Telling the 190 delegates that the ALP had to "modernise", Crean said that the party was all about reform, but that it had to reform itself before it could expect to be elected to reform Australia. Crean also called for an end to branch stacking and the reduction from 60% to 50% for union representation at ALP State Conferences.
This is the full text of Simon Crean's Address to the ALP National Conference In Canberra.
Delegates.
I stand as Leader of this great party to lay the basis of an election victory in two years time.
I stand as Leader of the parliamentary party with the experience of having led our union movement.
I know better than most the importance of a strong partnership between the two.
And I stand here today knowing it's not our values that need to change.
But something does need to change…it's us.
For the first time in our nation's history, we hold government in every state and territory.
We're all proud of this magnificent achievement.
We're proud because our state governments are doing what Labor Governments do best – investing in jobs and growth, investing in our schools and hospitals, and investing in making our communities stronger and our streets safer.
The leaders of those governments are here today…..they deserve our thanks.
Reforming Australia starts with us…
As good as our achievements are at the state level, imagine how much better Australia could be if we had a federal Labor government working in partnership with them.
But the reality is we've lost three federal elections in a row.
As a party we've done well but we're not doing well enough.
We must reassess.
We must take a hard look at ourselves.
We can do better.
We have to do better otherwise Australians will continue to look elsewhere at election times.
We must not be afraid of reform. We are the party of reform.
And reforming Australia starts with us. Here! Now! Today!
A new Partnership with Each Other…
Reform is hard.
In the lead up to the conference we all know how hard.
But it must be done.
If we are to convince the Australian people of our capacity to govern the country we must govern ourselves better.
We must lead by example.
If we want Australia to be more open, more honest and more equal…..we must be more open, more honest and more equal with ourselves.
A new partnership with one another.
We've started this by having an open debate, conducted in full public view.
It was a great exercise in democracy.
Every party member has had a chance to contribute.
Contribute to the opinion pages of the Australian….the Age…the Sydney Morning Herald….the Australian Financial Review….and even Crikey.com…..Delia Delegate take a bow.
There were nearly 700 written submissions and dozens of forums attended by thousands of party members and supporters.
Barry Jones even drew us two new diagrams.
Seriously, it has been a great exercise in democracy and I really want to thank each and every one of you.
We need to give special thanks to Bob Hawke and Neville Wran ….they did their job superbly….not only the process but the blueprint for reform.
A new Partnership with our Members…
Delegates.
I called this conference because I'm serious about governing.
But let's be serious with ourselves.
We need to forge a new partnership with the Australian people.
To do that we must first forge a new partnership between the parliamentary party and our rank and file.
That means making it easier for our members to get elected to our conferences.
I've looked hard at the proposals for direct election to National Conference.
The fundamental problem with the proposals is that the quota is too large.
It makes it almost impossible for ordinary members to get to Conference.
But by increasing the size of both our state and national conferences, we will significantly reduce the quota, making it easier for more rank and file members to get elected.
That's why I'm backing an increase in the size of our state and national conferences.
I also want direct involvement by members in making our policies.
That's why I'm backing the creation of new policy forums that will allow every member of our party to directly attend, to debate issues, to make recommendations through a new national policy committee, to have a real say in Labor policies.
I want the direct involvement of our members to go even further.
That's why I'm backing the direct election of our president.
60,000 Australians voting on the same day to elect our president through one person, one vote.
This reform will guarantee that within three years…. and for the first time in our 112 year history…. we will have a woman as president of our party.
Delegates.
You know as well as I do.
Branch stackers are hurting our party.
I'm committed to weeding them out.
They deprive our members of a real say and they turn new members away at the door.
They deprive us of quality community-based candidates and they hurt us at the ballot box.
We must deliver the branch stackers a mortal blow.
That's why I'm backing rules that make the electoral roll the basis of a member's right to vote in Party preselections.
The principle is simple: if you can't vote in an election, you can't vote in a preselection.
I'm backing rules to stop mass enrolments and to allow appeals to preselections where stacking is demonstrated.
And I'm also backing a new rule to create an independent and impartial appeals tribunal.
Our members will not need to go to court to get a fair go.
If anyone tries to rort our rules, they will be stopped.
We must build integrity back into our processes.
A moment ago I said I wanted our first female National President.
Currently one third of our federal caucus members are women.
That's not enough. We have to increase it.
I want more women in the parliament.
And I want more women involved in our party at all levels.
We need a new partnership between men and women in the Party.
A new partnership built on equality of opportunity and merit.
That's why I'm backing the 40:40 proposal.
If we're going to attract more Australians, our Party has to reflect their daily lives.
