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Labor national conference, day one – politics live Bill Shorten makes pitch to be next prime minister at Labor national conference – live
(35 minutes later)
Wayne Swan says that Labor is the oldest political party in the country and respects the right of different opinions and protest, but that doesn’t include the right to drown out the leader of the Opposition.
He asks for security to remove them.
They sit with their arms crossed. Security begins to drag them off the state.
“Off, off, off,” chants the crowd.
Bill Shorten says he can wait a few more minutes.
“Come on Bill,” comes the shouts from the audience.
They are eventually removed, chanting to ‘Stop Adani’ as they leave the room.
Shorten’s speech to the conference opens with Stop Adani protestors being carried off the stage #auspol
Stop Adani is back on the stage.
“Please stop Adani,” he says, mentioning Queensland’s natural disasters. Bill Shorten let’s him speak and asks to keep the flag.
Wayne Swan asks for him to leave the stage, but he is joined by more, who stand with a banner and then sit with arms crossed.
A Stop Adani protester looks like they attempted to get up on stage, but was very quickly removed.
At least that is what it looked like, from way up here in the back.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next prime minister of Australia, Bill Shorten”.
There is a standing ovation.
And he walks in to Labor’s campaign music.
There is a lot of hero music in this video. Like, Marvel levels of hero music.
“He’s a loving husband, he’s a daggy dad, he’s a frustrated Collingwood fan and his kids tell me he’s a pretty average cook,” Tanya Plibersek says, before a video plays of a speech Scott Morrison made about what Australian’s want, while showing images of climate change, house prices and inequality.
Plibersek is introducing Bill Shorten. She says she will take a “union leader over a failed advertising executive any day of the week”.
Tanya Plibersek is now up. She tells the 400 or so delegates and 1,000 observers about Labor’s wins around the nation, in both byelections and state elections.
Ged Kearney gets a cheer when she is shown in the video of the “hell of a year” Labor has had.
Kathrine Murphy has covered off the first announcement from conference:
Bill Shorten will use his opening address to Labor’s national conference to unveil new subsidies to promote more affordable housing at a cost of $6.6bn over a decade.
Shorten will use the opportunity of his opening pitch to the delegates and onlookers gathered in Adelaide for the three-day event to commit to a target of 20,000 houses built in the first term of a Labor government.
The policy, to be unveiled on Sunday, would offer 15-year subsidies of $8,500 per year to investors who build new houses, with the taxpayer support conditional on the dwellings being rented to eligible tenants at 20% below market rent.
On why Scott Morrison did not consult with Labor over the next governor general, given that 2019, when Hurley will step into the role, was an election year, Morrison says:
This is a recommendation that is made by the prime minister, like all the appointments that are made by a government.
We had an election in 2016 and during the term of this parliament, the prime minister was to be making a recommendation to Her Majesty. That is the job of the government.
I mean the Labor party may think they are the government at the moment – and they be carrying like they think they have already won an election – but that has not occurred and I am assure them, they have got a fight on their hands.
Wayne Swan introduces the South Australian opposition leader, Peter Malinauskas, stumbling a little over the surname. The room laughs.
Malinauskas says he is excited about being on the precipice of having four South Australians in the federal cabinet – Penny Wong, Mark Butler, Don Farrell and Amanda Rishworth.
He says South Australia has produced a lot of people who “every time they speak, they win Labor votes” and, for that, he thanks Christopher Pyne.
“Delegates, this is our moment and the aim of our conference is to win the battle of ideas,” Wayne Swan says. “Our job is to show that we are the party of the people, for the people and by the people, not the party of, for and by the big end of town.”
Back to Swanny, he describes Scott Morrison as “a grinning fool in a baseball cap who thinks the G20 is a good place to talk about sausages”.
“Who would have thought they could find someone who could make Billy McMahon look good?”
He says Labor is the only party that “reflects modern Australia” but there is “political chaos everywhere you look”.
“That chaos has many causes but at the bottom of this instability and chaos lies this cause – inequality”.
