Speech

I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

Tonight is much more than the launch of the GenOne ad campaign.

Tonight is a snapshot of the changing times in our country.

We all have reason to have great belief and hope in what lies ahead for Indigenous Australians and indeed our nation as a whole.

Belief in the growing desire of all Australians to bring about overdue and crucial change.

And hope that our generation is witnessing the Closing of the Gap.

Eddie mentioned the Apology.

We know the Apology was not the end of the healing process.

It was only the beginning.

It was not about the Prime Minister of a country standing up and making a statement.

It was about the evolving cultural DNA of a nation finding its voice.

It started the building of momentum in our society - momentum which we must now maintain and even accelerate.

We must build on the growing recognition that Indigenous business is everyone's business.

Since the Apology, we have seen a renewed focus on creating opportunities for Indigenous people in this country.

Almost 12 months ago, the Australian Government officially endorsed the landmark United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Jenny Macklin said at the time that this was a step forward in "re-setting" the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

And this year we have committed our support for the establishment of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples.

We have reason to be optimistic about where we are headed and I'll tell you why.

We are only three months into 2010 but we have already seen a number of events centered on building a new era in Indigenous engagement and opportunity.

The first was the inaugural rugby league match on the Gold Coast between the NRL All Stars team and the NRL Indigenous All Stars team in February.

Twiggy was there. And I'm sure he will join me in saying that it was a magnificent game, won by the Indigenous All Stars.

And it was a win off the field as well as on.

A couple of weeks later, we had the Indigenous Business Leaders' Forum in Parliament House.

The forum was all about how we can change attitudes and how business can get a better understanding of how to attract and, importantly, retain indigenous workers.

The response was overwhelming.

The room wasn't big enough for everyone who wanted to come.

We had to turn away 150 business leaders - such was the enthusiasm to get involved.

And that provided great encouragement for our new Government Ambassador for Business Action, Colin Carter, who will be working closely with Twiggy and others.

Colin has already visited corporate leaders across the country with the objective of bridging the gap between government and the private sector as we work towards the shared goal of growing Indigenous business.

Just a few days after the Business Leaders' Forum, I attended the opening of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence here in Sydney.

If you haven't been over to have a look around at what I believe will be the launchpad for many great Indigenous leaders, I thoroughly recommend you go and visit Jason Glanville and his team.

The Indigenous Land Corporation has built a world-class education facility in Redfern that offers great practical help for young Indigenous Australians to reach their potential.

More importantly, it offers a place that allows them to envision new futures - like the futures that Jack and Tania have carved for themselves through hard work and the grasping of opportunities.

All these initiatives sent strong messages to our nation about what can be achieved by Indigenous Australians in the educational, sporting and business spheres.

And tonight we have GenerationOne.

A campaign which, as Twiggy has said, is all about taking responsibility, and changing hearts and minds.

The GenerationOne campaign will reach across our continent and across all sectors of our society.

It will send a strong message back to Indigenous Australians - that we want to create an Australia that values their achievements.

A nation that creates opportunities for those achievements to find purpose.

A nation that appreciates - equally - the hopes and aspirations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

I applaud the private sector for the GenOne initiative - in particular Andrew and Nicola Forrest, James Packer, Kerry Stokes and Lindsay Fox for their funding of the national campaign.

Of course, Twiggy was the brains behind The Australian Employment Covenant (AEC), which aims to secure 50,000 sustainable jobs for Indigenous Australians.

The AEC is about the Australian Government, employers and Indigenous people working together in partnership to provide Indigenous Australians - who are ready to turn their dreams into reality - the opportunity to do so.

But GenerationOne is taking the message a step further -- it's about getting out into the national conscience.

It is not enough to just get corporate Australia on board.

GenerationOne is about engaging all Australians to effect change.

And change will only come when we all change the way we think and act every single day of our lives.

Only then can we relegate the divide between non Indigenous and Indigenous Australians to history.

This launch is a step in the right direction.

As a Government we have always been upfront about calling for partners across the community in strengthening our work to Close the Gap.

Disadvantage is hard to reconcile in such a prosperous nation as ours.

The Australian identity is defined by the concept of the 'fair go'.

There are too many Indigenous Australians who don't get a fair go.

Too many who battle prejudice or lack of understanding and lack the basic opportunities of education and training.

The GenerationOne campaign is about rectifying that.

Just as government cannot tackle this problem alone, nor can pure philanthropic endeavour.

The bottom line is we're all Australians, and we are all in this together.

As I said at the outset, there is a cultural shift underway in Australia.

A shift in perceptions and a belief in the reality that Indigenous Australians deserve the same opportunities as non Indigenous Australians.

This campaign will help harness these changing attitudes.

Because in this campaign all Australians can participate, regardless of their political views and background.
If you are already active you can do more.

If you have never participated in a movement, you can make a start now and play a simple role to create real change.
I applaud the captains of industry throughout our nation who are passionate about effecting change.

I wish Generation One every success in inspiring that passion in others.
 

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I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

Today is an historic occasion. Today we launch the National Compact: Working Together. Today marks a new era of collaboration between the Australian Government and community and not-for-profit organisations - the groups we often refer to as the Third Sector.

This compact sets the framework for all of the Government's work with Third Sector organisations as we tackle some of the greatest challenges facing Australia, an era of collaboration that will fundamentally strengthen and improve the way we work together, that will strengthen civil society and that will help the organisations which help many of the most needy and disadvantaged people in Australia.

Over the past two years, many of you here have been closely involved in bringing the National Compact to fruition, and today marks a great milestone.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues Jenny Macklin and in particular Ursula Stephens for their substantial work in making this initiative a reality. With this National Compact, we now have a framework for ongoing dialogue and consultation that will enrich policy and program development and service delivery, and today both the Government and leaders in the Third Sector will publicly sign up to it.

When we talk about the Third Sector, we are talking about 5.4 million volunteers - who tirelessly give more to society than they ever hope to receive. These not-for-profit community groups work in areas as diverse as health and social welfare, mental health, homelessness, heritage, the arts, the environment, sport, employment, volunteering and advocacy.

As the Productivity Commission noted recently, there are more than 600,000 such organisations - large and small. They contribute $43 billion a year to our economy, and provide 8 per cent of employment in our economy - almost 1 million jobs.

Of these organisations, some 440,000 are small unincorporated organisations that operate at the local community level, without Government funding or even employed staff, but with great purpose.

Volunteer sports groups, local gardening groups, seniors companion programs and thousands of other volunteer organisations - all making a huge contribution.

Together, all these organisations form the foundations that underpin our civil society, and this National Compact is long overdue recognition of that role.

The interests and responsibilities of Third Sector organisations are diverse, but they are united by a shared commitment to community wellbeing without individual commercial gain - and Government and the Sector need each other.

Government needs the deep reach of Third Sector organisations to be able to connect with people at the grassroots, and in turn, Third Sector organisations need the support that Government can provide to sustain their work.

In just over two years in office, we have acted to provide this greater support, and provide it without strings. One of our first actions, in early 2008, was to remove from Government contracts the gag clauses introduced by the Howard Government.

Those clauses banned community organisations with government contracts from speaking out on important matters of public policy. They muzzled basic freedom of speech, they undermined accountability of government policy, and they stopped community organisations from doing their job - to be a voice for the voiceless and those on the margins of our society.

We opposed those clauses in opposition. We abolished them in government and under a Government that I lead, they will never, ever return. We also acted quickly to reverse the previous Government's changes to the treatment of Fringe Benefits Tax for family tax benefit and child care benefit purposes, so that workers in the community sector did not have their benefits taken away.

We have developed a national not-for-profit Standard Chart of Accounts to reduce red tape and compliance costs for our funded agencies, for implementation from July this year. We are also working with the sector to address economic and social challenges through our Community Response Taskforce.

This Taskforce has been critical to our response to the Global Financial Crisis, including:

• Doubling funding for emergency relief;
• Investing $5.6 billion in new social housing; and
• Investing $650 million directly into our communities through the Jobs Fund to create jobs and support local infrastructure projects.

We are supporting not-for-profit ventures in the child care sector by providing a $15 million loan to the consortium GoodStart to purchase 678 former ABC Learning Centres. We are providing $11 million in Temporary Financial Assistance grants to non-profit organisations to ensure the delivery of valuable community services through the economic downturn, and we are supporting volunteers across Australia through Volunteer Grants, including $21 million of grants in 2010, and through the National Volunteering Strategy we are currently developing with the States and Territories.

Our next step is The National Compact: Working Together. The name says it all.

This Compact gives community organisations, large and small, real input into Government policy and program delivery. It enables true collaboration on key social, economic and environmental challenges facing our communities and it allows the broad range of Australian not-for-profit groups to work with Government to achieve a shared vision.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who contributed to the development of the National Compact through consultations over the past two years, and always, everywhere, there has been immense and valuable contribution from the community sector.

Debate has been incisive, informed and frank. We expected a level of debate, but the overwhelming message was one of support for a Compact.

As one forum participant from Perth said, and I quote: "The moment is here, let's go for it" - and that is what we are doing.

We are all agreed that change is needed in both the Government and the Sector. Government needs to minimise the red tape and layers of reporting that can challenge even the largest and most sophisticated organisations , and there is room to improve the Sector's delivery of services, viability and development of better policy and programs.

The Australian public needs to be assured that there is transparency, accountability, efficiency and value for money in the services being delivered.

The clear message from the Sector was that it wanted a Compact that was succinct, high-level and aspirational.

The National Compact: Working Together is structured around shared principles including:

• recognising the value of the Sector's work and the importance to national life of a strong, independent and diverse sector;
• authentic consultation, constructive advocacy and genuine collaboration;
• a commitment to enduring engagement with marginalised and disadvantaged Australians, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and
• a concerted effort to develop an innovative, appropriately resourced and sustainable Third Sector.

And, in line with these principles, we have identified eight priority areas of action.

