Many Australians no longer believe that they have a voice in the debate about the big issues facing the future of Australia. Across a range of major policy issues, the parameters of debate are vigorously patrolled and determined by a relatively small but influential group of ‘insiders’ in politics, media, business, and civil society.
These insiders now dominate the institution that is intended to represent all Australians—the Commonwealth parliament. An analysis of the occupational and educational backgrounds of elected parliamentarians reveals that:
- In 1901, only 15 per cent of Commonwealth parliamentarians were elected from an insider background.
- In 2025, insiders now represent 60 per cent of the parliament, and this has been rising consistently in recent decades.
- Of the major parties, it is the Labor party that is most associated with the insiders: 82 per cent of the ALP partyroom are insiders, compared to 37 per cent of the Coalition partyroom.
While all mainstream Australian outsiders are underrepresented in the Commonwealth parliament, it is the working-class Australians who work in farming, manufacturing, construction, mining, and utilities workers, have lost almost all representation.
- Today, only 3.5 per cent of Commonwealth parliamentarians were engaged in working-class occupations immediately before entering parliament, compared to about 27 per cent of the Australian labour force who are employed in working-class industries.
- This is down from approximately the 20 per cent of parliamentarians who were from a working-class background in the mid-1970s, and one-third in 1950.
The analysis also reveals the phenomenon of credentialisation in the Commonwealth parliament, whereby graduation through the university system is a de facto prerequisite for entry.
- 77 per cent of MPs have graduated from a university course, compared to 32 per cent of the Australian population aged over 15.
- The average Commonwealth parliamentarian holds 1.6 university degrees.
As politics has become professionalised, a coterie of political careerists and political insiders has increasingly dominated day-to-day federal politics. This is putting at risk a core tenet of the Australian way of life: that every Australian should have the opportunity and freedom to participate in debate and to have their views and values adequately represented in the major institutions of our society.
