Already one of the all-time great Labor speeches; a reminder of Labor values made in despairing circumstances as, tragically, so many other great Labor speeches have been.

Anthony Albanese, Leader of the House of Representatives
Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices, Sydney
25/2/2012
(summary - full speech and Q&A at link below)

“I have devoted my life to advancing the cause of Labor.

I have despaired in recent days as I have watched Labor’s legacy in government be devalued. We have been a good government since 2007.

Over recent days I’ve had a difficult decision to make.

In recent times, I’ve argued against the predicament that the party now finds itself in.  I’ve argued against the spill. I’ve argued against those people who argued we should ‘bring it on’, as it were called, whether they be forces inside or outside the Labor Caucus. I also argued against a challenge against the Prime Minister and indicated that I would not support any challenge against the Prime Minister, should someone seek to bring it on.

I have argued against this sort of action before, on the night of 23 June 2010. I believe the Government’s difficulties can be traced to that night.  Labor is the party of fairness.  It was not fair. It was wrong. We cannot have a situation whereby a first-term elected Prime Minister is deposed, without warning, under the circumstances in which it was done, and I think that anyone who analyses those circumstances objectively would agree with that regardless of the personalities involved.

We’ve only had three leaders lead us from opposition into government since the Second World War: Kevin Rudd, Bob Hawke and Gough Whitlam. Each of those three gentlemen deserved our respect. That’s important. Each of those three gentlemen were formidable campaigners indeed. It is tough.  It is tough to take Labor from opposition to government. Kevin Rudd showed in 2007 that he could do that.

I argued that night to Kevin Rudd that he shouldn’t contest the ballot because it was in the interests of the party that we get a clean change, given that the circumstances were that he would not have been successful had he contested, and given the proximity to a federal election. That was a difficult thing to do.

Monday’s ballot is the only opportunity I have, therefore, in a ballot to express my dissent from the actions of that night. And I intend to do so.

I do so with a heavy heart.  In politics, as in life, you cannot just consider the past; you have to also look to the future and I also believe that our future prospects would be stronger with Kevin Rudd as leader.

We need to win in 2013 to entrench our reforms. We’ve had, under both Prime Ministers Gillard and Rudd, a big agenda. But in order to entrench the reforms that are there, the equity changes that we’re making in education, in health, in my area of infrastructure, you need a long period of time in order to achieve change.  All of that, all of that is at risk.  All of that is at risk if Tony Abbott becomes Prime Minister.

Can I conclude with this: that I have made my decision and it has not been an easy decision. I respect those who disagree with me. It is a judgement call.  Both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard are formidable politicians and good human beings with good hearts and smart heads. They are formidable people, both of them, and both of them have my utmost respect.”