The Gillard gospel

Most of her "Whitlam" speech dealt with day to day politics but on broad philosophy there was a fair bit that conservatives could applaud. Some excerpts below. Some critics have dismissed that segment as too mushy but emotion plays a considerable part in politics (particularly Leftist politics) so I think it will help the lady to have said those things

I am absolutely clear what Labor stands for, what we aspire to achieve, what our culture is and our role as a party of government.

The historic mission of our political party is to ensure the fair distribution of opportunity. From the moment of our inception our mission has been to enable the son of the labourer, the daughter of the cleaner, to have access to same the opportunities in life as the son of the millionaire, the daughter of the lawyer.

Creating opportunity and enabling social mobility has required different policies in every age. We have moved beyond the days of big government and big welfare, to opportunity through education and inclusion through participation.

But at every stage in our history fair access to opportunity has been our historic mission.

And we have always acknowledged that access to opportunity comes with obligations to seize that opportunity. To work hard, to set your alarm clocks early, to ensure your children are in school. We are the party of work not welfare, that’s why we respect the efforts of the brickie and look with a jaundiced eye at the lifestyle of the socialite.

The Labor culture values effort more than status.

It prizes the great Australian tradition of informality and rejects the sort of snobbishness and obsequiousness that infect other societies.

Labor culture values the strength that comes from working as a team and supports the role of unions in ensuring working people succeed together and that their work is recognised, rewarded and appreciated. This is the best self to which Labor must always be true.

This is our continuing culture, born in Barcaldine and Balmain, the culture of mateship and the fair go, hard work and respect, that we have shared from our first days.

We happily leave to the Greens being a party of protest with no tradition of striking the balance required to deliver major reform.

The differences between Labor and the Greens take many forms but at the bottom of it are two vital ones.

The Greens wrongly reject the moral imperative to a strong economy. The Greens have some worthy ideas and many of their supporters sincerely want a better politics in our country. They have good intentions but fail to understand the centrepiece of our big picture - the people Labor strives to represent need work.

And the Greens will never embrace Labor’s delight at sharing the values of every day Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation.

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