4 years ago
ADDRESS TO THE NSW VOTE FOR CHANGE RALLY
BILL SHORTEN MP
Women and Men of Australia!
Forty-seven years ago, when an earlier Labor generation filled this marvellous hall with their hope and their passion, the door was ajar for our nation.
And Australians had to choose.
Would we hide from change? Would we turn our backs on the world?
Would we shrink into our familiar habits and submit to our old fears?
Or would we cross the threshold, would we push open the door?
Would we broaden the sweep of our national ambition, would we reach for something bigger and bolder than more of the same?
Would we step forward into a more confident, more modern, more self-reliant future?
This was the choice then – and this is the choice this week and this year and now.
Once again, we put it to the men and women of Australia, from this hall.
Our nation must choose: “The habits and fears of the past or the demands and opportunities of the future.”
The habits and fears of the past or the opportunities and the demands of the future.
This was where Australians chose the future.
Universal healthcare, for every Australian, launched here.
Access to university to working class kids was created here.
Equality for women, championed here.
A new sense of Australian identity – drawn from every culture in the world and home to the world’s oldest living culture – was articulated here.
It was here that new connections, new infrastructure, new respect for Western Sydney and the suburbs of Australia, started right here.
And now we gather here – with our country on a threshold of a new decade, facing again the choice between the past and the future.
The nation’s door to the future stands ajar.
And we ask the men and women of Australia to vote for change.
On May the 18th, we ask you to vote for new ideas, new equality of opportunity.
We ask the women and men of Australia to vote for new purpose and new energy in a new decade.
And we ask you to vote for the new vision, the new stability, the new determination of a new Labor Government.
Never before has your decision and your vote been more important.
Never has the case for change been more clear or more urgent.
Because just as Blacktown tells us the story of the change that Australia voted for back then, it also speaks for why our country should vote for change now.
When Gough’s voice rang through this grand hall in 1972 our public schools were suffering from neglect and underfunding, the price of health care was beyond the reach of people in need and the economy was not working for working people.
Now think about Australia today kids missing out in classrooms all around the nation.
People going broke, paying for their cancer treatment, pensioners who cannot afford to see a dentist.
Working parents are battling the rising cost of child care, workers are battling stagnant wages and growing job insecurity.
The three challenges then remain fundamental now – but there is a new challenge that the previous generation could not have imagined.
I speak of the delay and denial on climate change.
Climate change is threatening our environment, our economy and our children’s future.
The problems facing our nation are real – and they are growing.
But we are not despondent. We do not preach despair.
We know Australia can solve these problems.
And – friends – we can start on May the 18th.
Today we say to our fellow Australians who want to see their wages moving again and their penalty rates restored – vote for change.
To the people who want more hours of work but can’t find them, to the people working two jobs with no safety net and no security – vote for change.
To the young people who cannot find an apprenticeship, to older Australians who cannot get a foot back in the job door because they’ve got too much grey in their hair – vote for change.
To the working mums who are tired of seeing their whole salary eaten up by the cost of child care – vote for change.
To the small businesses enduring the frustration of a third-rate NBN – vote for change.
To our fellow Australians battling cancer, the ones we love, in the fight of their lives, paying thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for the scans and the tests because the system is not free – vote for change.
To the women fleeing family violence who cannot find a safe place for them or their children to stay – vote for change.
To the nurses and the patients in the overcrowded, under-funded emergency rooms – vote for change.
To the dairy farmers on the land getting up at 3am in the morning but being ripped off at the farm gate – vote for change.
To the First Australians being excluded from the opportunities, denied the justice that the rest of us take for granted – vote for change.
To our fellow Australians who live with profound and severe disability and their loving carers being failed and forgotten by the cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme – vote for change.
To the pensioners down on confidence, short on quality of life because they cannot afford to get their teeth fixed up – vote for change.
To the countless Australians who are sick of political infighting and instability and chaos in the Government – vote for change.
And to Australians of all ages, from all walks of life and every part of our nation who are waiting for the politicians to finally wake up, to protect the environment, to act on climate change – vote for change.
And if you vote Labor we will deliver the change that the nation deserves from day one.
The very first item of business at our very first Cabinet meeting will be a new Commonwealth submission to the Fair Work Commission for a real wage increase for the working people of this country.
The first laws that we will seek to pass will be the restoration of Sunday penalty rates for working people.
And we will pass tax cuts for 10 million working and middle class people in this country.
We will convene Parliament to prioritise real action on climate change, expanding the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, to help drive 50 per cent renewable energy in our system.
