By David Bennett
Social Action Australia derives its legitimacy as a proponent of social democracy from the 1937 ALP Victorian motion authorizing the establishment of the ALP Industrial Groups.  For all the myriad of political changes which have occurred since the 1930s, it cannot be said that the struggle for social democracy within the ALP has been [...]

If politics is not an exact science then, from a social democratic viewpoint, economics should similarly not be prescriptive.  This is because Marxist and free market inspired approaches tend to integrate economic theory with ideological outcomes concerning how society should be arranged, regardless of the actual impact on people’s every day lives.  However, the importance [...]

Education should always be a central focus in relation to social democratic formation because access to education is a great equalizer, which can help people, regardless of their socio-economic background to use their talents.  The principal beneficial legacy of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was the provision of state aid to non-government schools.  The benefits [...]

For many in Australia, the most pressing issue is that of climate change in relation to global warming.  The focus on the issue of global warming has placed the environment at centre stage for Australians and people around the world, regardless of their ideological orientation.  Social Action Australia does not have a stance in relation [...]

A fundamental component of Catholic social teachings which influenced the actions of ALP Industrial Groups was the principle of decentralization.  The belief in decentralization holds that socio-economic affairs should be organised on a smaller scale to ensure that the autonomy and talents of individuals could come to the fore.  This focus on decentralization in the [...]

Australian Groupers in trade unions and activists within the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) vigorously fought for women’s rights.  The successes of the women’s movement in Australia and overseas has meant that feminism is now an accepted socio-political movement.  Therefore, the contemporary struggle to advance women’s rights does not concern the legitimacy of feminism per se [...]

Technological advancement is to be welcomed but, as the British author and social democratic thinker George Orwell warned in his famous book Nineteen Eighty Four some advances in technology come at the expense of human rights.  Technological advancement in a contemporary context can now be harnessed to destroy human life as attested to by the [...]

By David Bennett
The Australian union movement has been at the core of the nation’s socio-political development since the Great Strikes of the 1890s in the then Australian colonies.  Whether trade unionism remains viable as Australia moves toward a post-industrial society in the twenty first century remains to be seen. The fast pace of technological change is [...]