• First, to promote the value and contribution of the Sector.
• Second, to protect the Sector's right to advocacy -irrespective of any funding relationship that might exist.
• Third, to recognise the Sector's diversity when consulting and developing sector initiatives.
• Fourth, to improve information sharing including greater access to publicly funded research and data.
• Fifth, to reduce red tape and streamline reporting.
• Sixth, to simplify and improve financial arrangements, not least the inconsistencies across state and federal jurisdictions.
• Seventh, to improve paid and unpaid workforce challenges.
• And eighth, to improve funding and procurement processes.

Our next step is to work together on action plans for community sector organisations to raise specific concerns with the Government, consistent with the National Compact.

This Compact will only be given life through the development of those action plans. We are also carefully and seriously considering the Productivity Commission Report into the Not for Profit Sector, which proposes a substantive reform agenda.

Our primary goal is to remove the barriers and obstacles to your work - to let you get on with the job in our communities.

If we are to truly succeed, we need active leadership, engagement and involvement from both the Government and the Third Sector. To do this, we have established the National Compact Sector Advisory Group, and it is good to see many members of the Advisory Group here today, and I thank them for their work.

We will also provide a range of mechanisms for Sector organisations to sign up to the Compact— all voluntary, of course - and we plan to set up a public register of Compact signatories.

I encourage you all to pick up a copy of the Compact and visit the new National Compact website.

Challenges such as homelessness, Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage, climate change and child protection are major long-term challenges. No government can solve those problems on their own.

They require strong, respectful relationships with individuals, organisations and communities, because only by working together - bringing together all of our resources, experience, skills and creativity - can we build a stronger and fairer Australia.

The Government believes that the National Compact is a commitment to change: change that will see the erosion of the disadvantage that still exists in our prosperous country; change that will create a society where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential, and where everyone reaps the benefits of a strong economy.

This Compact sets benchmarks for an active partnership between Government and the Third Sector - a true partnership, where those who advocate on the part of the vulnerable and the dispossessed are not silenced and gagged, but where their opinions are heard and respected and they can make an even greater contribution to building Australia's future.

This is our National Compact.

I thank you.
 

Eamon said a couple of weeks ago that there's no place for politics at a dinner like this.

And of course he's right.

But in my experience, packing 500 people of Irish extraction into a dining hall like this and offering to quench their thirst with a glass or seven of Guinness is the first step towards fomenting political insurrection.

Politics and the Irish go together like leprechauns and rainbows.

So in a warm spirit of non-partisan Irish hospitality, let me welcome my political opponent Tony Abbott to Queensland.

This time last year, I mentioned my namesake, St Kevin of Glendalough who lived in 6th century Ireland.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the works of this great saint, I can let you in on a little secret.

St Kevin was in fact an abbott.

He wasn't a mad abbott.

He was a run-of-the-mill abbott, given to long boring sermons and moral crusades against the lasciviously short loin cloths of the sixth century.

St Kevin in fact lived in a cave as a hermit for seven years - nothing compared to my ten long years in opposition.

His one great virtue was that he was attributed with many extravagant miracles - including steering his monastery through the global financial crisis of 578 AD.

He also held back wave after wave of unauthorised people movements of the latter 6th century, otherwise known as the Anglo-Saxons and Jutes.

St Anthony, on the other hand, was not Irish.

He was born in Portugal, lived in Italy and preached throughout Europe.

He was a seriously multicultural 13th century type.

St Anthony was trained as an Augustinian.

Be careful, Tony - Martin Luther also began life as an Augustinian.

In fact St Anthony was a man of shifting allegiances - later becoming a Franciscan.

St Anthony is now best known as the patron saint of lost things.

To be theologically correct, lost things probably doesn't extend to lost causes.

For that we must turn to St Jude.

And to be equally correct, St Anthony was canonised in record time - a mere 12 months after his passing, a testament to his virtue.

St Kevin on the other hand had to wait 1300 years.

Whether that says something about their namesakes in 21st century Australian politics, I'll leave you to judge.

But I digress.

One year ago, when I spoke to this gathering, I mentioned my Irish grandmother.

Hannah Cashin was born on the Tweed River in 1892.

She was the daughter of Irish parents who had migrated from the small parish of Ballingarry in County Tipperary.

I confessed to a few family secrets.

Like my family's links to the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848 - having come from the town where the national tricolour of green, white and orange was first unfurled.

And I owned up to my family's involvement in a long-running factional fight that raged across Tipperary in the 19th century, between the Shanavests and the Caravets.

There's even a whisper that Hannah Cashin's grandfather may have been the same William Cashin killed by the blow of a stone to his forehead in the great factional fight of 1838.

Which is probably why my forebears felt at home in the Australian Labor Party after they arrived on these shores.

But now that I've come clean about my own past - there's a matter of history that Tony needs to clear up.

No, I'm not asking Tony to discuss his views, as an ardent monarchist, on the actions of the British Crown against a nascent Irish republican movement.

I'm referring to a historic document that I have with me on the podium tonight.

It lists the names of the men and women transported to Australia on the Second Fleet in 1790.

It inscribes the name of my paternal forebear Thomas Rudd - from the thieving English side of my ancestry, as opposed to the revolutionary Irish side.

Thomas nicked a pair of shoes and got seven years in Australia.

He served his time.

He then returned to England - only to reoffend in 1799, and get transported to Australia for a second time, and for another seven years.

Getting transported to Australia twice for thieving reflected a prodigious talent.

And a worthy professional preparation for politics.

But I digress.

The question raised by this Second Fleet passenger list concerns another passenger.

On the same vessel to Australia that transported Thomas Rudd was another passenger by the name of:

William ABBOTT - from Norfolk

The question I have is, does Billy Abbott bear any ancestral relationship to Tony Abbott?

And what was his offence?

And did the forebears of Rudd and Abbott ever cross each other on the high seas - burdening future generations of Rudds and Abbotts with a score to be settled that would finally be fought out on the national stage more than two centuries later?

But as Eamon has said, a Queensland Irish Association event like tonight's is no time for politics.

Especially not in an election year.

So I won't be making any policy announcements tonight.

Although, this being an election year I asked my department to provide the Cabinet with some options for boosting St Patrick's Day celebrations.

They came up with three.

Option one - making the new national anthem It's A Long Way to Tipperary.

Option two - replacing the AFL, and rugby league and rugby union with Gaelic Football as the national football code.

Option three - my personal preference - opening up the Lodge to all Irish Australians for St Patrick's Day, with an open bar and Guinness on tap.

And so it shall be if we see the re-election of the Rudd Government.

A few comments of a more serious nature.

As we know, Ireland isn't exactly the world's largest nation.

But it's hard to think of a national day celebrated with such spirit and enthusiasm anywhere in the world.

And two million of our 22 million Australians claim Irish ancestry.

This reflects the vast reach of the Irish diaspora.

And the enduring power of Irish culture and identity.

But that's Ireland - small nation, with big hearts and a grand character.

The course of our nation's history was profoundly influenced by Irish migrants and their progeny - the Ned Kellys, James Scullins, Ben Chifleys and Paul Keatings.

Including those who, in the words of Chifley, shone their light on a hill.

As well as by less well-known Australians of Irish descent.

Those who we might say, followed the old Irish folk custom of putting a candle in a darkened window, to guide the way of strangers.

People who, one by one, helped build our national character as Australians.

The larrikin humour.

The rebellious character.

The deep suspicion of authority.

The warm hospitality.

What became for us mateship.

And the deep, deep instinct to defend the underdog.

Great Irish traits - traits that we can all celebrate.

That's why I'm delighted to announce a very special celebration.

On St Patrick's Day next year, the National Museum of Australia will open the most comprehensive exhibition ever on the Irish in Australia.

It will celebrate all aspects of the Irish contribution to Australia.

Its time span will extend from the Irish who came on the First Fleet, to the thousands of Irish backpackers who visit Australia every year.

It will be a generous and scholarly exhibition, with hundreds of exhibits from every state in Australia and from Ireland and the United States.

Many of those items have never been on display before.

The National Museum tells me that no country has ever had an exhibition on this scale, celebrating the contribution of the Irish diaspora.

The exhibition should attract interest from all across the world, and I expect it to be seen by tens of thousands of Australians before the National Museum takes the exhibition to Ireland later in 2011.

And in June this year, ahead of next year's exhibition, the National Museum of Australia will be publishing a book to celebrate the stories of Irish Australians - suitably titled Sinners, Saints and Settlers.

Friends, the first occasion when the Queensland Irish Association's St Patrick's Day celebrations were held here in Tara House was 1928.
The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, James Duhig, great friend of Labor Premiers T.J. Ryan and Red Ted Theodore - spoke on that occasion of his great pride as an Irish Australian.

His pride in the history, the culture and the values that came with being Australian of Irish descent.

But more than all of that, he spoke of his belief that God had given a diversity of gifts to different peoples throughout the world.

And he spoke of Australia's special opportunity.

"Never in the history of the world", Archbishop Duhig said, had any nation had such a great opportunity for combining these diverse gifts of different cultures.

He spoke of the combination of the Irish, the English, the Welsh, the French, the Germans, Italians and the Danes.

Eighty years and three generations later, Archbishop Duhig's words still ring true.

Ours is a culture today more greatly enriched by the gifts of cultures from every part of the world.

And no nation has a greater opportunity than does Australia, to bring together, in harmony, those different cultures - to build something far greater than the sum of its parts.

Australia is a young nation.

Our future offers extraordinary opportunity.

And no people have made a greater contribution to our history, character and identity than the children of St Patrick.

So on the eve of St Patrick's Day, we celebrate Ireland.

And we celebrate Ireland's contribution to the great nation that we all cherish - Australia.

So tonight I propose a toast - to Australia.

 

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I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

The Australian Government values the role of the Australian Medical Association in representing the interests of Australian doctors - in general practice and other specialties, medical students and doctors in training. We especially value the AMA's constructive engagement in the national debate on the future of our health and hospitals system.

In particular, tonight I want to acknowledge the hard work of Andrew Pesce as President of the AMA. I've appreciated Andrew's input and his engagement with the health reform agenda in the meetings that we have had together in recent weeks.

The Government and the AMA are both committed to tackling the long-term challenge of health reform, and we are both committed on the direction we need to take to tackle this challenge - in particular, on the need for stronger clinician leadership within our health system.

