Opinion pieces, speeches & transcripts

Speech at launch of 'Whitlam's Children' by Shaun Crowe

October 27, 2018

Shaun has written an important book, and written it well. Whitlam's Children deserves to be read, and talked about - it illuminates a conversation that has been more characterised by heat than light. This has benefited neither party, nor our politics. He raises the prospect of a ‘more robust, self-aware relationship’ between the ALP and the Greens.

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Address to Alpine Labor branch

October 13, 2018

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to share this evening with you, and to be able to share some of my thoughts with you. Thanks  so much for the invitation, thanks for coming and - most importantly - thank you all for flying the flag for Labor in North-East Victoria. This really matters.

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Transcript - ABC News Breakfast 13 October 2018

October 13, 2018

...I'm really pleased that now, thanks to Bill Shorten's letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, that Australians can feel relieved that schools shouldn't be expelling students by reason of their sexuality. But I’m concerned there is more to be done. This doesn't begin and end at expulsion.

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Address to the Chifley Research Centre Forum on Loneliness and Public Policy Responses

October 11, 2018

A couple of years ago the British commentator Will Hutton wrote a book entitled How good we can be. He called for a better politics, and better policy, focused on what these should lead to: a good society.

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We have to change how we do politics. It's about more than looking busy.

September 27, 2018

Shortly after his retirement in 2010, former Labor minister Lindsay Tanner set out a powerful critique of the world he’d devoted his life to. In his book Sideshow, he wrote that two rules directed Australian politics: “(1) look like you’re doing something; and (2) don’t offend anyone who matters”.

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Note to the New Education Minister: You Need to Try Harder

September 24, 2018

The fundamental flaw in the Morrison government's school funding announcement is its purpose. It is designed to solve a political problem of the Liberals' own making, not to address the policy challenges of our education system, and what this means for Australia.

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