Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has called on the party to work more closely with business and ensure it better connects with people who are not union members.
Mr Albanese outlined his vision for the party and a "fair go" for Australians in the Whitlam Oration delivered at Shellharbour, on the NSW south coast, on Friday night.
He said Whitlam's lack of a union background made some colleagues joke he was born on the "wrong side of the tracks".
But the former prime minister understood that uplifting the working class and improving opportunities for women, migrants and the First Australians was critical to the nation's future capacity.
"This is not 1950, when most Australians were members of trade unions," Mr Albanese said.
"Indeed, many people from working class backgrounds are not members of unions because they were beneficiaries of Gough Whitlam's education reforms.
"They became the first people in their families to go to university, work in the professions and non-unionised industries, or start their own business. We cannot afford to ignore this demographic."
He called on the party to give grassroots members more direct say in elections for public office and internal positions.
The greater engagement of members would ensure the party was stronger and more broadly based.
"Policy ideas that come from branch meetings or workplaces are gold," he said, giving the example of marriage equality.
"That's Labor at our best - listening to the drumbeat of human empowerment and arguing the case."
The opposition infrastructure spokesman said to be a successful government Labor needed to work not only with unions, but the business and community sectors.
[We] have to engage constructively with business large and small. Anthony Albanese
"Labor doesn't have to agree with business on issues such as company tax rates, but we do have to engage constructively with business large and small," he said.
"We respect and celebrate the importance of individual enterprise and the efforts and importance of the business community."
He reiterated his support for offshore detention and regional processing of asylum seekers, but argued more needed to be done to find third countries for settling refugees.
"You can protect our borders without losing our national soul."
