Campaign Speech

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB CANBERRA 5 SEPTEMBER 2013 ***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY***

Much of this election campaign, like many that have preceded it, has, to paraphrase the greatest master of the English language, been full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.

But above the noise of gaffes and gotcha moments from both sides of politics, there are some phrases which somehow manage to penetrate.

Often these are said in private moments in the thousands of conversations we have with people who would simply describe themselves as Ordinary Australians.

Like the high school kids who have said to me time and time again that they wouldnt know where they would be without laptops and computers in their schools.

The first year apprentice at one of our Trade Training Centres with delight in his eyes telling me how he had used out Tools for Your Trade grant to buy his first set of drills.

Or the kidney recipient thankful for the work of the new national transplant authority.

Or the middle aged nurse with tears in her eyes describing the vital work she does supporting cancer patients at home through our new network of Medicare Locals, but fearful for the future of her job.

I have found these to be the authentic voices of these self-described ordinary Australians everywhere.

Often supportive. sometimes critical. At all times positive.

And these are the voices that continue to sustain me in national political life.

Because our national political mission, put simply, is to do whatever we can to make life better for them.

And to both imagine and build an Australia of the future capable of doing just that.

And this is the vision and the values underpinning that vision that I outlined in my policy address last Sunday.

This is the core mission of progressive politics, our Party and our Government.

In the course of this election campaign I have also heard other voices, more disturbing voices, that have also stayed with me.

One of those voices was this I dont think we should be getting ideas above our station.

I know Mr Abbott was talking about a position on Syria, notwithstanding the fact that Australia now occupies the presidency of the United Nations Security Council.

But that phrase I dont think we should be getting ideas above our station is of itself deeply symptomatic of a conservative view of a Australias future more generally.

Of course it begs the question of what above our station actually means.

Conservatives often point to a mythical, almost mystical point in an elusive, imagined past.

And the Conservative mission, sometimes explicitly stated as such, is to return us to that point in history when everything is imagined to have been just fine and dandy.

In the case of Australias conservatives, a cocktail of the 1950s, Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey where plainly everyone did know their station.

The problem is that Australians have never had much regard for our station in life.

Or for that matter our class. Our lot in life.

And we have certainly never been prepared to be constrained by others definition of us.

You see, Australians have always had ideas above their station.

It is that in fact that defines us.

It is carved in our hearts. It is embedded in our identity.

You saw it when a motley group of shearers in the 1890s said they would no longer settle for poor pay and conditions and fought for a fair go until they got it.

You have seen it in the Slovakian refugee who fled the ravages of Hitlers rule to become the nations most successful entrepreneur.

Ben Chifley had ideas above his station when he dared to dream of Australian citizenship rather than simply being a British subject.

Gough Whitlam had ideas above his station when he made university access available to all, based on merit.

He also had ideas above our national station when he led tiny delegation to Peking in 1971 to begin the process of formally recognising the country that has now become our largest economic partner.

Bob Hawke had ideas above his station when he introduced universal health insurance under Medicare for which we celebrate the 30th anniversary of tomorrow.

Paul Keating had ideas above our station when he introduced universal superannuation with the result that 20 years later we now have $1.6 trillion under management and the fourth largest funds management industry in the world.

And our government has certainly had ideas above our station when we convened a 2020 Summit which sought to imagine a future for Australia where we could have Australias first national disability insurance scheme, Australias first national transplant authority, our first dedicated childrens television channel on the ABC and a research program for a future bionic eye that could one day match the bionic ear.

Nobody imagined we would get through the Global Financial Crisis without heading into recession.

We had ideas beyond our station and proved them wrong.

Nobody ever thought we could ever secure a seat at the worlds top economic table, because that was certainly beyond our station.

With the G20, once again, we proved them wrong.

Few people thought that after 27 years we could secure a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

We imagined it and proved them wrong.

Nobody ever thought that the mighty Murray Darling would be able to flow free to the sea again.

Once again we imagined it differently and thought the Murray Darling Basin plan we are giving the Murray the best chance it will ever have.

