Australian Fabians

19/10/2026

For about forty years, Max Ogden has argued that unions should not be affiliated to any political party. He believes that recent union/ALP scandals in Victoria reinforce that view.

Having spent his whole working life as a trade union and political activist, first as a shop steward, then thirty years as a fulltime official at the AMWU and the ACTU, he has plenty of experience to draw on. This includes his knowledge of Nordic social democracy and his involvement in the 1983 Hawke government accord.

Max lays out his argument in Unions Must be Independent of Political Parties.

Australian Fabians

15/10/2026

The most important issue of our day.

The Poll Bludger, William Bowe analyses what voting in the Secret H...

12/10/2026

Will AI agents soon be doing our shopping? Could they save us time, but could they also steer us towards the firms that fund or control them?

In When AI Shops for Us, Blaise Fox notes that so far consumer AI has mainly helped people search the market, compare and decide. It is now starting to choose and pay.

Blaise argues that any service acting for consumers should owe its users loyalty, show its work and remain under their control.

Australian Fabians

11/10/2026

The most important topic of our age. Link in comments to the video.

09/10/2026

Watch our Victorian Branch’s most recent event on our YouTube channel, where Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett explores the role of unions and collective action in reversing the onward march of far-right politics.

Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett is a research organiser at the Victorian Trades Hall Council and author of the new report "Antidote: trade unionism as a vaccine against far-right politics". His writing outlines the role for workers and their unions in taking on the far-right in Australia.

With the collapse of trust in Australia's institutions and the stat...

07/10/2026

Does Australia’s obsession with residential property divert investment from productivity, job creation and innovation, including clean technology development?

In Australia’s Property Obsession, Ali Khan notes that Australian households hold a far larger share of their wealth in residential land than comparable economies.

He argues that we need to understand and deal with incentives that drive so much of our investment capacity into land, a non produced asset that generates no technological progress.

Australian Fabians

03/10/2026

The Queensland Branch Terry Hampson Dinner this year heard from Wayne Swann. Terry Hampson was a long term Fabian and active environmentalist most well known for his successful advocacy to secure World Heritage listing for Fraser Island. A long term member of the ALP, which he joined in 1965, he served as Queensland State Secretary from 1998. Brianna J Hammond Kevin Conway Wayne Swan Photo credit: Cal J Sorensen Karklis

30/09/2026

Follow the link in comments to a 16 minute summary by Marshall Ganz on whose People Power Change framework our leadership and organiser training is based.

27/09/2026

Great work on an important topic. Thinking through the One Nation surge. WA Fabians today hosted presentations by The Poll Bludger, William Bowe and election analyst, Karen Luscombe on the Secret Harbour by-election.