Speech at McKell Institute, Brisbane
*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY *** Acknowledgements omitted INTRODUCTION Just over a year ago I last spoke to the McKell institute. It was the day that the Prime Minister had called the 2025 election. He defined the choice for the Australian people as this: “In uncertain times, we cannot decide the challenges that we face, but we can determine how we respond.” That is as true today as it was then.
He went on to remind us of the power of Australia’s democracy. “Your vote has never been more important, and your choice has never been more clear.” Because government is about choices. And underlying the principles of parliamentary democracy is that every member of parliament is accountable for their choices.
And we are responsible for what emotions we stir in the national debate. I would encourage those on the conservative side to read Robert Menzies’ Politics as an Art. He states the art of politics requires participants: “To temper the frequently absurd asperities of political conflict by seeking to stir up only noble and humane emotions, since ignoble passions, so easily aroused, can in the nature of things produce only ignoble policies and unfair administration.” Only noble and humane emotions.
I do not believe that is the standard we are seeing today. You only need to look at the misogynistic truck driving through Melbourne a few weeks ago to know I am right. But it is not just parliamentarians who are responsible for our democracy.
Menzies also argued that every citizen has a responsibility to care for the politics of their nation. Today I want to talk about responsibility, populism and aspiration. These driving forces are changing Australian politics.
Forces which are moving the mountains of public debate as we know it. And we each have a choice as to how we respond to these forces. Do we use them to build Australia up or do we use them to fight over the scraps left when politics lets people down?
WE ALL NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY Australians admire those who show up and take responsibility. A designated driver on a night out. A volunteer firefighter saving a family farm.
It is time we apply the expectation of responsibility to those who make our democracy work. On my wall in Parliament is a piece of Adelaide artist Peter Drew’s work. It reads; “It is my own responsibility and I am going to fix it.” It is my daily reminder to take responsibility.
To fix it – Or at least leave things better than I found them. But it is not just politicians. We need everyone in our political system to take responsibility.
Because when it doesn’t happen the outcomes can be disastrous. We remember the failure of Rio Tinto to take responsibility for cultural heritage. The failure of social media giants to protect our kids from bullying and online harm.
And the failure we have seen with PwC and now KPMG to abide by basic ethical conduct. A lack of responsibility. A lack of care for society.
Wearing sunscreen, recycling cans, and drinking zero alcohol beer are now cool. We can make responsibility cool again too. Talking up Australia.
Not talking it down. Admitting our own faults as much as we identify the faults in others. To cost our policies and put them in writing, not just in social media memes.
This is as much advice for our political opponents as it is to the media, major corporations and others in the public policy debate. Labor is a party happy to take responsibility. To navigate a rapidly changing world that is polarising.
One experiencing the human and economic pain of war. To explain when we change our mind. To learn the lessons of our history.
To open up our national conference to full scrutiny by the media. And to not just complain about the challenges Australia faces, but to step up and fix them. THE NEW POLITICAL SPECTRUM - POPULISM VERSUS PRACTICAL DELIVERY Some seek to admire and amplify problems with no interest in solving them.
That is the core problem with the populist wave we are seeing in Australian politics. The traditional left to right political spectrum and the progressive to conservative overlay are being tested as we hit quarter time of the 21st century. Today, I argue that the political divide in Australia is now practical versus populist.
Labor stands as the only practical party of the centre remaining in Australian politics. We want to get things done. Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.
Thriving Kids. Building houses. And building the next generation of defence assets right here in Australia.
From drones to submarines. That is what a practical party looks like. Too many times, the Greens Party has chosen populism over practical delivery.
They spent their last term ignoring the Constitution and blocking the building of social housing. And only populism describes their latest push for more tax breaks for housing investors. The Liberal Party have also chosen to abandon practical policy development.
After Labor’s budget, the Liberals ran to the risograph to copy en-mass One Nation policies on housing and migration. Even Senator Hanson says so. The lack of costings for Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech was the next step in choosing populist slogans over practical policy.
If a CEO outlined their plan for an ASX business without any financials, they would be laughed out of the boardroom. Liberal voters are starting to do the same to Angus Taylor. But the future of our country is no laughing matter.
And it is concerning that the populist parties of the Greens, One Nation, Liberals and Nationals are becoming less and less practical. Fundraisers aboard private jets owned by billionaires. Refusing to ensure the financial sustainability of the NDIS.
Opposing or closing the Housing Australia Future Fund. The other thing populism does is create a wall of noise behind which unpopular policies are hidden. These parties are loud on populism and then quiet on their true agenda.
It is brazen that the Liberal National One Nation coalition are opposing an increase in minimum and award wages. That thousands of carers who support elderly Australian citizens will lose their payments under Angus Taylor’s plans. Research from the Centre for Policy Development tells us that Australians want long term thinking.
Last year’s Purpose of Government report told us: “… a clear majority of Australians have consistently agreed that “the wellbeing of the population should be the top consideration in government decision-making, above other concerns” That is why I am confident that the tax reform package we released in the budget will not only be legislated. I am confident that come the next election the conservative parties will no longer pledge to repeal it.
That is because long term thinking wins people over. Long term is practical. Long term is the only way for Australia to continue to be the strongest economy and the strongest society in the world.
Yet not everyone gets the benefits of that strong economy. We have spoken much about the aspiration for Australians to be able to have a home of their own. Our tax reforms have shifted the balance back in favour of working Australians.
But you can’t dream the great Australian dream without a job. Right now, myself and Amanda Rishworth are travelling this beautiful country consulting on employment services reform. A system that should help our Australian neighbours, family and friends into work.
But one in five people in that system who aspire to work are stuck in search mode for more than five years. Five years of missed opportunity. The mountain of aspiration is not working for them.
They cannot even get the basics of a good secure job. Some want to get to the summit. Wealth and luxury.
Good for them. Our economy needs those people. The problem is that too many Australians feel they can’t even start the climb.
They just want to get to base camp of a decent job and a place to call home. Our budget has made a significant step forward on home ownership. And our reforms to employment services, alongside last term’s industrial relations reforms, will make that big step forward on more jobs for Australians.
I want a strong, uniquely Australian, democracy. To do so, all participants in our political system must embrace the principles of responsibility, practicality and aspiration. And that is the goal of the Australian Labor Party.
To be a responsible party of government. To help Australians go as far as they can. To implement practical policies that work.
And to help others to climb. No one held back. No one left behind.