Join Sean Kelly in conversation for the Perth launch of Quarterly Essay 100.

Sean Kelly is the author of this seminal centenary issue of Australia’s leading long form intellectual publication. In The Good Fight, he looks at the current state of national politics with a focus on the Albanese Government since their re-election in May 2025. He canvasses issues such as their depth of support, demographic shifts and voting patterns, leadership style, policy agendas, and a changing geopolitical world. It promises to be an evening of good humour, insight and optimism despite Australia’s challenges.

Hosted by Robert Wood and the Centre for Stories.

In the 100th edition of the Quarterly Essay, Sean Kelly asks whether Labor still has big ideas, or is content just to become "the natural party of government".

In his thoughtful essay, Sean claims that in speaking to a fragmented, disengaged electorate, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese places a high value on moderation and that, often, this means ducking fights with entrenched interests. But Sean warns that this runs the risk of embedding an ever more unequal nation, led by a government that can seem gutless.

This conversation between Sean and the head of the Labor Party's official think tank, Emma Dawson, will explore whether Labor has, as the essay suggests, abandoned its historic role as the party that "change[s] things on behalf of those who desperately need them to change" in favour of becoming "...a version of what the conservatives once were: the defender of the way things are".

Join the Chifley Research Centre for this important conversation about the way Labor governs today, and whether the party is, indeed, still up for "the good fight".