I promise that we will send a message to the world that when it comes to climate change – Australia is back in the fight.
It is not the Australian way to avoid and duck the hard fights.
We will take this emergency seriously – and will not just leave it to other countries or to the next generation.
We are up for real action on climate change now if we get elected on Saturday.
The history of our great movement, the story of our great nation, all of our shared struggle and success tells us that every bit of change, every step forward, every inch of progress, is hard-won, hard-fought and hard work.
And we knew, my team and I, from the moment that we rejected the tyranny of low ambition and the politics of small targets and chose instead to present a positive vision for the future.
We knew the scare campaigns and the fear-mongering would surely follow.
We knew all of the weight and the wealth of the status quo would be deployed against us.
We present to Australia our plan for a Fair Go for All and meanwhile those who profit and benefit from the current inequality – the immediate unfairness in our society – they campaign against us.
Our political opponents stand where they always have stood: against change, against progress and as servants to the same vested interests:
Forty-seven years ago, when an earlier Labor generation filled this marvellous hall with their hope and their passion, the door was ajar for our nation.
And Australians had to choose.
Would we hide from change? Would we turn our backs on the world?
Would we shrink into our familiar habits and submit to our old fears?
Or would we cross the threshold, would we push open the door?
Would we broaden the sweep of our national ambition, would we reach for something bigger and bolder than more of the same?
Would we step forward into a more confident, more modern, more self-reliant future?
This was the choice then – and this is the choice this week and this year and now.
Once again, we put it to the men and women of Australia, from this hall.
Our nation must choose: “The habits and fears of the past or the demands and opportunities of the future.”
The habits and fears of the past or the opportunities and the demands of the future.
This was where Australians chose the future.
Universal healthcare, for every Australian, launched here.
Access to university to working class kids was created here.
Equality for women, championed here.
A new sense of Australian identity – drawn from every culture in the world and home to the world’s oldest living culture – was articulated here.
It was here that new connections, new infrastructure, new respect for Western Sydney and the suburbs of Australia, started right here.
And now we gather here – with our country on a threshold of a new decade, facing again the choice between the past and the future.
The nation’s door to the future stands ajar.
And we ask the men and women of Australia to vote for change.
On May the 18th, we ask you to vote for new ideas, new equality of opportunity.
We ask the women and men of Australia to vote for new purpose and new energy in a new decade.
And we ask you to vote for the new vision, the new stability, the new determination of a new Labor Government.
Never before has your decision and your vote been more important.
Never has the case for change been more clear or more urgent.
Because just as Blacktown tells us the story of the change that Australia voted for back then, it also speaks for why our country should vote for change now.
When Gough’s voice rang through this grand hall in 1972 our public schools were suffering from neglect and underfunding, the price of health care was beyond the reach of people in need and the economy was not working for working people.
Now think about Australia today kids missing out in classrooms all around the nation.
People going broke, paying for their cancer treatment, pensioners who cannot afford to see a dentist.
Working parents are battling the rising cost of child care, workers are battling stagnant wages and growing job insecurity.
The three challenges then remain fundamental now – but there is a new challenge that the previous generation could not have imagined.
I speak of the delay and denial on climate change.
Climate change is threatening our environment, our economy and our children’s future.
The problems facing our nation are real – and they are growing.
But we are not despondent. We do not preach despair.
We know Australia can solve these problems.
And – friends – we can start on May the 18th.
Today we say to our fellow Australians who want to see their wages moving again and their penalty rates restored – vote for change.
To the people who want more hours of work but can’t find them, to the people working two jobs with no safety net and no security – vote for change.
To the young people who cannot find an apprenticeship, to older Australians who cannot get a foot back in the job door because they’ve got too much grey in their hair – vote for change.
To the working mums who are tired of seeing their whole salary eaten up by the cost of child care – vote for change.
To the small businesses enduring the frustration of a third-rate NBN – vote for change.
To our fellow Australians battling cancer, the ones we love, in the fight of their lives, paying thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for the scans and the tests because the system is not free – vote for change.
To the women fleeing family violence who cannot find a safe place for them or their children to stay – vote for change.
To the nurses and the patients in the overcrowded, under-funded emergency rooms – vote for change.
To the dairy farmers on the land getting up at 3am in the morning but being ripped off at the farm gate – vote for change.
To the First Australians being excluded from the opportunities, denied the justice that the rest of us take for granted – vote for change.
To our fellow Australians who live with profound and severe disability and their loving carers being failed and forgotten by the cuts to the National Disability Insurance Scheme – vote for change.
