Introduction to the Leader's Foreword - ALP Special Platform Conference - Revesby Workers' Club - Revesby - 30/03/2021

30 March 2021

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY ***

Delegates, our party, our movement, has always known our purpose.

To build a fairer society, and stronger nation and a better world.

To create opportunity, to overcome disadvantage, to counter prejudice.

We work to shape an Australia where we can all succeed.

Where no-one is held back and no-one is left behind.

Women taking their rightful place - as fully equal members of the Australian community.

Workers with secure jobs, fair wages and decent conditions.

Older Australians cared for with respect.

Opportunities for the next generation of Australians.

And a voice for First Nations peoples.

No-one held back and no-one left behind.

Labor values.

The values Australians embraced as we all battled this pandemic.

The values Scott Morrison mouthed while it suited him.

But it hasn’t taken long for him to return to type – to return to the real Scott Morrison.

To remind us “he doesn't hold a hose”.

To return to the same old Liberal attack on wages and conditions and trade unions.

To return to the same rorting and the same arrogance and the same smirk.

Governing for himself and his mates.

Never taking responsibility.

Not listening, not caring and not delivering.

Anthony was right when he said:

“Labor values were the right ones for the crisis – and they’re the right ones for the recovery.”

In the crisis of a pandemic it was clear to Australians that we failed or succeeded together: the same realisation that grounds Labor’s project.

The same principle that drives Anthony Albanese.

The pandemic made us see more clearly than ever the weaknesses in our society and in our economy.

Where Australia’s most valuable resource – our people – were being held back and left behind, without thought to the cost.

Without recognising what that does to the fabric of families and the fabric of our nation.

Without counting the wealth we would share if everyone had a chance to be their best.

As we emerge from the pandemic, we can’t go back to that.

We can’t go back to the real Scott Morrison.

We can’t go back to insecure work, disrespect for essential workers, flatlining wages, unaffordable childcare and education, neglectful aged care.

We can’t go back to ignoring science and the hope it offers.

We can’t go back to the self-serving and the rorts, that so diminishes the integrity of government.

These are not the values that will give Australia the national recovery it needs and deserves.

Labor is the party that looks to the future.

The party of progress.

Of helping Australians move forward and move up.

Of rewarding those who work hard to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Helping those who are doing it tough.

The party of reliable, secure jobs, with fair pay and fair conditions.

Of accessible education and forging a path to universal affordable childcare.

Of investing in infrastructure, industry and skills

Making things here. Not just relying on a competitive world when the next crisis comes.

The party of acting on climate change, to fuel a new manufacturing boom creating generations of jobs.

Transforming Australia into a renewable energy superpower.

Of national reconstruction that’s squarely focused on jobs – good, secure jobs.

Of strengthening our community by restoring faith in our institutions – starting with a genuine national integrity commission.

Of walking, together, with First Nations peoples.

And delegates, we are the party of equality, in which women speak and are heard.

Delegates, Australia has come too far to go back to standing still.

It is up to us, now.

All of us, to make the case to the Australian people that we can do better than a tired government consumed by crisis.

And to make sure every Australian hears: if you want a better future, Anthony is on your side.

Labor is on your side.

Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra.