Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used Labor’s national conference to argue that the party has been remade by Australia’s demographic and cultural change, contrasting today’s caucus with the nation’s first Labor government 125 years ago.

🚨 PM Anthony Albanese took a swipe at the ‘monoculture’ debate and celebrated Labor’s diversity as its main strength that will shape the future of Australia during a speech at the Labor conference.

He said the early government, while not a “monoculture”, was largely defined by… pic.twitter.com/DV3VFbUEFE

— Rebel News Australia (@RebelNews_AU) July 23, 2026

He said the early Labor party, was not a “monoculture”, and was largely defined by Protestant and Catholic divides and British and Irish roots, and he noted questions that lingered over some members’ origins.

Albanese said those founders would not have imagined a caucus room now with a majority of women, or a roll call that reflects a wider range of names and backgrounds. He also pointed to contemporary union leadership, saying a team led by women would once have been “a real shock”.

He framed the shift as evidence Labor has become “more open, more democratic, more diverse, and more equal”, and said the party now speaks more comfortably to Australia’s region and identity, including respect for First Nations culture.

Albanese said Labor’s future task is to match the country it seeks to govern, insisting the party has changed because Australia has changed.

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While talking up the Labor governments achievements Albanese also told Labor’s conference that the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation are, “in every way that matters,” already functioning as a coalition.

He said personality clashes and disorganisation across the conservative parties had not produced new policy ideas, and he accused them of leaning on conspiracy theories and overseas culture-war tactics rather than offering “anything positive” for Australia. 

Albanese also criticised what he described as repeated overseas trips used to “talk Australia down.”