Alex’s blog about strategy, campaigning, growth, politics and climate (among other things).
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The fragile realignment
The 2025 Federal Election exposed Australia’s structural political fractures and the fragility of the outcome was its defining feature. Subsequent polling suggests a dramatic fragmentation of the Australian electorate across generational, gender and asset ownership that has a profound impact for right-wing politics. The recent Australian Election Study (AES) tracked the enduring trend of younger… Read more
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What if wealth taxes were good, actually?
What if there was one simple trick to solving the extreme problem of wealth inequality? There is. A wealth tax. Unfortunately, for Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty’s, the radical idea of taxing the ultra-rich is a joke, a form of “pseudo-radicalism”. In his article “What does the left want? A wealth tax. What will that accomplish?… Read more
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What I’m reading (November 2025)
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 Read more
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The G20’s Inequality Emergency
The G20 just received a report card from Joseph Stiglitz, who says we are facing an “inequality emergency”. The G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts on Global Inequality, led by Joseph Stiglitz is a comprehensive and damning indictment of the global economic system. This document confirms the global financial system is intentionally engineered to reward wealth,… Read more
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What if “millionaire flight” reporting was a lie to keep you poor?
There is a specific genre of journalism that the corporate press reserves for threats to the ruling class. You can see it in the recent Reuters feature, “Norway’s lesson for Europe on wealth taxes: let some millionaires go”. The article opens with the story of Borger Borgenhaug sitting in a “lakeside villa” in Switzerland, lamenting… Read more
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Demobilised
You’ve probably noticed that a lot of anger seems to get misdirected at the most vulnerable, disadvantaged people, instead of the people actually in charge of our system. This is because capitalism has pulled off the ultimate switcheroo: The people most actively protesting are often the ones with the most cultural capital, while the most… Read more
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IMF tries to shakedown Australia
The IMF, the global agent of neoliberal capital, is trying on its old shakedown of Australia with its usual double act: “lower taxes and cut spending.” Translation: “Cut services for the many to fund tax cuts for the few.” It’s the IMF’s typical attempt to institutionalise the money funnel from everyday people to the plutocracy.… Read more
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What if we abolished household debts?
Have you heard of the term “plutonomy”? It means an economy that is fundamentally defined by extreme levels of wealth and income inequality, and which operates entirely in the interests of the extremely wealthy. This is the protracted economic crisis gripping Anglo-American economies, including Australia’s. We have zombie economies (as John Quiggin would say) that… Read more
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What if we replaced payroll tax with land tax?
I recently read Alison Pennington’s AFR article, and the commentary by Rayna Fahey, Advocacy Director at Prosper Australia, highlighting the core problems in our economy: we do not tax wealth enough, and unearned property wealth has skyrocketed to society-distorting levels. Pennington makes the point that Australia has shifted to an overreliance on taxing earned income,… Read more
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TAFEs are a life-changing public good
On Monday 10 November, I will commence as CEO of the Victorian TAFE Association. I start with the core belief in the power of public TAFE as a life-changing public good and the essential backbone of Victorians’ economic and social future. Our public TAFE network is vital to tackling inequality and fulfilling a core promise… Read more
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Beyond Branding: Mamdani’s Victory and the War with Wall Street
Like many, I have watched from afar the rise and now victory of Zohran Mamdani. It is genuinely remarkable how good he is at politics. Fundamentally, I think the triumph of Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral race represents a potentially decisive rejection of the Democratic Party establishment’s decades long neoliberal project of… Read more
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The consensus trap
There is a widening chasm between our democratic promises and our economic reality. We are witnessing the morbid symptoms of a plutonomy, an economy where growth is powered by and consumed almost exclusively by a tiny elite. In my years working across policy, advocacy, and political campaigning, I’ve seen how this plays out: while we… Read more
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What I’m reading (October 2023)
Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to leaders, advocates, strategists, campaigners and organisers. Unions and union growth Workers’ rights Data and worker privacy AI and the future of work Campaigning, organising and digital/social media Society, media, news and culture Read more
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Adapting to changing work: job-hopping and union membership
When workers are asked about how the nature of work has changed, they often mention things like technology, safety, complexity and digital transformation. Unions are (mostly) well adapted to these changes. Work changes due to complexity or new technology can be addressed fairly well between unions, workers and employers as part of the normal employment… Read more
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What I’m reading (Sep 2023)
Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to union leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers. Unions and union growth Workers’ rights Data and worker privacy AI and the future of work Campaigning, organising and digital/social media Society, media, news and culture Read more
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Boost your member retention rate (growth hack Sep 2023)
What is a relatively simple channel for unions to grow and boost member retention? The humble email inbox. Increasing your union’s volume of email to existing members is a fantastic, low cost and highly effective way to “growth hack” your member retention rates. I’ve written previously about how email is one of the most important… Read more
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Three key ways to use innovation and technology for union growth
How can unions turn tech innovation into sustainable, scalable growth? Growth has always been important for unions, and in the current era of rapid economic transition, climate crisis and AI, it is more important than ever for unions to understand and use technology and innovation. Growth is hard to achieve. According to the public data,… Read more
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Philip Lowe says we need less democracy. That would be a disaster.
In a recent opinion piece at The New Daily, Michael Pascoe drew attention to a concerning perspective held by former RBA Governor Philip Lowe (and likely shared by many influential “opinion leaders” in society) — an inclination towards side-lining democracy and entrusting critical decisions to unelected technocrats. In principle, fiscal policy could provide a stronger… Read more
