: Let me begin by simply saying this to all Queenslanders whatever their political persuasion: happy 150th birthday Queensland. To reach 100 is a great achievement. To reach 150 is a stupendous achievement.
Think of Queen Victoria, she who is reputed to have said about many things ‘we are not amused'. If she was to reflect upon what this State has achieved in the 150 years since she signed the Letters Patent in 1859, whether she was amused or not amused Queen Victoria would be absolutely stunned by what has been achieved here.
Think of these 150 years. Queensland has moved from being a backwater to being the trailblazer. This is an extraordinary achievement. Think of those 150 years, a tribute to the women and men of Queensland who have crafted a future out of the soil of this great State.
A tribute to indigenous Queenslanders who were custodians of this soil for millennia before European settlers first arrived here less than two centuries ago.
A tribute to farmers who crafted a living out of the land, who literally fought flood and drought and natural plague to craft a living for themselves and their families from the soil.
A tribute to the men and women of business, those who pioneered the idea that we could have something called a Queensland and Northern Territory Airline Service, which three-quarters of a century later becomes one of the largest and oldest continuing airlines in the world.
A tribute to the men and women of the union movement who crafted the idea of the fair go into the national soul.
A tribute also, also to our educators, to our teachers, to those who have been out there in one-teacher schools 100 miles from nowhere. And those who 100 years ago dreamt of building something called a university, which became the University of Queensland.
A tribute to doctors and nurses and those with a pioneering vision who said ‘let us build something called a Royal Flying Doctor Service' to provide much-needed medical services to the bush and who dreamt to build something called the Royal Brisbane Hospital. A tribute to all these Queenslanders, each and every one of them.
And to our poets, those who have told the stories of where we have come from. Those who have described our identity. Those like Banjo Patterson who at Dagworth Station in 1895 crafted the words of Waltzing Matilda. And of course most importantly of all, our most ancient of sacred ceremonies, a tribute to Darren Lockyer and the Maroons who once again have thumped the Blues in what can only be described in a national exercise in social justice. But it is important not to be triumphalist. Just to be privately gleeful.
Friends, in these 150 years we have shaped something truly great in this State of Queensland, something truly, truly great. We have grown from some 30,000 people at the time that this State was separated from NSW to 4.3 million people 150 years later. We have gone from being at the margins of the nation's deliberations to being at the centre stage of the nation's deliberations. We have gone from being a backwater to being the trailblazers. All Queenslanders should be proud of what has been achieved in these 150 years.
Friends, the Australian Labor Party has been a part, a core part of this great State's development for 120 of those 150 years. Our Party and our movement were founded in this State in 1891. We formed the first Labor Government anywhere in the world in 1899. It was here that we gave rise to the first majority Labor Prime Minister in the world in Andrew Fisher, in the first decade of our nation's federation.
It was here in Queensland that we pioneered under Labor Premier TJ Ryan worker's compensation so that workers when they are injured at work could receive the attention they needed and not simply rely upon the bleak charity of the day. It was here, also in Queensland that we pioneered the notion of a free hospital system under a Labor Premier Ned Hanlon.
And then it was here most recently that again we wrote a new chapter in our nation's political history, for the first time electing a woman leader in her own right as the first woman Premier of an Australian state, in Anna Bligh.
And friends it was this state, Queensland, which made it possible in November of 2007 for the federal Labor Party to return a federal Labor Government for the first time since Bob Hawke's election in 1983.
Friends, these are the achievements which we have seen in Queensland these last 150 years. These are the achievements we have seen through Queensland Labor in these last 120 years. These are things legitimately we celebrate from the past. But ours has always been a party of progress. Ours has always been a party of the future, ours has always been a party which actually dreams of a light on the hill and marches resolutely in that direction. That has been our galvanising vision for 120 years. That will be our galvanising vision for our next 120 years as a Party and as a movement.