To the pensioners down on confidence, short on quality of life because they cannot afford to get their teeth fixed up – vote for change.
To the countless Australians who are sick of political infighting and instability and chaos in the Government – vote for change.
And to Australians of all ages, from all walks of life and every part of our nation who are waiting for the politicians to finally wake up, to protect the environment, to act on climate change – vote for change.
And if you vote Labor we will deliver the change that the nation deserves from day one.
The very first item of business at our very first Cabinet meeting will be a new Commonwealth submission to the Fair Work Commission for a real wage increase for the working people of this country.
The first laws that we will seek to pass will be the restoration of Sunday penalty rates for working people.
And we will pass tax cuts for 10 million working and middle class people in this country.
We will convene Parliament to prioritise real action on climate change, expanding the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, to help drive 50 per cent renewable energy in our system.
I promise that we will send a message to the world that when it comes to climate change – Australia is back in the fight.
It is not the Australian way to avoid and duck the hard fights.
We will take this emergency seriously – and will not just leave it to other countries or to the next generation.
We are up for real action on climate change now if we get elected on Saturday.
The history of our great movement, the story of our great nation, all of our shared struggle and success tells us that every bit of change, every step forward, every inch of progress, is hard-won, hard-fought and hard work.
And we knew, my team and I, from the moment that we rejected the tyranny of low ambition and the politics of small targets and chose instead to present a positive vision for the future.
We knew the scare campaigns and the fear-mongering would surely follow.
We knew all of the weight and the wealth of the status quo would be deployed against us.
We present to Australia our plan for a Fair Go for All and meanwhile those who profit and benefit from the current inequality – the immediate unfairness in our society – they campaign against us.
Our political opponents stand where they always have stood: against change, against progress and as servants to the same vested interests:
- the big banks and big business;
- the multinationals and the tax minimisers;
- the employers who rely on exploitation and wages theft as a business model;
- they stand with those real estate agents sponsoring scare campaigns to defend their commissions;
- they stand with the polluters who prefer to pocket a payment rather than clean up their act.
And on top of this, they are doing preference deals with a billionaire who spends ten times what he owes his workers promoting himself.
It is clear enough who the vested interests are barracking for at this election.
But for all of their money and all of their power and all of their sense of entitlement and all of their platforms – they don’t get to decide who governs this country.
In our democracy, that power, that inalienable privilege, that responsibility, belongs to you, the people of Australia.
And have no doubt about the choice that people face.
There are only two possible governments of Australia contesting this election.
Our stable, united and talented Labor team or a Coalition of Chaos.
And when our region is transforming, when our economy is evolving, when our climate is changing even more dramatically and more quickly than ever before – three more years of dysfunction and division will not just mean the nation standing still, it will mean going backwards.
Friends, the world will not wait for Australia – it never has.
If our country is to compete and succeed in the 2020s we need our government united by purpose – not divided by chaos.
My opponent today said: “This is not the time to turn back.”
Really?
Well I say cuts to schools and hospitals are not the way forward.
Wage stagnation and job insecurity are not the way forward.
Unfairness and growing inequality are not the way forward.
Extremism and racism are not the way forward.
Chaos and division is not the way forward.
Denial and delay on climate change is not the way forward.
There is only one way to get Australia heading in the right direction – vote Labor on May the 18th.
Friends, Little Pattie is here with us today.
On that historic night, November night, 47 years ago, I don’t know how Pattie felt about the words that she sang or the speeches that she heard.
I don’t know if she could imagine how many of the ideas shared in this hall would then become the law of the land.
I don’t know if she could guess that the vision that was revealed that night would be still be part of our contemporary national identity today.
But friends that’s what Labor Governments do, we change the country for the better.
It is why we seek government – not for history’s sake and not for our own.
Not for the trappings or ornamentation of office – but for the opportunity to build things that last.
To change the nation forever, to write Australia larger and better.
So, friends, I say to you today: leave here with pride, leave here with your head up, leave here with belief.
Leave here ready to vote for change, ready to carry the momentum into the final 48 hours.
And when you’re on the pre-poll, when you’re making those final calls, when you are handing out the Labor ticket on Saturday, take every chance you get.
Tell your friends and your neighbours and your fellow citizens why you are voting for change, why you are voting Labor.
Go from here and tell people you’re voting Labor because you want to see working people get a pay rise, to get their Sunday penalty rates back.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want a million households to get an extra $2,000 per child to help with the cost of childcare.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you believe in Closing the Gap and enshrining our First Australians in the Constitution, the nation’s birth certificate.
