Society, media, news and culture Climate Change Read more
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What if “building more” won’t solve the housing crisis?
Why is buying a home or renting in Australia so difficult? If you read the mainstream news and commentators, the answer to the housing crisis is that we need to build more houses and we need to remove regulations stopping developers from building more. The truth however is that over decades the banks, developers and… Read more
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Smugness, clicktivism and campaigning for hearts and minds
For the past twenty years of my professional life as a campaigner, progressive campaigning has suffered from a serious, self-inflicted delusion. The misguided, condescending Enlightenment belief that if we simply present voters with enough facts, logic, and policy data, they will rationally reject the far-right. This deluded, “rational” obsession has utterly failed to stem the… Read more
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Why does Australia give away its gas for free?
Everyday Australians currently pay more tax on their beer and student loans than multinational gas cartels pay on the gas they extract from our shores. Australia is the world’s quarry. Our historic role in geopolitics and the global economy is to dig up our finite natural wealth to provide cheap fossil fuels to power cheap… Read more
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Democracy beyond the market
Australian democracy is almost entirely trapped by the corporate power of foreign mining companies, supermarket duopoly, the big banks, US defence interests and global financial elites. Voting every three years does little to challenge the corporate power of this billionaire class. To genuinely break free, we need a radical democracy — more direct democracy by… Read more
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How finance hurts workers and strangles the economy
If you read the AFR, FT or Wall Street Journal, you would easily believe that a massive, highly profitable financial sector is essential to a nation’s economy and prosperity. We are told that the finance sector creates economic growth and enables innovation. But what if the opposite is true? What if having a massive banking… Read more
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What I’m reading (April 2026)
Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers. Inequality and the economy Global affairs Unions Workers’ rights Data, tech and privacy AI and the future of work Campaigning, communications and social media Society, media, news and culture Climate Change Read more
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Trump personifies the crisis of US neoliberalism
Everyone thinks Donald Trump is an anomaly. He is not. He personifies the contradictions and predation of the dying American empire and collapse of the neoliberal global order. For Australia, clinging to this venal, corrupt warmonger puts our security and national wellbeing at significant risk. As the Antonio Gramsci famously said, the old world is… Read more
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Australia’s “neo-feudal” inheritance divide
The Capital Gains Tax discount is turning Australia into neo-feudal kingdom where your quality of life and opportunities are determined more by your parents’ real estate portfolio than your own hard work. Successive Australian governments have funnelled cash and power through the CGT discount into the hands of an ultra-wealthy elite who own vast property… Read more
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What I’m reading (March 2026)
Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers. Inequality and the economy Global affairs Unions Workers’ rights Data, tech and privacy AI and the future of work Campaigning, communications and social media Society, media, news and culture Climate Change Read more
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You’ve heard of plutocracy, but what’s plutonomy?
Plutocracy is a term you’ve probably heard before. It means “rule by the rich”. But what is a “plutonomy”? In truth, plutocracy is the political system we’ve had in Australia and across the Global North basically forever. Under plutocracy, the ruling elites are the ultra-wealthy, the millionaire presidents and senators, the corporate executives and billionaires,… Read more
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The Trumpcession about to hit Australia
The world is hurtling towards a Trump-caused recession, and the Australian political and economic establishment is entirely unprepared for the impact. The combination of Trump’s trade and tariff conflicts, brittle global supply and logistics chains, and the wars in Iran and Israel/Lebanon is creating the conditions for a global recession that will hit working people… Read more
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Understanding the One Nation earthquake
The recent South Australian election has caused a political earthquake, but it is vital that we do not misread the shockwaves. The One Nation surge is not due to a sudden shift in cultural values or deep support for right-wing politics. Their 20 percent vote is because the material basis of our society are cracking… Read more
