Crean said the war on terrorism means the sick and poor pay more, but the wealthy get a tax cut. After years of talk of budget deficits wrecking the economy, the Budget was now in deficit. The National Party has been described as too left-wing by Nick Minchin. John Howard has told the Chinese Communist Party Australia is a democracy because it resisted Menzies' attempt to ban the Communist Party, whilst the present government is proposing new laws to ban parties and organisations.
In a wide-ranging speech, Crean set out his position on a number of issues from Reconciliation to maternity leave, unfair dismissal laws, superannuation, population and government-community partnerships.
Crean reiterated his call for the Labor Party to modernise, outlining reforms to the party's preselection processes and opening up new ways for people to join the party and become involved in its decision-making bodies.
This is the text of an address by the Leader of the Opposition, Simon Crean, to the NSW ALP State Conference at the Sydney Town Hall.
Delegates.
What a weird last couple of weeks it's been for the Howard Government.
They've managed to reverse all the accepted norms of good public policy and sound politics.
Shared sacrifice for the war on terrorism now means the sick and the poor pay more for their medicines and the disabled have their pension cut, but the wealthiest three per cent get a tax cut for their retirement.
A Treasurer who once warned that a deficit Budget would wreck the economy and drive up interest rates, now delivers us a deficit Budget that he says saved the economy - a Treasurer whose idea of going bush to sell the Budget is to speak at a Liberal Fundraiser at the Merimbula Golf Club.
Nick Minchin now complains that the National Party are a bunch of dangerous Lefties and need to be merged with the Liberals to drag them back to the Right because they won't support the further sale of Telstra.
And John Howard tells a Chinese Communist Party training institute our country is a democracy because we resisted Liberal Party pressure in the 1950s to ban the Communist Party in Australia, while back home he argues for new laws to ban, not just one party, but any organisation he regards as a threat.
What's next? Tony Abbott defending the rights of workers who have been unfairly dismissed?
Labor has also managed to reverse some of the accepted norms of politics.
Normally an Opposition criticizes the Budget and gets little attention from the media.
A Rehame report just out has come up with the amazing finding that our response to the Budget has received more coverage and comment than the Federal Budget.
It's because we've been positive.
Unusually for an Opposition, our ideas are the news.
In fact, things have reversed so much that Michelle Grattan has even written that Labor is in danger because it's making itself too big a target!
Our agenda has caught the public's imagination and that's how we want it to stay.
Sorry Day
Delegates.
Today marks the second anniversary of those wonderful scenes when tens of thousands of Australians marked Sorry Day by marching across the Harbour Bridge.
It was a seminal event.
An important start to building trust so we can improve the lives of indigenous Australians.
So we can tackle problems like removing discrimination, improving health and education levels and tackling problems like substance abuse and family violence that affect many indigenous communities.
That's why a Labor Government under me will say sorry and address these issues.
Labor's positive alternative
Delegates.
Reconciliation and a fair go for indigenous Australians is not the only thing that distinguishes us from our opponents.
When I took on the leadership six months ago I said I wanted Labor to be known for what we propose, not what we oppose.
I want people to vote FOR our ideas, not just AGAINST theirs.
I want us to be positive and constructive.
That's what Modern Labor is about, but it's also, more fundamentally, about securing a strong economy for a fair society.
The economy can only be stronger if we invest in the drivers of growth, and only through a strong economy can we deliver a fair society.
Our new ideas
I've already announced initiatives that clearly differentiate us from our opponents.
Worker's entitlements guarantee.
Labor will protect 100 percent of workers entitlements.
Our scheme will cost only 0.1 percent of payroll and small business won't have to pay at all.
John Howard and Peter Costello will protect only 8 weeks of redundancy pay - unless of course you work for John Howard's brother.
Protecting workers from unfair dismissal.
The Howard Government wants to turn the unfair dismissal law into a law to dismiss workers unfairly.
