Paul Howes: National Press Club Address

May 22, 2012

This is the text of Paul Howes’ Address to the National Press Club.

Howes is the National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union.

Paul HowesIt’s great to be back at the National Press Club, and I appreciate the invitation.

It feels as though in Australia today no-one is interested in talking about the big challenges.

No-one wants to roll up their sleeves up and get on with the job.

Fighting for what you believe in is no longer interesting in modern politics.

The national conversation has become dominated by vacuous drivel about particular phrases, styles and presentation.

It’s like an inane feedback loop that builds to a conspiracy of mediocrity between our political class and the commentariat – a crime that I am as guilty of as anyone.

In this current political environment, it’s easy to forget where you’ve come from, and to lose sight of where you’re going.

This navel-gazing suits the conservatives.

It makes it easier for them to chip away at the foundation stones of our egalitarian society.

It makes it easier for billionaires and mega corporations to plunder our public resources without giving anything back.

It makes it easier to defeat the ideals that the labour movement stands for.

The time to fight back is now. [Read more...]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Gillard Government, Unions Tagged With: ,

Craig Thomson’s Statement To The House Of Representatives

May 21, 2012

Craig Thomson has delivered a 59 minute statement to the House of Representatives defending himself against allegations of misuse of Health Services Union funds.

Craig ThomsonThomson’s speech began with a lengthy history of his working career with the union and his work as the Labor member for Dobell.

He attacked the veracity of the Fair Work Australia report and quoted the Australian Electoral Commission’s report with approval.

Thomson repeated his earlier claims that he had been set up by his factional enemies in the union. He named the deputy secretary of the HSU, Marco Bolano, as the person who threatened to set him up with “hookers”.

He maintained that he was elsewhere at times he was alleged to be with prostitutes.

Thomson attacked Kathy Jackson at length over her activities within the union.

Thomson also attacked the media for its coverage of the HSU issues, at one point providing a list of journalists he respected. He broke into tears when he claimed photographers had attempted to take pictures of his pregnant wife whilst she was showering.

Tony Abbott should “hang his head in shame”, Thomson said in conclusion, attacking the Opposition Leader over his attitude to the presumption of innocence. “He is unfit to be prime minister, he is unfit to be an MP.”

  • Listen to Thomson’s speech (59m)

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  • Download a PDF copy of Thomson’s speech

Transcript of Craig Emerson’s statement to the House of Representatives:

‘Go cut your wrists or, better still, hang yourself.’ ‘Go out the back, cut your throat—that’s the only way.’ ‘Have you slashed your wrists yet?’ ‘You are dead. A bullet between the eyes will save taxpayers’ money.’ ‘You have unleashed the lynch mob and you have fanned it and for that you’re, ultimately, responsible.’

These are the types of emails, letters and phone calls that my family, myself and my staff have received. Since these allegations were first raised I have consistently and on many occasions made it clear that I have done nothing wrong. I have, in fact, wanted to make a statement for some time but sought counsel, sought advice, from a variety of people—including legal advice—and took that advice not to make a statement. Can I say that is something that I probably regret in hindsight. I did not realise that this was going to go four years, but once that decision had been taken, of course, then the next opportunity to speak really is when a report is concluded—and Fair Work have done that.

In making this statement I am very conscious that in the eyes of many of the public I have already been charged, convicted and sentenced. The public will hold these views because of the quite extraordinary media coverage which has taken place. I, like every member of this House, understand and value the importance of an independent and robust news media and the important place that it can play in our democracy. However, all of us who have regular dealings with the news media know that the news media can often get it wrong, and sometimes seriously so—particularly as today the media is dominated by self-important commentators, not reporters, and I will say a little bit more about that later. So I think it is important to once again remind the House that I have not been the subject of any conviction, not even the subject of any legal proceedings; none of the allegations have been tested in any court or tribunal. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Gillard Government, Unions, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Andrew Leigh: A Brief Economic History Of Australia

May 18, 2012

This is the text of a speech given by Andrew Leigh, ALP member for Fraser in the ACT, to the McKell Institute.

Leigh was elected to parliament in 2010. Previously, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University.