And nobody ever much imagined that a national Apology to Indigenous Australians as the first act of this government in parliament could have such a palpable effect on both the practical and psychological dimensions of reconciliation.

The truth is our conservative opponents have sneered at most of these things.

As Prime Minister of Australia I am proud of each and every one of them.

Because as I have said many times before, we are the nation builders the ones who build the house up.

Our opponents have invariably been content to oppose, oppose, oppose and then tear the house down.

So when in the context of this campaign day in day out say that we are in the business of building the nations future whereas Mr Abbott is in the business of cuts, cuts and more cuts for Australias future this is a debate which has a long historical resonance in the competing traditions of Australian political history.

We are not simply looking at an isolated series of events.

They are part and parcel of two competing political ideas on the role of government in both the economy and society.

For our part, I have been clear cut from day one on our plan for building Australias future.

I have been clear cut about the strength of our economic credentials against almost any comparison against our predecessors.

As yesterdays National Accounts data demonstrated for all, we have just concluded five and a half years of positive economic growth despite the worst global economic conditions since the Great Depression.

We inherited an economy around $1 trillion in size, we now have a $1.5 trillion economy.

Australias economy has grown 15 per cent, around 2.5 times the speed of Canada, four times the speed of the United States and six times the speed of Germany.

Whereas the United Kingdom economy is three per cent smaller than it was in 2007.

We have now had 22 years of consecutive economic growth.

11 years combined under Labor, and just over 11 years under the conservatives.

No one in the workforce today under 40 has been in the workforce to see firsthand the ravages of a recession.

Recession is not a risk we should ever entertain lightly.

In 2007 there were 10.7 million Australians in a job, as of today there are 11.65 million just under one million more in work.

Inflation has averaged 2.6 per cent under our government, matching the average inflation rate under the liberals.

Families who were paying interest rates at about 8.55 per cent in 2007 are now paying 5.95 per cent.

This means that a household with a $300,000 mortgage is now paying $6000 less per annum.

Average weekly earnings have risen 4.8 per cent per annum under Labor, compared with 4.2 per cent per annum under our predecessors.

Over the last six years the tax to GDP ratio has averaged 21.1 per cent, compared with 23.4 per cent under our predecessors which still holds the record as the highest taxing government in Australias history.

And most critically, productivity has risen by 10 per cent since the government came to office.

Labour productivity under the Fair Work Act at 1.9 per cent per annum is almost three times higher than that achieved under WorkChoices of 0.7 per cent per annum.

And we have achieved all of the above with among the lowest debt and deficit ratios in the world and with a Triple A credit rating from all three international credit rating agencies.

Our predecessors only managed two such ratings, we secured the third.

But as I said in an address to this National Press Club when I returned to the Prime Ministership, this is no time to rest on laurels because global economic circumstances are changing.

We cannot afford to simply have all our eggs in one basket for the future and we must diversity our economic base.

Thats why I outlined a new seven part national competitiveness agenda with the object of reaching a total factor productivity target of two per cent for the future.

Thats why I have also targeted the small business sector with a small business investment boost which would provide an upfront tax deduction for small businesses purchasing new equipment worth up to $10,000.

And together with other measures would provide $5.4 billion of tax incentives for all small businesses right across Australia.

That's why in the course of this campaign I also outlined a one billion dollar industry innovation partnership across the emerging sectors of the Australian economy including food technology, high tech manufacturing, oil, gas and mining services, medical technology, biotechnology, biopharmaceuticals, financial services, the digital economy, special technology and others.

I have also confirmed $500 million of expanded co-investment in Australias car industry which directly and indirectly employs 250,000 Australians.

I have also confirmed the future of our defence industries including bringing forward the construction schedule of naval vessels to keep our ship yards working.

Thats why we have also outlined bold plans for the medium to long term future including the expansion of the Ord in Western Australia, the creation of a Northern Territory Special Economic Zone, announcing plans to secure the

corridor for a High Speed Rail Link between Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and charging an Australian Naval Taskforce to advise which elements of Fleet Base East should be moved to Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

These are large, long-term projects just as the National Broadband Network is a large long-term project from which all Australian businesses, households, schools, hospitals and universities will benefit.