For this to occur we need leadership. Leadership prepared to confront the challenges which are thrown against this nation. In the last year or so that I have been Prime Minister of Australia we have had thrown at this nation an economic challenge of the type which none of our predecessors have faced since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
This has seen a stupendous global economic downturn. What we see across the world is all the major economies in recession, what we see across the world is across the most advanced economies who are members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, practically all of those economies in recession and those who are not, the rest experiencing negative growth.
Friends this is one of the largest simultaneous global economic downturns the world has ever seen and certainly the largest the world has seen since the deep and dark days of the global Depression. And when these things are thrown at us and where you see the wheels of finance grind almost to a halt, where you see the wheels of commerce grind almost to a halt, where you see exports contracting across the world, where you see millions of workers being thrown onto the unemployment queues in economies around the world, you can do either of two things.
You can stand back and say this is not my problem. You can stand back and say I can do nothing. You can stand back and say I will blame somebody else. Or you can step up to the fight. You can stand in the breach. You can act as Government to make a difference. This federal Labor Government has resolved to make a difference.
Friends in the dark days of September-October last year, many here would not know how close we came to a complete collapse of the world financial system. We saw some 30 of the world's largest banks around the world either collapse or having to be bailed out by their national governments.
We saw the complete drying up of the flow of international credit to economies around the world including our own. It is perhaps not known by all delegates here that in the critical months of October-November-December last year, international lines of credit to Australia's major banks shrank to zero. That is how close we came to a global financial abyss in the critical months at the end of last year.
The Government, the Labor Government, the federal Labor Government met to resolve what action we should take. We resolved that for the first time in this nation's history we would act to guarantee every single bank deposit held by every single Australian, every single person with a deposit in a bank, a building society and a credit union for the first time in the 109-year history of our federation, guaranteed by the Australian Government.
For the first time in the history of the federation, the federal Government, the Australian Government acting to guarantee the inter-bank lending of our banks so that they could continue to secure lines of credit for the future so that people in small business, people out there needing finance for mortgages could still have access to the inter-bank lending which so necessarily underpins the overall credit supply to Australia.
These two decisions were without precedent in the history of our nation. We undertook those decisions in order to make a difference. To act decisively to underpin the stability of the Australian financial system and this Government succeeded.
Critically also on that weekend I sat down with my colleagues including the Treasurer Wayne Swan as we confronted the unfolding global economic data as we could see a financial crisis becoming a crisis in the general economy, becoming a crisis in employment and in turn a social crisis in so many countries around the world. And we debated how we as a Government, as a Labor Government could make a difference. And that is where we began our national strategy of response to this crisis.
Our mission was this, not to say that we could prevent a global economic recession from having an impact in Australia - that was not possible. But what we could do as a national Government is say that we can stand in the breach and make a difference. We can cushion the impact, we can help workers who would otherwise be being thrown out of their jobs. We can help those who lose their jobs to find dignity through other forms of training. We could act as a national Government unapologetically interventionist at a time of national global economic crisis. And that is what we did.
We undertook a nation-building for recovery strategy in three stages. The first, in October last year, to provide immediate payments, cash payments to pensioners, carers, veterans and others in the community. Why? To provide support to those in need of course, but also to provide necessary and immediate stimulus to our national economy at a time when retail sales around the rest of the world were imploding. As a Labor Prime Minister I take seriously the jobs of the one and half million Australians who work in our retail sector. These are important Australian jobs.
And delegates if you look at what has happened with retail sales around the world in the critical quarters of the fourth quarter last year and the first quarter of 2009, they have fallen through the floor. Millions of people are being thrown into unemployment. This Government by virtue of its intervention turned that around. This Government by virtue of its intervention brought about an increase in retail sales by some four to five per cent compared with more than a one per cent collapse in retail sales in the rest of the advanced economies. If you want clear cut evidence of Government policy at work, it is there making a difference, making an absolute difference.
And if you want to see further clear cut evidence of that policy at work, look at the growth numbers which were released for this economy earlier this week. You are now citizens of an Australian nation whose economy is the only advanced economy, the only one of the major advanced economies in the world which has registered positive economic growth.