The speech was originally published on Andrew Leigh’s blog.

What Do We Eat After the Low-Hanging Fruit?

A Brief Economic History of Australia, With Some Lessons for the Future

Andrew LeighIn the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of South America, sit the Galapagos Islands. Although they straddle the equator, the pattern of ocean currents have a cooling effect, making them an ideal breeding ground for tortoises, iguanas, penguins, finches, albatrosses, gulls, and pelicans.

Because the islands are volcanic, what’s striking about animal life on the Galapagos Islands is that all of it came originally by flying or floating nearly 1000 kilometres from Ecuador. And yet for the species that survived, life on the Galapagos Islands was perfect. Migrating birds lucky enough to be blown off course found an environment with few natural predators. Tortoises that floated here found beaches perfectly suited to their breeding environments. Life flourished.

Looking back across Australian economic history, I am often struck by the extent to which luck has similarly played a part in our success. Politicians are sometimes reluctant to talk about luck – preferring to focus on the things we can control than those we can’t. It is true that ‘chance favours the prepared mind’. But I think it’s still worth talking about the role that luck has played, if only to help understand what preparations we should be making. If we don’t do that, we’re like the Galapagos tortoise, which must have thought itself the luckiest species on earth, until British sailors discovered the islands in the late-eighteenth century, and ate them in their thousands. [Read more...]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Economy Tagged With:

ACTU Congress Pays Tribute To Bill Kelty

May 16, 2012

Bill KeltyThe triennial Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions has paid tribute to the work of its former Secretary, Bill Kelty.

At a dinner in Sydney, former Prime Minister Paul Keating led the tributes.

Kelty was ACTU Secretary from 1983 until 2000. Throughout the Hawke/Keating governments, he was pivotal to the operation of The Accord with the union movement.

Kelty’s work with the government on superannuation reforms, wage fixing, tariff reductions and other issues was vital to the economic reform and social legislation of the 1980s and 1990s.

  • Listen to ACTU President Ged Kearney introduce Paul Keating (7m)

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    Paul Keating [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Economy, Gillard Government, Hawke Government, Keating Government, Unions, Video Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Joe Hockey’s National Press Club Budget Address

May 16, 2012

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey addressed the National Press Club today on last week’s Federal Budget.

Transcript of Joe Hockey’s post-Budget Address to the National Press Club.

Joe HockeyIn a part of my north shore electorate our Prime Minister describes as “privileged,” I have watched the fate of a small convenience store unfold over the last thirty five years. Whilst the shop has changed ownership it has only ever been a small family business usually operated by recent migrants to Australia.

Some months ago I dropped by late at night to buy some milk and I had a chat to the owner, lets call him “Sam” for the sake of anonymity.

During our conversation his young son was by his side doing his school homework on the shop counter.

Sam lamented to me how business had collapsed since the milk price had dropped to just one dollar a litre. Passing trade had fallen and his understocked shelves reflected the drop in sales. I admitted that there was little I could do to prevent a price discounting war between supermarkets. I did not want to create false hope.

At about this same time Sam was being hit with much higher electricity bills.

In order to save some outgoings he turned off his fridges at night and placed blankets over his freezer. His electricity bill dropped from around $600 a month to $300.

Since then Sam‘s electricity bill has been creeping back up to more than $500. He is very anxious about what the bill will look like after July. There is little more that he can do to reduce his electricity bill.

In the meantime, his customers have not come back and they can still buy milk down the road for just $1 a litre.

Of course there are billions of dollars of carbon tax compensation for some power stations and companies like Blue Scope Steel. There is no compensation for Sam or over two million similar small businesses.

The limited income tax and pension compensation for many Australians will not be enough to blunt the direct and indirect impact of the carbon tax.

I doubt that Sam’s family income is large, they live at the back of the shop, not in a waterfront residence such as Kirribilli House.

They may qualify for some form of compensation but nothing will compensate their small business for the day to day dislocation and rising costs. Nothing will compensate their business for the carbon tax.

Julia Gillard calls these people “privileged”. Yeah right. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Budget, Liberal Party, Video Tagged With:

Gillard Addresses ACTU Congress: “I Fight For Australia”

May 15, 2012

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has addressed the triennial ACTU Congress in Sydney.