In building the schools of the future we also do so on the basis of a strong record of achievement.

500 science and language centres.

263 state of the art Trade Training Centres rising now to a national network of 510.

3100 21st century libraries for our primary schools.

2900 new multipurpose facilities capable of bringing all school communities together, often for the first time.

4500 new classrooms.

Just under one million new computers in schools to help provide one for every student from years 9 to 12.

Australias first National Curriculum.

Australias first uniform testing arrangements for literacy and numeracy in our primary and high schools.

And the Schoolkids Bonus for 1.3 million Australian families to help buy school books and uniforms.

At our universities we now have 190,000 more students than we did in 2007.

And our plans for a new TAFE Australia network if our negotiations with the states and territories fail to produce an effective result.

And for the future , Australias first needs based funding formula for a further $15 billion investment in the nations schools over the next 6 years under our Better Schools Plan the equivalent of about $1.6 million extra on average for every school in the country.

In building the health and hospitals of the future, the Government has also grounded our reforms in the most comprehensive agreement between the Commonwealth and the states in history.

As a result the Commonwealth is investing a further $19 billion in the health and hospital system by restoring Commonwealth funding to 50 per cent with the states.

Compared to 38 per cent to which it dropped under the conservatives which created a crisis in our public hospital system.

Funding has been delivered for 11,000 more doctors, 26,000 more nurses, 26 Regional Cancer Care Centres including Hospitals, clinical projects, A&E, a network of more than 50 GP Super Clinics across the country, 61 Medicare Locals and 1300 building projects.

We are also investing in a $3.4 billion aged care reform plan and for the future, a new National DisabilityCare system will be rolled out across the country to benefit up to half a million Australians living with a disability.

We have also been building a clean energy future for Australia.

We have ratified Kyoto and if we are returned we will ratify Kyoto II.

We have implemented a Mandatory Renewable Energy target of 20 per cent by 2020 and as of 1 July 2014 we will move to a floating carbon price as part of an Emissions Trading Scheme.

We have also established a clean energy finance corporation to help fund the renewable energies of the future.

And the result: emissions from electricity generation are already down seven per cent; generation from renewable energy is up 25 per cent, and the number of solar panels on household roofs now more than one million, up from 7,500 when we came to office.

So when I have said to the nation during the course of this campaign that I have a positive plan for building the nation for the future, the economy, industries and jobs of the future, the infrastructure of the future, the education system of the future, the health and hospitals of the future, and a clean energy future for us all, this is the substance to our proposition.

And election is about choices.

And whereas our plan is about building the nations future, Mr Abbotts consistent conservative script is to cut, cut and cut for the future.

As I have said already today, this is not an isolated event in conservative political history.

When the coalition came to office last time, they established a Commission of Audit and over two years made cuts to the equivalent of 2.7 per cent of GDP.

This is the equivalent of cutting $43.4 billion from the economy over the next two years.

Given our current annual growth lies at 2.6 per cent of GDP, and given that a substantial driver of growth in the June Quarter is public investment, this should give all analysts cause for concern.

Professor John Quiggin as well as the Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz have recently commented on the impact of austerity measures on Australia on a given order of magnitude.

Professor Quiggin's conclusion basing his modelling on IMF fiscal multipliers and Okun's law is that for every $10 billion of austerity cuts in a given year, economic growth would slow by 1 per cent and there would be 50,000 fewer jobs.

The question therefore arises as to the magnitude of the coalitions cuts given that to date they have failed to produce a comprehensive, detailed account of their cuts, including independent public verification, for the benefit of the Australian people.

What Mr Abbott has told us so far is that he will cut the Schoolkids bonus to zero which will affect 1.3 million Australian families who will lose on average $1230 a year.

He will abolish the Low Income Superannuation Contribution to zero which will affect 3.5 million working Australians who will lose up to $500 a year.

He will cut the retirement savings of 8.4 million workers by delaying the increase in the superannuation guarantee level.

He will cut the Better Schools Plan by about $8 billion which will mean that schools on average are $880,000 worse off.