All of the major advanced economies are now in recession. Here in Australia we have registered positive economic growth among the major advanced economies, the only one to register positive growth, the fastest economic growth, with the lowest debt and the lowest deficit. That's an achievement on the part of this Australian Government.
And delegates, these things do not happen by accident. They do not happen by chance. They do not happen because someone out there mystically has made things work. It is because we through conscious Government policy have chosen to intervene.
Beyond those measures, we also last October decided to intervene in the housing sector. Why? Because housing as a sector generates so many jobs in Australia, it is critical to make sure that the wheels of the economy continue to turn. That is why we acted to treble the First Home Owners' Boost. In one step, what we have done is make it possible for so many tens of thousands of young Australians and young Queenslanders to enter the housing market. We have now provided First Home Owners Grants to some 70 or 80,000 Australians in the period since last October when this stream of funding became available.
And the result again is there to see. If you look at the housing sector construction figures for Australia against those of practically any other advanced economy in the world, this is a story of chalk and cheese and again delegates, not because of accident, not because of chance but because the Labor Government you elected decided to act and make a difference.
Friends, that was the first phase of our stimulus strategy. The second phase is unfolding now. Our decision to build and to engage in the single largest school modernisation program our nation has ever seen. Our mission is clear. We intend to turn every primary school in Australia into a construction site, without apology, without fear or favour. Government and non government. Why? We are determined to build the education revolution and we are determined also to build Australia into sustainable economic recovery.
That's what it's about. $15 billion worth of investment in our primary schools to build state-of-the-art 21st century libraries, to build multi-purpose halls. In our secondary schools to make it possible for schools also to have access to state-of-the-art language centres and science centres. Building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow, providing support for jobs and apprenticeships and business today. A Labor Government at work.
The decision we also took to invest in 20,000 units of social housing, the biggest single addition to public housing that this nation has ever seen. And on the way through, undertaking repairs and maintenance for another 50,000 units of social housing which already exist. Why? We are determined to act in terms of reducing homelessness over time but determined to act now also to have an effect, have an effect on the economy by providing another boost to construction at a time when the economy needs it. A Labor Government at work.
Friends our challenge also with climate change. Acting again with a $4 billion investment to make it possible for every owner-occupied dwelling in the country to have access to ceiling insulation so that we can take out 50 million tonnes-equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time provide an enormous boost again to the construction sector when it needs it. Again a Labor Government at work.
Friends, what is the organising principle here? What are we seeking to do? It is simply this, our strategy is nation-building for recovery. It is supporting jobs, small business and apprenticeships today by investing in the nation-building infrastructure we need for tomorrow, which brings me to the third stage, the third phase of our nation-building for recovery plan.
In the Budget the Treasurer Wayne Swan announced that we would be engaging in a $22 billion further investment in long term infrastructure projects. In roads, in rail, in port, in high speed broadband. Investing in our universities, investing in our hospitals, investing in our medical research. Investing also in clean energy alternatives for the future including the biggest single solar energy project anywhere in the world. These are the long term infrastructure projects to which this Government has committed and dedicated funding in the Budget and again it is a Labor Government at work.
Friends in all these things we are seeking to make a difference. It is leadership to make a difference. You can choose to sit on your hands and do nothing, you can chose to carp and be negative from the sidelines, you can choose to blame somebody else and hope that nobody notices or you can stand in the breach and act. The Labor tradition is this, when the private sector is in retreat we as Government stand in the breach and make a difference. That's what it's about.
But beyond these things delegates, beyond the actions we have taken to deal with this extraordinary global economic crisis which governments around the world now wrestle with, we have also been taking measures to build Australia's long term future as well. One where fairness is still grafted deep into the Australian soul. One where we're also equipping ourselves with the drivers of long term productivity growth for our economy and dealing with the challenges which face us for the future in the long term as well. Because the mission of Labor is always to look beyond the horizon, to see that which is confronting us in the days ahead and to act in advance and to prepare the nation and our people to meet those challenges.
