Sergiy Kyslytsya: 'Now we can save Ukraine', Emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly - 2022

1 March 2022, United Nations General Assembly, New York City, USA

Mr. President, Secretary General. For the first time since the United Nations was born, there is a full fledged war in the centre of Europe. Everyone in this hall and everyone in the world knows that Russia and Russia alone started this invasion now facilitated by Belarus. This war was not provoked. It was chosen by someone who is right now sitting in the bunker. We know what happened with the person who sat in the bunker in Berlin in May, 1945.

Before I continue with my formal statement, I would like to switch to Russian and invite you to put on the headphones because I would like to read from the screenshot of the smartphone of a killed Russian soldier. That's an actual screenshot from someone who is dead already. [inaudible]

[Reading screen]
Why has it been so long since you responded? Are you really enduring training exercises, asks the mother of the killed soldier.

[Moments before he was killed.]

Mum, I'm no longer in Crimea. I'm not in training sessions.

Where are you then? Papa's asking whether I can send you a parcel.

What kind of a parcel mama can you send me?

What are you talking about? What happened?

Mama. I'm in Ukraine. There is a real war raging here. I'm afraid We are bombing all of the cities together, even targeting civilians. We were told that they would welcome us and they are falling under our armoured vehicles, throwing themselves under the wheels and not allowing us to pass. They call us fascists. Mama, this is so hard.

[This was Several moments he was killed]

Imagine - if you want to just visualise the magnitude of the tragedy, you have to imagine next to you, next to every nameplate of every single country in this General Assembly, more than 30 souls of killed Russian soldiers already next to every name of the every single country in this assembly, 30 plus killed Russian soldiers, hundreds of killed Ukrainians, dozens of killed children, and it goes on and on and on. So just imagine those killed people next to you when you will listen to my formal statement.

Big militarised power seeking for geopolitical greatness has launched a full-fledged military offensive against a smaller neighbour, aimed at invading the country. Deadly airstrikes dropped on civilians' heads across the entire country and the Russian troops crossed Ukraine's borders from the territory of Russia-Belarus, and the occupied parts of Ukraine's Donbass and Crimea. Does it remind you of something, doesn't it? Indeed, very clear parallels could be drawn with the beginning of the Second World War and Russia's course of action is very similar to what their spiritual mentors from the Third Reich employed on the Ukrainian land 80 years ago.

Just one, the most recent example, example of human sufferings, example of war crime as all of us were on our way to the General Assembly today, the Russian army shelled with multiple rocket launcher systems, the residential areas of the city of Kharkiv, the second big biggest in Ukraine. Innocent civilians have been killed and wounded. The exact number is very difficult to estimate because of the warfare. While the negotiations are still underway at the border with Belarus. We therefore express our gratitude for the  overwhelming support that made this decision on the emergency session possible. We are grateful to the president of the General Assembly for his taking care of this idea well in advance. We appreciate the engagement of the UN Secretary General who has taken a very strong stance in support of peace, in support of the UN Charter. We have been prompted to call for an emergency special session as the level of the threat to the global security has been equated to that of the Second World War, or even higher, following Putin's order to put on alert Russian nuclear forces. What a madness! If he wants to kill himself, he doesn't need to use nuclear arsenal. He has to do what the guy in Berlin did in a bunker. In May, 1945.

The security council addressed the issue of the Russian war against Ukraine and the decision was not adopted, due to the obvious reason. The country attempting to occupy Ukraine since 2014 has occupied the seat of the council permanent member since 1991. Therefore we do not accept the Russian logic that the Security Council was enabled to act due to one-sided and unbalanced approach. The only guilty party is the Russian Federation.

Distinguished delegates. Russia uses all its military potential to attack Ukraine and has begun redeploying reserve units on the border with Ukraine. It fires cruise and ballistic missiles at cities, attacks with aviation tanks and artillery, sends subversion and reconnaissance groups which mark residential buildings in preparation for the air attacks. Russia's missiles are now aimed at destroying the infrastructure objects. They targeted the radioactive waste disposal site near Kyiv, the fuel base in the town of Assuitiv that is effectively Kyiv's suburb. The objects of logistic infrastructure including bridges, airports, and water reservoirs remain among the targets. Such towns as # and # ar now nearly destroyed as well as residential buildings in and around Kiev and #. The Russian forces ceased the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station at the part of # region including the North Crimerian canal. Due to the active moving of Russian heavy militaries through the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the radiation level has increased rapidly

In the Black Sea. Russian warships deliberately attacked two civil vessels under the flags of Panama and Moldova approaching Ukraine. This constitutes a flagrant violation of the international law of the sea. Incredibly one of the vessels had a Russian crew! Still it was attacked by the Russians.

