QUEENSLAND STATE LABOR CONFERENCE

CANBERRA, ACT, Aug. 30 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

Before we begin, I want us to take a moment to reflect on the tragedy in Nepal that has resulted in such devastation and loss of life - potentially including many Australians still among the missing.



Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends, with the people of Nepal, and with the citizens of every country caught up in this calamity.



Our hope is that many of those missing are found alive.



That something so devastating could occur in such an awesome and inspiring corner of the world during times of pilgrimage and holiday makes the blow seem even more heartbreaking.



I want to reassure you that, as always, Australia is responding with significant consular, rescue and humanitarian aid.



Delegates, it's always a good day to be in Queensland.



The state whose struggles for the rights of trade unionists inspired the formation of Labor 135 years ago - an anniversary we acknowledged at our National Conference last month.



I had the privilege then of launching a new edition of Ross McMullan's tremendous history of the ALP, The Light on the Hill, which opens with the drama of the big Shearer's Strike of 1891.



Although that strike was lost, it taught the workers a lesson.



About the need for parliamentary representation.



From defeat came a victory - the formation of the ALP.



Delegates, 135 years on, we're still here.



Still standing up for a better life for everyday Australians.



For the low paid.



For equality for women.



For justice for Australia's First Nations people.



For the environment.



For social cohesion and for democracy - in a world of increasing anger and intolerance.



Our Party has never been more respected in the world.



And never been more listened to.



Because on so many big topics, we don't wait for the world.



We take the lead.



We're unafraid to take on the big challenges.



That's why we should all be proud to be members of the greatest social-democratic party in the world.



My thanks to the Branch for your invitation.



Especially after I let you down last year.



But it was for the best of reasons.



It was, after all, my wedding day.



So, thank you for your understanding.



My thanks to our office bearers - Fiona, Ben, Isabella and Megan.



To Steven Miles and Cameron Dick.



To all the Queensland State MPs, Mayors, Counsellors and Union officials.



To the students and Young Labor members.



To all the delegates.



To our wonderful rank and file members.



And of course, to our federal caucus members, including the fantastic new additions from last year's historic victory.



Corinne Mulholland, Renee Coffey, Matt Smith, Emma Comer, Madonna Jarret, Kara Cook, Rowan Holzberger, Julie-Ann Campbell, and, of course, Ali France.



A fact that makes our great Labor Party stand apart is that our name still means something.



Unlike the right-wing parties.



We have a Liberal Party that isn't liberal, a National Party that isn't national, and One Nation - whose leader seeks to divide Australians talks Australia down both here and overseas.



We all know that right now many Australians are under pressure.



The disruptions to global trade caused by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have caused inflation to spike around the world.



It's spread economic unease and political disruption.



It's something every country is facing.



My response to this situation is clear.



To show people that government can ease the financial pressure and lower the temperature of our debates, while building a better future.



We're showing this across the country, including right across Queensland.



In Brisbane. In Toowoomba. Rockhampton. Mt Isa. Ipswich. Matt Smith's fortress up there in the far north.



Delivering real change for Australians.



With more tax cuts.



Cheaper medicines and a stronger Medicare.



Real help for first home buyers.



Wage justice for the low paid.



Delegates, I'm so proud of what we are doing in health.



There are now 691 fully bulk billing practices across Queensland - 301 of which have made the switch from mixed billing as a result of our record investment.



We've lifted the bulk billing rate for GP appointments in Queensland to 82 per cent.



And there have been over 740,000 Queensland visits to our 26 new Medicare Urgent Care Clinics.



In the last 16 months alone we've added ten new clinics in Deception Bay, Cairns North, Gladstone, Mackay, Carina-Carindale, Coorparoo, Capalaba, Inner Brisbane, Buderim and Caloundra.



When the children are unexpectedly sick or injured and you need help, you now have somewhere to go, free of charge, right across this big state.



All you need is your Medicare Card, not your credit card.



Our cheaper medicines have filled 94 million scripts, saving Queenslanders $600 million in pharmaceuticals since 2022.



And our latest Hospital Funding Agreement is investing an extra $5.7 billion over five years in Queensland hospitals.