In July last year, the AMA told us about the sorts of things that they would like to see in health reform. In a speech to the National Press Club, Andrew said, and I quote:

"Services must be organised and administered as close as possible to the actual delivery of the service (to the bedside)."

He also said:

"Reform must enable more decision-making by health professionals at the local and institutional levels."

"Reform must encourage a move to national standards."

Andrew, we heard you.

What I am going to talk about tonight is what the National Health and Hospitals Network means to you, how you have helped shape this reform and the critical role that you have to play in the future.

In framing this reform, the Government conducted more than 100 consultations with clinicians, health professionals and patients across the country, from major tertiary hospitals through to small primary care centres providing the entire clinical support for several towns.

I have heard firsthand about:

• the need to provide clinicians with leadership and flexibility to determine what works best for their patients;
• the need to recognise that general practitioners are the backbone of our health system - and to properly support and train them;
• the need to train more doctors and to ensure that our next generation of doctors are equipped with a world class education;
• the shortage of health professionals in our rural and remote communities and the demands placed on our dedicated rural doctors, who are often the single practitioner servicing the full spectrum of needs of several small communities;
• the future information technology needs to support our health system;
• the major differences in quality and standards across the nation; and
• the need to support training and research in both our hospitals and in health services in the community.

Again, we have heard you, and as a Government, we are determined to act, after so many years when health reform was considered just too hard to undertake.

The Australian Government believes that now is the time for action on health and hospitals. The health system we have today - though it has served us well - has come to a tipping point.

The current system is fragmented.

Its structure encourages cost shifting and blame shifting between different levels of government.

It wastes resources.

It leaves too many patients waiting at the end of long queues.

It is increasingly unable to cope with the strains under which it operates.

It often leaves key decisions in the hands of bureaucrats far too remote from the communities that health professionals serve.

And it is unprepared for the challenges of the future - an ageing population, rising chronic disease rates, workforce shortages and the rising cost of medical care.

The scale of the challenge is reflected in Treasury's conclusion that without action, State government budgets by 2045-46 will be completely overwhelmed, with health spending consuming their entire revenue.

In other words, as a nation we cannot afford to delay action any longer.

Within our first year in office, we signed a National Health Care Agreement that delivered $64 billion - a 50% increase in on the previous agreement, and last week we announced the most significant reforms to health and hospitals since the introduction of Medicare.

The National Health and Hospitals Network will be nationally funded and locally run.

The Australian Government will become the dominant funder of our public hospital system.

We will devolve responsibility for managing our public hospitals to Local Hospital Networks.

We will take over all funding and policy responsibility for GP and Primary Health Care services.

But we know that much more is needed - and we will have more to say over the coming weeks and months ahead.

We will be addressing the reform of primary care in greater detail because if we are to take pressure off our hospital system, that is going to happen through providing better primary care in the community.

General Practitioners will be very important to those changes.

We will also tackle the long-term shortage of doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, building on the record $1.1 billion investment in training more health professionals and the expansion of GP training places that are already being delivered.

We will take the National Health and Hospitals Network to the States at next month's meeting of the Council of Australian Governments and if the States and Territories do not sign up to fundamental reform, we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system.

What I want to talk about with you tonight is what these reforms mean for you as doctors.

First, what a nationally funded network means for you.

Second, what national standards mean for you.

And third, what Local Hospital Networks and clinical leadership mean for you.

Under our plan, for the first time, the Australian Government will permanently fund 60 per cent of the efficient price of all public hospital services. It will also shoulder the burden of rising hospitals costs into the future.

As the dominant funder of the hospital system, the Government will pay for hospital services differently. Instead of providing States with a blank cheque, the Government will pay hospitals directly for each service they provide.

It has not only been patients who have been short changed by jurisdictional buck-passing and system-wide inefficiencies. It has been medicos who have been left to turn patients away from hospital wards due to a lack of available beds. It has been doctors who have had to work in often rundown buildings, without state-of-the-art equipment, as the number of administrative and clerical staff has ballooned to more than 36,000.

Under a National Health and Hospitals Network, things will change - from service provision to the delivery of operating capital and large scale capital works, hospitals will be better resourced into the future.

The level of government with the strongest financial position will foot a dominant share of all hospital costs and it will do so on a permanent basis.

For the first time, we will provide clinicians with the certainty of knowing that when you admit a patient, the hospital is being paid a fair price for the services that you directly deliver. This fair price will be set by an independent national umpire. The umpire will be free from the clutches of either level of Government.

This means no more finger-pointing between governments about the rate of indexation for hospital funding and it means no more arbitrary cuts to the indexation rate - which undermine funding for public hospital services.

Instead, funding will reflect an independent assessment that takes into account clinical advice about what is needed to deliver services properly and efficiently. And, in line with the AMA's recommendations, the efficient price will reflect the varying cost of service delivery across different hospitals in rural and remote locations, and for patients with more complicated conditions.

As the majority funder of the health and hospitals system, the Australian Government will require strong national standards and transparent reporting in the health system. These national standards will reflect the high expectations that patients and clinicians should rightly have of health and hospital services. These national standards will apply across the health system, including:

• Access to hospital care;
• Access to GPs and other local health professionals;
• Safety and quality in the health system; and
• Financial performance.

Today, there is significant variation in waiting times for emergency departments and elective surgery across our eight state and territory health systems.

Last week I said that a national network would for the first time mean tough national standards. For the first time, patients - no matter which hospital they attend, no matter where it is - will know that their hospital is subject to the same strict standards as every other hospital.

This week, I can announce that we will put money on the line to drive those standards.

We must improve waiting times for emergency services. We must improve waiting times for elective surgery.

But consistent with the move to activity-based funding, we won't be handing over blank cheques.

Today I can reveal that we will make additional investments, based on reaching and exceeding those tough national standards. In other words - performance incentives for local hospitals.

This will not be the whole of our extra investments - not by a long shot - but we believe it is crucial to recognise concrete improvements in a concrete way.

This will give local hospitals more funds to deliver essential health services, and drive innovation and improvements across our hospitals.

National standards will also drive better health and hospital outcomes, but to achieve better outcomes, the pursuit of these standards needs to be informed by clinical practice, and that's where clinicians will play a critical role.

The national standards are our destination. It is clinicians, and their expertise, that will provide us with the quickest and surest route of reaching these standards.

Part of reaching the destination is ensuring clinicians have sufficient scope and authority to adapt best practices at the local level. I will return this important matter shortly.

But an equally important part is ensuring that clinicians have sufficient voice to tell decision makers what national best practices are.

The Government will support clinicians in ensuring we have ways of disseminating their experience and their research, and putting it into practice nationally. We will do so by supporting the development of national clinical guidelines, and we will do so by enhancing the role of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, to expand its range of functions to drive evidence based medicine.

And we will underpin our commitment with a new role as the dominant funder of teaching and research in our public hospitals.

Local Hospital Networks are another key element of our reform agenda. As I have made clear, these are not the hospital boards of old, which pitted hospitals against each other in a fight for funding.

Networks will be made up of small groups of public hospitals which will work together to deliver patient care, manage their budgets and answer for their performance.

I know how important this is for clinicians. Across the nation, clinicians tell me they feel locked out of decisions on the delivery of health services in their communities. Everyone in this room knows this damages staff morale, increases turnover and disrupts patient care.

Under our reforms, Local Hospital Networks will have Governing Councils made up of clinicians, and finance and management professionals, who are in touch with local needs. These Governing Councils will work with local clinicians to ensure their expertise - especially on quality and safety - is incorporated in the day to day operation of hospitals.

I know many of you in this room will be members of the various forms of clinical advisory councils that exist today, and I suspect that the same number of you will be frustrated at the constant talk and lack of action arising from these bodies that you devote your precious time and energy to.

Our reform plan will bring a fundamental change to the relationship between clinicians and the CEO of the local hospital. The strings will no longer be pulled by unseen bureaucrats.
Imagine the situation I outlined last week where two clinicians at a regional hospital pioneered the development of new services for elderly patients which decreased their admission rate and provided them with better care in the community.

Instead of spending time putting together business cases that end up in the bottom drawer of a bureaucrat hundreds of miles away, the clinicians will be able to deal directly with the Governing Council, and the Governing Council will have the authority to act.

Let me be clear - clinical leadership will be an integral part of Local Hospital Networks and will be built in at every layer across the National Health and Hospital Network.

The Australian Government will establish Lead Clinician Groups so doctors - who know patients best - will be able to improve service planning and the allocation of clinical services in their area.

Lead Clinician Groups will also be drawn upon to provide solutions to national clinical standards.

These groups will complement the corporate governance of Local Hospital networks - giving local clinicians a voice.

We will make sure that clinicians and representative bodies like the AMA are involved in the development and implementation of lead clinicians groups across the Network.

Reforming the Australian health system will be tough, but if we get the structural reforms in place now, we can build a health network that is sustainable, and fair and efficient; one able to navigate the challenges that lie ahead; and one that reflects the excellence of the medical professionals who serve the needs of patients in Australia every day.

We value the AMA's partnership and valuable contribution to building better health and better hospitals for all Australians.

I thank you.
 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

It's an honour to join you today as the people of this great state prepare to make their choice for Tasmania's future and I'm delighted to be here to introduce my friend, the Premier of Tasmania, David Bartlett.

David has brought to the office of Premier a fresh vision for building a strong Tasmania: for the jobs and industries of the future; for supporting every Tasmanian child to achieve their full potential; for quality health care for all.

Friends, these are the right priorities for a stronger Tasmania, and that's why David Bartlett deserves to win on 20 March.

Friends, Tasmania today is a different state to what it was in the '80s and '90s.

There's a sense of self-assurance; a sense of direction; new job; new opportunities; a confidence that Tasmania's best days lie ahead.

Just think of the change Tasmania has achieved.

Before Labor came to office in 1998, Tasmania had the highest unemployment anywhere in Australia. The unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent, compared to an average of 7.8 per cent nationwide.

Today, things are different. Tasmania's unemployment rate is just 5.2 per cent and it's below the nation's average.

The number of jobs has grown by almost 20 per cent. The population has reached 500,000 - and growing.

