One hundred and thirty years ago trade unionists had the vision to take their struggle for decent working conditions from the shearing sheds and factory floor to the floor of our Parliaments.
 
For thirteen decades Labor’s historic mission has been to fight for fairness, to imagine a better future for Australia and then set about creating it.
 
Through good and bad times it has been Labor governments that have advanced reforms in the interests of working people in partnership with the industrial wing of our movement.
 
This special Conference is a chance for us to demonstrate our unity of purpose once more.
 
It comes at a moment of reckoning for our country.
 
Over the last two weeks, what we used to call ‘once-in-a-century’ floods have drowned much of our East coast. They come in the wake of an unprecedented fire season that scorched much of our continent.
 
And in the nation’s capital and beyond, women are making a brave stand against a toxic culture that has held them back and endangered them for so long.
 
What these challenges have in common is a government in denial about how quickly our world is changing.
 
In denial about the science of climate change.
 
In denial about women’s truth.
 
But this Government’s failings haven’t just materialised in the past couple of months. We should never forget that under them we entered the pandemic from a position of economic weakness.
 
Slow growth.
 
Flat wages.
 
Declining productivity.
 
Business investment going backwards.
 
Debt which had already doubled.
 
A Government that is a reflection of Scott Morrison’s character.
 
A man of short-term politics, not long-term vision.
 
An angry man who has mastered the rare art of clenching a glass jaw.
 
A man who doesn’t hold a hose, won’t hold an inquiry and never ever accepts responsibility.
 
A man with an ear of tin, a heart of stone, and a wall of concrete shielding him from the concerns of his fellow Australians.
 
We got an insight into his character when he used the pandemic as a smokescreen to try and ram through legislation that would have struck at the heart of the rights and conditions of working Australians.
 
Chief amongst them would have been the heroes of the pandemic. Nurses. Cleaners. Aged care workers. Child care workers. Shop assistants. Truckies. Public servants. Emergency services workers.
 
In short, the very people who kept the nation moving.
 
He sought not to reward them but punish them.
 
The punishment doesn’t end there.
 
On Sunday, he ripped away JobKeeper, the only support that was keeping the economic roof from crashing down on so many small business owners and their employees.
 
Meanwhile the Government has stood back as large, profitable companies milked Jobkeeper to pay dividends to their shareholders and huge bonuses to their executives. We’re talking in the realm of $10 billion.
 
Compare that to Robodebt and the malice with which they monstered pensioners and Centrelink clients.
 
That’s the Liberals in a nutshell: strong against the weak, weak against the strong.

Then there are the promises never kept.
 
They said there would be 4 million vaccinations by the end of March – but they are 3.4 million short.
 
And now we are seeing the consequences of this failure to deliver on their promise playing out in real time.
 
They said JobMaker would assist 450,000 Australians into work, but as of last week it has delivered just 609 jobs.
 
They have given Australia one trillion dollars in debt, but little to show for it.
 
Not a single major economic or social reform.
 
Not a single major new infrastructure project.
 
Nothing on improving our schools and hospitals.
 
Nothing to Close the Gap between First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australia.
 
Nothing to make our economy and society more resilient, able to withstand the next national emergency.
 
During this period they have splurged $1 billion of taxpayers’ money on self-promoting advertising.
 
Scott Morrison leads a government that is out of ideas, out of touch, and at the next election they should be out of office.
 
A Government of smirk and mirrors is not worthy of re-election.

But I take nothing for granted.
 
Tonight I want to talk to you about the values I would bring to the prime ministership, shaped by where I have come from, and the vision that Labor offers you and your family.
 
I came from council housing.
 
My values and my politics came from my single Mum who battled hard to bring me up on an invalid pension.
 
I understand what it is to overcome adversity because Mum led by example every day as I was growing up.
 
Without her, I’d be nothing.
 
Like the women stepping forward to seek justice, she was a fighter for others.
 
And she’d agree with me that a world in which women have equality will produce a better world for men too.
 
She was a happy woman, even though she had bad health and little in the way of money.  She knew the fulfilment that comes from helping others who had even less than she had.
 
She taught me to help people and serve the community.
 
I saw how much good that government policies and programs did to make our lives better.  Medicare.  Public housing.  The Invalid Pension.
 
Change happens when we work cooperatively with others to get things done.
 
That’s why I’ve always tried to be a builder.
 
I always ask: “How can I make positive change happen?”
 
And that’s why the posts I’ve held in government have been about doing things. Real things.
 
Infrastructure, Transport, Communications, Regional Development, Local Government.
 