“People feel their political parties have simply stopped listening,” he says.
He says that is because mainstream parties have failed to address the failings of trickle down economics. But that Labor was addressing that.
David Hurley won’t take up the post until June next year – after the election.David Hurley won’t take up the post until June next year – after the election.
Asked why he was announcing it today, given that it is not an issue for another six months, Scott Morrison says:Asked why he was announcing it today, given that it is not an issue for another six months, Scott Morrison says:
It needed to be done to provide certainty about the role going into next year.It needed to be done to provide certainty about the role going into next year.
Next year is an election year and it is very important that I think this appointment be seen well outside the context of any electoral issues.Next year is an election year and it is very important that I think this appointment be seen well outside the context of any electoral issues.
The current Governor-General’s term nominally expires into the end of March, so this is a decision that I was advised coming into the role as Prime Minister that would need to be taken.The current Governor-General’s term nominally expires into the end of March, so this is a decision that I was advised coming into the role as Prime Minister that would need to be taken.
It wasn’t my first order of issues the deal with, as I said at the time, but it was one that I knew I would have tow resolve and make a recommendation to the palace before the end of the year, which I have now done”It wasn’t my first order of issues the deal with, as I said at the time, but it was one that I knew I would have tow resolve and make a recommendation to the palace before the end of the year, which I have now done”
He is officially the president.He is officially the president.
“This is the national conference, our opponents didn’t want,” he says.“This is the national conference, our opponents didn’t want,” he says.
“...Let’s win the battle of ideas.”“...Let’s win the battle of ideas.”
David Hurley said he was surprised to be offered the role, as he approached the end of his term as New South Wales governor:David Hurley said he was surprised to be offered the role, as he approached the end of his term as New South Wales governor:
We know, though, that if I was to retire, the most significant part of our current role that we would miss would be the opportunity to visit and meet the multitude of extraordinary Australians in our community.We know, though, that if I was to retire, the most significant part of our current role that we would miss would be the opportunity to visit and meet the multitude of extraordinary Australians in our community.
I have certainly confirmed in my own mind over the past four years, something that I had sensed about Australia, but really hadn’t had the opportunity before to witness on a day-to-day basis – that Australia is a very rich country in a non-material sense.I have certainly confirmed in my own mind over the past four years, something that I had sensed about Australia, but really hadn’t had the opportunity before to witness on a day-to-day basis – that Australia is a very rich country in a non-material sense.
Australians have an amazing and, indeed, an enormous capacity to contribute their time, their energy, their time, their efforts and indeed their money to assist others I look forward to continuing to be involved with them in these pursuits.Australians have an amazing and, indeed, an enormous capacity to contribute their time, their energy, their time, their efforts and indeed their money to assist others I look forward to continuing to be involved with them in these pursuits.
As the prime minister mentioned you can’t do these jobs without someone standing by your side.As the prime minister mentioned you can’t do these jobs without someone standing by your side.
Linda has had such a unique manner the role in the last four years and I look forward for the two of us fulfilling the responsibilities of governor general together.Linda has had such a unique manner the role in the last four years and I look forward for the two of us fulfilling the responsibilities of governor general together.
My commitment to the people of Australia is that we will fulfil our responsibilities in the same full-hearted manner that I have worked in New South Wales or we have worked in New South Wales over the past four years, including supporting, encouraging them in community endeavours, recognising achievements and promoting those achievements at home and abroad.My commitment to the people of Australia is that we will fulfil our responsibilities in the same full-hearted manner that I have worked in New South Wales or we have worked in New South Wales over the past four years, including supporting, encouraging them in community endeavours, recognising achievements and promoting those achievements at home and abroad.
I will be enormously proud to represent Australia in the role of governor general.I will be enormously proud to represent Australia in the role of governor general.
For those asking, we are told that the opposition was not consulted over the choice of the next governor general.For those asking, we are told that the opposition was not consulted over the choice of the next governor general.
