Australian-style politics: what is the government learning from abroad?
The current government has close ties to Australia, with Australian campaign strategists such as Sir Lynton Crosby and Isaac Levido both having led successful election campaigns for the Conservatives in recent years, and the new trade deal between the UK and Australia agreed in principle in June 2021.\n\nBritish politicians also like to point to Australia as an example of policy models to follow \u2013 from an \u2018Australian-style\u2019 immigration system to the prospect of an \u2018Australian-style\u2019 deal with the European Union.\n\nThis event brought together an expert panel to discuss why Australia has so captured the government\u2019s imagination, what the UK is learning from Australia, whether the \u2018Australia-style\u2019 label glosses over important differences between the UK and Australia, and also whether there are any Australian policy successes that aren\u2019t yet part of the political debate in the UK.\n\nOn the panel were:\n\nJames Starkie, Founding Partner at 5654 & Company and former Chief of Staff to Priti Patel\nMarc Stears, Director of the Sydney Policy Lab and former Chief Speechwriter to the Labour Party\nLaura Tingle, Journalist and Chief Political Correspondent at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation\nJohn McTernan, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and former Director of Political Operations for Tony Blair and for Director of Communications for Julia Gillard\n\nThe event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.