Andrew Leigh

A STRONG ECONOMY FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS

48TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ADELAIDE

Thank you, President Swan.

Inequality in Australia is now at a 75-year high. If you were alive when inequality was this bad and you don’t have life membership, I’d encourage you to see Wayne Swan afterwards.

It is a pleasure to speak in favour of this important chapter alongside my friends Chris and Jim, because this chapter goes to the heart of what a Shorten Labor Government would deliver for the economy. 

If you’re a billionaire, then the Liberals have been a great government. They’ve never seen a tax loophole they won’t defend. If he’s re-elected at the election, Scott Morrison will be back fighting once more for tax cuts for the biggest companies in Australia. Because, as he said less than six months ago, ‘we don't flip flop on these things’.

The Liberals are the party of super yachts and super lurks. They’re the party of the bottom of the harbour scheme, the party that will always be created from and for the top end of town.

But if you’re a battler, then ours is the party for you. We will make sure workers get their fair share of productivity gain. As Sally McManus puts it, we want to make sure Australia gets a pay rise. We’ll crack down on tax havens, making sure you can’t get a tax deduction to go and check on your tax lurks.

We’ll make sure monopolies face tougher penalties for anti-competitive conduct. We’ll ensure that independent mechanics are looked after, so they can thrive in suburbs and towns and regions across Australia. And to ensure that we don't see the pay gap widening still further, we’ll require listed companies to report on the ratio between CEO pay and what the typical worker earns. 

This is Labor’s plan - a plan for ‘flow up economics’, not trickle down economics. 

There’s a lot of talk in Australian politics about aspirational voters. For the Liberals, their aspirations is to have the biggest tax loopholes in Australia. These young fogies have aspirations as dull you’d expect from a party let by a guy who was fired by Fran Bailey as the head of Tourism Australia.

For Labor, our aspirations are to grow wages, to build a great early childhood system, to build 250,000 affordable homes, and to have the best schools in Australia.

We are aspirational for Australia. We believe Australia has a great future ahead in a great region. These are exciting times, and only a Labor Government can deliver for all Australians.

ENDS

Authorised by Noah Carroll, ALP, Canberra.