Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to address the inaugural NSW Left Public Issues Lecture.
This lecture series is designed to foster debate inside our party and beyond.
It is a forum for people on the progressive side of politics to discuss the challenges we face and to debate the big ideas which are why we are in politics in the first place.
Ultimately this is a discussion that should always start and finish with a sense of purpose.
A sense of Labors purpose and of purpose for the nation.
Losing government is hard.
It means we lose the chance to pursue policies for a fairer society, and for greater prosperity and opportunity for more Australians.
But there is a greater sense of loss. Not of power, not of position. It is the sense that the nation we hope for is being put beyond reach.
Paul Keatings aphorism when you change the government you change the country speaks to this.
When the rights of the bigots are extolled; when knights and dames abound; when inequity is defended on the grounds of aspiration; when age pensioners are targeted; when privilege is protected; and when our Prime Minister asks where are the ladies? then Labor people feel the diminution of Australia as well as the adverse impact on the people we represent.
Make no mistake this Government is set on creating a very different Australia to the one that Labor values.
That is why our discussion tonight and beyond must be driven by a sense of purpose and passion.
What is the future we want for this nation?
We should remember that the reason we are currently debating the future of the ALP is because we care about this bigger picture and the future of the nation
Because Labor at its best is a party that looks to the future, and works to create a stronger, fairer and more secure future for Australia.
Where are we now
The face of this nation has changed over our lifetimes. And Labor has played a critical role in these changes.
We have more diversity, more equality and more prosperity than earlier generations because of Labor reforms.
Thats because our reforms are underpinned by our values.
A fair go.
A just society.
And a strong economy.
As we know from experience, these are dynamic values that must respond to the challenges faced by each generation.
Unlike some of those on our left, like the Greens Party, we know that translating our progressive values into outcomes for Australia requires leadership.
Because a true party of reform knows it must also be a party of Government.
In 2012, the Grattan Institute listed ten of the most important economic reforms in Australia over the last 40 years.
Labor Governments were responsible for the vast majority of the Grattan Institutes top 10 reforms.
Labor introduced Medicare.
Labor opened the economy by floating the dollar and reducing tariff barriers.
We created superannuation, which has given all Australians decent retirement incomes.
We introduced National Competition Policy, which has boosted national productivity.
And a strong argument could be made that the reforms of the Rudd and Gillard Governments like the Gonski school funding changes, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and carbon pricing will be some of the most important economic reforms for the next 40 years.
But like any party of reform, we must look to the future.
To create that better future we must anticipate it, and we must understand the present.
Australia is now a more diverse country than it has ever been.
The latest Census revealed that 46 per cent of Australians were either born overseas or had at least one parent who was born overseas.
More than 300 different languages are spoken in Australian households.
Australia is a fairer and more equal society.
For women, the workforce participation rate has increased steadily over a thirty year period, growing from 44.5 per cent in July 1983 to 58.5 per cent in July 2013.
In education, more women than men are now graduating from university.
But we still have a long way to go.
The gender pay gap remains at 17.1 per cent between women and men.
And in corporate Australia, just 18 per cent of the directors of ASX 200 companies are women.
The nature of the workforce has changed.
Employment in services industries has grown while employment in manufacturing has declined.
And people are choosing a greater variety of employment and working arrangements.
Almost 2 million Australians describe themselves as self-employed.
The role of the labour movement in organising and representing workers has also changed.
In 1990, 40.5 per cent of employees were union members.
Now the proportion is down to 18.2 per cent.
Nonetheless, with some 1.8 million members, the trade union movement is still one of the largest and most representative organisations in Australia.
But it is a different union movement from that of the past.
As the Sydney Morning Herald has said The typical unionist is now more likely to be a teacher, nurse or childcare worker than to wear a hard hat.
Australia is more wealthy.
We have recorded 22 years of uninterrupted growth, due in no small part to the leadership of the Hawke-Keating and Rudd-Gillard governments.
