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: ,

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:

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:

Whatever It Is, I’m Against It

May 15, 2012

Filed Under: Liberal Party, Video Tagged With:

Peter Costello Responds To Michael Kroger

May 11, 2012

This is the text of a statement released today by Peter Costello.

STATEMENT – 11 May 2012

I did not hear Michael Kroger’s Radio Interviews this morning as I was Chairing a Post-Budget function for the Liberal Party where over 800 guests attended to hear Joe Hockey respond to the Budget. That excellent speech should have been the story of the day.

Since I have been deluged with media requests for a reply I will go to the factual matters. I will not reply to the attacks on my character, other than to say they are false. I have been elected to Parliament seven times and every aspect of my career and life has been scrutinized for decades. People can form their own judgements.

Since I voluntarily retired from Parliament I have not sought to return to Parliament. I have not sought Mr Kroger’s assistance to do so. I think the events of this morning indicate why I would not repose a confidence in him. And most importantly of all Mr Kroger holds no position in the Kooyong Electorate. What possible influence would he have? The Liberal Party is run by a membership not by factional bosses. I was the longest Deputy Leader in its history. I know how it works. I do not need to go to Mr Kroger for assistance in relation to its affairs. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Liberal Party Tagged With: ,

Michael Kroger Unloads On Peter Costello

May 11, 2012

Michael Kroger has unleashed an extraordinary attack on Peter Costello in radio interviews this morning.

Kroger appeared first on Jon Faine’s program on ABC 774 in Melbourne, and then spoke to Neil Mitchell on 3AW.

Michael Kroger

  • Listen to Kroger’s interview with ABC’s Jon Faine:

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  • Listen to Kroger’s interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell:

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Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Howard Government, Liberal Party 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: ,

Peter Costello: The Colt From Kooyong?

May 09, 2012

Peter CostelloPeter Costello has canvassed a return to federal politics with his old friend Michael Kroger, according to ABC 7.30′s Heather Ewart.

In a report broadcast tonight, Ewart claims Costello and Kroger discussed a return via the electorate of Kooyong, currently held by the promising newcomer Josh Frydenberg. Ewart says they also discussed the possibility of persuading other Liberal members to stand aside in favour of Costello.

Ewart says the discussions are common knowledge amongst Victorian Liberals and have contributed to factional infighting. She says Costello has not spoken with Kroger since word spread and that some Liberals believe Costello was behind the successful move to relegate Kroger’s ex-wife Senator Helen Kroger to the difficult third position on the next Senate ticket.

Ewart claimed that Kroger was under pressure yesterday to relinquish her position as Liberal Whip in the Senate by the Liberal Senate leader Eric Abetz. She says Abetz claimed that Senator Mitch Fifield, a former Costello staffer and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, could not work with her.

Costello was the member for Higgins, adjacent to Kooyong, from 1990 until 2009. Ewart claims he did not consider asking his successor, Kelly O’Dwyer, to stand aside.

  • Listen to Heather Ewart’s report on 7.30

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  • ABC News online report
Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Liberal Party Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Abbott: Gillard Should Also Reject Thomson’s Vote

Apr 29, 2012

2.30pm – Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the Prime Minister should not claim Craig Thomson’s vote whilst the allegations surrounding him are resolved.

Reacting to the earlier media conferences by Gillard and Thomson, Abbott said the government’s survival hinged on a “tainted” vote. He reiterated his call for an early election.

Abbott queried what had happened to cause Gillard to take action against Thomson and Slipper today.

  • Listen to Abbott’s media conference:

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Filed Under: Audio, Audio2012, Gillard Government, Liberal Party Tagged With: , , , ,

Tony Abbott Speech To The Victorian Liberal Party

Apr 28, 2012

The Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has addressed the Victorian division of the Liberal Party in Melbourne.

  • Listen to Kooyong MP Josh Frydenberg introduce Abbott (7m)

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  • Listen to Tony Abbott’s speech (26m)

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