Building roads and rail lines, fibre NBN, improving our airports, creating public facilities across the country.
 
Things get done when you bring people together.
 
That’s what I want to do.
 
I want to work with unions and the business community.  Without successful businesses, you don’t create jobs.  A Labor government will always prioritise the creation of good, secure jobs.
 
And that comes through mutual respect and working towards common interests.
 
That is why I refused to play politics and was constructive when the pandemic was at its height.
 
I know some people were critical of this, but that is who I am.

What Labor under my leadership offers is sound, considered, honest government.
 
A government that faces up to reality.  Listens to what people are saying.  Accepts expert advice.  Has genuine empathy for people’s concerns.  Backs the aspirations of all Australian families for a better life, not just for themselves but for their kids, their grandkids, their neighbours. For their countries.
 
One that restores confidence in government with a real National Integrity Commission.
 
A government that recognises that out of this once-in-century crisis we have a once-in-century chance to rebuild and renew our country; to build back stronger.
 
Here’s what I pledge on behalf of Labor.
 
Labor will give working Australians a better deal, not just any job but a secure job.

Labor will expose and close the gender pay gap and give women fleeing family violence ten days paid leave.
 
Labor will ensure the women and men who work in our care industries – mental health, the NDIS and aged care – get the rights, respect and working conditions they deserve to do their vital jobs.
 
Labor will make child care cheaper for 97 per cent of families in the system, removing the financial barriers that discourage women from working more hours and pursuing their careers.
 
The next step towards our goal of affordable, universal child care.
 
Labor will deliver a Future Made in Australia, a future where we make things and stand on our own two feet.
 
We will use the purchasing power of government to buy Australian products and services, supporting Australian jobs and skills.
 
We will create a National Rail Manufacturing Plan to build more trains here.
 
We will maximise local content in the $270 billion investment pipeline of defence projects.
 
And today I announced that a Labor Government will establish the National Reconstruction Fund.
 
Working in partnership with the private sector, including the superannuation industry, the Fund will revive our ability to make world class products.
 
It will commercialise innovation and technology.
 
It will diversify our industrial base and develop our sovereign capability.
 
And in the process, drive regional economic development and create secure, well-paid jobs.

This represents the largest transformational support for manufacturing in our history.
 
Labor will proudly invest in Australia and in Australian workers.
 
To power this manufacturing revolution Labor will rebuild and modernise our energy grid using Australian expertise, Australian steel and Australian workers to deliver cheap, reliable and clean energy.
 
Good for industry.  Good for households.  Good for the environment.
 
We will take advantage of our abundant reserves of lithium, nickel, copper and the other rare earths the world needs to make electric vehicles, batteries and other low emission technologies.
 
We will take advantage of the extraordinary potential of hydrogen technology.
 
My ambition for Australia is to be a renewable energy superpower.
 
And we are committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
 
Tomorrow, I will have more to say about Labor’s plan to help families and communities play their part in achieving this critical goal.  A plan that will make electric cars more affordable and support the rollout of community batteries nationwide.
 
Labor has heard the generous statement from Uluru and we will work to build public support for finally recognising First Nations people in our Constitution – and give them a Voice to Parliament.
 
And Labor has heard the women of Australia loudly and clearly.
 
While we must do better on child care, on workplace rights, on closing the pay gap, on women‘s safety, and on representation within our parliaments, we need a seismic cultural shift.
 
You can’t seize a moment if you don’t understand it in the first place.
 
And a Prime Minister who keeps Andrew Laming in his party room but removes Christine Holgate from her public service position just doesn’t get it.
 
I want to be a Prime Minister for every Australian.
 
I have asked the Shadow Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek, and the leaders of our Status of Women Caucus Committee, Sharon Claydon and Annika Wells to lead the process of further developing our comprehensive women’s policy to take to the next election.
 
It will be a policy that delivers on the two most important aims: women’s economic security and independence, and safety.
 
These aims are indivisible.
 
Labor has always led on gender equality.
 
It was this conference in 1994 which adopted the affirmative action policy that has made us a stronger party and movement.

Friends, the choice we will face at the next election is becoming clearer by the day:
 
A tired government that been in power for 8 long years that’s unravelling before our eyes, led by a man who is an empathy vacuum and an accountability black hole.
 
Or a Labor government that will be on your side.
 
No community forgotten.  No worker left behind.
 
With the right policies – and the right leadership – I truly believe our country can make this moment our own.
 
An Australia that‘s inclusive, an Australia that‘s strong, an Australia that looks to the future with confidence.
 
And that’s what we will deliver.
 
Labor is on your side.