Russians keep attacking kindergartens and orphanages, thus committing war crimes and violating the Rome Statute. Hospitals and mobile medical aid brigades are also targeted by the Russian shelling, and the sabotage groups working in Ukraine's cities and towns. The Russian military fired on ambulance crews in the areas of # and Kiev. In the district of Sumi region. Russian tanks shot down a bus with civilians. Later, the Russian military did not allow ambulances on the spot. As of today, 352 people, including 16 children were killed on the Ukrainian side and 2040 Ukrainians, including 45 children wounded, during the first five days of the Russian invasion. And this number is growing nonstop. I have already told about the morning shellings in Kharkiv and we cannot really estimate at this moment how many were killed.

In response. Ukraine has activated its right for self defence, according to the Article 51 of the UN charter. The Russian troops are suffering losses, aircrafts, helicopters, tanks, trucks, personnel, the aggressive forces have already lost more than 5,000 in manpower during the first days of aggression.

Excellencies, this general assembly should be vocal in demanding from the Russian Federation to stop its offensive against Ukraine. In recognising Russian actions as an act of aggression against a sovereign and independent state. In demanding from Russia to immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw its forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders. In demanding from the Russian Federation to reverse the decision related to the status of certain areas of Daniesk and #,  regions of Ukraine. In demanding full compliance with the provisions of international humanitarian law. The General Assembly should also be clear with regard to the treacherous role of Belarus and is involvement in aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Distinguished members of the General Assembly. What is happening now in Ukraine has already had the security and humanitarian implications for all of you. Immediately for Europe, a bit later for the rest, including in terms of food security, energy security, financial markets, collapse of the economies. Last September, my president said, while delivering his statement at the high level segment of the 76th session of the General Assembly, and I quote, 'I understand that criticism of the UN is often heard, but we criticise ourselves.'  End quote,

If we fail to respond now, we will face much more than criticism. We will face oblivion. It must not happen. Now it is time to act, time to help Ukraine that is paying now the ultimate price for freedom and security of itself and of the world. If Ukraine does not survive, international peace will not survive. If Ukraine does not survive, the United Nations will not survive, have no illusions. If Ukraine does not survive, we cannot be surprised if democracy fails next .

Now we can save Ukraine, save the United Nations, save democracy, and defend the values we believe in, and that Ukrainians are fighting for, and paying with their lives. The Russian delegate will speak shortly. Putin has done everything to delegitimize the Russian presence in the United Nations, but I wonder if the Russian presence in the United Nations has ever been legitimate. I wonder if ever this whole, this assembly voted in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 4 on admission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, either in December 1991 or in January, 1992, or whenever thereafter. I want to ask the delegates whose countries voted for admission of the Russian delegation to the United Nations to raise their hand.

To confirm that Russia was admitted to the United Nations according to the charter, please gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, please raise your hand if your country voted in the formal session of the General Assembly, in reply to the letter by President Yeltsin dated December 24th, 1991, when he told the United Nations that Russia would like to be a continuative state of the demised Soviet Union. Anyone? Shall I put my glasses if my vision fails me and I don't see any hand raised. Any country? Anyone voted for a Russian membership? I leave you with that, and think about it when you listen to the Russian delegate.

Barack Obama: 'Democracy itself is on the ballet!', Midterms rally for Shapiro and Fetterman - 2022

5 November 2022, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Sometimes they miss class in the morning and in the afternoon. That person, they might tell you they're voting, but they might not have voted yet. So you've got to help them make sure that they turn out, because this election requires every single one of us to do our part.

It's that important. It is that important.

You heard our president talk about the stakes in this election. You heard Josh Shapiro and John Fetterrman talk about the stakes in this election, A fair economy that gives working people a fair shot. That's on the ballot. Fundamental rights are on the ballot, right? Yeah? Truth and facts and logic and reason and basic decency are on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot. The stakes are high! Yes, the stakes are high.

But look, I wanna be honest cuz sometimes political rallies, everybody's feeling optimistic, everybody's getting fired up. But I listen, I want folks to listen to this. I want people to be clear. Midterms are always hard for whichever party is in the White House. And typically midterms are tougher on Democrats. A lot of folks don't pay attention to politics the way they do in a presidential year. Maybe they don't think that Congress matters as much. Maybe they don't think their vote will matter as much. Younger people especially are less likely to vote in midterms. And that hurts Democrats because younger people trend in a more progressive direction.

And I can tell you, I can tell you from experience that midterms matter. A lot. Some of you are too young. But let me refresh your memories or give you a history lesson. When I was president, I got my butt whooped in midterm elections. I was elected in the midst of a financial crisis. And we did the right things to get the economy back on track, but it was slow and people were frustrated

Just like they are right now, after we're coming out of a crisis, sometimes it takes a while for things to settle down. But people are experiencing things right now, immediately. right? And so we lost in 2010, we lost the House. And then in 2014, even though now the economy was improving, we saw the lowest voting rate recorded in modern history, maybe in recent memory. And we lost the Senate. And because we did, progress on big important issues from immigration to gun safety to climate change, either got a lot harder or in some cases just ground to a halt.

