Labor has 'forgotten about the people who actually matter'

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I have noticed a move in several countries where the political party which "traditionally" supported the workers have been moving away from policies which directly affect the majority of their "traditional" voters into niche areas\causes, which may not neccesarily align with the beliefs\desires\wishes of those "traditional" supporters (or, in fact, may run counter to them).

Whether this is due to the politicans in those parties now coming (for the most part) from a "professional" class rather than "from the factory floor" (and so lack the personal understanding of those "traditional" voters), or simply trying to seek out new areas of support through pushing these causes (risking intentionally or inadvertently alienating their existing support base) is an interesting area to consider.

The problem they face is that by branching too far from their "traditional" role, they risk losing more support from those traditional supporters than they would gain from the new areas they are promoting, as traditional supporters may start to feel that their support is being taken for granted, and so start looking elsewhere for a party who better represents their needs.

An indication that this movement may already be taking place in the USA was visible in the donations for last years presidential election, where many (but not all) of the types of people who would previously have been associated with the "traditional" workers party (Builders, laborers, electricians, plumbers, manufacturing workers, drivers, machinsits, carpenters, welders) instead contributed towards another party, indicating that they did not believe that their "traditional" party still represented their values\needs.
See https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-election-trump-biden-donors/

^ The labor party has "Lost it's way", in regard to representing the traditional voters, yes.
They are catering to too many 'wokers' and not enough workers, these days.

There was a time when the representatives of that party were former tradies\from the factory floor, but of late they seem to be "head office"\union officials or the like, indicating a move from "blue collar" background\experience to "white collar". The result of this is that they would be looking at issues\having priorities which are different to, if not at odds with, the people they claim to be representing.

Regarding the federal branch of the party, as far as I can tell you need to go back to Bill Hayden (leader from 1977-1983) to find a leader who worked in a blue-collar role (police officer for 8 years) before entering politics (as opposed to the "union researchers"\"union officials"\"lawyers"\clerks, etc. which subsequent leaders have used as pathways into their political roles). Gone are the days when people like Ben Chifley, who started in the railways and worked his way up to become Prime Minister as leader of the ALP, have had much say in\control of the direction of the party.

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This isn't new at all. The establishment branch of Democratic party hasn't represented labor in a LONG time. Talking about the Democrats as a "party" is quite pointless when in reality they are extremely divided within, only united in opposing the GOP. Of course there is more enthusiasm for the Trumpist cult than for a lackluster neoliberal Democrat with a very anti-worker voting record. Bernie got tons of working class donations. The right has this game they play where they saturate the discourse with divisive culture-war nonsense... and the establishment media left has no response except "orange man bad" because they are controlled by billionaires who don't want to talk about bread and pocketbook issues for obvious reasons. If you don't talk to real people you get a false impression of what people care about.

Political parties evolve with the times. It's hardly shocking that Labor (or the democrats) are led by professionals with a background in academia, law or business. The changing demographic shift in the party reflects the growing aspirations and affluence of traditional labor voters,

I'm sure the grandkids of labor voters from Ben Chifley's time prospered and are no long stuck in factory jobs. If not for Labor you would have some authoritarian Menzies type nutjob (like what John Howard and Tony Abbott aspired to be) keeping the mass of working class poor working a 7 day week.

The term "people who actually matter" suggests a nasty implication that some people don't...

Society changes over time, politics changes with it. This really isn't groundbreaking stuff.

It's "conservative speak", they like hierarchical pyramids with them sitting on the top.

Just curious:

Who are "the people who actually matter"?

The Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people out of billions of people "actually matter."

Specifically, wealthy, white, racist, sexist, Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian men.