I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as one of the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
Six months ago today, the Australian people decided to change the nation's course.
To elect a government for Australia's future.
A government committed to nation-building.
A government that will tackle the long-term challenges of the future: climate change; water; the rise of India and China; and preparing our kids for the future jobs of the 21st century.
A government that will look after the working men and women of our nation.
A government for all Australians.
In the past six months, we've begun laying strong foundations for Australia's future.
Digging the trenches, and pouring the concrete.
We've brought down a responsible Budget.
And we've set up long term plans to invest in the future.
And today I will discuss some plans for how we'll move ahead, building on those foundations.
But first, I come to say thank you.
Thank you to the rank and file members of the Victorian branch who worked tirelessly to see the election of an Australian Labor Government.
Your work helped deliver a two party preferred vote of 54.3 per cent in Victoria.
...The highest primary and the highest two party preferred vote of any State on the mainland.
Your work helped us to win a total of 21 out of Victoria's 37 seats.
As a result we can today give a special welcome to the two Labor candidates who won seats from the Liberal Party:
* Darren Cheeseman in Corangamite, and
* Mike Symon in Deakin.
We also welcome Bill Shorten, Richard Marles and Mark Dreyfus into the House of Representatives.
And we also say thank you to all of our Labor candidates who fought hard in seats across the whole state.
In particular, we acknowledge the efforts of two candidates in extremely close contests:
* Rob Mitchell in McEwen, who - subject to the courts' final decision - on the most recent count won 49.99 per cent of the vote with a swing of over 6 per cent.
* And Rodney Cocks in La Trobe, who achieved a vote of 49.49 per cent.
Victoria also elected two new Senators, Jacinta Collins and David Feeney. And re-elected Gavin Marshall.
As we welcome them, we farewell another.
We salute Robert Ray for an extraordinary 27 years of service to the Party.
Robert played a key role in the Hawke and Keating Governments, and he served 12 years of hard labour in opposition.
We wish him the very best in his retirement. We will miss him.
We will also miss the great John Button, whom we lost recently after his battle with cancer.
John Button was one of the most significant figures in our party in the second half of the twentieth century.
He led the overhaul of the Australian manufacturing industry from days of sclerotic protection to an era of global competitiveness.
Years after his retirement from active political life, he never lost his passion to serve the Labor Party.
We're proud that his illness did not prevent him seeing in the return of an Australian Labor Government.
And we extend our sympathies to his partner Joan and his sons Jamie and Nick, and to his close family.
This morning I also want to thank Premier John Brumby for the policy leadership he has given as Treasurer and Premier.
There's no doubt Victoria has been at the centre of policy leadership and innovation in recent years under Steve Bracks and John Brumby.
Victoria put the national reform agenda on the table three years ago.
Victorian Labor put the spotlight on the need for a long-term strategy to lift productivity and workforce participation.
Victorian Labor led with the emphasis on human capital and especially early childhood development, taking the major step of shifting early childhood education into the Education Department.
Victorian Labor led on health care reform, with the emphasis on prevention through the ‘Go For Your Life' campaign.
And Victorian Labor has led on regulatory reform.
And I particularly want to thank Premier Brumby for Victoria's strong and positive engagement with the Australian Government's COAG reform agenda, which is so critical to building a modern, competitive economy.
Our values and priorities
It is a great honour to lead the first Australian Labor Government of the 21st century.
Ours is a modern Labor Government, committed to building a modern Australia, capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century - to secure the nation's future, as well as securing the future for the nation's families.
In meeting those challenges of the future, we draw inspiration from more than a century's history of reformist Labor Governments.
We stand in the proud tradition of previous Labor Governments, at the reforming centre of Australian politics.
We are a party of responsible economic management.
We are a party of long-term economic reform.
We are a party unapologetically committed to nation-building.
We are a party committed to investing in our people - with one long-term ambition: building the best educated, best trained, best skilled workforce in the world.
We are a party committed to helping working Australian and working families under financial pressure.
We are a party committed to helping the most vulnerable.
We are the party committed to managing change, in a world facing massive change where our continuing responsibility is to help people through the process of change.
We are therefore committed to building a strong Australian economy - but an economy that delivers for Australians, working families and those doing it tough.