Tasmania's economic growth rate in the last financial year was the second highest in the nation - and for the first time in history, a Tasmanian is captaining the Australian cricket team. And Ricky Ponting has led Australia to more test victories than any other skipper as well being one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game.

Tasmanians are right to be proud of the achievements of the past 12 years, but this is no time to look backwards - and David is not looking backwards. He's looking ahead: to future challenges; to building a stronger Tasmania; a Tasmania ready for the future with new jobs, better services and greater opportunities for a new generation of Tasmanians.

Friends, I'm proud to have worked together with David since he became Premier almost two years ago: investing in Tasmania's education revolution; improving hospitals and health care for communities across the state; putting Tasmania first in the nation with the National Broadband Network.

Just look at our record, working together.

Together, we took early and decisive action to protect working families from the impact of the global economic recession. The Australian Government's Nation Building Economic Stimulus plan contained a $1.4 billion stimulus to the Tasmanian economy and we've worked hand-in-hand with David's government to deliver the stimulus plan.

Its results are palpable. As the Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Australia have said, it was the Australian Government's stimulus plan that kept our economy from falling into recession last year. Thousands of families across Tasmania have been saved from losing their jobs; saved from the distress of not meeting the mortgage payments; saved from the anxiety about being able to pay for essentials like school uniforms, car insurance and electricity bills; and saved from the uncertainty of searching for work in a climate where around the world, unemployment has been soaring.

We took action, we made a difference and we saved thousands of jobs. We did it because we're Labor. We stand up for working families. When times get tough, we're determined to do all we can to keep Tasmanians in work, just as we're determined to give every child the best opportunities for the future and to provide for those who cannot work - the sick, the elderly, those with disabilities - with quality care and support, and that includes the 85,000 Tasmanian pensioners who benefited from our $35 per week increase in the single age pension, and the $15 increase for couples.

Today, the government of Premier Bartlett and the government I lead are working closely together to build a stronger Tasmania.

Last week I announced the most significant reforms to our health and hospital system since Medicare almost three decades ago.

The Australian Government is committed to ending the blame-game, the cost-shifting and the inefficiencies that plague our health system. As I announced, we will build a National Health and Hospitals Network - funded nationally, run locally.

I welcome Premier Bartlett's positive response to our plans, and I look forward to working with him on the details of our reforms in the months ahead, but in the meantime, we're continuing to work together to build a stronger health and hospitals system today.

The Australian Government has increased our investment in health and hospitals here in Tasmania by 49 per cent compared to the Howard Government. Under our healthcare agreement, we've increased our investment from $930m to $1.4 billion:

• Our investment in extra elective surgery procedures took 1606 people off the waiting lists in 2008.
• We've put $3.1 million into new equipment for Royal Hobart, Launceston and North West Region hospitals.
• And we're investing $15.5 million in four GP Super Clinics in Burnie, Devonport, Sorrell and Clarence.

We're investing in an education revolution, increasing the Australian Government's investment in Tasmania's schools and education system by 197 per cent compared to the last four years of the Howard Government:

• That includes $439 million in the biggest ever school modernisation project in Tasmania, with 599 projects across 272 schools.
• It includes funding for 6,300 computers in 103 schools.
• And $37 million allocated for Trades Training Centres at 32 schools.

We're getting on with the job, supporting new infrastructure where it's most needed:

• The national investment in Tasmanian transport infrastructure is up 63 per cent in our first two years in office, compared to the last two years of the previous government.
• The Government's Nation Building Program has delivered almost $800 million for road and rail projects, including key Midland Highway investments such as the much-needed Brighton Bypass.
• And we're investing in safer Tasmanian roads, with funding for road safety measures at 40 rail crossing and road accident black spots.

We're investing in local community infrastructure like the night lights at Bellerive Oval so that more Tasmanians can share one of life's great joys - watching a Ricky Ponting double century - as I did in January.

And last week we announced a $12.5 million boost to Tasmania's tourism industry through an upgrade of the Three Capes Track.

We're also investing in affordable housing for Tasmanians who most need it - building 514 new homes, at a cost of $125 million.

Friends, this is action that's delivering for Tasmania: better hospitals, new school halls and classrooms, new infrastructure and affordable housing, real investments that are building a stronger Tasmania and the results of a strong working relationship with David Bartlett and his team.

Friends, there is no greater example of us working together than the National Broadband Network because there's no Premier who better understands the potential of superfast broadband for his state.

Friends, we are living in a time of rapid economic change with many businesses and industries going through difficult transitions. At the same time, we see new opportunities emerging.

Superfast broadband is key to so many of those future opportunities. It's the single most important infrastructure investment we can make in the future of Tasmania. It's got the potential to transform the state's economy.

Friends, we're building a National Broadband Network across Australia - but it's all started here in Tasmania. We know that for too long this state was left behind. Rather than an information superhighway, for many Tasmanians it's been a goat track. Tasmania has had the lowest proportion of households with broadband of any state or territory.

But that's not the only reason why we started the NBN here in Tasmania.

Tasmania is the pioneer state for the National Broadband Network and that's because of the vision of Premier David Bartlett.

When we went out to the market to see who could build a national broadband network, none of the proposals offered value for money, but the Tasmanian Government made the best submission.

It became the starting point for what is now the Tasmanian National Broadband Network, TNBN Co, and it's the vision of Premier Bartlett that has put this project in the fast lane in Tasmania.

Within months of our National Broadband Network announcement, we laid the first optical-fibre broadband cable in the project in July last year. We announced the first sites that would receive superfast broadband services by July this year - Smithton, Scottsdale and Midway Point.

Last October we announced Stage 2 - another seven communities that would receive services and plans for the backbone links in the East Coast, south of Hobart and to the new industrial hub being developed at Westbury.

And just last week, we announced Stage 3 - another 90,000 homes and businesses — 40,000 in Hobart, 30,000 in Launceston and 10,000 in each of Burnie and Devonport - as well as a $100 million equity injection into TNBN Co.

And we've set a goal to connect 200,000 premises over the next 5 years.

Friends, fast broadband will mean better jobs and business opportunities for Tasmanians. It will mean higher productivity, lower emissions, better health care and better education and Tasmania is pioneering superfast broadband because of Premier Bartlett's vision and energy for Tasmania.

Friends, broadband is only one example of how we're working together to build a strong Tasmania.

Another example is our response to the economic challenges in the state's northern regions. Last year, the north was particularly affected by business closures in the food processing and paper sectors.

I received strong representations from Premier Bartlett - alongside Sid Sidebottom, Jodie Campbell and Dick Adams. That's why we teamed up with David to create a $20 million package to respond to support new ventures to generate new jobs and businesses in the north.

The North West and Northern Tasmania Innovation and Investment Fund invited applications for funds - and it's received 126 applications, which are now under review.

In the meantime, we've already supported 53 small and medium size businesses to become stronger, more competitive businesses through the Enterprise Connect Manufacturing Centre in Burnie.

Friends, David Bartlett is a bloke who understands Tasmanian families. A bloke who rolls his sleeves up and works hard for the people of this state. A bloke who cares deeply for his kids, his community and his state.

He's got a vision for a stronger Tasmania. He's got the right priorities for Tasmanian families.

And as Prime Minister, I look forward to working with him to deliver for Tasmania's future.

I'm delighted to introduce to you the Premier of Tasmania, David Bartlett.

 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

The Australian Government is delivering on the basics.

This morning's National Accounts confirmed once again that we have kept the Australian economy growing strongly - while other economies around the world remain devastated by the global recession.

Earlier this week, we delivered on our commitment to launch the first national curriculum for schools in our nation's history - a curriculum grounded in teaching the basics and one delivered after two years of effort after thirty years of failure.

Today, we turn our attention to health.

Today we are delivering on the most significant reform of Australia's health and hospital system since the introduction of Medicare almost three decades ago.

Starting today, the Australian Government will build a new National Health and Hospital Network to deliver better health and better hospitals for all Australians.

The Government will deliver better hospitals by establishing a national network, that is funded nationally, and run locally.

For the first time in history the Australian Government will take on the dominant funding role for the entire public hospital system.

For the first time, eight state-run systems will become part of one national network.

And there will be one set of tough national standards to drive and deliver better hospital services.

The Australian Government's decision to take on the dominant funding role for the entire public hospital system is designed to:

End the blame game.

Eliminate waste.

And to shoulder the funding burden of the rapidly rising health costs of the future.

The hospital system will be run through Local Hospital Networks.

These Networks will bring together small groups of hospitals in a local area, where local professionals, with local knowledge, are given the necessary powers to deliver better hospital services to their local community.

To fund this Network, the Australian Government will take around one-third of the GST revenues and place it in a new National Hospital Fund to be spent only on health and hospitals.

The Australian Government will take on the dominant share of funding future demands on the system.

At the moment we pay around 35 cents in every dollar of public hospital growth funding. Under our reform plan, we will be funding around 60 cents in every dollar.

This is a comprehensive package that I will put to the States and Territories at COAG on April 11.

My message to them is simple: work with the Australian Government, work with the doctors, nurses and other health professionals of Australia who want reform, work with the clinical leadership of our local hospitals who also want reform - and together deliver better hospitals and better health care for all Australians.

If the states and territories do not sign up to fundamental reform, then my message is equally simple: we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - along with a referendum by or at that same election to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system.

The Australian Government's position is clear.

It also gives effect to my commitment to the Australian people at the last election.

Health and hospital reform cannot, must not, and will not be put off to some distant point in the future.

It must begin now.

The purpose of our plan is simply this: better hospitals, and better healthcare, for all Australians.

This is the single purpose of the new National Health and Hospitals Network (NHHN) we are announcing today.

We will deliver on this commitment by establishing a national network, that is funded nationally, and run locally.

Our plan deals with the reasons why so many Australians seem to fall through the cracks in our current health system.

I share the frustration of patients.

I share the frustration I have heard from our doctors and nurses.

I've heard the stories in hospital after hospital.

? There is too much blame and fragmentation, making it hard for patients to work out which level of Government is responsible for the care they need.

? Too many patients are receiving uncoordinated care because of the lack of integration between hospitals and out-of-hospital services.

