Address to the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce
Well, thanks so much, John, for that introduction, of which I think two things sprung to mind.
One is I now know why I’m so tired.
And secondly, I think I’ll take you around the country to introduce me every time I speak, because that was very, very generous.
I do want to also acknowledge here my Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is doing an extraordinary job.
I want to acknowledge a former Deputy Prime Minister, we’re in the former Deputy Prime Minister’s club, Mark Vaile and former Speaker Tony Smith.
And I also acknowledge the members of the Victorian Parliament, Ministers and Members of Parliament who are here, and his excellency as well, the Israeli Ambassador.
I also want to pay tribute, given this is my first formal occasion since the untimely passing of Simon Crean.
I was with Simon not too long ago in Melbourne at a lunch, a birthday lunch. And he full of life and really continuing to make an extraordinary contribution to our nation as the head of the European-Australian Business Chamber.
Simon is someone who, from the time I became Labor leader, was always available on the end of the phone.
Being Opposition Leader is not a fun job. The current one I’m enjoying much more. But Simon was always is available to give his wisdom and his experience.
He was a great leader of our movement as the President of the ACTU as well as a Minister who served in four governments of Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard and someone who rose, of course, to have the honour of leading the Labor Party.
But above all, he was a man of decency and integrity and honour. And I think that the stance that he took on the Iraq War was a courageous one.
I’ll never forget him going to talk to the troops, to explain to them very clearly and courageously that he supported them. He just had a different view on the government’s position.
So, he’s someone who’ll be sadly missed. I spoke with Carol, his beloved wife, on Wednesday and I don’t think I’ve seen a marriage quite like it. They were so close.
It is a shock for everyone in the labour movement. I know that he was respected right across the political spectrum and I pay tribute to him today. There will be quite a send off here in Melbourne. His family have accepted the offer of a state funeral.
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.
The Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce has an important tradition of discourse with major issues. This has always been a forum which has engaged with complexity and uncertainty.
Recognising that in our modern world we are often confronted with the consequences of events beyond our borders, or outside our control.
The challenges facing our economy right now are proof of that. Outside of the GFC and pandemic, the Treasury forecast for global growth is the weakest it’s been in more than two decades.
Almost every advanced economy around the world is grappling with the very difficult combination of persistent high inflation and rising interest rates. And we know that that’s causing real pressure on families here in Australia.
The global supply shock triggered by the pandemic, followed by Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, continues to impact global supply chains and energy prices.
And I want to note that – for Australia and the Government I lead – the conflict in Ukraine is not just a ‘factor’ in a list of economic challenges. It is a critical test for the international rules-based order and the right of every nation to sovereignty, security and peace.
That’s why, earlier this week, I was proud to announce. together with Richard Marles, a further $110 million in military and humanitarian assistance, another reminder that Australia will stand with the people of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy for as long as it takes.
We are the largest non-NATO contributor to this military effort, apart from Sweden, which is about to join NATO.
Of course, a period of global economic and strategic uncertainty will have an effect on Australia and our economy. How long that lasts and the form it takes are beyond the control of any single nation state.
But the way in which we respond, the way we prepare, the resilience and security we build here for ourselves, all of that is in our hands – and all of it is absolutely fundamental to our Government’s approach.
Now I am optimistic that with the right approach Australia can weather these global headwinds. The fact that we have presided over the creation of 465,000 jobs in our first year – the most of any new Government in Australia’s history since Federation – is evidence of the potential we have for positive outcomes.
We are powering new jobs and industries by investing in clean energy – setting Australia up as a renewable energy superpower and reinforcing our energy sovereignty at the same time.
We are revitalising our manufacturing capacity, so that we can make things here again and move up the international value chain.
We are investing in our people and their skills, not the least of which is through 480 000 fee-free TAFE places, so that Australians can take on those new jobs in emerging industries as well as in areas of skills shortage.
We are bringing together business and government to work on cyber security, broadening our digital skills base and upgrading the NBN.
We are driving overdue reform in the care and support economy – so we can be confident that all Australians have access to the quality aged care and disability care they deserve.