We are committed to a secure Australia - strong at home and fully engaged abroad, through what I have described elsewhere as creative middle power diplomacy.
And we are committed to the greatest public good of our age - protecting the environment, the global commons that is the planet itself - for now and for future generations.
Our achievements so far
These values and priorities have guided our first six months in office.
And since we came to office, we've been delivering on the substantial reform program that we laid out before last year's election.
The first legislation the new Federal Labor Government introduced into the Commonwealth Parliament was to abolish AWAs.
We've introduced the Transition Act; we released our draft National Employment Standards, and we've begun the process of modernising industrial awards.
When we came to office, we inherited an economy facing serious long-term challenges, despite years of favourable external conditions:
* rising inflation;
* weak productivity growth;
* severe supply constraints in skills and infrastructure;
* unprepared for long-term challenges like climate change, and
* unprepared for the rise of China and India.
Since coming to office, we have begun taking action to build a modern, competitive Australia through a sustained focus on driving strong productivity growth.
Higher productivity growth is the key to sustaining low inflation, achieving greater prosperity and securing the well-paid jobs of the future for the next generation.
That's why we've begun the education revolution, funding major new initiatives in early childhood education, computers and trades training centres in every secondary school, 630,000 new training places, thousands of new university scholarships and an upfront half billion dollar investment in our universities.
It's why we've begun taking national leadership on infrastructure - this week appointing the board of Infrastructure Australia, which will help guide nation-building infrastructure priorities.
It's why we're working towards establishing a National Broadband Network, to bring Australia fully into the digital economy of the 21st century.
It's why we've begun to reform the Federation - with a new era of Commonwealth/State relations.
...Working towards the goal of a seamless national economy, and a modern Federal system of government that delivers better services to all Australians.
The Government is now acting on climate change, after more than a decade of denial and neglect.
Within minutes of taking office, the Government signed the instruments to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
We are now active participants in the Bali Roadmap on climate change, and we're hard at work in designing the emissions trading scheme - which will be one of the most important economic reforms of the next decade.
On the first day of Parliamentary business, I extended an apology to the stolen generations of Indigenous Australians.
We have begun a policy program of closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life opportunities in Australia.
The Government has begun work on preserving the great Australian dream of home ownership for a new generation.
Last week's Budget delivered our new First Home Savers Account; a new National Rental Affordability Scheme, together with a new Housing Affordability Fund to help reduce infrastructure costs for new houses and new developments.
From the time I came to office I said it is unacceptable that in a nation as prosperous as Australia 100,000 people are homeless - including an estimated 46,000 young Australians under the age of 24.
I am determined that we tackle this problem.
This week I released the Government's first Green Paper on homelessness. We are now looking at how to invest in new solutions in partnership with community and business groups to deal with this blight on us all.
The Government has concluded an historic agreement with the State and Territory governments of Australia to establish a single national authority to manage Australia's major inland river system - the Murray-Darling - whose future is threatened by the impact of over allocation and climate change.
The Government has advanced the cause of gender equality by appointing the first woman Governor General in 107 years.
Abroad, the Government has been strengthening the three pillars of our relationship with the world: our alliance with the US, our engagement with the United Nations and our commitment to engagement with our own region.
We have begun work on restoring Australia's engagement with the international community, including announcing our candidacy for the UN Security Council for 2013-14 after a 25 year absence.
And in our region, in my first visit to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands I affirmed our determination to tackle under-development across the Pacific Island states, through our new proposal for Pacific Partnerships for Development.
The 2008 Budget
Two weeks ago we brought down the Budget - a responsible Budget, that will help fight inflation and deliver for working families.
The Budget was framed amidst difficult economic conditions.
The Australian economy is facing powerful countervailing forces.
We have the highest domestic inflation in 16 years.
At the same time, turbulence in the global economy is slowing world growth.
The global economy is going through what the International Monetary Fund has described as the greatest financial shock since the Great Depression.
At the same time, oil prices have soared to record global levels off the back of ballooning demand from China and the developing world.
These were indeed difficult conditions in which to frame a Budget.
But we have delivered a responsible Budget, with a strong surplus; a Budget that honours our commitments before the election to support working Australians and working families under financial pressure; and at the same time commencing our long-term project of investing in the nation's future.
