Wayne Swan
ALP National President
Friends,
Last weekend, Labour Day Weekend, marked 134 years since the shearers strike. The Tree of Knowledge. The formation of the ALP.
Those 3,000 shearers at Barcaldine, their bravery and their foresight, inspired generations of trade union and Labor Party activists that made Australia one of the most successful social democratic countries in the world.
Those strikers understood that the power of public policy was required to change lives.
They understood that winning government could only be achieved with political unity.
And political unity required solidarity.
They knew we couldn’t win the battle of ideas and defeat the plutocracy without a dedicated, strong trade union movement and Party organisation.
They had a belief in the obligation of all of us to lift each
other up.
That each of us have a stake in each other's success and that we all have an obligation to entrench the nation’s democratic traditions.
Of course, last weekend something else happened.
On Saturday, Anthony Albanese entered the Labor pantheon.
This was a historic win, unrivalled in living memory.
But an election win is more than points on the scoreboard. It is a generational opportunity to further reshape our nation as a prosperous, egalitarian and forward-looking society.
As Albo himself has said, Australian society must be defined by a basic principle: No one left behind, no one held back.
This is also a moment to rejuvenate our union movement and our great Australian Labor party.
Our Tory opponents are in a withered state, but they will reorganise and return.
Perhaps in even darker guise than we saw this election.
We need to be ready for that.
Around the world democracy is under sustained challenge. The populist far right will continue to have the support of billionaires like Gina Rinehart.
If we want to keep winning the battle of ideas in Australia, we need to build on the brilliant campaign run by Paul Erickson and our national campaign committee.
In this election Labor ran an agenda that acted on and spoke to people’s economic needs and security.
And this agenda can be seen in results all over the country, not just in the seats that changed hands.
Here in Capricornia, Emily Mawson looks to have doubled the ALP’s nationwide primary swing through a strong campaign focussing on these values.
We will continue to make progress like this if we continue to grow and win the battle of ideas.
Friends,
Australian Labor has always been distinctively different.
A Party to advance economic equality first and foremost.
More than anything, this election campaign should serve to remind us of what we are capable of when we focus on the everyday economic needs of working people.
We live in dangerous times.
Toxic right-wing populism is on the march globally and in this country as well.
It's made a mess of some formerly great social democratic parties around the world.
You only have to look at the Democrats in the United States – a once great party of Roosevelt and the New Deal.
They forgot about the critical importance of building membership, and party support, among working people.
This failure saw the election of Donald Trump, on two occasions.
Our victory on Saturday tells us nothing is predetermined in politics.
As a party representing working people, we now have a golden opportunity to build a stronger and more active party–one that is more reflective of the people we want to support us now and into the future.
Our 2022 election review highlighted the need to arrest the decline in the primary vote of working Australians, particularly in outer suburban and regional communities.
Sadly, our membership is aging and has remained largely static since 2014 despite strong population growth.
In June 2024, the National Executive set a target of 65,000 members over the next parliamentary term.
And achieving that goal must be our organisational focus over the next 12 months.
Notwithstanding our success, failure to build our membership, particularly in regional areas like central Queensland, will mean continued decline, such as that has engulfed other social democratic parties around the world.
That’s why I want to issue a challenge to our membership
tonight.
I know you are somewhere between exhaustion and elation after an incredible campaign. You are the heroes of the greatest election victory in living memory.
But now is the time to buttress that victory by growing our membership.
When we join the party, almost all of us go on to recruit another member.
I have a simple request. Do it again. All of us have a workmate, a friend or a family member who is curious or enthused.
Sign them up. Get them along to an event or meeting. Let them share the thrill that all of you enjoyed on Saturday night.
Now is the time to seize the moment.
Our victory on the weekend has delivered millions of Australians hope.
For many young Australians, it may be the first time they’ve had hope in politics after a wasted decade of Tory rule.
My message to you today is let’s not waste this opportunity.
Bring people in, grow our great Labour movement and Labor party.
A society built from the bottom up not from the top down can only endure if it is supported by a party that is much larger, dynamic and representative.
What the strikers at Barcaldine taught us is we should never give in to the temptation that public policy challenges are too big to be tackled or that elections are too difficult to win.
Because that’s what the conservatives crave.
And while they may be licking their wounds now, they will be back to it quicker than you know.
They will stir the politics of identity, of race and gender.
They do this to camouflage Labor’s passion for opportunity for all.
On our side of politics there is simply no substitute for
sustained grass roots campaigning.
Keep on growing our mighty movement and delivering for
working people.