Since Labor came to office in 2007, Australias economy has grown by over 14 per cent.
The OECD lists us as the 12^th largest economy in the world, up from 15^th largest when Labor came to Government.
We have AAA credit ratings from all three ratings agencies.
And according to Credit Suisses Global Wealth Report, in 2013 Australia was number one in the world for median adult wealth.
We are well placed in our region.
We know that global economic power is shifting east.
In the 1950s, only 15 per cent of global GDP was within 10,000 kilometres of Australia.
Today, it has grown to a third, and in 2050, two-thirds of global GDP will be within 10,000 kilometres of Australia.
By 2030, Asia will become the largest consumption zone in the world, with 2.5 billion consumers.
So this is an Australia on the cusp of a bright future.
But we must work to maximise these opportunities.
They will not fall into our lap.
And we have to work to make sure that the benefits of these opportunities are shared fairly.
There is a risk that too many Australians will be shut out and left behind.
We need to equip people with the skills they will need for the new careers that will open up in the future.
Not one job, or one trade or skill, for life but the flexible skills and education needed to adapt, change and grow during a working life.
Issues for the future
Our opponents came to office on a negative and cynical approach to politics which fomented fear and anxiety.
Labor is rightly holding the Abbott Government to account and calling out its regressive policies of austerity and cuts.
But we also need to articulate a positive vision and policies to ensure Australia realises the opportunities of the future.
Let me now focus on two key issues.
The first arises from the changes we have seen in Australian society the need for Labor to defend and develop multiculturalism.
The second issue arises from the importance of ensuring Labor remains a viable alternative government the need to revitalise our party so we can better prosecute our vision for the future.
Multiculturalism
Labor must both defend and advance multiculturalism.
The need to defend the values which underpin multiculturalism has become very clear in recent times.
The Abbott Governments push to repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, and to introduce wide-ranging exemptions that effectively neuter protections against hate speech, is an attack on fundamental values of acceptance and tolerance.
These values are the necessary preconditions for a diverse multicultural society.
The Attorney-General has arrogantly declared that the Government will be protecting the rights of bigots.
This is a threat to Australian multiculturalism.
Labor believes that every Australian has the right to be protected from speech that offends, insults or humiliates on the basis of race.
By contrast, the Abbott Government believes in the rights of the bigots.
It wants to legitimise, encourage and empower bigotry an approach which will erode and undermine the remarkably tolerant, multicultural society we have built in this country.
I believe Australians understand this.
We instinctively understand that our social norms provide a sound foundation for multiculturalism.
We instinctively understand that the push to water down protections against hate-speech protections erodes this foundation.
There is a broad consensus in the Australian community that values these norms.
This is demonstrated by the wide variety of groups opposing the changes to the Racial Discrimination Act: multicultural organisations, faith groups, the legal community and representatives from civil society and even some of the Coalitions own backbenchers.
By contrast, those backing the changes are a small and narrow collection: Senator Brandis, the Institute of Public Affairs, and Andrew Bolt.
Australians understand that too much of the governments rhetoric about free speech is abstracted from the human experience.
We also understand that absolutism can itself inhibit anothers freedom.
As the Race Discrimination Commissioner, Dr Tim Soutphomassane, outlined in his 2014 Alice Tay lecture: when racial vilification occurs, those who are subject to the abuse and harassment can have a diminished enjoyment of their individual freedom.
Racism, including racist speech, can undermine a persons self perception, diminish their sense of worth, make them feel unsafe or insecure and lessen their capacity to fully participate I society.
If an elite athlete like Adam Goodes is hurt by racist remark, how does a child in the playground feel?
Labor will defend the values of acceptance and tolerance in the debate over the Racial Discrimination Act and I encourage everyone here to join the hundreds of people who are making submissions to the Government on its proposed legislation.
But ultimately our advocacy of multiculturalism must go further.
We must make a case for multiculturalism as intrinsic to Australian nation building and we must connect multiculturalism to Australian citizenship.