We have put forward constructive proposals that streamline unfair dismissal processes and lower costs for employers, employees and unions.
And I'm delighted that those proposals are heading in the same direction as those announced by Bob Carr yesterday.
The Coalition want to strip the states of their industrial system, I want to work cooperatively with them.
We won't be making it easier for employers to sack workers.
Put simply, the Howard Government wants Australians to believe that making it easier to sack people will create more jobs.
It won't; it will just make jobs less secure.
The Howard Government keeps threatening to introduce these laws as a double dissolution trigger.
I say once again. If the Prime Minister wants to conduct an election over making it easier to sack people: bring it on; make my day!
Tax credits and paid maternity leave
I've proposed tax credits as a way to give tax cuts to working families and boost the living wage.
I'm also committed to introduce paid maternity leave.
As part of industrial relations and childcare reform it will give women more choice about leaving and re-entering the workforce.
Most families these days need two incomes.
Paid maternity leave will ensure they get two incomes longer.
It's not only good for women, it's good for business and good for the economy because it helps us retain skilled women in the workforce.
Our plan will ensure that small business does not have to pay.
Superannuation reform.
Superannuation has only been advanced for all in the workforce by Labor Governments.
Before the Hawke Government only 30 percent of Australian workers had super. We increased it to 90 percent.
Few people in this room have not had their retirement enhanced because of those reforms.
Labor extended superannuation to the whole workforce and now we'll improve it for the whole workforce.
In its recent Budget, the Coalition proposed superannuation tax cuts to only the top 3 percent of income earners.
Labor wants superannuation reform for the whole workforce, not just the top 3 percent.
We've proposed a superannuation tax cut for every Australian. It's a more modest tax cut than they are proposing, but it goes to everyone.
The Government hasn't attacked the principles, only the costings - and ended up with egg on their face.
They'll try it again by fabricating yet more dodgy costings of our alternatives to their unfair attempt to raise the cost of pharmaceuticals and throw people off the disability support pension.
These costings will be worth nothing unless they're signed off by the Secretary to the Treasury and subject to scrutiny through Senate Estimates.
Disability Support Pensions and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
Peter Costello's superannuation changes were not the only unfair element of his Budget.
He proposed increasing prescription charges by 30 percent and throwing disabled people onto unemployment benefits.
Why?
Because even after the Government guaranteed it would deliver a surplus, it delivered a deficit.
The deficit wasn't caused by the War on Terrorism. Extra defence spending relating to the War on Terror totalled only $400 million, and the deficit is $3 billion.
It was caused by a massive vote-buying spree to win the election, and by Peter Costello's $5 billion gambling losses.
This "dive into deficit" after 10 years of economic growth has put pressure on interest rates.
No more lectures on economic management from him.
Labor will oppose the Government's increases to pharmaceutical charges and disability pensions because they're unfair.
I've put forward constructive alternatives.
There is a better way. A Labor way.
Terrorism Legislation
I mentioned the War on Terrorism.
Labor strongly supports the War on Terrorism and we must have legislation that tackles the threat of terrorism. It's the greatest threat of our age.
But this legislation must tackle terrorists, and only the terrorists.
The Government's legislation gives the Attorney General the power to draw up a list of organizations he or she alone thinks have links to terrorism and have them proscribed.
Could you imagine putting this power in the hands of anyone in the Howard Government? A government that lied about the kids overboard and has proven it is prepared to use the nation's defence forces and threats to our security for political purposes.
Even Howard Government members couldn't stomach this and they rejected it out of hand when John Howard and Daryl Williams tried to foist it on them earlier this month.
So, 38 weeks after the terrible events of September 11, the Howard Government has not yet been able to produce anti-terror legislation they can get through their own party room.
Well Labor has a better way.
Labor wants the anti-terrorism legislation not to list organizations but to define terrorism, target terrorists and arrest them.
The Australian people don't want terrorist organizations put on a list; they want to see them smashed.
