Former prime minister Kevin Rudd says more money should be put into "politically neutral" public broadcasters like the ABC to combat rising levels of discontentment with democracy.
And he's told the ABC's 7.30 program that the Labor Party must keep a distance from union-based factions if it is to win government in the near future.
Noting the June referendum vote in the UK for Brexit and the election of Donald Trump in the US, Mr Rudd said the rising income gap between rich and poor as well as the politics of inequality and marginalisation had become mainstream concerns.
"Unless there is a radical continuing investment in what I describe as politically neutral public broadcasting, the essence of having a democratic conversation falls apart."
Mr Rudd said he had read recently in the press of the Labor Party's continuing problem with union-based factions.
"And unless that is dealt with, root and branch, then it will continue to be a cancer within the Labor Party politic."
