Bill Shorten with University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis at the conference yesterday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy Source: News Corp Australia
LABOR has vowed to stand firm in the face of Tony Abbott’s declaration that key budget measures will be reintroduced into the Senate if they are not passed the first time.
Bill Shorten told the Economic and Social Outlook conference “if Tony Abbott imagines that he can arrogantly force his unfair budget through the Senate by division and bullying, or by repetition, he is wrong’’.
Mr Abbott told the conference on Thursday night that he believed his budget would eventually be passed because Labor had no alternative to tackle the budget challenges facing the nation.
“Eventually — if not at the first attempt or even the second — this budget will pass, because no one has put up a credible alternative,’’ the Prime Minister said.
As Mr Abbott has sought to claim the mantle of a reforming Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader said Labor was also committed to reform.
Mr Shorten said he was a reformer “because I believe in the things that have to be done to make people’s lives better’’.
“But I am also a conserver — a conserver because I want to save what is great about our nation.
“That’s the essential choice Australia faces: what do we want to reform and improve?
“Healthcare, education, aged care, equality for women, indigenous rights, the lives of people with disability, our environment.
“And what do we want to save?
“Nothing less than the essential model that has made Australia great, defined us, and made us different.’’
Mr Shorten said Labor’s reforms on the 1980s and 1990 under the Hawke-Keating governments were not inevitable.
“They depended on political courage and policy resolve, on patient and careful explanation, on coalition-building and leadership from within the union movement, Labor and business,’’ Mr Shorten said.
Mr Shorten took aim at the Prime Minister’s planned paid parental leave scheme, arguing it was “extravagant”.
Labor was conscious of making sure that scarce taxpayer resources were distributed fairly, on the basis of need.
He also took aim at the damage that broken promises inflicted on the faith of the Australian people in the system. “Every time a politician breaks a promise and denies their breach of faith, the Australian people lose a bit more belief in the mainstream of Australian politics,’’ Mr Shorten said.
source: theaustralian.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 