Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny
Jul 28, 2026 · 53 min · 10 segments
How did a Prime Minister sitting on one of Labor's largest-ever majorities turn his national conference into a masterclass in silence — and what does that say about who's allowed to argue inside the…
Mark KennyHost
Karen BarlowGuestMaria TaflagaHost
It's happening at the state level, it's happening at the national level, and of course, it's happening internationally as well.
There's of course, you know, tumult going on in Victoria, which we can come to as well.
Um, but let's just start with national conference, I suppose, in terms of what it showed us about, uh, the, the, the current Labor Party, uh, how it is run by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Um, uh, there were fights that could have happened, discussions, divisions that could have occurred, which presumably the whole point of national conference is to in fact resolve these kinds of issues and arrive at agreed positions.
Well, everything really was avoided, uh, in, in terms of, uh, being discussed out in the open.
Uh, everyone was lauding the kind of unity of it, and unity is a great thing in a political party.
But Labor has also always argued that its unity is arrived at through the necessarily sort of messy process of passionate people, idealistic people, people with social conscience coming together and thrashing it out.
And national conferences in the past, and I can remember them back to the '80s, were often highly kind of theatrical and, and, and, and entertaining, but productive in that regard as well.
No, the poor journalists, they go there all the way over to Adelaide from the press gallery, and they don't really get a story.
Uh, but I, I look to how, uh, Albanese described the event, the most purposeful and united national conference he'd ever been to in his long career.
So that's quite a statement from him, and really that, uh, that is due to him and the way he controls everything about Labor.
Well, I mean, there's, there's jokes, right, about how you never want to have, like, a really left-wing boss because they'll go all, like, you know, Stalinist on you.
It's happening at the state level, it's happening at the national level, and of course, it's happening internationally as well.
There's of course, you know, tumult going on in Victoria, which we can come to as well.
Um, but let's just start with national conference, I suppose, in terms of what it showed us about, uh, the, the, the current Labor Party, uh, how it is run by the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Um, uh, there were fights that could have happened, discussions, divisions that could have occurred, which presumably the whole point of national conference is to in fact resolve these kinds of issues and arrive at agreed positions.
Well, everything really was avoided, uh, in, in terms of, uh, being discussed out in the open.
Uh, everyone was lauding the kind of unity of it, and unity is a great thing in a political party.
But Labor has also always argued that its unity is arrived at through the necessarily sort of messy process of passionate people, idealistic people, people with social conscience coming together and thrashing it out.
And national conferences in the past, and I can remember them back to the '80s, were often highly kind of theatrical and, and, and, and entertaining, but productive in that regard as well.
No, the poor journalists, they go there all the way over to Adelaide from the press gallery, and they don't really get a story.
Uh, but I, I look to how, uh, Albanese described the event, the most purposeful and united national conference he'd ever been to in his long career.
So that's quite a statement from him, and really that, uh, that is due to him and the way he controls everything about Labor.
Well, I mean, there's, there's jokes, right, about how you never want to have, like, a really left-wing boss because they'll go all, like, you know, Stalinist on you.
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