? Too many mums and dads can't find proper health care for their kids if they happen to get sick out of normal business hours (which they normally do).

? Too many of our public hospitals are struggling as demand on the system is rapidly outweighing the supply - with one in three emergency department patients, and almost one in six elective surgery patients, waiting for longer than the recommended time for treatment.

? Too many of our local clinical leaders are not adequately involved in decisions about the delivery of health and hospital services in their local communities, when they invariably know best.

And underneath it all, because the current system is a total mess in the organisational relationship between the Commonwealth and the states, there is just too much duplication, overlap and waste.

Failure to fundamentally fix the system would mean that a large part of future investments in the system would be wasted.

Let's give the current problems a human face.

Let's imagine a 67 year old man who is retired and lives in the outer suburbs of one of our major cities.

He's just been placed on a waiting list to get a hip replacement at his local hospital but he's been told there's a wait of around 12 months.

That's 12 months of living with pain, poor mobility and having to rely on his wife to get around.

On the same day a 45 year old woman with a similar hip problem living in another major city, was told that her local hospital could give her a hip replacement in 5 weeks.

Two different people, both in capital cities - but very different standards of care.

The new National Health and Hospital Network aims to deliver a set of national standards, including access to elective surgery.

This means both would get their operations done within a similar timeframe.

If one of them can't get it at their local hospital then the Local Hospital Network will find that person a bed at another hospital within the Network - or with a private hospital if one can't easily be found.

The National Health and Hospitals Network will also recognise that patient needs are best served by empowering our dedicated health professionals.

Imagine the situation of two clinicians at a hospital in regional Australia.

They have pioneered the development of new services for elderly patients with multiple illnesses, based on their knowledge of local health needs.

Their work has reduced hospital admissions and improved the health outcomes of elderly patients who frequently visit their local hospital.

Both clinicians would like to take this pilot into a much larger program for their hospital.

They have been waiting for the bureaucrats in a capital city health department to give them the go-ahead on this program for more than two years.

Under the new National Health and Hospitals Network, the clinicians can approach their clinical representative directly.

Providing their new program meets national clinical standards, the Local Hospital Network - which is more likely to recognise the relevance of the program for the local community - can decide to expand the pilot and make it part of that hospital's day to day operations.

In other words, a new level of local control over the delivery of health services.

In both scenarios, the new National Health and Hospitals Network is designed to deliver better hospitals and better health care.

Doctors want this.

Nurses want this.

And so do the patients totally frustrated by waiting lists or not being able to get on to waiting lists in the first place.

Before the 2007 election, I made a commitment that if elected to government, we would tackle the challenge of reform of the health and hospital system.

That we would end the buck-passing and the blame game.

And that instead, on the reform and the future of the health and hospital system, the buck would stop with me.

Today, the Australian Government honours that commitment.

Today, I honour that commitment.

Each and every word.

Health reform, we know, is one of the greatest long-term challenges facing Australia.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of Australians rely on our health and hospital system to provide quality care for themselves and their families.

Every year, Australians make more than 115 million visits to the local doctor.

Every year, they make use of 54 million hospital services spread across the nation's 762 public hospitals.

Australia's health system employs around 740,000 workers, or one out of every 14 Australian employees - including 60,000 doctors and 230,000 nurses.

In building the new National Health and Hospitals Network for the future, the Australian Government is undertaking a massive reform.

But we do not shrink from that challenge one bit.

The time for fundamental reform is now.

But in rising to the challenge of reform, we are building on that which we have already delivered in our first two years in office:

? A 50 per cent increase in hospital funding over the next five years in the Australian Health Care Agreement - a $64 billion investment.

? An unprecedented $1.1 billion investment in training more doctors, nurses and health professionals, including a 35 per cent increase in GP training places.

? A rural doctors incentive scheme that now extends to 500 additional communities and 2,400 additional doctors to encourage them to stay in the bush.

? For the first time, the Australia Government is investing more than $1.8 billion directly in expanding emergency departments, post-acute care and elective surgery.

? Establishing 36 GP super clinics across the nation to provide flexible, integrated care in local communities.

? And, for the first time, the Australian Government is investing directly in the capital needs of local hospitals.

We have also taken action to put the health system on a more sustainable footing, including by rebalancing support for private health insurance for high income Australians - a fiscally responsible measure that the Opposition last week again blocked in the Senate, despite its potential to free up $100 billion for our health budget over the next 40 years.

The reforms we have delivered so far are helping tackle the immediate pressures in our health and hospitals system - our emergency departments, elective surgery waiting lists and workforce shortages.

But they are just the beginning.

There is much, much more to be done.

That's why two years ago, not long after coming to office, I commissioned the most comprehensive structural review of the operation of the health system in 20 years.

Today we are joined by Dr Christine Bennett who led that review and I take this opportunity to thank Christine and the members of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission for their work.

The Commission concluded in July last year that the health and hospital system is fragmented, is at a tipping point and is unable to cope with the challenges it faces in the years ahead.

In the words of the Commission, "now is the time to act".

Having received and absorbed the Commission's work, the Government over the last six months engaged in a comprehensive consultation process involving more than 100 forums around the nation - 21 of which I attended.

Today I want to thank the doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, health administrators and other passionate advocates who attended these consultations and shared freely their time and wisdom.

Our consultations underscored the need for reform - with the overriding theme of a stronger Australian Government role, coupled with higher national standards and increased funding for public hospitals.

In addition to the Commission's Report, the 2010 Intergenerational Report highlighted that our health and hospitals system is not adequately prepared for future challenges - with the combination of an ageing and growing population, the increased burden of chronic disease, ongoing workforce shortages and rising costs.

Based on the same data, Treasury has concluded that by 2045-46, spending on health and hospitals would consume the entire revenue raised by state governments.

This means that states would not be able to fund their health and hospital system, let alone meet their other responsibilities.

Once again, the time for action is now.

The clear message of both the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the Intergenerational Report is that the system needs reform that is fundamental - not just incremental.

Reform that for the first time enables eight state-run systems to become part of a single national network, using consistent national standards to drive and deliver better hospital services.

Funded nationally.

Run locally.

The National Health and Hospitals Network contains seven major reforms.

For the first time, the Australian Government will take on the dominant funding responsibility for all Australia's public hospitals from the states because the states simply cannot afford to fund the future growth of the system.

The Australian Government's funding share will almost double, from 35 per cent today to 60 per cent into the future - equating to an additional $11 billion per year from next year.

The Australian Government will take clear financial leadership in the hospital system, permanently funding 60 per cent of the efficient price of every public hospital service provided to public patients.

We will fund 60 per cent of recurrent expenditure on research and training functions undertaken in public hospitals.

We will fund 60 per cent of capital expenditure - both operating and planned new capital investment - to maintain and improve public hospital infrastructure.

No previous Australian Government has accepted any responsibility for the funding of hospital infrastructure - let alone 60 per cent.

Over time, we will also pay up to 100 per cent of the efficient price of 'primary care equivalent' outpatient services provided to public hospital patients.

These reforms will permanently reverse the decline in the Australian Government funding contribution for public hospital services over the last decade.

They will put an end to the tiresome cycle of the blame game between the Australian Government and the states over hospital funding.

In exchange for relieving pressures on State budgets, the Australian Government will require system-wide reforms to create a better integrated, unified national health and hospitals network, with national standards, national transparency and national accountability.

Right now, too many patients find themselves shunted from one part of the health system to another.

Under the National Health and Hospitals Network, for the first time, the Australian Government will take full funding responsibility for all GP and GP-related services delivered outside hospitals.

Because one level of government will be responsible for both the majority of hospitals costs and all of primary care, more people will be treated outside of hospitals - as they often should be.

With the Australian Government paying more of the hospital bills, it will have the incentive to make sure people are treated through less expensive and more appropriate primary care services.

This is instead of shunting patients into expensive hospital services predominantly paid for by another level of government - albeit paid by the same, long-suffering taxpayer.

That's what I mean by ending cost shift and the blame game.

With the Australian Government responsible for all primary health care services, we can finally deliver better integrated, better coordinated healthcare that is more responsive to the needs of patients.

This is what we have already begun to do through the creation of GP Super Clinics.

Once again, this is but the first step.

By taking full funding and policy responsibility for primary care we can also reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions that could be avoided through providing better care in the community - estimated at around 441,000 admissions, or 9.3 per cent of total hospital admissions every year.

Bad for patients.

Bad too for the taxpayer.

To help fund these reforms, we will rebalance financial responsibility in the Federation by dedicating around one-third of GST revenue directly to a new National Hospitals Fund.

The Australian Government will also take the dominant responsibility for funding the future growth of the system.

These funds - in the order of $90 billion over the first five years of the new arrangements - will be dedicated entirely to hospital investments.

We estimate this is likely to cost the Australian national budget a further $15 billion over the decade which would otherwise be borne by the states.

This reform will also significantly address the vertical fiscal imbalance in the federation.

If we fail to address this imbalance, the level of government with the least efficient tax base will continue to bear the burden of the fastest growing area of public expenditure (that is, hospitals) - with detrimental effects for the national economy.

The Australian Government is determined to end the blame game in hospitals and health.

And that's why the Australian Government is putting its own skin in the game.

But under this plan it is important that the States have some skin in the game too - to provide a strong incentive for States to better manage hospital systems and ensure they do not have any reason to start to withdraw money from their health budgets.

To strengthen accountability within the health system, the Australian Government will develop strong national standards for patient care and publish performance statistics for the nation's hospitals - leveraging its increased funding responsibility to deliver a better standard of care.

For the first time there will be nationally consistent performance standards for hospitals in critical areas such as emergency departments and elective surgery, to help reduce waiting times for the public.

For the first time, Australians will also have access to information about how hospitals and health providers are performing - including safety and quality measures, such as the level of adverse events and hospital acquired infections.

These standards will create a more transparent and accountable health system for the Australian taxpayer.

While health and hospital services will be funded nationally - they will be run locally.

For the first time, Local Hospitals Networks, run by local health, financial and managerial professionals, rather than state or, for that matter, federal bureaucrats, will be put in charge of running the hospital system.