The Government also plans to give police the right to arrest people they think might have information relating to terrorist activity and hold them for 48 hours without charge or legal representation.
That's not the Australian way and it's not Labor's way.
We can fight terrorism without weakening the freedoms we're fighting for.
The Howard Government, in identifying the problem, can't come up with a solution.
Well, it's Labor that is showing the way again.
Labor has the solution and our amendments are the way forward.
New Policies for Sydney
It's not just what we've put forward that's different. It's how we go about our reforms.
Labor now holds power in every state and territory.
John Howard sees that as a threat. I see it as an opportunity.
Australia needs a new partnership between local governments, the states and the Commonwealth to tackle the big areas where there are overlapping responsibilities.
We can make significant improvements to our schools, hospitals, aged care and other community services if we stop passing the buck.
Bob Carr, Michael Egan and their Government are achieving great things here in New South Wales.
Unlike Peter Costello, they've consistently delivered surpluses. They've produced rapid job growth. And they've strengthening health, education and other community services.
Because they've created a strong economy, they're creating a fairer society.
But think how much better still it could be if we had a Labor Federal Government with the same priorities cooperating with them.
What I'm proposing is a partnership between governments and communities.
A partnership that responds directly to community needs.
Let me give you an example of how this new partnership between local, state and federal governments can work to make life better for everyone - urban policy.
Sydney is growing at a rapid rate.
This is creating big opportunities, but also big problems.
The rapid increase in housing prices has made it hard - if not impossible - for families on average incomes to buy a home.
Transport infrastructure is being put under pressure.
And the dizzying speed of change is breaking down people's sense of community and increasing their concerns about crime.
If local, state and federal governments work together we can tackle these problems and create a new strategy for urban renewal.
Population policy
One obvious thing federal, state and local governments can do is create a population policy.
Through a sensible population policy we can ease the population pressure on Sydney and attract new migrants to the regions and states like South Australia and Tasmania that are facing long-term population decline.
More affordable housing
Local, state and federal governments working together can also come up with a plan to make housing more affordable.
A number of good ideas were contained in the paper on asset ownership that I released with Mark Latham recently.
Ideas such as matched savings accounts to help low-income families save for a home deposit, innovative home ownership models and new forms of community ownership, particularly in public housing estates and other disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
We should also examine other ideas.
For instance, we should ensure that new housing developments include a proper mix of social housing and affordable private housing.
Reducing transport congestion
The Howard Government sees no role for the Federal Government in improving public transport and solving traffic congestion.
I do.
When I took office this year, the first place I visited was Western Sydney. During that visit I gave a commitment to listen and act on the things that matter to Western Sydney.
To help me with that task my Shadow Minister Martin Ferguson put together a Western Sydney Task Force - a team on the ground.
The first detailed consultations of the Task Force have focused on transport and public infrastructure issues.
The Western Sydney Task Force will be bringing forward policy proposals.
I've also had discussions on these infrastructure issues.
Labor will develop with the state government and local governments an infrastructure package for Sydney.
Lowering crime levels
One of the biggest problems facing people in Sydney is crime.
Drug dealing, gang violence and the increasing availability of dangerous weapons is eating away at the fabric of our communities - communities that have already been weakened by the growth of inequality and Howard Government attacks on community services.
Federal Labor will be tough on crime.
Crime fighting and crime prevention isn't usually considered a federal issue.
I intend to make it one.
It's time someone in Canberra stood up for the victims of crime, and did something to protect our communities from the drugs and the violence and the guns, and didn't just wash their hands of the problem by saying crime is a state issue.
Labor will create a national partnership with state and local governments to crack down on crime and prevent it getting a toehold in communities.
I've asked Labor's policy review to develop a policy that will, in partnership with state and local governments, target high crime levels and coordinate policy nationally to beat the criminals.
Having identified the problem areas, I want to extend the good work done here in NSW by creating a number of Community Safety Zones in Sydney and around the country.
