This is the text of Paul Howes’ Address to the National Press Club.
Howes is the National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union.
It’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...]
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