The Australian Government will require the establishment of Local Hospital Networks across the country.

The Australian Government will, in time, also fund Local Hospital Networks directly.

Payments will therefore bypass state bureaucracies and empower local clinical leaders to flexibly tailor health services to local needs and local populations.

If local clinical leadership of a hospital can better deliver services locally and save money, they should be allowed to re-invest what they save in the further delivery of services.

This has been a strong and consistent call from clinical leaders across Australia.

Local Hospital Networks will bring together small groups of local hospitals within a geographic or functional connection, who will manage their own budget, deliver coordinated patient care and be held directly accountable for their performance.

Local Hospital Networks will have a professional Governing Council with clinical representatives, and a CEO who is empowered to make day to day operational decisions, and who is accountable for health outcomes.

A system based on Local Hospital Networks will encourage cooperation in delivering better health care coordination across a population area - particularly with local primary care and aged care providers.

In many states, existing regional health bodies are too remote from local decision making.

The creation of Local Hospital Networks will substitute these arrangements and will not be allowed to result in any net addition to bureaucracy - because as a condition of funding, any increase in the number of local staff working at Local Hospital Networks must be matched by a reduction in head office staff numbers in health departments and regional bureaucracies

And staff will be located in local hospitals themselves.

The Government will pay Local Hospital Networks directly for each service they provide, rather than simply providing block funding to the States.

Payments will be made directly, on the basis of an efficient price per hospital service, determined by an independent national umpire.

Currently, the Australian Government provides block hospital funding to states, who then determine how and where this money is spent.

This is like providing a blank cheque.

In the past, neither the Australian taxpayer nor the Australian Government had any idea where the money went.

Or even if it all went to hospitals.

This must stop.

Under the new arrangements, each Local Hospital Network will be funded for every service they provide to a patient.

Alongside our measures to improve transparency and accountability in service delivery, this reform will foster a culture of innovation and self-improvement

It will become easier to identify the best-run hospitals, who will be able to share their expertise and innovations with other hospitals.

This reform will drive hospitals to eliminate waste and will mean that patients will not be pushed out of the hospitals system - as hospitals are paid a fair price for every service delivered.

In addition to the fundamental structural reforms I have announced today, the Australian Government will also take on the dominant role for the future growth of the system beyond a simple linear projection of GST payments.

The gap between GST growth and projected hospital spending growth on a no-policy change basis must still be met. And that is where the Australian Government must step in.

Within this framework of fundamental reform, further initiatives must also be embraced in the future including:

? the inadequacy of hospital bed numbers now including specific problems in emergency departments, elective surgery and sub-acute care;

? further reforms in the expansion of primary care;

? the undersupply of doctors, nurses and other health professionals;

? the inadequacy of electronic health records across the system; and

? preventative health care, aged care, mental health and dental services.

These also formed part of the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission's deliberations.

The Government is also signalling today that we will be acting in these areas in the future.

But further significant investment in these critical areas must be built on the basis of the fundamental reforms to the system that are part of the National Health and Hospitals Network.

Reform is essential.

You can paint a wall with the most expensive paint in the hardware store.

But before you pick up a paintbrush, you have to do the preparation. You have to strip off the old wallpaper and see what's underneath. You have to sand the walls and repair the cracks first.

Because if you don't, the wall might look alright for a couple of months, but the cracks and the flaws will reappear.

And you'll end up having to repaint that wall time after time.

Our health system has cracks and flaws. Some of them we can see, some of them are under the paint.

And those flaws have been repainted and papered over for too long.

We're doing the preparations now. With the structural reforms I am announcing today, we can go on to build and extend a health system for the 21st century.

We can do this together - with the doctors, nurses and other health professionals who want reform - and with the sign up of the states and territories.

And if the states and territories do not sign up, then we will take this reform plan to the people at the next election - along with a referendum by or at that same election to give the Australian Government all the power it needs to reform the health system.

What I have outlined today is also a landmark reform to one of the most important sectors of the Australian economy:

I think the Australian people have been waiting too long for health reform.

So today, Australia has a choice.

We can continue blaming others when things go wrong.

Or we can take the hard road of reform.

Building a new Health and Hospitals Network is fundamental to building a stronger and fairer Australia.

A stronger Australia because better health and better hospitals are critical for workforce participation, for productivity and for the efficient use of public finance.

A fairer Australia because if you don't have universal access to quality health care, the fair go has gone back out the door.

Just like it did with WorkChoices.

And we all know from history how ideologically hostile our political opponents have been towards universal health care in the past.

I know health and hospital reform won't be easy.

It never has been.

It'll be one of the hardest reforms that the Government will tackle.

But this Government is working hard to build Australia's future.

We are proud of our record of achievements in keeping the economy going.

We are proud of what we are achieving in education.

And we know what we must now achieve in health.

A National Health and Hospital Network, that is funded nationally and run locally, is about delivering the basics.

And this Government intends to get on with the job.
 

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Today we honour courage.

Today we honour sacrifice.

Today we honour compassion.

These are the noblest human values. These are the noblest Australian values.

These are the values that shine like a winter star, for this is a story which must be told and told and told again, because in the story of the Centaur we see the worst and best of humanity at work.

Today we honour all those who lost their lives on the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur and we honour those who survived, floating on rafts clinging to wreckage, praying for rescue.

We honour the families whose lives were torn apart by this cold, brutal, inhuman act of sinking a hospital ship, the families who then waited two-thirds of a century to discover the final resting place of their loved ones.

The images from the ocean floor that we saw a few short months ago when the wreck of the Centaur was discovered were a voyage through time - and the voyages of time: the ship's bell; the sprung frames of hospital beds; a lone soldier's boot; the vivid red of the hospital cross on the ship's hull, this cross, the Red Cross; the Australia slouch hat that sits motionless on the ocean bed alongside the wreck standing almost as a silent sentinel to the atrocities of war.

All of these things of the deep are silent, eloquent, permanent reminders of the violence meted upon the men and women of the Centaur just before dawn on that autumn day 67 years ago.

Let us be clear: sinking an unarmed hospital ship, clearly marked with the internationally recognised symbol of the Red Cross, is a violation of international law.

No ifs. No buts. No maybes.

But more than that - it is a complete violation of the most basic principles of human decency.

No ifs. No buts. No maybes.

The Centaur was a vessel of mercy and it was suck without mercy by a vessel of war, and its wreck will forever be a sepulchre for those 268 souls who perished, a memorial to the 75 merchant navy personnel, 193 Australian service men and women, doctors, nurses, orderlies, cooks and stewards.

Designated now as a war grave. Now protected ever more from intrusion. Forever now a sacred place. Forever now a reminder that the preservation of your freedom was purchased with the blood, the sweat and the tears of those who came before us.

Forever also a reminder of how close the war came to our own shores, to Australian shores to Queensland shores, because Centaur, while perhaps less known elsewhere in the nation, has always occupied a special place in the hearts of Queenslanders.

We felt as if our own home, barely 70 miles from where we are today, had been violated.

Today's service reminds us too of that thread of time that links the past to the present, for though the Centaur was lost 67 years ago, not until today has our nation been able to pay its respects formally to those who were lost and to share in the searing memories of those who survived.

Some of those survivors are still with us - survivors like Martin Pash, who is here with us today, who I had the honour to meet before the service, and Bob Westwood and Matty Morris, who are marking today privately.

But most are no longer with us.

People like Second Mate Richard Gordon Rippon, whose navigational skills were vindicated years later when his original calculations - made 40 minutes before the torpedo attack - steered David Mearns' search team to within one nautical mile of the Centaur's resting place.

People like Captain Richard Salt, who was about to retire but was persuaded to make one more trip - with the Centaur.

People like Sister Nell Savage, who symbolised the ANZAC spirit of resilience in adversity, ignoring her own injuries to care for other survivors and to boost flagging morale as they waited and waited and waited in the water and awarded the George Medal - recognising a woman who signed on to be a healer, not a hero.

Nothing now can change what happened in those brief, fateful moments 67 years ago, and nothing can replace the years of loss and uncertainty for friends and families, but my hope, and the hope of the nation, is that the discovery of the Centaur can bring peace of mind and the possibility of healing of souls.

You know now the final resting place of your loved ones after so many, many decades. That is why we became involved in the search.

Many of you sitting in this Cathedral today are thinking of a loved one - a parent or grandparent, an uncle or aunt, a friend or a mate. This service is a chance to remember them, and to honour them, and to acknowledge their service to Australia.

This is a day for the nation to honour them just as we do today here in this great Cathedral, so too do others across the nation with us, to write one final chapter in the Centaur's history because in this great Australian family, Centaur is part of us now, just as we are part of Centaur.

Her story is our nation's story.

Lest we forget.
 

I acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

It's an honour to join you on this sacred ground for the Australian Labor Party.

The site of past election campaign launches by Don Dunstan.

The man who represented Norwood in Parliament for more than a quarter of a century.

The man recognised as among the greatest Labor leaders and the greatest Australian Premiers.

The man who transformed South Australia - building a modern, sophisticated, confident and outward-looking South Australia that became a beacon for the nation.

Today, the bloke who started political life working for Don Dunstan, returns to the Norwood Town Hall.

As your leader.

As your Premier.

And seeking a fresh mandate from the people of South Australia.

Mike is Australia's most experienced Premier.

Mike Rann is an unapologetic champion for South Australia.

Most importantly, Mike is a leader who has delivered for South Australia.

With new industries.

New businesses.

New jobs for a new generation of South Australians.

In short a new vision for South Australia's future.

Friends, eight years ago, before Mike Rann became Premier, it was a different story for this state.

South Australia's unemployment rate was above the nation's average, at 7.2 per cent.

Kids were leaving to find jobs elsewhere.

And South Australians were worrying about their future.

Eight years later, things have changed.

Unemployment is just 4.4 per cent - well below (and no longer above) the nation's average.

The number of jobs in South Australia has grown by almost 20 per cent - as young people now stay rather than giving up and leaving the state.

And major projects are now coming to South Australia - not leaving South Australia, as in the past.

Friends, South Australia has experienced one of the greatest transformations of any state in the Federation.

And this is not an accident.