This is real change that is making a real difference to Queenslanders' lives.



Free TAFE is changing lives - that's why Labor established it, and why we've made it permanent.



Since 2023 143,000 Queenslanders have enrolled in a Free TAFE course. Giving a future to Queensland's crucial manufacturing industries.



Nearly 7,500 Queensland housing apprentices have picked up the tools and taken up a trade through our Key Apprenticeship Program.



Tens of thousands of Queensland uni students and graduates have had their student debt cut by 20 percent.



And for the first time, Paid Prac for students in critical health, education and other services is being paid. We expect over 17,000 Queenslanders will receive it this year.



Delegates, this is Labor delivering real change for people.



I'm incredibly proud too of the work that our movement is doing to lift wages.



Annual wages have now grown above three per cent for 15 consecutive quarters.



We've delivered 5 consecutive increases to minimum and award wages.



We've abolished junior pay rates - so 18, 19 and 20-year-olds get paid like the adults that they are.



Gig economy workers are now getting wage justice and decent conditions thanks to our new legislation.



And early childhood educators - no longer undervalued by our society, are now getting a locked in 15 per cent pay rise.



Aged care workers too are now being paid properly.

And we are delivering record funding to fix the Bruce Highway, Queensland's most important artery.



This is the difference Labor governments can make.



Delegates, Queensland is Australia's gateway to the Pacific and the world.



No other part of the world is more important to us, which is why tomorrow I'm heading to Palau and the Pacific Island Forum, to discuss issues crucial to the security and prosperity of all our nations.



Australia is a proud member of the Pacific family, and investing in the security and prosperity of our Pacific neighbours makes our region safer and our economy stronger.

Our engagement in the Pacific Islands Forum and our contributions to the infrastructure, regional security and climate action of the region matter more than ever before.

The big challenges facing the Pacific require solutions designed and delivered for the Pacific, by the Pacific. And Australia has a key role to play - as a partner and leader.

And this economic cooperation works two ways.

People from the Pacific make an enormous contribution to Australia's prosperity through their vital work in regional industries like agriculture and meat processing.

So many of our farmers and food producers rely on them.

We know also the wages they remit home help boost the economies of their families and communities, contributing to the prosperity and stability of the whole region.

And we intend to keep this crucial two-way economic benefit continuing.

We won't ever let those who peddle division affect the viability of our food producing industries.

Our predecessors joked about water lapping at the shores of our Pacific Island neighbours. It was disgraceful and undermined our national security.

Taking climate change seriously is the entry price for engaging with our Pacific family.



For the small Pacific island nations, climate change is an existential threat.



Our position is therefore clear: climate change is happening, the threat it poses to small island nations is real, and we are ready to help by showing global leadership on cutting emissions.



As good neighbours we want to help Pacific Island communities thrive and address issues of mutual concern - like controlling the illicit drug trade, advancing women's rights, safety and economic empowerment, and showing that the nations of the Pacific working together can help shape the way the world adopts AI



Their success is our success.



Delegates, this a crucial time for our movement.



Across the world hard right populists are on the march.



Peddling politics that is dangerous, divisive, and downright dishonest.



We simply must defeat them. We owe it to history.



And we will defeat them.



They'll say anything and do anything to win votes. Bend any facts. Peddle misinformation and disinformation. Turn Australian against Australian.



Parties like One Nation have no serious answers to our problems.



Their own divisions and disagreements are now showing through.



They think Australians are lazy and overpaid.



That people working from home are bludging.



That domestic violence is sometimes a woman's fault.



That we should - somehow - become a monoculture.



Delegates, we unequivocally support multiculturalism because we know it's part of Australia's strength.



And because we believe every Australian is equal, whether they are Australian by birth or Australian by choice.



It's obvious - One Nation are not on the side of working people.



How is their plan to cut penalty rates going to help the people of Logan, or Gladstone, or Strathpine, or Ipswich, or Mt Isa?



Every time they achieve any success, it leads to chaos and division.



Remember when they won 11 seats in Queensland in 1998? They lost all of them in record time.



How on earth will they govern in coalition with the LNP?



Because they can't govern without the LNP - and the LNP can't govern without them.



