The Council elections in 2012 were tough for NSW Labor. Voice asked five successful Labor councillors from around the State why they ran and what they learnt from the campaign.

Anyone who has been near suburban junior rugby league ground recently will hear one expression yelled out a lot by the parents: “up the guts”! For the uninitiated, it’s usually an instruction for the biggest, toughest kid on the team to rumble right up the middle of the field, would-be-tacklers hanging off him.

- By Jim Chalmers, Member for Rankin

The attacks on working people by the O’Farrell Government are damaging and extreme. Yet they are made all the more galling by the fact that they result not only from misguided ideology, but sheer incompetence.

- Mark Lennon, President of the NSW Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party’s strong history in the bush is illustrated by the continuing debate between Barcaldine and Balmain as the actual birthplace of the ALP . Irrespective of the outcome of that debate, the ALP and NSW Labor in particular has, since its inception, been a party of the country.

- By Courtney Houssos MLC

"'We'll all be rooned,' said Hanrahan, in accents most forlorn."

Self-flagellation and teeth gnashing have long been favoured pastimes of members of the
Labor Party and its fellow travellers. Angst-ridden debate about what Labor ought to stand for
and the extent to which the Party has abandoned its founding principles have been standard fare in
progressive political discourse since before Federation. However, since the 2010 Australian Federal
election, the focal point for ALP navel gazing has shifted from ideological ennui to an existential panic.

- Tim Watts MP, Member for Gellibrand

NSW Labor’s great strength has always come from its local MPs. Labor MPs are at the coalface of reform; often national policies into practical initiatives that benefit local communities. Ahead of next year’s Federal Election, Voice checked in with five Labor MPs.