Labor’s Future

NSW Labor leader John Robertson has a mission to define Labor once more as the party that cares. Over time, the electorate has viewed Labor as the compassionate party. Robertson argues that the cuts enacted by the Federal and State Liberals offer Labor an opportunity to re-state its founding belief in a more humane vision of government. He cites NSW Labor’s internal reforms and support for a second Sydney airport as acts of a party prepared to make tough decisions for the State’s future. John Robertson addressed The Sydney Institute on Tuesday 18 March 2014.

LABOR’S FUTURE

JOHN ROBERTSON

I’d like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I appreciate the opportunity to address The Sydney Institute. This Institute has a wonderful reputation as a centre for thoughtful discussion, dialogue and debate.

In that context, I don’t expect to necessarily change your mind or your views – but rather to share a little about my background, how this shapes my approach to politics and the future of the Labor Party “one year out” from state election next March.

I have worked at senior levels of government and seen how good policy, even controversial policy, can succeed when it has a passionate advocate behind it. And, like many people in public life, I’ve been willing to change my mind and be open to new ideas However, even after more than a decade on the political front lines my approach to politics has and will continue to be heavily influenced by my experiences in life:

• Working as an electrician and union organiser;
• Leading the ‘Your Rights at Work’ campaign as secretary of Unions NSW; and
• Serving as a government Minister in portfolios as varied as Energy, Environment, Corrective Services and Transport.

After finishing school I spent almost eight years as an electrician working early mornings on construction sites across Sydney. For me a Western Sydney family life is not an academic, focus group tested sound-bite; it’s the life my family and I have lived.

The reason I am in politics is because I care about, and want to fight for, everyday workers and their families. I moved from the shop floor to take on a role as a union organiser and for 20 years worked in the union movement representing people from right across the state and all walks of life. While the popular view of union officials is back room lunches and power politics, the reality for me was very different.

My time as a unionist was spent largely at workplace meetings speaking to workers about the issues affecting them. It was my duty to stand up for them and be their voice. I saw the decisions by employers and governments through the eyes of the everyday workers who were impacted. I saw firms shut down – leaving hundreds of workers without jobs, worried sick about how they are going to bring home a wage and provide for their family.

When a job site closed, I knew the names of the workers who were losing their jobs.

I spoke to the family of workers who were injured on the job. I can tell you from experience anyone who has seen a mate injured at work would tell you a little bit of red tape is more than justified if it can save someone from losing a limb or save their life. These experiences as an electrician and unionist are an important influence on how I view the world – and my approach to government. When I look at a policy or a piece of legislation – I want to know how this will affect people on the ground – their family and their livelihood.

After the last election we needed to re-engage with the true principles of Labor.

I believed then and I still believe now that Labor is the only true agent for change that improves the lives of all communities. In my lifetime, Australian Labor has shattered a long-held myth of economic growth. That myth was that we need to make a choice between prosperity or fairness.

The reforms of the Hawke Keating era remodelled Australian economic competitiveness and brought every Australian with them. Tony Blair looked to the Australian model and called it the “Third way”. For Australian Labor, it has always been the only way. It was never a choice between what was prosperous or fair. The choice was always to serve both. Labor floated the dollar and created Medicare. Labor reformed our financial system and made University affordable through HECS. Labor created superannuation and protected our environment. Labor does not ask communities to choose between opportunity and security. These things are not mutually exclusive, they are mutually supportive.

In many ways this shapes the way I see some of the key challenges facing NSW, such as rising unemployment, the housing affordability crisis and the collapse of trust in government. The unemployment rate has been steadily rising in New South Wales from 5 per cent in March 2011 to 5.8 per cent in February this year. But these are just statistics in reality this means more than 37,000 extra people are out of work 37,000 additional families are finding it harder to make ends meet. Even those still employed are feeling less secure in their job and worried about the future as we see more and more major employers and industries downsizing or closing down.

There is nothing more heart-breaking for Labor than seeing workers who are unable to find work – unable to provide for their family. In 2011 – I proposed funding for reskilling workers and capital investment to support new industries in regional areas to help deal with the long term structural changes due to the winding down of the resources boom and the high dollar. In 2012, I called for the government to set up a Jobs Commission with independent industry experts to prepare a jobs plan for NSW identifying:

• Future industries and employment opportunities;
• Skills shortages;
• And opportunities to relocate public sector jobs to regional areas.

We’ve continued the call for a jobs plan as the number of people unemployed has grown. Labor has also offered bipartisan support for a second airport at Badgerys Creek. It might not be politically popular or easy, especially in my own seat of Blacktown, but I strongly believe it is in the best interests of western Sydney and our state.

This is a project with the potential to be the basis of a state and federal partnership to deliver major infrastructure upgrades a catalyst to transform western Sydney and unlock the potential for thousands of new jobs.

Unfortunately, the government has refused to take action on these policies or provide assistance to workers. Instead its solution is to hand out payroll tax subsidies for business through a scheme which even the NSW Business Chamber says “is ineffective and is not providing employers with any significant incentive to take on additional staff.”At the same time the government is cutting back on vocational education:

• Cutting 800 staff including teachers from TAFE;
• Reducing the number of courses offered at TAFE campuses; and
• Increasing fees by 10% – with plans for them to more than double.