Existing resources are stretched. Governments need to work better together.
Through Commonwealth funding, we can create these solutions.
Community Safety Zones will have more police and community policing resources to tackle specific problems like drug dealers, hand guns and gang violence.
In addition to creating Community Safety Zones, Labor's policy review will look at how we can extend national gun laws to other weapons such as dangerous knives.
And it will also examine how we can stop handguns getting into our communities through tighter customs procedures.
Stopping the illegal importation of handguns into Australia is another good reason for creating a proper coast guard.
There's no good reason why people need these weapons. Let's get them out of the community altogether and make communities safer for our children and for us.
The policy review will also look at how we can create nationally consistent laws to help the victims of crime.
Every year over a million Australians - more than one-in-twenty - are victims of crime. But there is no national plan to assist them.
All of these measures could be paid for by a crack down on organized crime, such as fraud, money laundering and drug running.
We sometimes forget that crime occurs not only on the streets but also in the boardrooms - and often with more far-reaching effects.
So let's tackle white-collar crime too.
Every year the Commonwealth loses up to $150 million in fraud.
We should use this money, plus the confiscation of the assets of criminals - through tougher criminal asset confiscation laws - to fund more resources to fight crime and rebuild communities.
Let's make the criminals pay for cleaning up the mess they create.
A Modern Labor Party
To introduce these new policies we must win.
It's not enough to modernize our policies and show the difference between our opponents and us.
We must also modernize our party.
The mood for change is strong in the community and the Party, and after more than 100 years of the Labor Party don't tell me that it's not in need of change.
Delegates, I can't imagine a Labor Party that doesn't have a strong relationship with the union movement. We both stand for the interests of working people.
We stood together at the last election, in the most difficult of circumstances, to fight the Coalition's anti-union agenda.
I want to acknowledge the enormous contribution that many unions and union members put in to that effort.
But the relationship between the Party and the union movement must move with the times.
I will consult about it.
I am determined, though, to ensure that we don't just better define that relationship but reach out to the other constituencies we need to bring on board.
Unless we do this, we won't lift our primary vote.
Alongside this, the Party needs to be more inclusive, more open and more representative. Not owned by the factions, but by the members.
That's why I've suggested other reforms.
- Such as using the AEC roll as the basis for eligibility to vote in preselections - to build integrity and trust into our processes so they produce the best candidates and not reward branch stackers.
- At the same time as ensuring the integrity of those who vote in preselections, we must consider new options for making it easier for people to join the Party.
- We must open up our decision-making bodies to larger numbers of members to enfranchise them more.
- We must develop better processes for consulting on policy.
- And we must better train and equip candidates seeking office.
Ideas such as these were included in the Wran Review that is being considered by this Conference, and I welcome them.
Conclusion
Delegates.
The Howard Government has broken its pledges and lost its credibility.
In the process of winning the last election it has produced a deficit that will drive up interest rates and will be paid for by the poor, the sick and the old.
It has failed to tackle the terrorist threat.
The Australian people are now coming back to Labor.
The Australian people are sick of negativity and buck passing. They want parties to come up with positive and constructive ideas.
That's what Modern Labor is all about and why our agenda is leading the way.
We're going to form a new partnership with communities across the nation to deliver a strong economy for a fair society.
It's started through initiatives like our Western Sydney Taskforce that is listening to the community and coming up with new policies - like our plan to tackle crime and create safer communities.
And it must include broadening out our Party to embrace the whole community.
If we want to create a strong economy for a fair society we have to modernize the ALP.
We've been around for 100 years.
We've changed enormously in that time.
We can and will do it again.
Don't be afraid of change.
Let's create Modern Labor for a Modern Australia.
The Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, has addressed the State Conference of the NSW ALP, describing the last couple of weeks as "weird". Crean said the government has "managed to reverse all the accepted norms of good public policy and sound politics.