REMARKS TO LABOR CAUCUS MEETING

 

Welcome back, everybody and congratulations on the winter break that you've had, putting forward social and economic programs for the betterment of this country, working very hard.

 

Some of those ideas that we've been pushing forward on:

 

New investment in infrastructure, jobs in tourism in northern Australia. 

Proposing a way forward on constitutional recognition for our First Australians and an Australian head of state. 

And I think very importantly, we've been proposing a fairer tax system for all Australians, making sure that all Australians get the same deal. 

 

But when I think about the winter break that we have had, I then think briefly about the six weeks of the Liberal-National Coalition doing everything they can to delay marriage equality in this country. 

 I did wonder though, if the Prime Minister had jumped the shark when he appeared on the theatre set of Lord of the Flies and talked about sticking to his principles, no matter what.

 

But I have to say, there was a new contender in the satire stakes today when I read Tony Abbott talking about how politicians should never break promises. 

 

There is only one reason why this failure to deal with marriage equality has dragged on as long as it has, it is because of the complete failure of leadership and weakness of the Prime Minister of Australia to deal with this issue. 

 

When you think about it, it is not just marriage equality: it is home ownership, it is energy prices, it is the NBN. The weakness and incompetence of this government is something to behold. 

 

And, of course, I think many Australians are increasingly sick of the Prime Minister's excuse on any of these matters:

 NBN

Home ownership

Energy prices

Marriage equality

Rising inequality in this country

 It is that shoulder-shrugging style of his which says: "What do you expect me to do about it? I'm only the Prime Minister".

 

But anyway, enough of talking about what is going on down the corridor. 

 

We have got a big job to do for the Australian people now that parliament resumes.

 Of course, foremost amongst that is tackling the growing inequality in this country, growing meaningful and secure jobs for all Australians.

 

I want to give a shout out amongst all of the others, I want to give a bit of a shout out here to Jenny Macklin, to Wayne Swan and Andrew Leigh who have been doing the early and important thinking on inequality.

 

When we talk about inequality and growing inequality, we don't just mean the gap between the rich and the poor. 

 

We also talk about the inequality between first home owners, or prospective first home buyers and their parents on one side of the equation and the property investors subsidised by the Turnbull Government on the other. 

 

When we talk about growing inequality, we talk about the fact that on one hand millionaires are getting tax cuts under this government, large multinationals are getting $65 billion in giveaways, but millions of working Australians have had no wage rise for the last three years. 

 

We talk about inequality, we talk about the gender gap in the pay that men and women in this country receive and the unfair deal that women are getting. 

 

We talk about the gap when it comes to the deal which people living in the regions are getting on NBN, compared to some of the suburbs in the city. 

 

We talk about the gap between our First Australians and the inadequate and unfair outcomes they're getting in health, education and nearly every indicator, and other Australians. 

 

So, we resume this session of parliament invigorated with the momentum of knowing that we will put inequality, not only on the map in terms of talking to about it and tackling it, we are going to put forward positive policies. 

 

Not for us, an opposition who just hopes to be competitive at the next election because of the incompetence, the weakness and the failures of this government - but because we want to offer a positive vision for this country. 

 

Not for us, the nostalgia of the past - but policies focused on the future of all Australians. 

 

At the end of the day, when we talk about inequality, what we mean is we want to make sure that this generation of Australians don't hand on a lesser quality of life, a lesser standard of living, a lesser fair go to the next generation. 

 

For us, inequality is not just a word that someone has used overseas. For us, it is 130 years of our DNA in the labour movement. We have always been fighting for those with less power in society. 

 

And, as has been shown from Chris Bowen and the economics team, right across to Mark Butler and our efforts on climate change, right across to all of the work we're doing education led by Tanya Plibersek and the whole approach in healthcare and every other area we're talking about.

 

We are up for improving the chances and the equality of all Australians and we are going to give it our best shot this session, aren't we?

 

Thank you very much.