And from tomorrow we are delivering cheaper child care for 1.2 million families including over 300 000 right here in Victoria.
This won’t just help with the family budget but will be an economic reform. It is not welfare. It is about boosting productivity. It is about boosting workforce participation. It will assist with population growth as well. The three Ps of growth all covered off in one policy: productivity, participation, population. That’s how you can grow an economy.
Whether it is boosting productivity, strengthening our supply chains or delivering energy bill relief for families and small businesses, our economic strategy is about taking pressure off the cost of living without putting pressure on inflation.
Most critically, because of our consistent focus on returning revenue upgrades to the budget and making prudent savings, we are well on track to delivering Australia’s first Budget surplus in 15 years.
A turnaround from a projected $78 billion deficit one year previously, to a surplus in excess of the $4.2 billion we projected last month, is an extraordinary achievement in the face of $1 trillion of debt inherited from the last government.
And on Wednesday official statistics pointed to inflation heading in the right direction.
Record jobs, lower inflation, larger surplus – an economic trifecta which is cause for optimism. And one which is the envy of other advanced economies.
Of course, everything we do to strengthen our economy at home is reinforced by the work we are doing to rebuild Australia’s standing in the world.
That includes stabilising our relationship with China, but also regaining the trust of our Pacific family and re-asserting Australia’s role in multilateral forums such as ASEAN, demonstrating we are back at the table as a constructive contributor to action on everything from climate change to food security.
This matters.
1 in 4 Australian jobs depend on international trade and that ratio is only going to increase as the economic transformation underway in our region, the fastest growing region of the world in human history, gathers pace.
Securing Australia’s place as a partner in this progress, depends on continuing to invest in our capability and our relationships.
All of that is what we are doing. How we do it matters as well.
We’ve made it a priority to bring people together, to build co-operation, to seek consensus. Because I’ve always believed that you get the best results when you consult people who are directly affected by the decisions you’re making.
And the best way to secure lasting change is to give people a sense of ownership, rather than impose change from above.
Which brings me to the focus of my remarks today: the historic opportunity which we will all be able to share in later this year.
And I thank Leon and the Chamber very much for the invitation to address you today.
I began this address with the acknowledgment of country. We take it for granted now. It’s an important beginning.
That such a courtesy has become part of the rhythm of Australian life is a good thing.
Footy games, business events, university activities, the Parliament, we do it as a matter of course.
But it is just a beginning. We are ready as a nation to go further.
I’m proud to lead a government that will give all Australians the opportunity to give constitutional recognition to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a referendum that will be held in the last quarter of the year.
It will be a great moment of Australian unity as we take that next step on our journey to reconciliation.
The referendum is our chance for constitutional recognition in the form requested by Indigenous Australians at the First Nations Constitutional Convention, held at Uluru in 2017. Recognition and listening. That is what this referendum is about.
For while words are important, we give them their truest meaning through our actions. Such a sentiment won’t come as a revelation to anyone here in this room.
It is a source of pride that Australia played the role it did in the founding of the modern state of Israel. Of course it was a Labor leader – Doc Evatt who played such a central role in the United Nations. As he wrote in his memoir:
“I regard the establishment of Israel as a great victory of the United Nations.”
The friendship between our two nations has been a constant. Australia supports democracy in Israel, just as we support it across the world.
The mark of any true friendship is not just our willingness to stand up for each other, but also our candour. True friends want each other to be the best they can be.
We continue Australia’s support for a two-state solution. Israelis and Palestinians deserve to prosper in peace behind secure and recognised borders. The Government I lead will take a principled approach to these issues.
Just as that will remain firm, so will the bonds between Australia and Israel, bonds nourished by the long and important Jewish presence in the story of modern Australia, as well as the important economic relationship that our two nations can have, that can grow and thrive in the future.
Ours is a story that has long been intertwined.
Turn the clock back to nearly a decade before the state of Israel’s establishment and you come to Yorta Yorta leader and trade unionist William Cooper leading a protest at the German consulate in Melbourne.
