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Coronavirus: Bill Shorten pitches post-crisis manifesto

Bill Shorten has laid down his policy vision for a post-pandemic Australia.

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten. Picture: AAP

Bill Shorten has laid down his policy vision for a post-pandemic Australia, declaring the nation needs to “seize the moment to do things differently” and create a fairer society with a stronger manufacturing base and bigger public sector.

With Anthony Albanese to come under internal pressure if Labor loses the Eden-Monaro by-election, the former Labor leader resurrected his pre-election language to declare a new vision was needed to deliver for the “forgotten Australians” who had fallen behind during COVID-19.

Mr Shorten called for the immediate approval of “every worthy infrastructure project in the nation” and an expansion in the public sector to make up for private sector unemployment.

He also called for more government support to expand the workforce outside the traditional raw commodity sectors. “As this pandemic recedes, we stand at a crossroads. We can choose to stay on the path more travelled,” Mr Shorten wrote in the The Tocsin magazine, to be released this weekend by the John Curtin Research Centre to mark the 75th anniversary of the death of the Labor wartime prime ­minister.

“We can continue down the path of global laissez faire economics, hyper-individualism and polarisation of wealth. Or we can heed the lessons gleaned from COVID-19 and seize the moment to do things differently — living up to the finest egalitarian, fair-go traditions of the Australian way.

“This government’s blinkered belief, in the face of all available evidence, that the free market magically solves all, that those left behind are undeserving, is ­anathema to the growing ranks of the forgotten Australians who have done the right thing and continue to do the right thing by their families, their communities and our ­nation.”

The Tocsin publication ­includes essays from nine Labor figures — including federal frontbenchers Amanda Rishworth, Clare O’Neil and Matt Keogh — on how Labor policy should be shaped to deal with the changed political climate brought on by COVID-19. Labor senator Kimberley Kitching and Australian Workers Union ­assistant national secretary Misha Zelinsky joined Mr Shorten in calling for a bigger manufacturing base.

“Blind trust in foreign supply chains proved not just unduly optimistic but also perilous to national security,” Senator Kitching wrote. “For young Australians to be persuaded back into technical education, they must see the prospect of well-paid and secure employment at the end of their training.”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/coronavirus-bill-shorten-pitches-postcrisis-manifesto/news-story/a71dd0b8e43887588a0d79538a5799b3