Friends, fairness is part of our mission. Fairness in the workplace, fairness by getting rid of AWAs, fairness by getting rid of WorkChoices, fairness by doing and acting on homelessness, fairness by delivering an apology to the stolen generations. Fairness by beginning a program on closing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians which aims to reduce the appalling gap which separates us in life expectancy, the appalling gap which separates us in educational opportunity, the appalling gap which separates us in terms of the security and safety of our home environments.
Fairness for indigenous Australians, fairness for those Australians who have no place to call home, fairness for those Australians who had their redundancy arrangements, redundancy entitlements stripped away from them by Mr Howard's unfair industrial relations laws. Fairness for all Australians. Fairness for our aged pensioners in bringing about these single greatest reform of the single aged pension that we have had in the 100-year history of this pension since it was introduced by Andrew Fisher 100 years ago.
Acting to deal with the recession, nation-building for recovery, grafting fairness again in the legislation and laws of the Commonwealth in ways which make a difference in the working lives of Australians everywhere. But also friends, equipping ourselves for the future, building the education revolution, our long term drivers of growth. Investing in our young people, building our universities, ensuring that our TAFEs are the best equipped and the best serviced of any in the advanced economies around the world. Building new productivity training places.
Julia Gillard's initiative of 711,000 new productivity training places across this economy. An extraordinary investment to lift our human capital and prepare us not just for the recovery but for the skills we will need for the economy long term. Also preparing us with the education revolution, universal early-childhood education for four-year-olds across the country. The education revolution; building this extraordinary modernisation program in our schools. The education revolution computers in classrooms. The education revolution; state-of-the-art trades training centres for our secondary schools across the nation. The education revolution; the single largest investment in our universities that this nation has seen for decades, including making it possible for another 50,000 Australians, young Australians, in particular from lower socio-economic groups to attend university for the first time. A Labor Government at work, acting for fairness, acting for the future.
Friends the challenges are many. Building the education revolution for tomorrow, building our infrastructure for tomorrow, acting on climate change, acting on water to make sure that we're prepared for the huge challenges of tomorrow. But can I say in all this we are animated by one core enduring value, which has been ours from the outset, ours since the Shearers' Strike of 1891, ours since the very beginning of our Party and our movement since the first Labor Governments were elected more than 100 years ago. And that enduring Labor value is fairness; a fair go for all. To make it possible for all Australians to participate fully in our national life and to make it possible for us to build the nation to give every Australian a participation in the nation's full national life.
Nearly 100 years ago, a great Labor Premier of this State, TJ Ryan said in Barcaldine, in his campaign speech in 1915:
“During the past quarter of a century the movement has progressed in the face of all the misrepresentations and all the forces which opponents have arrayed against it. Time and time again members of the Labor Party have been described as visionaries who could accomplish nothing by way of practical Government. With the progress of time however the Labor Party has proved to the people of Australia that it is a party of action, that it can seize bold national ideas and accomplishes what it sets out to attain, resolutely and fearlessly.”
So said a great Labor Premier, TJ Ryan, nearly 100 years ago. Ryan's words echo down the decades to us today. They echo down the generations to us today because our mission is always, consistent with governments of the past of our political tradition and consistent with governments of the future, is to hold high still the vision of a light on the hill. And in realising that vision deal with the enormous challenges thrown at us by the events of today. And for us today there is this extraordinary global economic cataclysm. But to wrestle with those challenges but still to deliver an outcome for working Australians everywhere.
This State is so much part and heart of our national vision and you as delegates to this national conference are so much part of our national heart and soul. You have made it possible for this Government to be elected in the critical events of November 2007, I salute your achievements. And I salute your contribution.
Let us all resolve together afresh for this conference today to fight for Labor's vision for the future, to fight for our Government's vision for the future, to see our nation through this extraordinary global economic recession, to make sure that we are prepared for the great challenges which lie ahead for all Australians and all Queenslanders, and to do so rock solid in our core and common belief that we as Australians, that we as Queenslanders are all in this together. If we are all in this together and if we act on the basis of us all being in this together, together we shall prevail. I thank you.