Sinead Simpkins is the Secretary of Parramatta-Hills Young Labor Association

One of the great things about having a Labor government is how we fight for the working class rather than for big business and the 1% richest. One of many great Labor initiatives was Medicare. While Medicare is a great plan to help everyone to get a universal health care, it still has a long way to go to being perfect.

George Simon is the Acting NSW Assistant General Secretary

On behalf of the NSW Left, I’d like to thank you all for coming along to the launch of Mark Butler’s campaign for President of the ALP.

Comrades, we have a hell of a line up of people to talk about Mark tonight. But before I hand over to Penny Wong, I’d like to make a few remarks about why the NSW Left is supporting Mark Butler.

Daniel Rose is a member of the Left in the Northern Territory ALP

Despite a keen interest from progressives in the policy areas of employment and housing, we are yet to see policy solutions that balance both sides of this equation. It is well and good for the ACTU to run their “Change the Rules” campaign on reforming federal industrial relations, and for the myriad of interest groups to suggest changes to land taxation, negative gearing, capital gains tax discounts, social housing, rental legislation, and rent control, but without a coordinated approach to this policy problem we are doomed to continue pushing this boulder uphill.

Anthony Albanese MP is Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development and Shadow Minister for Tourism

Not all years are remarkable, but 2008 certainly was.

In that year we watched in trepidation as Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions collapsed, triggering the GFC.

The nation paused as Kevin Rudd delivered the historic apology to the Stolen Generations.

And many of us celebrated as Barack Obama made history as the first African American to be elected President of the United States of America.

It is no wonder, perhaps, that one world event sidled past largely uncommented upon.

In 2008, which is also when I was serving as the nation’s first ever Infrastructure Minister, the World Bank confirmed that for the first time ever, the world’s population tipped over to become more urban than rural…

A trajectory that is significant because one decade on it has surged ahead.

Indeed, the world is on track to become 70 percent urban by 2050.

Sally McManus is Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions

I’d like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people.

I’d also like to acknowledge that today is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination which in Australia we call Harmony Day.

Australian workers are ruled by laws which have destroyed job security and left us struggling to pay the bills.

Once the promise of living in Australia was that each generation would pass on something better to the next. Better healthcare. Better education. Fairer pay.

The cornerstone to all this was a belief that working people should get a fair go, and that we would all share the wealth we helped create.

But the Turnbull Government and big business have no interest in this promise. Instead, they’re actively dismantling our job security, or are standing idle while it disappears.

We in the union movement believe in the fair go – and we are prepared to fight for it.

So, today, let me outline what we believe needs to happen to turn around inequality - because it’s now at a 70-year high.