There you go. Now I'm not big on looking backwards, but sometimes I can't help imagine what it would've been like if enough people had turned out to vote in those elections. And imagine if we had maintained control of the House and we had maintained control of the Senate. Imagine if we had been able to fix our broken immigration system back in 2011. Imagine if we had been able to pass meaningful gun safety legislation back then to prevent more deaths. Imagine if we'd been able to reduce our emissions even further than we did. We'd be further along in avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. If we had kept the Senate in 2014, we'd have a very different Supreme Court making decisions about our most basic rights.

So midterms are no joke. Yeah, sometimes we get so focused on the presidency. But I am here to tell you that our democracy works as a team sport. A president can't do stuff alone. That's not how our system is set up. So what happens in the House, what happens in the Senate is vitally critical. And the good news is, you have an outstanding president right now in the White House.

So you don't have to just imagine what might happen. He's doing stuff right now, solving problems right now with a Democratic Congress and he can continue it if you vote.

Think about what Joe Biden has already got accomplished, despite a historic pandemic. He not only repaired the economy and kept unemployment low, which by the way, you should not take for granted. Because a lot of folks thought with a historic pandemic like that and the shutdown, that we would potentially go into a great depression. And we did not. And unemployment is very low right now because of the actions he took. He's lowered healthcare and prescription drug costs. He passed a infrastructure bill that will put more folks here in Pennsylvania and around the country to work and make our economy stronger. He's made the biggest investment in clean energy in history. If you help Democrats keep the House and get a few more seats in the Senate, you can guarantee he'll make more progress on the issues you care about.

You've seen, you've seen what he's accomplished with the barest of margins. If you vote, he can do even more. But it depends on you.

It depends on you.

Now Republicans know this and that's why they're doing everything they can to prevent you from voting. This is one of the only major parties, in worldwide that actively tries to discourage citizens from voting.

Hey, don't boo, vote. Vote. They can't hear you boo, but they'll hear your vote.

So they pass laws to make it harder to vote. They're a lot of times many of the elected officials or the people who are running to run elections right now, are suggesting that maybe they would not count votes, nullify votes, overturn votes. But the big tactic that they're gonna use, because they always do this, especially in midterms, year after year, election after election, they will try to make you afraid. They will resort to fear. They want to scare the living daylights out of everybody. And most of the time those fears have a very slender relationship to reality.

So back in 2010, Republicans try to make everybody afraid about deficits and death panels. Oh, deficits are gonna ruin the country. It turns out the deficits didn't explode. We actually brought them down. And by the way, as soon as they got a Republican in office, they didn't suddenly care about deficits and passed big tax cuts for the wealthy, weren't paid for., thank you, man. we've got some outstanding historians here. That's good because you were only eight when all this happened! So I'm impressed you knew this.

10 years later, not a single person has faced a death panel for Obamacare. On the other hand 35 million people now have health covers thanked to the Affordable Care Act. And Joe Biden just made it that much cheaper to sign up. So that was their tactic in 2010.

2014, same playbook, try to make you afraid of everything. Ebola and ISIS and immigrants, and they were all coming to your neighbourhood

It turned out there were no ISIS fighters pouring across the border. By the Fall. the number of migrants, they were mostly unaccompanied children had dropped considerably. And then it turned out that we knew how to prevent Ebola from reaching our shores because, you know what? We believed in science. It was very helpful in dealing with this disease.

But you know what? People got afraid. People got afraid. It was visceral. And so they either didn't turn out, didn't turn in the right places. We lost the Senate. You know what happened because of it.

So midterm elections matter. Republicans understand this. I understand it. I promise you. And Joe Biden understands it. And if you keep that in mind, if you ignore the fearmongering, if you ignore the cynicism, if you vote, then we will keep this country moving forward.

But you gotta do it. You have to do it. The only way to make this economy fair, the only way to make our democracy stronger is if we fight for it. You can't take it for granted. And that starts with electing people who know you, who see you, who care about you, who can walk in your shoes and see through your eyes and know what it's like to struggle. Know what it's like to get sick. Know what it's like to have to pay off student loans. Know what it's like when things aren't just handed to you, but you gotta work for em.

That's what you did two years ago when you sent Joe Biden to the White House. He knows you. He's been there. He's fighting for you every day, doing everything you can to put more money in your pocket, to make streets safer, to bring more good paying jobs here to Pennsylvania.

I can tell you that the presidency does not change who you are. You can tell by my successor it didn't change him. It reveals who you are. It reveals who you are under the stress and strain of the presidency, and the decency, the empathy, the belief that everybody counts, that we have seen on display from Joe Biden these past two years. That's who he is. And that's why you need to vote for more leaders like him. That's why you have to vote for Josh Shapiro. That's why you have to vote for John Fetterman. They've shown you who they are.