At the centre of the Budget was a $55 billion Working Families Support Package - and we make no apology for tipping the scales back in favour of working Australians and working families.
The Working Families Support Package helps families meet the increasing costs of living by providing tax cuts, and help with child care fees and the costs of education and housing.
We understand that families are under financial pressure because of rising costs of living such as mortgages, rents, petrol, groceries and childcare - unlike our predecessors who told us working families have never been better off and still tell us today that the impact of rising prices and inflation are a fairy tale and a charade.
We can't ease all the financial pressures on working families.
But we can make a difference - by focusing help on those who need it the most.
That's what we've done with the Budget's tax cuts.
That's what we've done with the Education Tax Refund to help families with the cost of textbooks, computers, internet connections and other school expenses.
That's what we've done with the Child Care Tax Rebate, increasing it from 30 per cent to 50 per cent.
Seniors are struggling to make ends meet with escalating prices for food, petrol and rents - and we've begun the process of providing a better outcome for seniors after more than a decade of neglect.
We are committed to righting the wrongful neglect of our seniors over more than a decade of Coalition rule.
That is why we invested an additional $5.2 billion for Australia's 2.2 million seniors in this Budget compared with $1.5 billion in Mr Howard's last Budget.
That's why pensioners this year under our Budget will
receive $900 in additional benefits compared with $500 in additional benefits under Mr Howard's last Budget.
That is why we invested an additional $1.1 billion for Australia's 430,000 carers in this Budget compared with a $361 million in Mr Howard's last Budget.
That is why we've provided recipients of both the carer's payments and the carer's allowance with an additional payment this year of $2,100 - compared with the $1,600 provided in Mr Howard's last Budget.
And that's why for Australia's 721,000 disability support pensioners we have provided for the first time an additional $500 utilities allowance this year - at a cost of $1.16 billion over five years. That compares to them receiving nothing additional under Mr Howard's last Budget.
I know this doesn't solve the cost of living pressures facing seniors, carers and those on disability support pensions.
But this is a first step in the right direction.
The Budget also delivered on our long-term commitments.
* $5.9 billion towards the Education Revolution.
* $2.3 billion to address climate change.
* And $3.2 billion to end the blame game over our hospitals.
The Budget is also unapologetically about nation building. That's why the Budget has established the following:
* The $20 billion Building Australia Fund will pay for ongoing improvements in our roads, ports, railways and broadband.
* The $11 billion Education Investment Fund will pay for ongoing improvements in our TAFEs and universities as part of the Education Revolution.
* The $10 billion Health and Hospitals Fund will pay for better hospitals, better healthcare facilities generally, and important medical research.
These funds will help the nation prepare for the long-term challenges of the future.
We were able to deliver on our priorities because we were tough on spending.
We cut out waste and pared back the excesses of the previous Liberal Government.
Every single dollar of new spending in this Budget was more than matched by savings elsewhere.
As a share of GDP, we have reduced government spending to its lowest level since 1989. And tax as a proportion of GDP has also been reduced.
Delegates, what the Budget demonstrated - and what the economic debate this year has demonstrated - is that the Australian Labor Party is now unmistakeably the party of responsible economic management.
...The party of responsible economic management, and the party of the reforming centre of Australian politics.
Two days after Wayne Swan brought down the Budget, Dr Nelson and Mr Turnbull came out with a $22 billion raid on the Budget surplus.
Malcolm Turnbull says Brendan Nelson's budget plans are bad policy, but good politics - and he supports those plans, now, but he won't say if the Liberals will actually take those policies to the next election.
Malcolm Turnbull says millionaires should get government welfare.
Brendan Nelson first says millionaires shouldn't get welfare.
Then he says that they should.
Then he says he doesn't support means testing.
But despite the fact he doesn't support means testing, he's still going to vote for means testing.
And more than a week after announcing his plans to blow a hole of something like $22 billion in the Budget, the Coalition has not released even one single costing to allow the public to see their policy plans and judge their merit.
This is the modern Liberal Party:
The party of reckless spending and endless confusion.
The party of short-term politics and long-term neglect.
The party whose legacy was the highest inflation rates in 16 years.
The party that gave us ten interest rate rises in a row.
The party that four years ago told us they'd keep interest rates at record lows.
The party that said that working families have never been better off.
