Progressive think tank Per Capita has analysed the composition of the Australian Parliament to ask how diverse it is. It repudiates the Liberal complaint that Labor MPs come from union backgrounds: “The proportion of MPs with union backgrounds has risen to 15% of Parliament in 2018, which squares neatly with the 16% of Australian workers who are union members.” The real problems are gate-keeping by the political machines (40% of MPs were political staffers) and the lack of women (67% men) and non-white MPs (87% Anglo).
19 January 2019