Socially Democratic goes live at the 50th ALP National Conference Fringe in Adelaide for a special panel on one of the Labor Party's most important and least discussed challenges: how do we grow our membership, and how do we keep people once they join?

Host Stephen Donnelly is joined by Todd Pinkerton, Director of Campaigns and Strategy at Unions NSW; Bisma Asif, Member for Sandgate in the Queensland Parliament; and Hannah MacLeod, Executive Director SA/NT at the McKell Institute.

They cover:

🧩 Why there's no coordinated national strategy for Labor Party recruitment, and what that costs us

💸 Potential structural issues like the price of joining and the waiting list problem

📉 The Corbyn cautionary tale: when half a million people joined UK Labour and almost none of them did anything

🍺 Politics in the pub, gazebos, and Labor merch: what's actually working on the ground

🗳️ What Bisma learned from doorknocking for eight months

🤝 The missing middle. Who's recruiting the people who aren't at uni and aren't retired?

Socially Democratic is an Australian Labor politics and campaigns podcast with expert guests. New episodes every Friday.

Support the show

Socially Democratic is an opinion-based political and campaign podcast that facilitates discussion on a range of topical issues. The opinions of guests are not an endorsement and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff at Dunn Street and Socially Democratic.

Access ad-free episodes and send in questions by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SociallyDemocratic

If you like the show, rate and review us on your favourite podcast app.

Follow Us on Socials:

Facebook (https://tr.ee/9jGIOy)
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sociallydemocratic)
LinkedIn (https://tr.ee/YxyYJh)
X (https://x.com/SocialDemPod)
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@DunnStreet)

The presenting sponsor of the Socially Democratic podcast is Dunn Street. For more information on how Dunn Street can help you organise to build winning campaigns in your community, business or organisation, and make the world a better place, look us up at: dunnstreet.com.au