Lifestyle changes and increasing hours of work are making it harder for people – especially young people – to attend the traditional weeknight branch meeting.
And lets face it they are often about as exciting as a night out with David Kemp!
That's why I'm backing the creation of new types of branches – in the workplace, on campuses and online.
We must lift membership levels or our party will slowly die.
We must attract more people directly from the shop floor to join us.
And we must attract idealistic and active young Australians so they can inherit our traditions and lead us into the future.
A new Partnership with the Union Movement…
Delegates, I've dedicated my life to making the lives of working Australians better.
I've been involved in many successful campaigns.
One of my proudest moments was when, as a young unionist, I helped negotiate equal pay for women in the pharmaceutical industries.
This was even before Gough Whitlam re-opened the national wage case on equal pay as one of the first acts of his government.
There are still women working at Sigma Pharmaceuticals – in my own electorate – who remember that victory.
It helped change their lives. It changed me too.
Nothing can equal the feeling that comes from helping people achieve justice.
That's what Labor Party members do – in the workplace, in the parliament and in the community.
The Liberals always attack us because of our union backgrounds.
Well, I've got a message for John Howard, Peter Costello, Tony Abbott and the rest:
I'm proud to be Labor. Proud to be union. Proud to be Australian.
Delegates, I can't imagine a Labor Party that doesn't have a strong partnership with the union movement.
We both stand for the interests of working people.
We stood together at the last election….. in the most difficult of circumstances….to fight the Coalition's anti-worker agenda.
We all acknowledge the enormous contribution that many unions and union members put in to that effort.
Some say we should cut our ties with the unions and become a social-democratic party.
We're not a social-democratic party. We're a Labor party. That's what we'll stay.
Our partnership isn't defined by proportions at conferences. It's the quality of the relationship and the agenda we pursue that matters most.
It's a common agenda to make life better for working people.
Policies like:
- Paid maternity leave.
- A tax cut for working families.
- The protection of 100 percent of workers' entitlements – for everyone.
- An active industry policy to create well-paid jobs.
- And defending fair dismissal laws.
John Howard says the test of this conference is whether we will pass his unfair dismissal laws.
And if we don't, he'll make them a double dissolution trigger.
Well here's my test for John Howard.
If you want to fight an election over making it easier to sack people, I say, bring it on, John…. bring it on!
The reality is, Labor and the union movement will continue to have a strong partnership.
And like any good partnership, we can make it even better.
The reforms we debate this weekend will give us new and better forms of consultation with the union movement.
And they will encourage more rank-and-file union members to join the Party.
But it's not enough to just have a good partnership with the union movement.
We went to the last three federal elections with a good partnership, but we didn't win.
Delegates, as proud as we are of our past, we can't live in the past.
The facts are plain – the workforce has changed, our traditional base has shrunk and our primary vote has declined.
Our structures must reflect these new realities.
No matter how good our partnership with the unions is and how good our agenda is, we can never implement that agenda unless we win government.
To get elected we have to lift our primary vote.
At the last federal election it was only 37.8 percent – our second lowest result ever.
We won't lift our primary vote unless we are more inclusive.
We must get more Australians to join us and to vote for us.
And Australians won't do that until we offer them an equal say.
We have to form a new partnership with all Australians: an equal partnership.
That's why I'm backing 50:50.
A Great Reforming Tradition…
Delegates, these reforms represent the most significant modernization of the Australian Labor Party since Gough Whitlam.
Gough modernized the Party then he modernized Australia – forever.
We modernized again in 1981. It delivered Bob Hawke government just two years later.
Let's give the Australian people and all of our members the Modern Labor Party they deserve.
Modern Labor for a modern Australia.
The Light on the Hill...
When people overseas think of Australia they think of a big country with opportunity for all.
That has always been the great promise of Australia.
It's the light on the hill.
It's the simple idea that we should look out for each other and invest in our future.
That light and the hope and values it represents still shines in the hearts of the Australian people.
But John Howard is trying to extinguish it.
He's tried to downsize it, privatize it and outsource it.
I've got a message for John Howard: the light on the hill is not for sale.
Delegates, our task is to go back to the source of the light on the hill.
Recapture its spirit.
And turn it into a crusade for a better Australia, based on Labor values.
Security. Opportunity. Community.
That's why we're here.
The Liberals only know how to cut…
In the last six years, our nation's politics has become too focussed on a narrow economic agenda.
An agenda about cutting.
Can you think of something the Liberals haven't cut?
They've cut education.
They've cut health.
They've cuts services to our regions.
But why after all these cuts are we paying more tax than ever before?
And every time the Liberals find a new problem they only have one answer: they find a new tax.
