A Fair Go, Not a Throwback
The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment
ACT Federal Labor Campaign Launch Address
Albert Hall,
Yarralumla, ACT
Sunday 6 April 2025
Thank you very much for all giving up your Sunday to be part of this great festival of democracy. Can I acknowledge my extraordinary federal colleagues, the great ACT MLAs, Aunty Violet Sheridan and our wonderful Labor red members. Particularly two of our newest branch members, Clementine and Bill Shorten - thank you for being here this morning.
Three years ago, we promised a fairer Australia. In that time, we've gotten wages moving, we've expanded renewable energy, we've strengthened Medicare, we've begun to rebuild public housing. In fact, the only thing we haven't been able to make any progress on is fixing up Scott Morrison's LinkedIn page. Apparently, it still says he held five jobs.
Make no mistake, we have done an extraordinary amount over these last three years. We have created a more dynamic and competitive economy, the biggest merger shakeup in fifty years, and we've worked to invest in Australia's schools, bringing home the promise of the Gonski agreement.
We have stood up to vested interests in making medicines cheaper and ensuring that those who are living on fixed incomes are able to afford those essential medicines – building on a legacy that goes back to Chifley’s creation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
We are up against an opponent who would take us backwards. Whose idea for the public service is that we gut central agencies that are keeping Australia safe, that are planning against the next recession, that were doing the work to forestall against a future pandemic.
We're up against an opponent who wants to spend $600 billion of your money on nuclear plants that in twenty years’ time might produce 4 per cent of Australia's electricity.
We’re up against an opponent who, if he was elected, would bring us back the dulcet tones of Michaelia Cash, the easy charm of James Patterson and the natural modesty of Angus Taylor.
Our opponents are out there to smash ‘woke’ - that frightening idea that we ought to behave decently to people who aren't exactly like us. I've got news for them if they want to fight us in the culture wars: the culture has changed, and they lost the war.
Now, when Peter Dutton takes a swing, it's never the most affluent who cop it. It's people on the NDIS, it's people on Medicare, people on fixed incomes, a bloke trying to take a photo by the side of a footy field.
We in Labor have values that endure. We are Australia's oldest and greatest political party. All of us, in that time we're here, aim to make a difference. To leave a nation that's a little better than the one that came before us.
We're here in Albert Hall, in the very room where Australia's first citizenship ceremony took place. A room that reminds us of Labor's legacy in building an Australia - not just of concrete, but of people and of values.
To be part of that mission is an extraordinary privilege. By being here today and making the case for Labor, you're doing that.
This campaign isn't just about keeping government. It's about keeping faith with every Australian who values the fair go.
Thank you for being here today, and please now put your hands together to welcome David Smith.
ENDS