There was plenty to discuss at this year’s Mid-Year ‘State of Play’ event – Labor and the Coalition are preparing their pitches ahead of a Federal Election that needs to be held before 2025; the energy wars have been reignited; and Australians continue to struggle with cost-of-living pressures. In corporate boardrooms, there’s been upheaval and reputation damage.

York Park Group Partner, Evelyn Ek, moderated a panel discussion with AFR Melbourne Bureau Chief, Patrick Durkin; State Political Reporter for Nine News Melbourne, Heidi Murphy; and the ABC's State Political Reporter, Richard Willingham.

Insights included:

“It’s coming up to a year, and it’s still that question of ‘Who is Jacinta Allan?’ ‘What is she doing?’, and she's inherited a lot of problems. As a government, if there was an election tomorrow, they probably wouldn't lose… but they would lose seats."

“People don’t want to be lectured to by corporate Australia and big business. They don't want the place they do their banking or get their groceries or pay their insurance or fly with to be the place where they’re told how to feel about a bunch of social issues."

“I wonder if businesses do need to think they maybe want to be in the space and reflecting what their staff are saying, doing and feeling about something so that they feel supported… but there is that reputational, I think brand, issue where there can be some damage done."

York Park Group and ReithGordon thoroughly enjoy bringing together leaders in communications and engagement from across sectors to connect and look forward to this event continuing to grow in the years ahead.