Growing up in Seven Hills over 20 years ago, I vividly recall announcements by the Liberal Premier of the day of new land releases in Sydney’s North-West. I didn’t understand what this meant until I saw the masses of new brick houses sprouting in areas I once knew as bush and farmland, seemingly overnight.

- By Michelle Rowland MP

Gough Whitlam was a product of NSW Labor, every bit as much as Ben Chifley or Neville Wran, Paul Keating or Bob Carr. The history, character and structures of NSW Labor influenced his whole career.

- By Graham Freudenberg

At 5pm on Saturday October 30, when airborne Qantas pilots were told to set down their craft and disgorge all their international passengers – some on the way to funerals, or family reunions, or once-in-a-lifetime cruises, or the Melbourne Cup – on the nearest big tarmac, and Tony Abbott said it was Julia Gillard’s fault, and refused to blame for even half a subclause Alan Joyce, the game was lost for the Liberals, perhaps for good and all, in even Queensland, reft now by Katter’s party, next year.

- By Bob Ellis 

Ideas are the lifeblood of our movement. Policy conversations need to be encouraged, not muted, at all levels of the Party. The policy snapshots that follow are designed to stimulate discussion in our Party.

If Labor is to be the Party of the people, then it should also be the Party of public transport. After all, it makes sense that the Party which champions the rights of people to bargain collectively should also be the party which enables people to travel collectively. The relationship between Labor and public transport, however, has too often been characterised by mutual indifference. For its part, the public transport sector as a whole has failed to engage with either side of politics. So it’s hardly surprising that for the past 50 years investment in rail infrastructure has been dwarfed by investment in roads.

- By Alex Claasens

The Australian population is ageing. Current estimates suggest that, by 2050, Australia’s population will be approaching 36 million, with 22.5 percent over 65 years of age. The social and economic implications of this demographic change are profound. In a period when the general labour market will suffer an aged induced tightening, the aged care workforce will be required to at least double. Workforce growth of that scale calls into question the sustainability of the sector itself.

- By Dr Sarah Kaine