There are a lot of issues at stake in this election. But in every election, the most basic question you should be asking yourself right now is who will fight for you? Who cares about you? That's the choice that you make in this election like every election. Who will fight for working people who are struggling to pay the bills?

Listen, inflation is a real problem right now, not just here but around the world. It's one of the after effects of the pandemic, it's screwed up supply chains. And it's been compounded by the war in Ukraine, which made energy prices shoot up. And it takes a bite outta everybody's paycheck. And it's frustrating and scary if you're on a fixed income. I get it. So does Joe.

But the question is, who's actually gonna do something about it? The Republicans who wanna gut social security and Medicare while giving more tax cuts to the wealthiest among us, more tax cuts to big corporations. I don't think that's gonna help you. Or is it Democrats like Joe Biden who are lowering the cost of prescription drugs and helping to bring down gas prices and hold oil companies accountable and make healthcare more affordable?

That's the choice in this election. I mean, who do you really think knows more about budgets and having to pay the bills? John Fetterman or Dr. Oz? Come on

<laugh>,

Who will fight to keep your family safe? The Republican politicians who wanna flood our streets with more guns; voted against more resources for police departments? Or democratic leaders who worked with Joe Biden to pass the first major gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years. That's the choice in this election. That's what's at stake right now.

Who will fight for your freedoms? Is it Republican politicians and judicial appointees who think they should get to decide who you love or when you start a family? Or is it Democratic leaders who believe the most intimate personal decisions that we can make belongs to every individual American, not mostly male politicians in Washington.

That's the choice in this election. That's why you have to decide.

And who is gonna actually make democracy work for you? Republicans, they, they've already promised, they've said it. I'm not making this up. They've said it. You can look it up. They've said they're their top priority, they're gonna spend the next two years investigating their political opponents. Now I don't know how that's gonna help you <laugh>. Hey, some of 'em said we're gonna impeach Biden. They're not quite sure why, or what for, but that's irrelevant to them. Think about that. How is that gonna help you, your family, young people, launch a career, start a family, get a mortgage?

So that's one option. The other option is President Biden and Democratic leaders who've worked together and sometimes even gotten Republicans against their best instincts, I guess, to work with them to create new jobs and lower costs and fight climate change.

That's the choice in this election

Between politicians who seem willing to do anything and say anything to get power. And those who share your values and want to make your lives. You just heard from Josh Shapiro. You know what Josh is focused on. He was one of the first people ever to endorse my campaign for president. For some reason he looks the same and I look a lot older. I don't know why!

<laugh>,

But he had my back, he had my back. If you elect him your nice governor, he will have your back every single day. Growing the economy, cutting taxes for working people, not folks who don't need it. Fully funding our schools, supporting our teachers. That's who Josh is,

Now, Josh's opponent. Oh wait, he, he's willing to take the most extreme positions on pretty much everything. I mean, you name it. Global warming. He says it's fake science. Doesn't matter what the thermometers say. Should gay people be allowed to get married or adopt children? Nope. He doesn't think so. He does think it's okay to dress up in a Confederate uniform for a staff photo at the college where he used to teach and hey, it wasn't even Halloween! It was like casual Friday or something.

Listen, Pennsylvania, let's remember what century it is. And listen, this would be funny. It would be an SNL skit if it weren't so serious. You cannot let somebody that detached from reality run your state. So let's get out and vote for somebody you can trust. Josh Shapiro!

You need to vote for John Fetterman. This is a guy who has been fighting for regular folks his whole life. You can tell, just talk to him. He's just a dude. He, he's just like, he is who he says he is. He does not pretend to be somebody else. He doesn't put on airs. He doesn't treat people differently depending on who he is talking to, you can tell what's in his heart, what's in his gut. As your Senator John will help build an economy that works for everyone cuz that's his track record. As a mayor, as somebody who worked with kids who didn't have advantages. He's gonna improve our criminal justice system. He'll lower costs for Pennsylvania families. And he's tough. And not just because he wears shorts in the winter, which I do not do. He knows

But John's stroke didn't change who he is. It didn't change what he cares about. And it will not change who he fights for when he gets to the United States Senate. He will fight for you!

The only person John's fighting for is himself and maybe Donald Trump. [Boo]

What did I say about booing, do not boo, vote, no booing, just voting.

Look it. It's, let's face it, it it's easy to joke about Dr. Oz. I mean, some of these remedies he's pushed on TV - the raspberry ketones and the lavender soap and the palm oil for dementia.

But you know what? That matters. Because if somebody who knows better, who knows better, is willing to sell snake oil just to make money, then he's gonna be willing to do anything and say anything to get elected. Even if it's not good for you. And Pennsylvania, you deserve someone that's that's honest with you. You deserve somebody who cares about you. You deserve somebody who will tell you what they really think, what they really believe. That won't be looking to see what Donald Trump tells them they should be doing or thinking because it's expedient. Somebody who's gonna work for you every day and fight for you.