Tell people when you leave here you’re voting Labor to provide the funding and the staff and the services and the dignity to transform the NDIS from a noble promise into a life-changing reality for hundreds of thousands of our fellow Australians.
Tell people you’re voting to put back the $14 billion cut back into public schools because every child deserves the best start in life, including universal pre-school for every 3 and 4 year old Australian child.
Tell people you’re voting Labor to keep the doors of our universities open to working-class kids and students from the bush, to restore 150,000 apprenticeships and training places and to rebuild public TAFE in this country.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want a more independent foreign policy, speaking with our values, with an Australian accent – a genuine partnership in the Pacific and a view of Asia that doesn’t dumb the region down to “threats” or “customers.”
Leave here today and declare that you’re voting Labor so 3 million pensioners and seniors will have their dental care, covered by Medicare.
Go out into your community, tell people you’re voting Labor to not just protect Medicare but to expand Medicare.
Because if you are battling cancer you shouldn’t have to cash in your super or your life savings or worry about burdening your family with a debt to pay for your treatment after you are gone.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because while cancer makes you sick, in a rich and prosperous nation like Australia it should not make you poor.
Tell people that you are voting Labor because you want to restore trust in our political system with a National Integrity Commission.
Or because after 250 years of borrowing a monarch from the other side of the world, it is time for an Australian Head of State.
Tell the commuters at your railway station you’re voting Labor because we are the party of public transport, the party of quality infrastructure for the suburbs and the regions.
Tell people you’re voting Labor to nourish and cherish and build the arts, telling our Australian story and saving our ABC.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you choose hope over fear, you choose a vision of the future over an empty, threadbare scare campaign.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want to see the most talented, experienced and passionate Shadow Ministry in a generation become a great Labor Government.
Tell them you’re voting Labor because you want the Father of Reconciliation to be in charge of Indigenous Affairs.
And you want a Treasurer from Smithfield.
You want Albo building the roads and the rail and we want Penny Wong on the world stage.
And tell them you’re voting Labor because you want equality for women and opportunity in education to be championed by the Deputy Prime Minister Tanya Plibersek.
And friends go forth from here and tell people you’re voting Labor so you can look at your children and your grandchildren, look them in the eye and say: “We fought for a better environment”.
So that years from now you can tell them that you didn’t fall for the fear campaign, you didn’t capitulate to the deniers and the delayers.
Here we have a chance for you to be able to say that when the moment beckoned, when the time came and the decision was ours, this generation of Australians, this generation of parents, this generation of voters – tell them that we decided to do the responsible thing for the environment, that we did the smart thing for our economy and we did the right thing for our future generations.
I say to the women and men of Australia, vote Labor because we are the only party with the courage and the principles and the plan to take real action on climate action.
My fellow Australians, the door to a better, bolder and more equal and exciting future stands ajar.
Do we have the capacity to push through it?
A chance for a smarter, more progressive Australia is before us.
The choice for Australia to be a leader in the world is ours to make.
And the power is in your hands.
Stop the cuts. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
End the chaos. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
Bring back the fair go. Vote for Change. Vote for Labor.
Reject the habits and the fears of the past and step up to the demands and opportunities of our future. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
And for the health of our environment, for the qualities of our lives, for the ambitions of our children. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
Thank you very much.
ENDS
It is clear enough who the vested interests are barracking for at this election.
But for all of their money and all of their power and all of their sense of entitlement and all of their platforms – they don’t get to decide who governs this country.
In our democracy, that power, that inalienable privilege, that responsibility, belongs to you, the people of Australia.
And have no doubt about the choice that people face.
There are only two possible governments of Australia contesting this election.
Our stable, united and talented Labor team or a Coalition of Chaos.
And when our region is transforming, when our economy is evolving, when our climate is changing even more dramatically and more quickly than ever before – three more years of dysfunction and division will not just mean the nation standing still, it will mean going backwards.
Friends, the world will not wait for Australia – it never has.
If our country is to compete and succeed in the 2020s we need our government united by purpose – not divided by chaos.
My opponent today said: “This is not the time to turn back.”
Really?
Well I say cuts to schools and hospitals are not the way forward.
Wage stagnation and job insecurity are not the way forward.
Unfairness and growing inequality are not the way forward.
Extremism and racism are not the way forward.
Chaos and division is not the way forward.
Denial and delay on climate change is not the way forward.
There is only one way to get Australia heading in the right direction – vote Labor on May the 18th.
Friends, Little Pattie is here with us today.