An announcement has been made about the Governor-General of Australia. Read in full here: https://t.co/qvRvk1Gc3a pic.twitter.com/V2JasgUXDdAn announcement has been made about the Governor-General of Australia. Read in full here: https://t.co/qvRvk1Gc3a pic.twitter.com/V2JasgUXDd
The special guests are announced.
Daniel Andrews and Jay Weatherill both received big cheers from the room when announced.
The welcome to country is delivered, where the room is told that “my father says, we are always welcoming people to our home, but we never tell them to go home”, which gets some laughs.
Scott Morrison has announced David Hurley as the next GG, which he said was his only choice.
He talked about why:
It was with these very important responsibilities that fall to a governor general – stability, continuity, certainty – that were foremost in my mind in exercising my responsibility as prime minister to make a recommendation to Her Majesty about who the next governor general for Australia should be.
I had only one choice, my first choice, and he is standing next to me.
General Hurley has served Australia for almost half a century and I’ve had the privilege to serve with him as a minister of a government in which he serve as the chief of the defence force.
He joined the army in 1972. That was not a time when military service was popular, sadly, in our country.
He served for 42 years and rose to become the chief of the defence force – a role he was appointed to by the former Labor government.
It was General Hurley who first spoke the words, “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept”.
That is a lesson to all of us. It is a phrase that embodies what Australian leadership is all about and it is a phrase that has embodied the service of General Hurley.
Hurley will be the 27th governor general.
The one-minute warning has just been issued.
We are in the observers’ section ahead of the opening, where Elisa’s Rock Your Soul is playing. Which includes the repeated lyric “all I want is to rock your soul”, which seems fitting for a political party conference.
Then we move into the economy section – which is where super and the like will be discussed, followed by environment. Which will be the big one.
Bill Shorten will open the conference with his speech (still taking guesses on the song of choice), after which Tanya Plibersek will deliver hers. As incoming president (with the official handover happening this morning) Wayne Swan will then deliver a speech.
Swan is also in charge of the “you’ve been speaking too long, wrap it up” gong, so that should be fun.
The Right caucus went for 14 minutes, we are told. They are out and getting coffee.
The Left are still meeting.
Morning all, just the sum of my initial inquiries. No one is expecting major fireworks in the economic policy debate this morning (apart from an amendment to be moved by the CFMEU’s Michael O’Connor regarding new oversight for Asic and Apra, which has come out of left field).
The values debate is the first cab off the rank, and seems unlikely to be controversial. The environment debate this afternoon could get interesting. There’s been a battle about environmental regulation behind the scenes for some weeks, and it is not yet resolved. There’s some talk that Bill Shorten will be involved in settling the final decision. We’ll keep you posted when we learn more.
There is also, I hear, an unresolved fight in the right about their candidates for the national executive.
On the governor general announcement, the ABC is reporting it is retired general David Hurley.
That has been confirmed by Katharine Murphy, so yup. It is Hurley.
That’s not unsurprising. He was the favourite. There were those who thought Scott Morrison might pick a woman but we’ve gone with another former defence force chief.
Labor’s faithful have gathered in Adelaide for the 48th annual party conference, where everything from environment to asylum seekers to industrial relations policy will be nutted out.
The conversations have been going on for months but have ramped up in recent weeks.
Of course, all of this was meant to be settled in July, but then the super Saturday byelections were scheduled for the same weekend. So here we are, in Adelaide a week out from Christmas, and loving life.
Environment is the big ticket item today, and not everything is hunky dory or locked down in that space. Adani and its ilk have thrown up quite the quandary for Labor, and the protests have started outside the conference centre already.
Bill Shorten will open the conference very soon – the betting pool on what song he’ll emerge has opened, so put your guesses down below.
So of course, Scott Morrison has decided today is the perfect day and the perfect time to announce the next governor general.
We’ll cover that, and everything else that occurs over the next few days. You have me, Katharine Murphy and Paul Karp already at the keyboards. I am yet to find a coffee, so this should be fun.
Ready?
Let’s get into it.