And by the way, somebody who's actually from Pennsylvania! You deserve somebody like John Fetter,man!

And you deserve leaders who will stand up for a woman's right to control her own body and make her own healthcare decision. I genuinely believe there are people of good conscience who differ from me on abortion, and they should be free to make those choices as their conscience guides them. But we should all agree that women everywhere, whatever their economic station, whatever states they live in, should be able to control what happens with their own bodies.

Josh's opponent says he thinks both women who get an abortion and the doctors who help them or treat them should be prosecuted. John's opponent said the decision about whether they have an abortion should be made by "women, doctors and local political leaders. "

Really? I mean, are you gonna petition the mayor? Are you calling the sheriff?City council member ? School board? Who exactly should tell you when to start a family? You should make that decision. And if that's not worth 15 minutes of your time, the amount of time it takes to vote, I don't know what is.

But if you need another reason to go vote, consider the fact that democracy really is on the ballot. Listen, Democrats may not be perfect. I'm the first one to admit it. I wasn't, wasn't perfect, Joe. He'll tell you, listen you're making decisions all the time. We're all human, We all got foibles. But right now, at this moment, with a few notable exceptions, most Republican politicians aren't even pretending that the rules apply to them anymore. They're not even pretending that facts apply anymore. They just make stuff up. Josh's opponent was on the Capital on January 6th. He was there and wasn't just an observer!

John's opponent hired people who were there to work on his campaign. He decided, well now, yeah, I don't know if it was the guy with the Viking hat or who, but he decided 'I need that guy on my campaign.' Both of them have to this day have refused to say that Joe Biden won the last election.

Now listen, I understand that democracy might not seem like a top priority right now, especially when you're worrying about paying the bills. But when true democracy goes away, we've seen throughout history, we've seen around the world, when true democracy goes away, people get hurt. It has real consequences.

This is not an abstraction. Governments start telling you what books you can read and which ones you can't. Dissidents start getting locked up. Reporters start getting locked up if they're not towing the party line. Corruption reigns because there's no accountability. People get hurt, there are consequences. There's a reason why generations of Americans fought and died for our democracy. There's a reason why suffragists and union members and civil rights activists march and struggled and in some cases gave their lives for this precious thing, this experiment in self-governance. They understood how precious it was.

They fought to broaden and expand who would be included in 'we the people.' And they understood that when democracy withers, it's hard to restore. You can't take it for granted. You have to work for it. You have to nurture it. You have to fight for it.

Now the good news is, you get to make a difference. As long as you turn out to vote, you can fight for it. As long as you turn out to vote. You can bolster and strengthen our democracy, as long as you get out there and do what needs to be done!

We both joke in my household that Michelle, she got a dazzling smile. Yeah, I mean, listen, I understand there there's, in terms of popularity, there's basically Michelle, Malia, Sasha, Sonny, our dog and me. I understand she's hot. She's smart, she Is charming, she's intelligent. I get it.

But here's a little secret about Michelle. In our household, she can be a little bit of the glass half empty person sometimes. She can get a little discouraged about what she sees happening. And I'm the hope and change guy, so I'm usually a little more optimistic. And so if she's been watching the news or reading the papers and some crazy stuff is taking place, which is basically every 10 minutes, she can get a little down and I'll say, 'Honey, everything's gonna be okay.' And I believe that. I believe things will be okay, but I also know that things won't be okay on their own. They'll be okay if we make the effort. It'll be okay if we work for it. Not just on election day, but every day in between. And I know, look, I know some of you probably feel like Michelle does sometimes, cuz I feel even me, the hope and change guy, I can get discouraged. Politics is so nasty and mean and it just seems like people will say anything and do anything. And it can be depressing sometimes.

And a lot of what we used to take for granted, things like respect and common decency and telling the truth and believing in science and the idea that every vote should count and that the person with the most votes win - all that somehow has become controversial.

But I was listening backstage to what Josh talked about, the experience of him running for governor and travelling around the state. And it reminded me of the experience that I had first as a state senator travelling around my district. And then as a US Senate candidate in Illinois. And then as a presidential candidate. It's such a privilege to be able to meet people from every walk of life. Folks who look different and live in different places. And it would always remind me, and what we have to remind ourselves, is that there's this common thread. There's this thing that binds us together as Americans. A belief that no matter who we are or where we come from, what we look like, who we love, what our last name is, how we worship a belief that all of us matter,

The kind of slash and burn politics that we're seeing right now. That doesn't have to be who we are. We can be better. And it has nothing to do, by the way, with political correctness or being too woke. It's about fundamental values that my grandparents from Kansas taught me. Values I grew up with. Values. you grew up with. Values we try to teach our kids. Values we learn in churches and mosques and synagogues and temples. Honesty, fairness, opportunity, hard work, values that Josh Shapiro and John' Fetterman stand for. Values that Joe Biden stands for. Values that we're enshrined in our founding document a few miles from here. A clarion call for freedom and equality that Philly's own Liberty Bell represents. That's what America stands for. That's who we are.