I believe this is exactly the wrong approach – handing out millions of dollars to businesses through a scheme which isn’t working and cutting back on skills training that increases productivity and makes workers more employable.

The disconnect between a decision taken in Macquarie Street and how it impacts on everyday people can also be seen by looking at the growing housing affordability crisis. While I agree that the government has rightfully identified the shortage of supply as a major challenge to housing affordability, and this is an area that needs to be addressed, their policies have completely missed the mark.

The government has lost touch with the impact on families claiming success on the back of rising housing approvals while the number of first home buyers has hit the lowest levels in 20 years. And the government’s decision to scrap first home buyer grants and stamp duty concessions for existing homes, which is how most people enter the market, has put the great Australian dream further out of reach for young families.

While I understand there is an argument against housing subsidies – the government is now handing over taxpayer grants to property investors, including from overseas, to buy new dwellings. Giving grants to everyone in the market – first home buyers, upgraders and property investors to buy new dwellings is simply driving up prices which we saw skyrocket by 10 per cent last year. This isn’t helping with supply – It is just adding to demand and handing over taxpayer funds to developers.

These are just two examples – in key areas – of the government’s policies and how they are measuring policy success are at odds with the impact on people in the community. This disconnect is the last thing we need at a time when trust in government and politics is so low. The scandals and leadership instability of recent years have left their mark on the public. More than ever – everyone in politics – needs to be working to rebuild faith in our system of government.

I acknowledge how damaging the last term of the previous government was to public confidence and how hard we need to work to rebuild trust. Labor is committed to this. I have announced our New Standard policy which outlines major reforms to increase transparency and accountability making sure our elected officials are putting the community first. Under the New Standard policy:

• MPs will be banned from secondary employment and required to publicly report their income and assets – including those held by their spouse;
• We will create an Inspector General of Parliamentary Standards to investigate and penalise MPs who breach the code of conduct;

• Mining licenses will be reviewed by an independent probity panel and require full cabinet approval;

• The Premier and Ministers will be forced to publish a diary of all contact with lobbyists, companies and MPs regarding commercial transactions and decisions; and

• Greater protection will be provided to whistle-blowers who come forward and report corruption

To date, the Premier has refused to implement these policies – and instead has chosen to play politics on government reform. He even scrapped his own election commitment to remove the application fee for “freedom of information” requests. Our state needs a shared commitment to undertake the changes required to stamp out corruption and restore public faith in government this should be something that unites all political parties, not something that divides us.

How we approach these challenges will be crucial for the state’s future prosperity.

But as we look closer at our society, there are a growing number of people who are disconnected from this agenda – people, who for some reason or another, simply miss out. People confronting homelessness, alcohol and drug abuse, violence in the home, child neglect and the growing mental health crisis. In many ways these are much more difficult issues.

I believe that these are vulnerable Australians that we cannot ignore and only a government that is compassionate and focused on people with a core belief that it is our duty to speak for those who do not have a voice has a chance to tackle these issues. I have little doubt that with wall to wall Liberal governments across Australia we are about to see an aggressive conservative agenda take hold in this country. This creates an opportunity for Labor – at a state and national level – to clearly demonstrate how we are different.

This is a chance for Labor to publicly re-affirm our founding belief in a more humane and caring vision of government committed to the simple idea that government exists to help everyday families, rather than being solely focused on the economic “bottom line”. This fits with how Labor has traditionally been seen by the electorate – as the compassionate party – a party that genuinely cares about the fate of everyday working families. Over the years people have said – Labor might not always get it right, but at least Labor cares.

This is exactly why the actions of a couple of “bad-eggs” in the previous state Labor government were so devastating electorally. It shattered the public’s view of Labor as caring about them by putting a question mark over whose interests were being put first.

The truth is the vast majority of Labor MPs are good and honest people who have entered public life because they want to help their community. Our future as a political party will depend on our ability to demonstrate this to the community. We must show that Labor has changed for the better and is once again the party that cares by keeping our focus on the issues that matter to everyday families, standing up for the community and most importantly reforming our party.

That’s why I support the selection of Labor candidates involving the broader community with a trial of community pre-selections, or primaries, in five seats. I am also committed to implementing direct election of the NSW parliamentary leader – taking the process out of the back rooms – giving MPs and party members an equal say similar to the model used to select the federal leader Bill Shorten. There are some within the party who are advocating for trade unions to be part of the direct election process and split the vote three ways between MPs, party members and affiliated unions.

While I am a passionate supporter of unions and proud of my time as a union official, I don’t believe this is the right model. We need to give party members a bigger say if we want to modernise our party and re-energise our grass-roots membership, both of which are essential to a party which prides itself on its connection to the community. For this reason, I will put my full weight behind changes to party rules needed to implement a 50/50 direct election model at the 2014 Annual Conference.

These are changes that must be made if Labor is to have a future. I believe there is a fundamental difference between the Labor Party and the Coalition. We believe there is a role for government in making people’s lives a little easier, and a little better, while the Coalition believes government should simply get out of the way. The coalition’s political ascendancy gives Labor an opportunity to re-affirm our core belief in putting people at the centre of policy and government decision making.

I believe that by being committed to change – to modernising and opening up the Labor Party, to increasing transparency and accountability in government and re-affirming our core belief in putting people at the centre of everything we do – Labor can once again be the party that everyday families turn to. I regard this as my central mission in leading a party and government that cares about the people of NSW.