I again turn to Dr Soutphomassane who describes the Australian experience of multiculturalism as having succeeded because it has been a policy aimed at civic integration and conducted as an exercise in nation building.
Multiculturalism is central to our Australian identity and it has strengthened our nation.
Cultural diversity has been located within the framework of the Australian liberal democracy, including the universal values we uphold and attendant expectations we require.
Multiculturalism has encompassed the journey from threatening stranger to fellow citizen and it has transformed the building of our nation.
But the values that sustain it demand leadership. Whether in the context of the attack of the Racial Discrimination Act or other risk Labor people must demonstrate that leadership.
Multiculturalism epitomises Labor values and was first implemented by the Whitlam Government.
It is now a social institution which stands as a ballast against the fear and the hate engendered by some on the far right and the far left of our community.
And it remains the task of Labor to safeguard this social institution in this time of conservative Government.
Multiculturalism is not just about ethnic communities, its about all of us.
Democratising Labor
I now want to turn to the issue of party reform and to add my voice to the campaign to revitalise the Australian Labor Party.
We need a better, stronger, reinvigorated Party not for ourselves, but for the country.
That means more people and more ideas.
I am a supporter of Party reform.
Last year I supported the change we made to the way we elect the Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party.
In that election we saw the Party at its best two good candidates, a contest of ideas, and the opportunity for every member of our party to be involved.
For the first time, members were participants, not spectators, in the ballot for the leadership of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party.
Looking ahead, I think its going to be hard to explain to the Australian public why members of our Party have a direct role in the election of the parliamentary Leader the woman or man who would be Prime Minister but not in the pre-selection of Senators and other candidates for public office.
I support more reform of our internal processes to increase membership, and enhance participation in our pre-selections, in our policy debates, and in our campaigning for office.
This is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the Labor Party and the millions of Australians who belong to trade unions.
Like everyone in this room, members of unions know this country needs a strong Labor Party.
We should provide these members with a greater opportunity to make a contribution to our Party so we can build a stronger Labor movement together.
Bill Shorten has encouraged the Party to think about the way we do things and to embrace change.
Tonight I dont come before you with a prescription for Party reform though I encourage others to accept the challenge from the Leader to think about, and propose, change.
I ask that you assess proposals for change against the following checklist:
(1) Will this change make the Party more, or less, democratic?
(2) Will this change enhance, or diminish, participation in things that really matter?
(3) Will this change build a better Party which means we can build a better country?
Conclusion
We must never forget the contribution that Labor has made to the fabric of our nation.
Australias economy is stronger, our society is fairer, and people have greater opportunities because of Labor Governments.
As we commence the process of renewing our policies and platform, we should consider what Australia would look like without a Labor Party.
It would be an Australia without Medicare, where income, not injury or illness determines the level and quality of the healthcare received.
It would be an Australia that lets postcodes not ability, determine a childs full potential.
An Australia without a National Disability Insurance Scheme.
An Australia that lets blind ideology dictate the economic agenda, without supporting workers and jobs.
This is what Australia would be like without the Labor Party.
And today we do not need to look far to see the alternative.
The Abbott Governments vision for Australia is an entrenchment of privilege at the expense of the vulnerable.
This is an Australia where Holden, Ford and Qantas workers are worried for the future of their jobs and where the Government has washed its hands of their plight.
An Australia where pensioners foot the bill for a millionaires paid parental leave scheme.
An Australia that ensures 3.6 million low income earners will now have less superannuation and security when they retire.
An Australia that gives racial bigotry free reign, and dismisses the hurt it causes.
This is not the Australia we want for ourselves or our children.
Ultimately, we must always keep sight of the reason why we seek to revitalise and reinvigorate Labor.
We are a party of Government.
And we have delivered lasting change that has improved the lives of millions of Australians.
Australia is a better place because of Labor.
And the interests of the people we fight for must always be at the heart of what we do now and into the future.