So if you're anxious and frustrated right now. Don't complain. Don't mope. Don't tune out. Get off your couch and do what?

Vote!

Put down your phones and do what?

Vote!

Vote for Josh Shapiro. Vote for John Fetterman. Vote for leaders who will fight for you and your families. Vote for folks who will fight for that big, inclusive, hopeful, forward looking America that we believe in. Who will work with Joe Biden to build a country that is more fair and more just and more equal and more free.

That's our task. Let's get to work. I love you Philly.

Max Chandler-Mather: "But I've seen the power of collective hope", First speech to parliament - 2022

2 August 2022, Canberra, Australia

Thanks, Deputy Speaker. Since the invasion of this continent, generations of First Nations warriors, organisers and leaders have fought, and continue to fight, to protect their lands, seas, air, people and culture against colonisation. I would like to pay homage to them, in particular the Yuggera and Turrbal peoples, who are the traditional owners of so-called Brisbane and my electorate of Griffith, and the traditional owners of this place, the Ngunnawal people.

As with so many issues in this place, there is often a deep hypocrisy when it comes to the way some politicians talk about First Nations people. How often are we told that governments support the rights of First Nations people but then fail to introduce the 339 recommendations of the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission, over 30 years after they were handed down? Or allow coal and gas mines to open up on land, often against the express wishes of traditional owners? While billions of dollars of mining revenue flow offshore into the coffers of billionaires, First Nations people too often lack basic health care, housing, education and incomes. Politicians make decisions that destroy First Nations land and then write laws that allow their corporate donors to rob their wealth and put it in the hands of people like Gina Rinehart.

It is abundantly clear to me that billionaires and big corporations run parliament. Indeed, when it comes to representation, I imagine that people like Clive Palmer and Gina Rinehart must feel pretty good that sometimes it feels as though 89 per cent of this place ultimately represent their interests. The major parties have proved often willing to accept an enormous human and environmental cost in order to serve the interests of big corporations and billionaires, such is their power over this place. Three million Australians live in poverty, with millions more on the brink, while Australia's richest 200 people just ticked over half a trillion dollars worth of wealth. Our nurses, teachers and doctors are viciously overworked, just to make up for the chronic underfunding of our public hospitals and schools. Meanwhile, the next federal budget will include billions of dollars in subsidies for fossil fuel corporations that just happen to be making record profits.

In the middle of one of the worst housing affordability crises in our history, where single mums are forced to live on the street after massive rent hikes, the big four banks just announced $14 billion in after-tax profit. Close to a million people are on the waiting list for social housing, suffering severe private rental stress or homeless, but 89 per cent of this place would rather support billions of dollars in tax concessions for property investors than even contemplate capping rents or building enough public housing for those who need it.

Eighty-nine per cent of this parliament literally supports spending $224 billion giving every politician and billionaire an extra $9,000 a year in the form of the stage 3 tax cuts. But apparently bringing dental into Medicare is too expensive. Apparently scrapping crippling student debt and making uni and TAFE free is too expensive. Apparently building enough but beautifully designed public housing so everyone has a place to call home costs too much. Apparently raising JobSeeker and the pension above the poverty line so people don't have to live in abject poverty is too expensive. The top 10 per cent of Australians now hold over half the total wealth in this country, but apparently that 10 per cent need a massive tax cut. Truly, one of life's great mysteries is why people don't like politicians!

One of the worst things about Australian politics is the way it works to make some of the greatest injustices and outrages seem perfectly normal and reasonable. Like a sedative it dulls the senses, and it relies on a certain logic. What is considered possible isn't determined by what actually is possible with the resources our country has to hand, but instead the major parties, media and various public and private institutions work to constrain the scope of political debate into an ever-narrowing band—one determined not by what everyday people want, need or believe, but by the interests of the billionaires and multinational corporations that parliament ultimately serves.

This logic is perhaps best exemplified when it comes to climate change. The consequences of two degrees or more of global warming are so devastating it's actually quite hard to explain, but the recent devastating bushfires, floods, heatwaves, droughts and storms really are only a small preview—massive crop failures, sea level rises displacing hundreds of millions of people, 99 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef lost. A recent study found that in 30 years time my home town of Brisbane could be virtually unliveable in summer for those who can't afford air-conditioning. But over two degrees of warming is exactly what 89 per cent of this place supports. In fact, currently this place supports expanding coal and gas mining and using public money to do it.

Australia is the third-largest exporter of fossil fuels in the world behind, you know, two great countries it's really good to be a part of: Russia and Saudi Arabia—great company. The idea that the moderate position on climate change is 'Use public money to expand coal and gas mining and drive global warming beyond two degrees' only makes sense when you consider that the power holders in parliament are coal and gas corporations, not everyday people. It's like standing in front of a burning house and declaring that the moderate position is 'We only put the fire out in one room while we send someone out back with a can of petrol to pour fuel on the fire.'