William Cooper recognised injustice when he saw it. And, when the sun was setting on Europe’s final year of peace, he saw it so clearly amid the gathering shadows.
Talking to you about the Voice, it would be remiss to not mention a great champion of your organisation, community and the reconciliation movement, Mark Leibler. I was moved recently by his reflections in the Australian Jewish News. In his words:
“The story of the stand William Cooper took on behalf of our people hit me like a bolt of lightning.”
Mark continues:
“It had taken me 50 years to realise the extent of the continuing injustice Indigenous Australians were suffering, how they had been scarred by dispossession, disrespect and racism – the same weapons that have been used against the Jewish people for millennia.”
We cannot dismiss the weight of the past, but what will energise Australia is an uplifting sense of hope for the future.
And I believe it drove William Cooper. Nine decades ago in 1933 – five years before his consulate protest – he was addressing another injustice as he began drawing up the petition that constituted the first call for something akin to a Voice to Parliament.
Think about that. 1933 William Cooper was talking about a Voice to Parliament equivalent.
As I say: if not now, when are we going to get this done?
And that is the energy at the core of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the gracious invitation that it represents. It extends to all of us. I know that in this room, it is an invitation that has fallen on receptive ears.
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One great source of encouragement has been the broad spectrum of multicultural groups and faith groups that will say yes to constitutional recognition this year. Leaders of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faiths, and others, are all advocating a ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum.
Groups that through the sheer weight of collective experience, instinctively understand discrimination to be the anathema that it is.
Groups that just as instinctively understand that as important as tolerance is, it is a very low bar. Together, we can aim so much higher than tolerance.
Rather than merely tolerating each other, we should be lifting each other up, celebrating each other, taking pride in the diversity that makes this great country the best country on earth.
And when it comes to the First Peoples of this land, what an immense source of pride for us that we share a continent with the world’s oldest continuous culture.
So it came as no surprise when so many Jewish groups threw their weight so emphatically behind the ‘Yes’ vote.
Being in Melbourne today, it’s appropriate to pay thanks to the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, together with B’nai B’rith, the Ark Centre and Stand Up for supporting a Voice to Parliament.
It’s a support that has taken some powerfully worded forms, not least from Rabbi Ralph Genende, who wrote:
“We identify with and are filled with admiration for the First Peoples’ commitment to the land of their ancestors. We are both peoples of long memory. May the power and vision that impels our dreams help us promote the dreams of the first people of this land.”
Fittingly, Rabbi Genende speaks of how words from the heart speak to the heart. As Rabbi David Saperstein explains, that is a sentiment as much at home in Jewish thinking as it is in Catholic theology and 13th century Muslim poetry.
And it is undoubtedly an even broader spectrum than that.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart does speak to our hearts. A short document long in the making, it is a masterclass in spare eloquence. I keep a copy of it on the wall of my office in Parliament House. There isn’t a day that I don’t look up at it.
Sometimes I focus on a couple of lines, but often I read it right through. If you haven’t, I recommend you do. Like the Gettysburg Address, it only requires a few minutes. It literally fits on one A4 page.
In return, it will give you something that lasts a lifetime. That’s a pretty favourable exchange rate. I just want to revisit some of it. And I quote:
“With substantial constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.
Proportionately, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them.
And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem – this is the torment of our powerlessness.”
What an extraordinary phrase that is: “the torment of our powerlessness”. Neither a surrender nor a resignation, but a declaration of truth and unbowed dignity
It concludes with this:
“In 1967 we were counted. In 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.”
And that is an invitation. Not just to myself as Prime Minister, but to everyone in this room, to walk with Indigenous Australians to a better future.
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I feel an enduring gratitude to the work Ken Wyatt did as the Minister for Indigenous Australians in the previous government. Likewise, I admire those like Julian Leeser, who resigned from the Coalition frontbench in order to be able to campaign for the ‘Yes’ vote.
Ken has shown enormous courage in making, what must have been, a difficult decision to leave the Party that he served, as has Julian in choosing to move to the backbench as a matter of principle.
Of course, this isn’t about politics. It certainly isn’t about politicians. This is about people.