He will cut taxation measures to support small business which will impose a $5 billion hit on 3.2 million small businesses losing the instant asset write off and 110,000 companies through scrapping the loss carry back.

He will cut $1.2 billion in assistance to the car manufacturing industry, putting at risk the jobs of 250,000 Australians who work directly or indirectly in the auto sector.

He will cut the retirement income of up to 1 million self-funded retirees and part pensioners by cutting franking credits to fund his unfair and unaffordable paid parental leave scheme

And there are reports in the media that he will also cut 2.4 billion from the regional infrastructure fund, cut $900 million of wasteful projects from the Australian Research Council as well as cut the foreign aid program.

But the truth is that with less than 48 hours to go before polls open, neither we, nor you the press, nor the Australian people have been provided with a comprehensive, detailed list of all of Mr Abbotts proposed funding cuts.

The Government has complied with Peter Costellos Charter of Budget Honesty.

The bottom line impact on the budget is as the Government described in its Economic Statement.

So with 48 hours before the polls open, with the media blackout now in force, Mr Abbott has still failed to release a comprehensive, detailed, independently verifiable account of all of his cuts so that the Australian people are left completely in the dark on how his massive cuts will hurt their jobs, hurt the economy and even risk the possibility of a recession.

And this pattern of evasion is continues through until today.

Mr Abbott has previously said that education and health are both quarantined from cuts if he is elected as Prime Minister.

He promised No cuts to health, no cuts to education, no cuts to pensions.

But today when asked specifically about his proposed Commission of Audit exactly what areas would be quarantined? and are there some areas that would not be touched? Mr Abbott said I am very happy to have a commission of audit go through the whole of the administration.

So one day education and health is supposed to be quarantined; the next day they are not.

So therefore let me pose the question about the impact of Mr Abbotts massive cuts on your jobs, your schools, your hospital, and their impact on the economy overall these are entirely reasonable questions to ask for which no answer has been delivered.

So my message to the Australian people today is a simple one.

Our plans to build Australias future are clear cut and fully costed and publically available.

With less than 48 hours to go, Mr Abbott is deliberately evading scrutiny because he fears that if you the Australian people knew the dimensions of what he and his government are planning, he is frightened you would not vote for him.

So if you are in doubt after all this evasion on how Mr Abbotts massive cuts would hurt your jobs, schools, hospitals, and the economy in these fragile times, dont vote for him.

There are some people in Australia who think that the economy, jobs, education, health and the rest will continue much the same as before even if Mr Abbott is elected.

My message to Australians is that from Liberal Party history we know that will not be the case.

We also know that there is only one credible reason why Mr Abbott is being so evasive about the detail of his cuts now.

And thats because he knows you would be concerned about the big hits on jobs, schools and hospitals that would occur in the future.

If Mr Abbott is elected there will be a fundamental change.

Mr Abbotts cuts risk damaging our economy at a time when our economy has fared the global financial crisis fairly well and at a time where we must protect jobs, not cut jobs for the future. We know from history that Mr Abbotts Liberals do transfer much of the economic burden from big companies to working families so that they end up paying more in their cost of living to pay for tax cuts to big mining companies on the one hand and to pay for his unfair paid parental leave scheme on the other.

And the other thing we know from history is that Mr Abbotts liberals may not own up to it but it is in their DNA to do anything possible to undermine the wages, penalty rates and overtime arrangements for people who work.

Based on their history I genuinely fear for what the Liberals would do in office.

The truth is it would not be the same Australia of a fair go for all.

It would be a radically different Australia where there is a fair go for some.

I dont want an Australia that is divided into winners and losers.

I dont want an Australia that is wrapped in dispute and division and thrown into a new culture of confrontation.

I have a very different view.

One that brings people together, rather than dividing them.

Together around a common progressive plan for Australias future.

So if after 20 years in parliament, four years as Leader of the Opposition and a five week election campaign you still have doubts about what Mr Abbott would do to you, your jobs and to Australia then dont vote for him.

ENDS

Communications Unit: T 03 8625 5111 www.alp.org.au

Authorised by G. Wright, Australian Labor Party, 5/9 Sydney Avenue, Barton, ACT, 2600