Albo take on Turnbull

Progressive political parties need to be explicit about their motivation when arguing the case for reform. For the conservatives, a strong economy is an end in itself. It means more profits for business.

Labor also embraces a reformist instinct because we know a strong economy creates jobs. But the distinction between the Coalition and Labor is that Labor wants economic prosperity so we can share its proceeds. 

We must not be afraid to advocate change. However, we must demonstrate how our policies will not only boost the economy, but also how they will improve the way people live their day-to-day lives. And we must strongly argue the case for long-term reform that will make a positive difference to society beyond the short term interests of any individual member. 

A simple example is education. Labor believes that every Australian deserves access to a fair education because that is just. But universal education also has a payoff for the entire nation because it lifts our collective capacity as a nation. 

The global shift toward progressive politics has manifested itself in a change of government in Canada and a new focus on progressive policy around the world. The shift has found its way to Australia, where the conservatives have dumped the aggressive and divisive conservatism of Tony Abbott in favour of Malcolm Turnbull. 

Turnbull is now busy appropriating Labor party rhetoric across many areas and is presenting himself as the conservative you have when you don’t really want a conservative.

But of course, Turnbull has not changed the substance of the conservative government, which still hates trade unions, wants to increase the GST and cut health and education funding.

Because Labor’s reformist spirit is motivated by a hunger to lift living standards across the community, we have a compelling vision compared to our opponents’ emphasis on the individual. Our vision speaks loudly to people who want their children to grow up in better circumstances than they did, an aspiration held by all parents.

The current shift toward progressive politics is confirmation that the real human mission in the 21st century is not to limit fairness, but to extend it. In Australia, the competing political visions about how to deal with the end of the mining boom sum up the policy divide. 

So far, Malcolm Turnbull has articulated two possible solutions. 

The first is to increase the goods and services tax, which will hit pensioners and low-income earners harder than the wealthy. The second, even more worrying, is to attack the wages and conditions of average workers to boost corporate profits by, for example, abolishing Sunday penalty rates for workers in hospitality and tourism. 

There is ample scope in existing enterprise bargaining arrangements for workers and their employers to trade off penalty rates for higher base rates. But Turnbull is not looking for trade-offs. He just wants lower wages. 

In the same way, he proposes to destroy the Australian domestic shipping industry by exposing it to unfair competition by foreign-flagged cargo vessels paying third world wages. Turnbull has decided that because foreign vessels carry freight more cheaply than Australian vessels, he should run local operators out of business or force them to sack their Australian crews and replace them with cheaper foreign labour.