Key Points
- Former Labor senator Kim Carr says the Labor party is losing touch with its blue-collar roots.
- Carr said it was "disturbing" that votes for Labor appear to be going down in socially disadvantaged areas.
- He said the government lacks the ambition required to transform the country and advance the Labor agenda.
The Australian Labor Party is losing touch with its blue-collar roots and lacks the ambition needed to transform the country, according to former senator Kim Carr.
In his new book A Long March, Carr discusses the party's direction and issues ahead of the next election.
He has criticised the handling of the and the .
Carr, who was a senator for 30 years and a key figure in the party's left faction, said it was "disturbing" that votes for Labor appear to be going up in affluent areas and down in more socially disadvantaged areas.
"People that are better educated, better off financially, more affluent if you like, in better life circumstances are turning to the left," he told ABC's RN Breakfast.
"Whereas people who actually need government the most are turning to the right, and that's a disturbing development from my point of view."
When asked whether he thought Anthony Albanese had been a good prime minister, Carr acknowledged Albanese had faced "difficult circumstances".
Kim Carr has raised concerns about the Labor party's ambition and direction. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
"I'm worried that we have not shown the appropriate level of ambition in terms of seeking to advance a Labor agenda which attracts the port rather than repels it and ensures we don't adopt a censorious tone towards those people that disagree with us," he said.
"So we are in a difficult circumstance, and I think some of the issues that we've taken lack policy ambition."
'The Labor project is in trouble'
Carr noted polls are suggesting primary votes have fallen away from Labor, along with votes on a two-party preferred proposition.
"The Labor project is in trouble," he said.
He said he believes the party needs to return to "humanist universalism", meaning its commitment to social justice, economic equity, economic prosperity and human rights.
"We need to be able to appeal more broadly across the community to ensure that the Labor Party fulfils its historic mission to represent the whole country, but particularly people who are disadvantaged by life circumstances."
