The gods of Brighton (it ain't Jesus Christ)

For 20 years, Luke Donnellan was the Victorian Labor MP for the outer suburban electorate of Narre Warren. He served as the Minister for Roads and Road Safety and Minister for Ports (2014-2018) and then as the Minister for Child Protection and the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers (2018-2021).

Before the Nov 2022 state election, the Labor Party denied Luke preselection for his seat, and was thus pushed out of parliament altogether.

Luke joined Discernable for an open conversation about the lives of everyday Victorians. What do they care about? Why do they keep electing Labor governments?

We also delved into the ethics of protests, social justice, and the corruption tendencies of long term governments. As the Minister for the most vulnerable cohort of Victorians during Covid-19 (the elderly), we also explored his thinking on vaccine mandates, segregation and community safety.

Watch the full interview at: https://discernable.io/luke-donnellan-mp-labor-minister-in-the-daniel-andrews-government

We discussed:
The grass roots instincts of Daniel Andrews
Door knocking your electorate
Pandering to minorities in the electorate
Labor/Liberal comes in cycles
Where the Liberal Party went wrong
Door knocking is the key to success
The future for both political parties: the outer suburbs
Why the north and west of Melbourne have underdeveloped infrastructure
Who Victorians voted for - the rise of minor parties
The baseball bats for Daniel Andrews never came
Everyday Australians don't care about corruption
The dismissal of Casey Council which is still in caretaker mode
Regulatory capture and systemic 'grey corruption' in Victoria
Stale governments become corrupt governments
Renewal inside the Labor Party of Victoria
Factional wars: Labor Socialist Left vs Labor Right
Liberals are stuck in the Baby Boomer generation
Australians have moved left
The Victorian Socialists' weird success in the election
Greens taking over country electorate of Polwarth
Labor Party surprised at the election result
The internal mood toward Daniel Andrews
How Luke was pushed out of parliament
Driven by Social Justice
Rugby as early intervention against crime
Pacific Islanders: God and Rugby
Child Protection: Foster Care, Kinship Care and interventions
A billion dollars for wire rope barriers on highways
Irrational objections from the Country Fire Authority
In politics you write your own rules
The Victoria crackdown on protests
Chinese protests vs Melbourne protests
Relative ethics: what the people want they get
Are lockdowns morally good or bad?
Are mandates morally good or bad?
Daniel Andrews' victory speech double speak
The impending economic recession
Why the left wing won't do longform media
Labor Party communications discipline