I am so glad to be back in Victoria. I am so glad to be here in Bendigo. I am so proud to support this Government in this campaign. A government with its best years still to come.
This election matters to Victoria. The Liberals would be bad for our state's future. They don't support high speed broadband. They don't support wind power. They won't even have their policies costed. They put at risk a State budget that every Victorian has helped make strong. I've seen these things from conservative parties before. Opposition for opposition's sake - not a plan for the times ahead.
Victoria needs a strong Labor Government. Your vote for Labor has never mattered more. I know as much as anyone does in modern politics, every vote counts. No matter where you live. No matter who the leading non-Labor candidate is. After all that has happened in 2010 no one can doubt it - if you want Labor to govern, you have to vote Labor.
I want to tell you about this man John Brumby, my valued colleague and my trusted friend. I first met John over 15 years ago. I've worked with him, and worked for him, for years. He's a warm and engaging person. A man who is just as much at home in Harcourt as he is in any boardroom. And it pains me to say it, but he is a Collingwood six-footer if there's ever been one. If I live for 40 more years, I never want to have to sit next to him at the football again, but when I think about all the years I've known John and all I've seen him do for his party and his state, I can only say: John Brumby is a man of rare strength and rare understanding.
In the darkest days of opposition, when thousands of teachers and nurses were being sacked by the Liberal State Government, John Brumby had the strength to stand up for the fairness and decency he has always believed in.
When the Liberal State Government turned its back on country Victorians, John Brumby was their advocate and friend. When all of Australia jeered at Victoria as a "rust-bucket state", John Brumby had the vision to dream of a new future of innovation, prosperity and governing for all.
Last Saturday I came to Melbourne to support this campaign. John and I announced together the Commonwealth's commitment of nearly a billion dollars in funding for the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project. The project will deliver 200 gigalitres of much-needed water savings. We spent a couple of hours together in the car from the city out to Narre Warren and back again, and as we drove to Melbourne's heart John spoke to me of his determination to keep delivering for the Victoria he knows so well and loves so much. That's the John Brumby I've always known.
Your Premier has a plan for a growing state for the next four years: 300,000 more jobs. Rebuilding and modernising every Victorian school. Employing another 2,800 nurses and building the Geelong Hospital and the Monash Children's Centre.
And your Premier has a vision for a fair and sustainable state for a generation to come, for a fairer Victoria, strong new investments in crucial areas like child support, homelessness and problem gambling. For a solar state leading Australia on smarter use of water and energy.
My fellow Victorians There are no iron laws in politics. But there is an iron rule in life. Hard work brings rewards. John Brumby is working hard for Victorians.
Labor has governed Victoria well. John Brumby has led your Government well. And on 27 November I believe Victorians will recognize Labor as the right choice for the future under the leadership of your Premier, my friend, John Brumby.