The welfare state was invented by Bismarck to crush leftism, it’s not leftism itself.
And unions and unionism are fucking atrocious in this country.
Look at the SDA it’s an entirely industry bought and ran right wing union, which has actually fought for worse deals for its members.
Furthermore we only allow government approved unions, meaning tough luck if you want a real union that will fight for you. It’s the entire reason the IWW is not operating in Australia despite its presence across the world.
The closest thing we have to a left wing party outside of the fringe socialist groups is the Greens who run on a proper union supporting platform.