And about the first peoples of this land who happen to be the most disadvantaged group in our entire nation.
People striving to make themselves heard across our great nation. In the regions and beyond in the remotest corners of our vast and beautiful continent.
All those voices rising across Australia like the headwaters of a thousand creeks and rivers, all joining into a mighty and wonderful current that will converge around each one of us as we step into the booth on referendum day.
And that is how it should be. A process that began far from Canberra, returning to the people. Parliaments pass laws, but it is people that make history.
Of course, there always people who are resistant to change. But to those cling to the old saying “If ain’t broke don’t fix it”, I say this: It is broken. Profoundly broken.
And I declare on recognition – if not now, when?
The status quo is a chasm between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
Just consider the facts. Indigenous people have an eight-year gap in life expectancy, a suicide rate twice as high, and rates of disease and infant mortality and family violence so much worse than those of the general community.
Something that shakes me is that young men are more likely to go to jail than to go to university. In 2023.
They have among the worst incarceration rates in the world. Only four out of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are on track. 4 out of 19.
These figures are a call-out to all of us to make this a national priority.
Australians can do more than one thing at a time – and that very much includes the Government. We are focused on all elements of Australia’s wellbeing, whether it’s security, defence, social policy, the environment, or the economy, or international relations.
So much of what we do is made possible by the good health of our economy, and one of our greatest priorities will always be anticipating and tackling economic challenges, seizing the opportunities which are there, and helping Australians deal with cost of living pressures.
A healthy economy remains the door you have to get through to get to everything else. It is the fuel of reform.
But just as that is one of the foundations on which our nation stands, so is the ongoing process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.
The idea of recognition through a Voice did not come from Canberra.
It came from Indigenous Australians themselves, from the ground up, from the people who know the difference that change can make.
In the words of Aunty Pat Anderson at the media conference we did last week after the Senate passed the referendum legislation:
“It is a universal truism when you involve people you make decisions for, you make better decisions …”
That is all that the Voice is. No right of veto. Not a funding body. Not a body that will run programs. That is all that it is.
And the referendum is just that plus recognition.
That is what this is about — listening to people, working with people, getting better decisions.
And not making the mistake of thinking that if we just keep repeating the same-old approach of doing things with the best of intentions for or to Indigenous Australians rather than with Indigenous Australians, somehow we’ll get a different result.
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Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is here today and I do recommend his second reading speech that he gave in Parliament. He made it very clear what the Voice would focus on: “matters specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” …
… and, importantly, on “matters … which affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples differently to other members of the Australian community”.
So if I assure you that if the Voice was there when the Reserve Bank meets next week about interest rates they would not get on the phone to the Voice.
They don’t get on the phone with the Prime Minister.
Some of these fear campaigns are frankly diminishing of the people who make them.
But what it will do is add something to how we see ourselves as a nation, but also how the rest of the world sees us.
The value of that will be beyond measure.
And it will be wrapped in the protection of the Constitution, that Indigenous Australians will – in the words of the four land councils from the Northern Territory, who visited me to present the new Barunga statement for a Yes vote for the referendum – that they would “never … be rendered silent with the stroke of a pen again”.
That’s why Indigenous Australians have asked for that constitutional enshrinement.
This referendum is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make a positive change that will outlast us. It will not take away anything from our 122-year-old democracy.
Instead, as the Solicitor-General has clearly stated, it will enhance our democracy.
And, as Noel Pearson has put it, it will be an act of faith and love.
I repeat again – if not now, when?
For Indigenous Australia, it stands to lift up their very lives.
It is a small investment with such a great return. None of us has anything to lose. But we have something wonderful and so very real to gain.
And with a Yes vote, it will lift us all.
We are always at our best when we look to the future in hope, in fairness, and with an abiding faith in our better selves.
Who do we want to be when we wake up the morning after this referendum?
I believe we will rise with a stronger sense of ourselves. A great nation that has deserved to become even greater – not just to ourselves but to the world.
And I firmly believe that we will. Because of who we have shown ourselves to be.