The only mainstream political force in Australia that seeks to govern in the interests of the Australian people in their own right is the Australian Labor Party.

The best way to defeat this coalition of chaos is to give Australians real hope of a better future. For their country. And for their families and themselves.



To stay positive. To be the party with the ideas that will make our people's lives better, our economy stronger, our country safer, our environment cleaner.



To be the party of progress and optimism and aspiration for everyone.



I believe no matter how enormous the changes in the world are right now, we can retain control of our own destiny.



And that we can do it by governing with courage and intelligence and decisiveness.



Delegates, that's what we are doing.



After four years and four months of Labor government, our country is in good shape.



We have stronger economic growth, better employment growth, lower unemployment, and a sounder budget than most major advanced economies.



And our stable economic outlook and Triple-A credit rating were reconfirmed recently in glowing terms.



We are on the right track.



And, with every sitting of parliament, passing important new reforms, like our reforms to keep the NDIS sustainable, our News Bargaining Initiative to keep our media companies strong, and our changes to strengthen gambling advertising restrictions.



All passed just over a week ago.



Our goal is to make our economy work for people, not the other way around.



So it can deliver economic justice for everyone.



And that justice has a crucial dimension we must never forget.



A generational dimension.



Across the world, many young people are in despair, robbed of hope, feeling they may never attain the standard of living their parents enjoyed.



It's made many cynical - even about the great miracle of democracy.



And turned generation against generation.



We can't let this trend take hold here.



This, delegates, is a cause for our time.



We must give young Australians a stake in the nation's future.



And the best stake in Australia's future is to own a home.



Because when you can put that key in the door of your own home, you know our economy is working for you.



For too long Australia's housing policies didn't serve young Australians.



We are now giving them a real crack at getting that home.



Since their release three months ago in the Budget, our housing policies have already started making a difference.



No one can argue that the existing housing system was working for its primary purpose - to give Australians access to home ownership.



But since we changed tax breaks for property investors, first home buyers are facing less competition, and more homes are being built right across the country.



In the June quarter annual figures, there was a 27 per cent increase in investor loans for new builds, and a 20 per cent increase for construction loans.



A big part of this was the pickup in the days and weeks after our budget.



Because investors can still purchase new property using negative gearing and the capital gains discount, they are not just investing in their own assets and future wealth, they are investing in the assets and future wealth of the nation.



This means we're giving every Australian a stake in our national success.



That's how we head off the populist challenge - by delivering economic growth, generational equity and making the economy work for people.



Building that future for our young people is also about building an economy that will work for them.



Creating future jobs. Rewarding their effort. Honouring their creativity and brilliance.



We're now so well positioned to do this.



Especially here in Queensland, which is so perfectly placed to benefit from future economic development, with its proximity to Asia, abundant minerals, outstanding natural tourism attractions, vast distances and limitless sunshine and renewable power potential.



There's nothing Queensland and Australia can't do.



It means we have to engage positively and bravely with the profound technological changes affecting the global economy.



It means we can't afford to be passive adopters of AI



And we won't be.



As you know, last year we led the world in standing up to the big tech companies by addressing the harm being done to children - by adopting our under-16 social media ban.



The rest of the world has taken notice.



Just this week, the New Zealand Government followed our lead.



And I'll be encouraging more countries do the same very soon when I visit the United Nations.



Our digital policies are designed to shape the globe .



Their policy significance is profound.



Because they show that middle-sized countries can stand up to the power of the tech world.



That people can control their own destiny.



And that it's possible to make this awesome new technology work for us.



But only if we have the guts to develop a strategy for making it address the needs of our economy, our community, and our people.



This is what Labor does.



We stand up for people and for communities as we shape the future of the economy.



With our active involvement, AI can be a tool for national success.



Delegates, this is how we will keep delivering real change.



How we will remain a great party with many more landmark anniversaries to celebrate.



Through positivity, optimism and good government that provides real change that works for people.



As opposed to the chaos, division and cynicism of our opponents.



That's the choice that Queenslanders and all Australians will have to make at the next election.



And, delegates, knowing their common sense and decency, I'm confident they will choose us.



Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.