The most insulting lie, I think, though, when it comes to climate change, is that Australia needs to expand coal and gas mining to protect workers. That would be more believable if the political establishment didn't also believe that workers should pay more tax than the multinational corporations they work for. But the reality is that over the next 10 years coal and gas corporations will export hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars of our wealth—our wealth. That's more than enough to guarantee the jobs and income of not just every coal and gas worker but ensure every regional mining community becomes a thriving hub of publicly owned manufacturing, renewable energy and new industries, with good hospitals, schools, public facilities and housing.

I would argue the political establishment doesn't give a toss about workers. What they're really worried about is the profits of their donors. The political system is so completely disconnected from the lives of everyday people. In fact, spending only a week in this place has been a stark lesson in how so much of the pomp, ceremony and rules of this place work to deepen and reinforce that disconnection.

Literally this same week that the Business Council was holding a special event in Parliament House with the Prime Minister—we walked past, and it was frankly bizarre—children peacefully calling for action on climate change were dragged out by police. Technically, I should be kicked out of parliament if I don't dress like a businessman, but you're more than welcome to vote for laws that materially benefit corporations that also happen to donate millions of dollars to your political party.

Every member of parliament was forced to pledge allegiance to the British monarch last week. One would think we should be swearing allegiance to the Australian people. Then there was the installing of massive security fences around the once publicly accessible lawns above Parliament House that were specifically designed to represent the democratically accessible nature of this place. As symbols go, I think that was probably a bit on the nose.

The sense that politics and politicians in general are completely disconnected from the lives of everyday people was a sentiment shared by almost everyone I spoke to during this campaign. Over 14 months, I personally knocked on almost 15,000 doors, or thereabouts, and time and again people told me they were fed up with politics. But what also became clear was just how low people's expectations are when it comes to politics.

It is this sense of low expectations which remains one of the political establishment's greatest assets. Deny people hope that things can get substantially better and you take their power, but I've seen the power of collective hope. Indeed, it really is the only reason I'm standing here. Over 14 months, over 1,000 Greens volunteers in Griffith knocked on almost 90,000 doors, hand-delivered hundreds of thousand of letters and flyers and gave up countless, evenings, mornings, rainy arvos and weekends to fight for something greater than themselves. We had tens of thousands of conversations with residents across Griffith where we actually took the time to listen and, often, learn about the issues that people faced in their daily lives. Together we built the single biggest single-seat campaign, I would argue, in the history of Australian politics and helped continue to build a movement inextricably linked to the communities from which it has emerged.

One of the questions I asked repeatedly on the Griffith campaign, borrowed from Bernie Sanders, was: are you willing to fight for someone you don't know as hard as you would fight for yourself? Time and again the answer was yes. We fought for each other not out of a sense of charity but out of a sense of solidarity, of righteous anger and, most importantly, of hope—hope not that we could defy virtually every political and media expert and win in Griffith but that we could collectively build a movement that would fundamentally transform Australian politics in favour of everyday people.

The philosophy of organisation of our movement was perhaps best represented by the response to the Brisbane floods. The floods of this year were a harsh, brutal and unjust symbol of the consequences of a political system stacked in favour of fossil fuel corporations. This apparent one-in-500-year event occurred just 10 years after another one-in-100-year flood—an alarming demonstration of the corporate and political grip on climate change. The slow response from emergency services and government was a consequence of decades of the hollowing out and underfunding of our public services and institutions. The disproportionate number of low-income and middle-income renters and homeowners badly affected by the floods were a reminder that, while this housing crisis is caused by a system treats housing as a commodity first and a home last, climate change will make it worse. But, as in Lismore, where incredible resident self-organisation drove a collective clean-up, in Griffith we proved that, where a broken system fails, ordinary people step in to fill the breach.

Over the course of those weeks, we suspended our campaign and, along with the brilliant member for South Brisbane, Amy MacMahon; Councillor Jonathan Sri; and their brilliant teams and officers, we used our organisational and logistical capacity to coordinate hundreds of volunteers in delivering free food, ice and eskies for those who had lost power. We taxied residents to crucial services. We cleaned up entire neighbourhood blocks, hauling flood damaged furniture, cleaning houses and sometimes just providing a shoulder to cry on. But it wasn't just the floods. We coordinated protests against worsening flight noise pollution, planted community gardens and used the produce to provide free food to those trapped in COVID isolation.

Ultimately, I believe, you build power by acting collectively as a community. If we want to take on the power of billionaires and big corporations then we must build a party and a movement that is capable of improving people's lives outside the cycle of electoral politics.