  • Listen to Ged Kearney introduce Julia Gillard (5m)

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  • Listen to Gillard’s speech (28m)

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Text of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s speech to the ACTU Congress.

Thank you so very much, and thank you to Ged for that kind introduction.

I’m so proud to be here today as a Labor Prime Minister, so proud to stand before you, and for me this has a real sense of homecoming.

Not to this place, but to the people who are gathered in it, a real sense of homecoming to the great Australian trade union movement, the trade union movement that gave birth to our political party. It’s good to be home with you.

A sense of homecoming too, because I learnt my trade union values in my family home.

My parents, John and Moira, taught me many things, but of all of them, first and foremost, they taught me to cherish family, they taught me to study and to work hard, they taught me to respect other people and they taught me to always, always, always carry your union membership card.

They taught me the value of trade unionism. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Gillard Government, Unions, Video Tagged With: , ,

Q&A: Wong And Hockey On Gay Marriage

May 14, 2012

The final question on tonight’s Q&A produced an interesting contrast between Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Penny Wong.

  • Listen to the question and responses:

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Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Gay, Video Tagged With: , , ,

Carbon Tax Ads Without The Carbon Tax

May 14, 2012

The Gillard government’s campaign to promote the “Household Assistance Package” has begun with the airing of television advertisements.

The ads focus on the compensation payments which formed part of the Clean Energy Future legislation but they make no mention of the carbon price.

Filed Under: Climate Change, Gillard Government Tagged With: , ,

The Critical Decade: NSW Climate Change Report Released

May 14, 2012

The Climate Commission has released a report on New South Wales climate impacts and opportunities.

Climate commissioners Tim Flannery, Will Steffen and Lesley Hughes spoke to the media about their report.

  • Listen to the media conference:

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  • Download ‘The Critical Decade’ report (PDF)

This is the Climate Commission’s summary of its report, ‘The Critical Decade’.

New South Wales (NSW) is home to over a third of Australians, 31% of the national economy and is highly vulnerable to climate change. Scientists are concerned that climate change is increasing the risk of hot weather, heatwaves, and bushfires, and changing the patterns of drought and heavy rainfall. A changing climate is costly, putting pressure on human health, agriculture, infrastructure and the natural environment.

NSW is becoming hotter and drier. Record-breaking hot days have more than doubled across Australia since 1960 and heatwaves in the greater Sydney region, especially in the western suburbs, have increased in duration and intensity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Climate Change, N.S.W. Tagged With: , , ,

Tony Abbott’s Budget Reply Speech

May 10, 2012

The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has delivered his Budget Reply speech in the House of Representatives.

Abbott reiterated his commitment to abolish the carbon tax as the key component of a plan to relieve cost of living pressures. His only new promise was “to work urgently with the states to ensure that at least 40 per cent of Year 12 students are once more taking a language other than English within a decade.”

In what amounted to a campaign address, Abbott said: “I want to reassure the people of Australia that it does not have to be like this; we are a great people let down by bad government that will pass. There is a better way.”

  • Listen to Abbott’s speech:

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Official transcript of Tony Abbott’s Budget Reply speech.

Tony AbbottThe job, Madam Deputy Speaker, of every member of this parliament is to help shape a better Australia.

It’s to listen carefully to the Australian people, respect the hard-won dollars they pay in tax, do our honest best to make people’s lives easier not harder, and honour the commitments we make to those who vote for us.

If that’s how we discharge our duties as members of parliament, politics is an honourable calling, the public can respect their MPs and MPs can respect each other even when we disagree.

My values are the product of an Australian life, a real life much like yours, with Margie, raising three daughters in suburban Sydney, paying a mortgage, worrying about bills, trying to be a good neighbour and a good citizen; appreciating that no one has a monopoly of virtue or wisdom, and grateful that our country has normally been free from the class struggle that’s raged elsewhere to other countries’ terrible cost.

In a healthy democracy, people need not agree with everything a government does but they should be able to understand its purpose and to appreciate why it could be for the long term good of the nation as whole. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Budget, Liberal Party, Video Tagged With: ,