It's the result of Mike Rann, his cabinet and his government, working, working, working.

Providing strong leadership.

Providing responsible economic management.

And Mike always leading from the front.

But all this could be put at risk if an untested, ill-prepared and risky Liberal Party is allowed to slide back into power on March 20.

Friends, in the two years since the new Australian Government came to office nationally, we have built a strong partnership with the Rann Government.

Partnership is not a word.

Partnership is a fact.

Partnership investing in nation-building infrastructure.

A partnership in bringing the jobs and industries of the future to this great state.

And partnership in helping secure the future of South Australia's water supply.

From the day we established Infrastructure Australia, to set national priorities for infrastructure investment, Mike was the first Premier beating down my door.

And from the beginning, one thing was clear.

When Mike comes with an idea or proposal - it's never sloppy or half-baked.

It's worked out, thought through and carefully costed.

That's why South Australia's plans were among the first projects in the nation to be endorsed by Infrastructure Australia.

Since we came to office nationally, the Australian Government's investment in road and rail infrastructure in South Australia has increased by 264 per cent, compared to the Howard Government.

Like the Australian Government's $500 million investment in the South Road upgrade.

Almost $300 million for the electrification of Gawler rail line north.

$291 million to extend the Noarlunga rail line south down to Seaford.

$61 million investment million to extend the Adelaide O-Bahn road right into the heart of the city.

Our investment through the Local Government Reform Fund in four projects here in Adelaide - to develop new, innovative approaches to long-term city planning.

And let's never forget about our partnership on water.

Our investment of $328 million to double the capacity of Adelaide's desalination plant - powered by renewable energy - a plant capable of securing half of Adelaide's future water needs.

Do you know, the previous Federal government never invested a dollar in urban rail or urban water.

Not a single dollar.

That has now changed.

And changed fundamentally.

And if you want evidence of what partnership is all about - it's about real projects on the ground that would make a real different to the lives of working families.

I said before the transformation of South Australia has been profound.

And nowhere is this more evident than in the transformation of the South Australian economy.

An economy now diversifying into high-value industries and high-skilled jobs.

Transforming the economy from traditional manufacturing into high-tech manufacturing, major defence projects, renewable energy and advanced industries to support mining and information technology.

Industries that are driving the future growth of this economy.

And industries that are generating high-skilled, rewarding jobs for our kids today and for future generations.

Of course, little of this would have been possible had we stood idly by last year as economies around the world fell like nine pins.

As millions of workers in Europe and America lost their jobs - and still remain out of work.

Together with Mike's government, we decided to make a difference.

The Australian Government has made a $4.2 billion investment in South Australia through our nation-building infrastructure stimulus plan.

The result for the nation (and for South Australia) - among the major advanced economies.

The highest growth.

The second lowest unemployment rate.

The lowest debt.

The lowest deficits.

And the only one not to go into recession.

Indeed, in the last financial year South Australia grew by 1.4 per cent.

The second highest growth rate in the nation.

And a country mile ahead of the rest of the world.

And while the auto industry was collapsing around the world, we did it differently in Australia.

We did it differently in South Australia.

The Australian Government's $6.2 billion New Green Car Plan is securing future jobs and future opportunities for local car manufacturing.

Just over twelve months ago, I visited the heart of Australia's $7 billion automotive industry in Elizabeth to launch an all-new, fuel-efficient, low-emission small car - the result of a $149 million co-investment with Holden.

This is a great win for South Australian manufacturing.

For Australian manufacturing.

For family budgets.

And for the environment.

So you ask what partnership means.

It's not a slogan.

It's a reality.

And one that makes a real difference on the ground to the needs of working families.

We've increased our investment in health and hospitals here in South Australia by 43 per cent compared to the Howard Government.

We're investing in an education revolution, including $1.4 billion in the biggest school modernisation project ever seen in this state - spread across 789 schools.

And we're tackling the huge challenge of securing South Australia's future water supply.

For too long, this challenge was neglected both by the Commonwealth, the eastern states and previous governments of this state.

But now the challenge is being tackled head-on.

For the first time, the Australian Government has now committed over $1 billion to new water infrastructure projects in South Australia.

For the first time, we are also buying back water rights to restore our rivers to better health.

We have now secured the purchase of 797 gigalitres of water entitlements at a cost of $1.27 billion - despite strong opposition from the Liberals.

And for the first time, we have a Commonwealth Minister with national responsibility for the overall cap on the Murray Darling and a Basin-wide plan to give effect to that cap.

And that minister is a South Australian - Senator Penny Wong.

Nobody deserves more credit for the changes in national water policy than Mike Rann.

Mike has been unrelenting in demanding South Australia gets its fair share.

Just ask the Victorians.

Of course there's no quick fixes - we all know that.

South Australia's challenges with water shortages have been accumulating for well over a century.

But finally, there's real action underway.

So you ask what partnership means.

It means what we have done together in just two short years on the economy, on infrastructure, on schools, on hospitals and on water.

The absolute basics of what governments must be about.

Friends, Mike Rann is the bloke who's taken this state from being behind the pack.

And he's put South Australia out in front.

He's got plans for South Australia's future.

And deserves to be able to finish the job.

And as Prime Minister, I look forward to working with him to deliver for South Australia's future.

It's my pleasure to introduce to you my friend, the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann.
 

CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY

I acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation on whose land we meet, and whose cultures we celebrate as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

This is a great project.

What the Indigenous Land Corporation has built here at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence is a world-class facility and it symbolises the dawn of a new era in Indigenous education, engagement and leadership because the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence is a place that offers great hope, great opportunities, and great practical help for Indigenous Australians to reach their potential.

As the Centre's CEO, Jason Glanville has said, and I quote:

"We need to get away from the deficit language of disadvantage and have a real and meaningful conversation about excellence. This centre is about building hope for the next generations. We want profound outcomes."

Profound outcomes that have the power to change lives, now and in the future.

The Indigenous Land Corporation's $50 million investment in this centre is about more than just bricks and mortar. It represents a considerable social investment, too: an investment in the 5,000 or so Indigenous kids from communities across Australia who will come through this Centre every year; an investment in health and wellbeing, in sport, in the arts and culture; an investment in programs that will allow these kids to develop a sense of self-worth, a sense of self-respect, and a sense of self-reliance - the essential qualities of a productive, contributing member of the community.

Education will be the cornerstone of their success. We must improve the educational outcomes for Indigenous children.

As I said in my annual report on Closing the Gap to the federal Parliament earlier this month, the gap in meeting literacy and numeracy standards between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is large - as much as 29.4 percentage points for Year 5 reading, which is why the intensive literacy tutorial centre that this Centre is running, in close partnership with Macquarie University and the Exodus Foundation, is so important.

The primary school kids who come through this program will get a real boost.

Over the course of the six month program, we're hopeful that their literacy levels will rise by up to two years.

That is a phenomenal outcome, and I can tell you that after speaking with the team here, they will not settle for anything less than phenomenal outcomes.

A couple of weeks ago, on the Gold Coast, I was lucky enough to see a magnificent game of football - the inaugural rugby league Indigenous All Stars match. This was a game of football which reminded us that winning is not just about the score line - even though the good guys won. It was a night reminded us of the power of sport to knock down barriers and inspire pride in Indigenous identity, and we know that some of the most effective programs for young Indigenous people are the ones linking sporting and education opportunities.

It's why we run the Sporting Chance Program, that program supports the excellent work of the Clontarf school-based sports academies, which are achieving school attendance rates of nearly 80 per cent and now have 2,300 students enrolled in 36 schools.

The Sporting Chance Program also supports the Former Origin Greats to establish school-based sports academies and their Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education (ARTIE) program, and the dedicated staff here are partnering with not-for-profit organisations to cultivate talent and create opportunities to develop brighter futures for our young people.

Organisations like:

• the YMCA, which will operate the Eora Sports, Arts and Recreation Centre and Eora Campus;
• the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy will be on site here to deliver sport, wellbeing, learning and cultural programs; and
• the Lloyd McDermott Rugby Development Team, which will run sports, wellbeing and personal development camps here at the Centre.

The Centre will also partner with the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience, whose objective is to increase Year 10, Year 12 and university admission rates for all Indigenous Australian students, because success at the NCIE is not all about academic achievement.

This Centre may stand for excellence, but it also stands for inclusiveness, growth and integrity. It is already helping to create a deeper and richer understanding of Indigenous culture in the wider community and one of the unexpected catalysts for that is the fantastic state-of-the-art public gym here at the Centre. In its first month, 900 members have joined up and more than half are Aboriginal.

What the staff here are really pleased about is that many of these members are older Indigenous men and women, who we know are over-represented in poor health statistics - people who have never set foot in a gym before but now they are using the gym regularly because the fact that all the operational staff in the gym are Indigenous has broken down the barriers for them.

Jason said, and I quote:

"Having blackfellas and whitefellas - particularly older Aboriginal men and women - training alongside each other is a powerful experience for both. This is true grassroots reconciliation in action."

As we know, from little things, big things grow.

It is no wonder then that the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence marks what many are calling the Renaissance of Redfern.

There is a very real sense of rejuvenation and renewal around this iconic suburb, a renewal that the Redfern community has worked towards for many years but which now has a focus and tangible symbol in the form of this Centre.

The NCIE is built on the site of the old Redfern Primary School and it provides a safe environment for young people across this country to engage, to learn and to be inspired - while offering job opportunities for Indigenous people.

I'm advised that the target for Indigenous employment was exceeded during the construction phase, with 35 Indigenous employment positions over the course of the project. It is anticipated that more than 30 Indigenous people will be employed in sport, recreation, youth and community programs, and hospitality when the Centre is fully operational.

These jobs are important to the Australian Government's commitment to closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage, including halving the gap in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a decade.

This means we need an additional 100,000 Indigenous Australians to find and keep jobs over the next nine years. We have a vested interest in making this happen - and not just because it is critical for social justice.

There is an equally strong economic argument for lifting workforce participation. Over the next 10 years, 130,000 young Indigenous Australians will enter the population of working age Australians.