The party that spent a decade in denial about climate change, the greatest economic challenge of our time.
The party that let our nation's investment in tertiary education slide, while our competitors invested more and more, knowing that skills and education are critical to a strong economy in the 21st century.
And the party of Work Choices - the party that attacked the rights of working people and created Australian Workplace Agreements that cut their wages and conditions.
This is the party - the Liberal Party - which has trashed whatever credentials it had on responsible economic management and the party that has completely lost touch with the needs of working Australians.
Our challenges beyond the Budget
The Budget has built a long-term foundation for dealing with the nation's future challenges.
We will now build on that foundation.
Not with a focus on just the next 12 months, but in the spirit of the 2020 Summit - a focus on the next 12 years and beyond.
We are moving ahead on many fronts.
Infrastructure Australia is moving ahead with the national audit of our infrastructure needs.
COAG is moving ahead with a comprehensive reform agenda covering all key aspects of Commonwealth/State relations.
Treasury Secretary Ken Henry is preparing a report on how we confront the long term, interrelated challenges of our tax, welfare and retirement income systems - which will include a review of aged pensions, due in February 2009.
Julia Gillard is consulting widely on the details of the modern, fair and flexible industrial relations system that will commence from 1 January 2010.
Julia has also begun the long term reform of Australian higher education.
And Penny Wong is working hard on the design of the emissions trading scheme, a critically important long term economic reform.
Slashing elective surgery waiting lists: Stage Two
Since we came to office, Nicola Roxon has been working hard on our long terms plans for reform of the health and hospitals system.
We have established the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission to develop a long term national health reform plan.
And we have started taking action.
I have already mentioned the new $10 billion Health and Hospitals Fund to ensure long term funding for hospitals, medical technology and research facilities and projects.
The Budget delivered a new investment of $3.2 billion in the National Health and Hospitals Reform Plan - to revitalise the public health system.
We have delivered an additional $1 billion to public hospitals over the next year - to begin rebuilding the health system after eleven years of neglect.
This growth is the largest single year increase in public hospital funding in almost a decade.
We have invested $275 million in GP Super Clinics, to improve access to health care and enhance chronic disease management.
We have also invested $249 million in a National Cancer Plan.
Another central part of our reforms is the Government's $600 million plan to slash elective surgery waiting lists.
In 2005-06, more than 25,000 patients waited more than one year for elective surgery.
We find this unacceptable and we have begun the job of fixing it.
Today I announce that the Federal Government will commit a further $150 million to slash elective surgery waiting lists.
This funding builds upon the Government's initial investment of $150 million for an immediate blitz on elective surgery waiting lists, announced earlier this year.
This new funding will deliver structural reform in the delivery of elective surgery, to help bring about lasting change in our hospitals.
This funding could be used to buy new, state-of-the-art surgical equipment and construct dedicated elective surgery units.
The allocation of this funding, and what it will be invested in, has now been agreed between the Commonwealth and the States and Territories:
For Victoria, this will mean $36.8 million to redevelop facilities at Royal Melbourne, Monash, Sunshine, Geelong and Frankston hospitals.
It will help in purchasing new equipment, including computer assisted surgical interventions.
It will also provide funding for three innovation projects to help improve elective surgery management.
This is modern Labor - reforming and investing.
Conclusion
Delegates, if we are to achieve the goals we've discussed today for the Party and for the nation, we must remain in government.
And that comes back to you, and your efforts on behalf of the great Labor cause.
Today, and over the coming weeks, we're all supporting Darren McCubbin in the Herculean task of winning Gippsland, a seat never once won by Labor in 107 years.
And beyond the by-election in Gippsland, we should all remember that we did not win the last Federal election by a large margin.
So too we would lose the next election with just a small swing against us.
And we are in uncertain economic times.
Nobody should therefore underestimate the challenges that face a reforming Labor Government.
We must deliver responsible economic management.
We must continue to provide support to working Australians, working families and those doing it tough.
We must also be a government of the future - a government that plans for the future, a government that invests in the future and a government that delivers the future.
And beyond all these requirements, we must govern with an iron discipline, an iron resolve and an iron focus.
With this in our arsenal, we will be a government that prevails in the tasks that have been set for us by the people who have elected us.
And that is our solemn responsibility.