On that historic night, November night, 47 years ago, I don’t know how Pattie felt about the words that she sang or the speeches that she heard.
I don’t know if she could imagine how many of the ideas shared in this hall would then become the law of the land.
I don’t know if she could guess that the vision that was revealed that night would be still be part of our contemporary national identity today.
But friends that’s what Labor Governments do, we change the country for the better.
It is why we seek government – not for history’s sake and not for our own.
Not for the trappings or ornamentation of office – but for the opportunity to build things that last.
To change the nation forever, to write Australia larger and better.
So, friends, I say to you today: leave here with pride, leave here with your head up, leave here with belief.
Leave here ready to vote for change, ready to carry the momentum into the final 48 hours.
And when you’re on the pre-poll, when you’re making those final calls, when you are handing out the Labor ticket on Saturday, take every chance you get.
Tell your friends and your neighbours and your fellow citizens why you are voting for change, why you are voting Labor.
Go from here and tell people you’re voting Labor because you want to see working people get a pay rise, to get their Sunday penalty rates back.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want a million households to get an extra $2,000 per child to help with the cost of childcare.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you believe in Closing the Gap and enshrining our First Australians in the Constitution, the nation’s birth certificate.
Tell people when you leave here you’re voting Labor to provide the funding and the staff and the services and the dignity to transform the NDIS from a noble promise into a life-changing reality for hundreds of thousands of our fellow Australians.
Tell people you’re voting to put back the $14 billion cut back into public schools because every child deserves the best start in life, including universal pre-school for every 3 and 4 year old Australian child.
Tell people you’re voting Labor to keep the doors of our universities open to working-class kids and students from the bush, to restore 150,000 apprenticeships and training places and to rebuild public TAFE in this country.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want a more independent foreign policy, speaking with our values, with an Australian accent – a genuine partnership in the Pacific and a view of Asia that doesn’t dumb the region down to “threats” or “customers.”
Leave here today and declare that you’re voting Labor so 3 million pensioners and seniors will have their dental care, covered by Medicare.
Go out into your community, tell people you’re voting Labor to not just protect Medicare but to expand Medicare.
Because if you are battling cancer you shouldn’t have to cash in your super or your life savings or worry about burdening your family with a debt to pay for your treatment after you are gone.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because while cancer makes you sick, in a rich and prosperous nation like Australia it should not make you poor.
Tell people that you are voting Labor because you want to restore trust in our political system with a National Integrity Commission.
Or because after 250 years of borrowing a monarch from the other side of the world, it is time for an Australian Head of State.
Tell the commuters at your railway station you’re voting Labor because we are the party of public transport, the party of quality infrastructure for the suburbs and the regions.
Tell people you’re voting Labor to nourish and cherish and build the arts, telling our Australian story and saving our ABC.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you choose hope over fear, you choose a vision of the future over an empty, threadbare scare campaign.
Tell people you’re voting Labor because you want to see the most talented, experienced and passionate Shadow Ministry in a generation become a great Labor Government.
Tell them you’re voting Labor because you want the Father of Reconciliation to be in charge of Indigenous Affairs.
And you want a Treasurer from Smithfield.
You want Albo building the roads and the rail and we want Penny Wong on the world stage.
And tell them you’re voting Labor because you want equality for women and opportunity in education to be championed by the Deputy Prime Minister Tanya Plibersek.
And friends go forth from here and tell people you’re voting Labor so you can look at your children and your grandchildren, look them in the eye and say: “We fought for a better environment”.
So that years from now you can tell them that you didn’t fall for the fear campaign, you didn’t capitulate to the deniers and the delayers.
Here we have a chance for you to be able to say that when the moment beckoned, when the time came and the decision was ours, this generation of Australians, this generation of parents, this generation of voters – tell them that we decided to do the responsible thing for the environment, that we did the smart thing for our economy and we did the right thing for our future generations.
I say to the women and men of Australia, vote Labor because we are the only party with the courage and the principles and the plan to take real action on climate action.
My fellow Australians, the door to a better, bolder and more equal and exciting future stands ajar.
Do we have the capacity to push through it?
A chance for a smarter, more progressive Australia is before us.
The choice for Australia to be a leader in the world is ours to make.
And the power is in your hands.
Stop the cuts. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
End the chaos. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
Bring back the fair go. Vote for Change. Vote for Labor.
Reject the habits and the fears of the past and step up to the demands and opportunities of our future. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
And for the health of our environment, for the qualities of our lives, for the ambitions of our children. Vote for Change. Vote Labor.
Thank you very much.
ENDS