Stagnant wages and growing inequality have made Australia more
unequal and have placed the country’s “traditional egalitarianism” at
risk, the deputy opposition leader, Tanya Plibersek, says.
On Saturday evening, Plibersek will deliver the Light on the Hill address, held in memory of former Labor prime minister Ben Chifley.
She will accuse the Turnbull government of “cowardice” over its same-sex marriage postal survey and call for Australia to become the first country in the world to achieve “inclusive prosperity”.
Speaking to the Labor faithful, Plibersek will bemoan high corporate profits and executive salaries in an era when “the link between increased productivity and improved standards of living for workers has been severed”.
“After 25 years of continuous growth, our society is less equal than it’s been in 75 years,” she will say.
“This week it was reported that wages have grown by about only $3 per year over the last decade.
“Yet corporate profits continue to soar and executive salaries have ballooned.”
The Light on the Hill address in Bathurst is an annual speech given by a senior Labor party figure.
The address is a homage to Chifley’s 1949 “Light on the Hill” speech, which outlined the objectives of the Australian labour movement.
In recent years, it has been used to reflect on the state of contemporary politics.
In 2014, Anthony Albanese used the speech to reflect on the impact of the 24/7 news cycle on political stability, saying the “pace of change and turbulence that we’ve seen doesn’t reflect well on the body politic”.
But, invoking Chifley’s role in the 1917 “Great Strike”, Plibersek will use the address to flaunt Labor’s ties to the broader labour movement and call for “a new growth story” supported by increases in the minimum wage and “rebalancing the industrial relations system to give greater bargaining power to workers”.
“Ben Chifley was a plain-speaker – so let me put it bluntly: give me a union leader over an investment banker any day,” Plibersek will say.
“We need a new growth story, a new plan for inclusive prosperity, a new way to deliver an economy that works for everyone.
“We need to face the new challenges thrown at us and be brave and innovative in tackling them.”
Plibersek will also use the speech to take aim at the Coalition over the same-sex marriage postal survey, drawing a comparison with the 1946 referendum, which gave the Labor government increased power to deliver social services, including maternity allowances and unemployment benefits.
The campaign surrounding the survey has led to increased tensions on both sides as voting continues.
“Ben Chifley didn’t hold an unnecessary postal survey on a question of basic equality,” Plibersek will say.
“He held a national referendum because that was needed for him to take responsibility, so he could deliver unprecedented national progress.
“Chifley’s referendum wasn’t an act of cowardice, forced on him by his backbench.”
On Saturday evening, Plibersek will deliver the Light on the Hill address, held in memory of former Labor prime minister Ben Chifley.
She will accuse the Turnbull government of “cowardice” over its same-sex marriage postal survey and call for Australia to become the first country in the world to achieve “inclusive prosperity”.
Speaking to the Labor faithful, Plibersek will bemoan high corporate profits and executive salaries in an era when “the link between increased productivity and improved standards of living for workers has been severed”.
“After 25 years of continuous growth, our society is less equal than it’s been in 75 years,” she will say.
“This week it was reported that wages have grown by about only $3 per year over the last decade.
“Yet corporate profits continue to soar and executive salaries have ballooned.”
The Light on the Hill address in Bathurst is an annual speech given by a senior Labor party figure.
The address is a homage to Chifley’s 1949 “Light on the Hill” speech, which outlined the objectives of the Australian labour movement.
In recent years, it has been used to reflect on the state of contemporary politics.
In 2014, Anthony Albanese used the speech to reflect on the impact of the 24/7 news cycle on political stability, saying the “pace of change and turbulence that we’ve seen doesn’t reflect well on the body politic”.
But, invoking Chifley’s role in the 1917 “Great Strike”, Plibersek will use the address to flaunt Labor’s ties to the broader labour movement and call for “a new growth story” supported by increases in the minimum wage and “rebalancing the industrial relations system to give greater bargaining power to workers”.
“Ben Chifley was a plain-speaker – so let me put it bluntly: give me a union leader over an investment banker any day,” Plibersek will say.
“We need a new growth story, a new plan for inclusive prosperity, a new way to deliver an economy that works for everyone.
“We need to face the new challenges thrown at us and be brave and innovative in tackling them.”
Plibersek will also use the speech to take aim at the Coalition over the same-sex marriage postal survey, drawing a comparison with the 1946 referendum, which gave the Labor government increased power to deliver social services, including maternity allowances and unemployment benefits.
The campaign surrounding the survey has led to increased tensions on both sides as voting continues.
“Ben Chifley didn’t hold an unnecessary postal survey on a question of basic equality,” Plibersek will say.
“He held a national referendum because that was needed for him to take responsibility, so he could deliver unprecedented national progress.
“Chifley’s referendum wasn’t an act of cowardice, forced on him by his backbench.”
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