Uploaded February 2012 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
facebook.com/KeepCalmAbbottisnotPM
Throughout my time in public life I've been motivated by two core goals: How to build a better Australia and how to build a stronger Australian Labor Party. Today as a nation we face some serious challenges. A new global economic crisis that threatens jobs, our manufacturing industry, and people in small business. Today as a party we also face serious challenges. And if we're honest with ourselves, and all indications are that we are heading for the rocks at the next election, leaving the country to the ravages of Mr Abbott, his government, the most conservative government, the most right-wing government in prospect, in Australia's political history.
That's why I'm here today, because I believe that to do the best for Australia and Labor, things have to change. It's no secret that our government has a lot of work to do if it is to regain the confidence of the Australian people. Rightly or wrongly, Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people, and starting on Monday, I want to start restoring that trust. That's why I've decided to contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, at the ballot in the caucus of the Australian Labor Party on Monday. I want to finish the job the Australian people elected me to do when I was elected by them to become prime minister. I believe that with the right Labor team we can meet the challenges of another global crisis, and see off the threat of an Abbott government. Many of my cabinet colleagues including Chris [Bowen] and Kim [Carr] and Robert [McLelland] and Martin [Ferguson] and many others in the parliamentary Labor Party have encouraged me to do just that, and I've spoken with many of them this morning.
So let me be clear. If we don't change, the Labor Party is going to end up in opposition. We will all end up on the backbench, not just one, and the opposition backbench at that. That's the cold, hard, stark reality that we face. It's time for a reality check for everybody. This hasn't just happened in the last week, the last month, it's been going on for the last year. Mr Abbott is a man who has proved he has neither the temperament nor the vision nor the experience to hold the high office of Prime Minister of Australia. He is a man with both feet firmly planted in the past. His view on the national broadband network is from the 1990s. By his own admission the NBN is only a way of sending emails and downloading movies more quickly. That's what Mr Abbott not only thinks, that's what he said. His view on climate change is not from the 1990s, it's from the 1960s, where he simply denies that climate change is a problem, in fact he says, to quote his immortal phrase, it's absolute crap. And then there's his attitude to women, which doesn't go back to the 1960s it goes back to the 1950s.
We have a man whose feet are firmly planted in the past. The only idea Mr Abbott had about the future of the health system was to cut $1 billion from the health budget. And his only idea on foreign policy that I have read is his outdated notion of an Anglosphere. He is not as they say in The Castle, exactly an ideas man. That's Mr Abbott. No, Mr Abbott is not the answer. He's philosophically opposed to using government to build the nation, his values are always cast in negative terms, and his position on so many matters before the nation are just plain extreme. From his attitude to women, as well as his attitude to climate change. Australia can do better than Mr Abbott. Australia will turn its back on the Liberal Party's defeatist depiction of our future, provided Labor in government presents a vision and a path that leads towards prosperity, growth, full and fair employment, and strong environmental policies. Beating Mr Abbott is vital, and beating Mr Abbott is achievable. He's entirely beatable
facebook.com/KeepCalmAbbottisnotPM
Throughout my time in public life I've been motivated by two core goals: How to build a better Australia and how to build a stronger Australian Labor Party. Today as a nation we face some serious challenges. A new global economic crisis that threatens jobs, our manufacturing industry, and people in small business. Today as a party we also face serious challenges. And if we're honest with ourselves, and all indications are that we are heading for the rocks at the next election, leaving the country to the ravages of Mr Abbott, his government, the most conservative government, the most right-wing government in prospect, in Australia's political history.
That's why I'm here today, because I believe that to do the best for Australia and Labor, things have to change. It's no secret that our government has a lot of work to do if it is to regain the confidence of the Australian people. Rightly or wrongly, Julia has lost the trust of the Australian people, and starting on Monday, I want to start restoring that trust. That's why I've decided to contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, at the ballot in the caucus of the Australian Labor Party on Monday. I want to finish the job the Australian people elected me to do when I was elected by them to become prime minister. I believe that with the right Labor team we can meet the challenges of another global crisis, and see off the threat of an Abbott government. Many of my cabinet colleagues including Chris [Bowen] and Kim [Carr] and Robert [McLelland] and Martin [Ferguson] and many others in the parliamentary Labor Party have encouraged me to do just that, and I've spoken with many of them this morning.
So let me be clear. If we don't change, the Labor Party is going to end up in opposition. We will all end up on the backbench, not just one, and the opposition backbench at that. That's the cold, hard, stark reality that we face. It's time for a reality check for everybody. This hasn't just happened in the last week, the last month, it's been going on for the last year. Mr Abbott is a man who has proved he has neither the temperament nor the vision nor the experience to hold the high office of Prime Minister of Australia. He is a man with both feet firmly planted in the past. His view on the national broadband network is from the 1990s. By his own admission the NBN is only a way of sending emails and downloading movies more quickly. That's what Mr Abbott not only thinks, that's what he said. His view on climate change is not from the 1990s, it's from the 1960s, where he simply denies that climate change is a problem, in fact he says, to quote his immortal phrase, it's absolute crap. And then there's his attitude to women, which doesn't go back to the 1960s it goes back to the 1950s.
We have a man whose feet are firmly planted in the past. The only idea Mr Abbott had about the future of the health system was to cut $1 billion from the health budget. And his only idea on foreign policy that I have read is his outdated notion of an Anglosphere. He is not as they say in The Castle, exactly an ideas man. That's Mr Abbott. No, Mr Abbott is not the answer. He's philosophically opposed to using government to build the nation, his values are always cast in negative terms, and his position on so many matters before the nation are just plain extreme. From his attitude to women, as well as his attitude to climate change. Australia can do better than Mr Abbott. Australia will turn its back on the Liberal Party's defeatist depiction of our future, provided Labor in government presents a vision and a path that leads towards prosperity, growth, full and fair employment, and strong environmental policies. Beating Mr Abbott is vital, and beating Mr Abbott is achievable. He's entirely beatable