An Ansett tax, a dairy tax, a sugar tax, a tourism tax, a medical indemnity tax. Even a tax on sporting trophies at your children's athletic carnival. Now they want a war tax.
No wonder most of the jobs they've created are low-paid, casual or part-time jobs.
No wonder in the last three years they've created only 700 new middle-income jobs.
No wonder middle Australia feels squeezed.
The Liberals are making jobs less secure so people will work harder, for longer, for less.
There is only one country in the advanced world with longer working hours than Australia and that's South Korea.
And even in Australia, look what the Government did to the crew of the CSL Yarra.
They replaced an Australian crew – working under Australian conditions, for Australian wages – with Ukrainians – working under foreign conditions, for foreign wages.
Whose job is next?
The Liberals claim to be protecting our borders, but they're giving our jobs away.
Enough is enough…
We must stop this mad rush for the bottom.
Look what they're doing to our schools.
In the north-western suburbs of Melbourne, 47 percent of boys leave school before finishing year 12. In the wealthier inner-eastern suburbs it's only 5 percent.
Your postcode shouldn't determine whether you finish school.
And your postcode shouldn't determine the quality of your health care.
The bulk-billing rate for GPs has fallen from more than 90 percent to only 72 percent in just six years.
In many parts of regional and rural Australia you simply can't find a doctor prepared to bulk bill.
They're killing Medicare.
We must stop the Americanization of our health care.
New partnerships for Australia's future…
Do you want to know the big difference between us and them?
The Liberals will keep on cutting. Labor will invest.
A Crean Labor Government will invest in Australia.
Invest in research and development.
Invest in skills.
We will invest in great nation building institutions like the CSIRO and the ABC.
We will invest in nation saving projects to save our rivers, to save our soil and to save our country towns.
And delegates be very clear about this…….we will not sell Telstra.
We will invest in new industries and we'll make our old industries new again.
We'll keep a manufacturing base in Australia.
We will create Australian jobs for Australian workers.
Higher-skills, higher-paying jobs for the many, not just the few.
We'll invest in our teachers, schools, universities and TAFEs
Invest in our hospitals, doctors and nurses.
Invest in stronger communities, safer streets.
And we'll invest in them through new partnerships between Federal Labor and State and Territory Labor governments.
The Howard Government's boom-bust approach to housing is pricing young Australians out of the housing market.
After just six years of a Howard Government it's now taking an extra 14 months of your wages to buy a home.
It's got so bad in Sydney that people like nurses and police can't afford to buy a family home any more.
The Australian dream of owning a home is disappearing under this government.
Through ideas like nest-egg and matched savings accounts we'll establish new partnerships to help Australians save and invest in their own homes.
And what has the Howard Government done to give people a secure retirement?
They've made superannuation more complicated, with higher fees.
They've lowered its value and they've done nothing to extend or improve it.
And they won't regulate corporate Australia to protect the retirement savings of millions of Australians.
Only Labor extended superannuation to the whole workforce.
Only Labor proposed a superannuation tax cut for all Australians.
Only Labor will take superannuation forward.
One Australia for all Australians…
Delegates, Australia is facing critical decisions about it's future.
There has never been a more important time for real partnership.
We all know Australians are at their best when they work together.
John Howard wants to turn Australia in on itself and set Australian against Australian.
We all know what happened at the last election.
It caused hurt and division among our members.
Delegates, together we can work through this issue.
There has been significant consultation.
I'm prepared to keep consulting to get the best policy for Australia.
All it takes is good will.
That's why I've established a new working group that includes representatives of the Parliamentary Party and our members to formulate the principles of our Party's Refugee Policy, consistent with our National Platform and our Constitution.
Delegates, Labor will never surrender our borders, and we will never surrender our compassion.
Labor is proud of the contribution migrants have made to the development of Australia.
We're proud of our tolerant society.
We want reconciliation with our indigenous peoples.
And we want full equality for women in society and the workplace.
Only Labor can build a new partnership to take the nation forward while protecting the great Australian values of security, opportunity and community for all.
Conclusion – Modern Labor for a modern Australia
Delegates, some people ask what's in this conference for ordinary Australians.
I say: a Labor Government.
Labor is back as the party of Australian values.
The party of ideas and action.
The party of strength and compassion.
The party of security, opportunity and community for all.
The only party that will invest in our nation's future.
The only party that believes in a strong economy for a just society.
That's what's in this for all Australians.
We'll only win government and get these things if we reform ourselves.
I want you to back reform and create Modern Labor for a modern Australia.
The Federal Opposition Leader, Simon Crean, is proposing direct election by party members of the ALP's National President as part of a package of reforms he outlined in his opening speech to the special National Conference which has opened in Canberra.