We need to guarantee that they have the education and skills needed to move from school, TAFE and university into the workforce, and that they get a fair go when they look for a job.

Just the other night I attended the Business Leaders Forum in Canberra. This initiative was about getting governments, community leaders and business leaders together to talk about how we improve employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

We talked about opening doors and removing obstacles to employment, about changing company cultures to encourage effective recruitment and retention of Indigenous employees.

As I said, the Australian Government is committed to Closing the Gap and I am confident that the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence can play a significant positive role in helping us achieve that.

It is now two years and two weeks since the Apology to the Stolen Generations. We know the apology was not the end of the healing process. It was only the beginning.

But since the Apology, we have seen a renewed focus on creating opportunities for Indigenous people in this country.

We have committed our support for the establishment of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples and continue to engage with Indigenous communities across Australia in a range of Closing the Gap initiatives and priorities.

In backing up this commitment, governments around Australia have committed over $4.6 billion in funding across a range of reforms to address chronic disease, housing conditions, employment, education and service delivery.

However, funding alone is not enough to make sure these gaps are closed - we need unprecedented cooperation from all sectors of the Australian community.

With the focus often placed on remote Indigenous communities, we won't close the gap if we don't also focus on the 75 per cent of Australia's Indigenous people who live in urban and regional areas.

All governments, families and communities have a duty to make sure our kids get the education needed to lead full, productive and rewarding lives so that all Australian can enjoy the same choices.

There is a really important word in this Centre's name: excellence.

I hope that word is a constant reminder to all who pass through these doors of just what can be achieved through hard work, the guidance of good people and the grasping of opportunities.

I wish the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence - its staff and students - every success.

I congratulate you on the first class facility that you have built.

I congratulate you, in advance, for the heights you will reach, and I congratulate you for creating a place where the hopes and dreams of Indigenous Australia will be encouraged and nurtured.

It is now my pleasure to officially declare open the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.
 

In politics, words are very easy. Doing things is very hard. And what inspires me about your presence here this evening is that you are doing things. You are doing real things. You are providing opportunities to change people's lives and change them forever.

Sometimes, in the challenge of reconciliation, we lose heart. Sometimes we think it's all too hard. Sometimes we just think that for every success there are 10 failures, and why go on?

But what encourages me about your presence here this evening, and the 150 or so business leaders who were turned away from being here this evening, is the spirit of the nation is alive and well and wants to do things.

It doesn't want to emote about it, doesn't want to feel good about it - it wants to do things.

This is a very hard area. You all know that. That's why you have succeeded in the fields of endeavour which have brought you to this gathering this evening. It's a very hard area, and it therefore requires hard and determined people - hard and determined people whose heart is still tender and warm, and that again is the spirit I see present in this gathering this evening.

Whenever you feel discouraged, and I say this to my Indigenous brothers and sisters here this evening and to those of you from the non-Indigenous community, pause for a moment and reflect a bit on the journey on which we've come just over the last couple of years.

This is the place in which we apologised to the Stolen Generation, and we've had moving testimony this evening about the impact on just one of them. The thing that hit me in the heart from the Welcome to Country was the phrase "I grew up without knowing that Aboriginal people existed". How extraordinary. How frighteningly extraordinary.

But that is the reality from which we have come. It's a sad reality, it's a cruel reality, it's a heartless reality, and it's for that which we gathered as a nation on all sides of politics and from all parts of the country to simply say sorry - and we did.

But as I said on that occasion, words without deeds are but a clanging gong, a hollow symbol, and count for nothing. And that's where as a nation we embarked upon this journey called Closing the Gap.

I'll come to the practical parts of it in a minute. But when you lose heart, reflect on where we've come in just the last couple of years.

What really affected me just the other night was attending a football game on the Gold Coast in the great and incomparable State of Queensland. [Laughter] I had you all with me until that point. [More laughter]

So as I sat there with Jenny [Macklin] and with Twiggy [Forrest] and others, Linda Burney, Smiley [William Johnstone], folks from near and folks from far, I was absolutely stunned, the fact that we were there with a full stadium of people watching this game unfold. And the nation felt to me as if it was at one, wanting this enterprise to succeed, for which this game of football was an outward and visible sign of, to paraphrase the good nuns who taught Aunty [Ruth Bell] before, an inward and perhaps spiritual event.

Because there you had the world of rugby league, the NRL, the ARL, Smiley, the whole mob, out there on the field, Indig, non-Indig - it was great. Fantastic game of football, too, and the good guys won.

But you know something? The crowd loved it and the nation enjoyed it.

And so when you start to feel weighed down by it all, just step back every now and then and reflect that the spirit of getting this right is alive and well in the good people of Australia.

Now, to the practical business of what you are doing.

My first responsibility tonight is to each and every one of you, as Indigenous and non-Indigenous business leaders, is to say thank you. I mean it. I really do.

I'm married to a businesswoman. Creating a job doesn't happen like that. You operate under a bottom line. You operate with the disciplines of your banks; you operate with the disciplines of the marketplace; you operate with the disciplines of what your firm does best. And within all those constraints, what you have done as business leaders is to say 'we can make a difference'.

I just find that so encouraging, so inspiring.

Some may be just starting out on this particular journey. And I've met one or two this evening. Some are long seasoned in it and have seen the upsides and have seen the downsides and the waves on the way through. But you know, we are making a difference, because you are making a difference.

The huge firms we know something of - the BHPs and the Rios. Can I just say to large companies like that, and there are many of them here this evening and not just in the mining and resources sector, thank you for staying the course. It's good that you've done so.

I could say by reprimand that you started late, but I won't, because the nation started late. All of us started late.

But it is also the other businesses and the other firms in the financial services sector, in the manufacturing, retail, hospitality, tourism, right across the spectrum, people seeing where they are and realising what they can to transform a young Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person's life.

So, seriously, and from my heart and from my head, thank you for that which you have done, that which you are doing, and that which you have resolved so to do.

The second is this - that I really do get it when so many of you say to me: "Kevin, we just to help. Our challenge is not throwing the doors open. We've overcome those barriers. Our challenge is finding the people." I get it. Most of us get it around this gathering this evening.

Which is why I'm equally inspired by what so many people here are doing this evening in school education and what comes after it. The great work being done in Queensland, and that's not in reference to the State - it actually was a reference to the extraordinary work being done in pioneering approaches to retaining kids at school. The extraordinary work being done in the West and now much more broadly by Gerard Neesham and the Clontarf Academy; the great work being done by Andrew Penfold, getting kids from Indigenous communities into the boarding schools of our country, and he mentioned to me just before the great work, I think, under Mark's [Arbib] portfolio of having now hundreds and hundreds of kids, Indigenous kids, in school-based apprenticeships.

So, in having the pipeline of people come through, can I say to each one of you engaged in that work at the coal face of what comes before school, of what's happening in our schools, and what is needed to keep kids at school and provide those pathways beyond school and through university and into the financial institutions to work - thank you, because that is one huge part of the jigsaw.

If I have a third thing to say tonight, it's kind of how we fit in, the Government. I was talking earlier this evening to Gerard Neesham, and, as you know, we are backing Clontarf, we are backing what Andrew Penfold's doing, we're backing what Twiggy Forrest is doing, we're backing what so many of you are doing around the country. But I was taken, in particular, by part of my conversation with Gerard about why it is that we in Government actually prefer to work with you beyond Government.

And that is because if we can bring our resources to bear, with continuity, with strength and with vigour, and persistence and certainty, the magic really happens when we harness that of people beyond Government and their passion and commitment, professional expertise and zeal. In Clontarf, we see that. I discovered, to my horror, how much money we're spending with Clontarf this evening. Someone should have given me the brief. Gerard, you've done very well - and so it is across the spectrum.

Didn't stop Gerard from asking for more, by the way - a lot more.

But you know something? It actually works well if we, creatively, are working with each other. Our job in Government when it comes to these great challenges of Closing the Gap, is to hold fast to the targets we must reach, be clear about them and be accountable in the progress that we are making towards them, but to be flexible and open about what each situation and each community demands as the local response and how you as individual firms and schools and school-related enterprises can best fit in.

It is that creative and dynamic partnership for which there is no perfect template, which, I think, will realise for us our greatest strength.

It's a long way off. Let's be honest about it. The tasks ahead are huge, the challenges formidable, but we are exploring a new way. The classic view, the Government does all, doesn't work. The alternative view, which is that random acts of philanthropic endeavour by those of you who feel virtue in your soul, it's great, but it's not comprehensive.

The creativity lies in bringing these two worlds together, and that is what we seek, in our own way, to do.

To the ministers who work with me on this, can I say to Jenny and to Mark and to others who are here, thank you. These two ministers, in particular, have their hearts and their minds fully engaged in this great enterprise, and I really would say to both of them in front of this audience how much I appreciate that work.

It's hard, it's difficult, and it can be discouraging, but with these ministers, let me tell you, you have an open door and through the Government a willing response in terms of things that work practically at the local level - and we mean it.

We will be held to account each year in this place when we, in the House of Representatives, deliver a report on or about the anniversary of the Apology to Indigenous people. The focusing thing about that report is that it is our national bottom line. It is our national balance sheet. It is our national reconciliation of accounts each year.

The targets we have set, the investments we've made, and the changes we have wrought or the failures that we have encountered. It's a good discipline for the nation, but we'd never, ever get there were it not for you making it happen in the field.

Aunty said in conclusion that she dreamt of the day when an Indigenous Australian will be Prime Minister of this country. You know something? I was first introduced to Closing the Gap on the 40th anniversary of the '67 referendum, at an event held down the road here at the Old Parliament House.

I didn't know much about Closing the Gap, to be quite honest, until I sat down with some Indigenous leaders who explained to me that it really had some horsepower. I also remember on that occasion we sang together 'From Little Things Big Things Grow' , and I think that's what we're doing here, changing all those lives, tens, then hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands. And that means within our lifetime Indigenous leaders in the ranks of politics, including the highest offices of the land, as should be the case.

Australian business, this journey is long and the difficulties will be great. But it won't happen without each of you fully hitched to the cart of reconciliation and what we can do for the future of the Indigenous people of this ancient land.

I thank you.

[ends]