Thanks very much and welcome to the biggest Labour Day March anywhere in Australia, here in Brisbane.
Men and women of the Australian labour movement, you know, for a hundred years or more workers of this movement have been gathering in rallies like this throughout our history. And together we gather, standing on the shoulders of giants who have come before us. Together, men and women of the labour movement have shaped this movement for more than a century. Men and women of this movement have come together to form the great unions that you represent here today. Unions like the Missos, unions like the RTBU, unions like the AFULE, unions like the CFMEU and those I can't see in the crowd, the AWU, the Shoppies, the rest, the whole union family, forming this great Australian labour movement.
I look down in front of me and I see this, this T-shirt that says to me 'together we can make it happen'. Can I say to you, the men and women of this movement, together we are making it happen, right now.
What is it that unites our movement? One single rallying cry - 'a fair go for all'. A fair go when it comes to jobs. You know, in the last year or so, our political opponents said 'don't worry about the global recession, don't worry about the global financial crisis, just let the free markets reign'. They said 'do what they do in New Zealand instead'. Can I say, what we did as a Labor Government, was say that was not good enough. When the private sector is in retreat it's time for the government to advance. That's what we did. We protected - you and us and business together - more than 200,000 and 300,000 Australian jobs. Thank you to the labour movement.
A fair go for jobs. A fair go also, for something as basic as health and hospitals. I see our friends here from the Nurses Union. I see also our friends from the Missos - those I've worked with in the last several months on fashioning a big reform in health.
25 years ago a Labor Prime Minister called Bob Hawke delivered to Australia Medicare. 25 years later this Labor Government delivered to you a new National Health and Hospitals Network, funded nationally, run locally and, for the first time in our history, the Australian Government taking on the funding of the hospital system for the future. That's labour reform.
A fair go in health. A fair go in jobs. A fair go also in education. When I look at the reforms of Whitlam in times past, bringing in an expansion of our university places, what are we now building across Australia? The biggest school modernisation program this country has ever seen - 9,500 schools, government and non-government; 24,000 projects right across the country. New libraries, new science centres, new centres for learning, new multipurpose halls for young kids, however much money their parents have, to make sure they have a fair go at education. That's what the labour movement stands for.
A fair go for jobs, a fair go for our health and hospital networks, a fair go also for education, a fair go also for super. For superannuation for working families. 15 years ago Paul Keating stood before the nation and said working people deserve superannuation. And they said he was wrong. Paul Keating was absolutely right, we need to build superannuation for working people for the future. We moved it from three per cent to six per cent to nine per cent. This Labor Government now delivers to you 12 per cent on superannuation. A huge reform.
When I've looked at, when I've looked at what working people are supposed to retire on to give them comfort and security in their retirement years, right now it's just not enough. We need to build on that so that working people have a decent amount of money to retire on. 12 per cent is a huge step in this direction.
A fair go on super, a fair go on education. A fair go on health and a fair go on jobs.
Men and women of this labour movement, we also believe that what is fundamental for the future is to have a fair go when it came to getting rid of WorkChoices. A fair go in introducing the Fair Work Act. A fair go in getting rid of unfair dismissal. A fair go in making sure we're protecting the basic rights of working people right across Australia. And then we have Tony Abbott up there and saying this, he's going to bring back WorkChoices, he's going to bring back AWAs, he's going to bring back, bring back unfair dismissal. He stand opposed to our 12 per cent super. He stand opposed to what we want to do with the new National Health and Hospitals Network. He wants to abolish fundamentally, abolish fundamentally the school modernisation program, and he says the recipe for jobs is do what they do in New Zealand.
Can I say I couldn't see a more fundamental contrast? We, a Labor Government standing for a fair go for jobs, a fair go for health, a fair go on education, a fair go on super and a fair go when it comes to getting rid of WorkChoices. Our job is to build a future for working people everywhere.
I met before, a bloke in the Missos, in the Missos march. He said to me, his name was Bill, he's a cleaner, he says he works for Myer. Bill is worried about his job security. I said to Bill, one of the things we want to make sure that we can do to help workers like you is to make sure we never ever return to unfair dismissal. For people like Bill. For cleaners like Bill. For people who need the protection of unions like yours and the labour movement like this and the Labor Government which you represent. Our job and our solemn duty is to defend their interests and the great cause of the Australian fair go for which this entire movement stands.
I thank you.