Of course, when it comes to this movement and, in particular, to our success in Griffith, there are some people who need thanking. To the thousands of volunteers, donors and supporters: I was constantly inspired by your drive, commitment and perseverance. Indeed, in many a dark moment on that campaign, the only thing that got me up in the morning was imagining one of you rocking up with a smile on your face to the fifth door-knock of that weekend, not demonstrating one ounce of fatigue. Frankly, I don't know how they did it. My brilliant campaign team is, I would argue, the best campaign to member country. Liam Flannerty, Mal McAuliffe, Nat Baker, Lachlan Morris, Claire Hudson, Louisa Randall, Eva Tollo, Josh Saunders-Mills, James Cummins, Kelsey Waller, Paul Rees, Zoe Lawrence, Heather Bennett, and Hannah Wright.

To Kitty Carra, the often unacknowledged director of the Queensland Greens, who has overseen the most successful period in the history of our party. She both procreated the space for and led many of transformations in the Queensland Greens that have led to so much success.

To Adam Bandt and his chief of staff Damien Lawson: thanks for believing in and supporting our little movement in Queensland years before any other southerner gave us a shot!

Thanks to my parents, Kim and Tim, for giving me many of the principles of right and wrong that I still hold today while providing the space to develop my own politics with guidance and the odd radical book recommendation.

To my partner, Joanna, without whom there's no way I could have survived this campaign: I love you and I can't imagine life without you.

Finally, to the people of Griffith, thank you for your trust not just in me but in our broader Greens' movement. To you I give you this commitment: whether you're struggling to put food on the table or pay the rent, whether you're a refugee in hotel detention in Kangaroo Point or you're facing eviction from your public housing, whether you're fighting against a profit-hungry airport corporation or a dodgy developer, whether you want to help plant a community garden or just fix up your local school, whether you have been abandoned by state authorities as another climate fuelled flood disaster hits your neighbourhood or you are just in need of a friendly chat, we will have your back

Really, at the end of the day what we are fighting for is a future where we everyone has what they need to live a good life. Perhaps the greatest injustice of all is that in such a wealthy country our system denies so many people the chance to fully enjoy their one short life on this earth. Health care; education; housing; a good, well-paying job and a beautiful home are the foundation to do what makes life truly meaningful: time with family and friends, footy in the park, painting a picture, reading a book, a day at the beach, a hike through the wilderness, a beer at the pub. I so strongly believe in a four-day work week with no loss of pay, because it would do so much to give people that most precious of resources: time.

Beyond all the specifics it can sometimes be hard to describe what exactly we mean by a good life. Funnily enough, the great feminist writer Virginia Woolf's writing in A room of one's own, for me, comes close to describing what I mean. Woolf reflects on the instinct for possession; the rage for acquisition, which keeps, 'the stockbroker and the great barrister going indoors to make money and more money and more money when it is a fact that 500 pounds a year will keep one alive in the sunshine'. With that 500 pounds, she wrote, came the freedom to think and write as she pleased.

So often in political debates we reduce people to numbers, but what value do you put on a family no longer having to worry about paying the rent and finally having the money to spend the summer at the beach? What value do you put on an afternoon playing footy in the park with your kids rather than working a sixth day of work? How much human enjoyment, creativity, new loves and friendships are denied by a political and an economic system that too often prioritises the profit of multinational corporations over the happiness of everyday people?

What has given me so much hope is that the vast majority of everyday people across Australia share this vision that we should tax billionaires and big corporations to fund things like dental into Medicare and free child care, and build one million public and affordable homes. It is a view that I believe is shared by the vast majority of people across this country. What's more, it is a truly universal vision.

That a small town in regional Queensland, Biloela, demonstrated a greater level of kindness and solidarity towards refugees than this place has done in decades is a reminder that while the decisions this place makes often impose unimaginable cruelty on people fleeing persecution, war and famine—often created by the foreign policy decisions of our government—those decisions don't reflect the will of the people. After all, what sort of good life is it when our country demonises and mandatorily imprisons our brothers and sisters for the crime of seeking that same good life?

This is why I have so much hope that ultimately we can win, because no matter what the political establishment throws at us, no matter how many times they tell us not to hope for anything better, no matter how me times they try to divide us up, no matter how many millions of corporate dollars they spend trying to stop us, we'll keep fighting, because we recognise that we all have more in common with a refugee in detention than a billionaire like Clive Palmer. We don't fight for self-interest; we fight for each other. And we won't stop until everyone—everyone—has what they need to live a good life, to be alive in the sunshine.

For those watching at home who despair at the state of our world but feel powerless to change it, I understand. After all, how often are we browbeaten and lectured about expecting anything but the bare minimum from politics? Often by self-proclaimed experts. But here's the thing, I've lost count of the number of times political and media experts said we had absolutely no chance of winning Griffith. And the thing is that they were wrong and people like you were right: the cleaners, paramedics, nurses, students, tradies, retirees, refugees. Ordinary, everyday people who fought every day for a better future on the Griffith campaign were right, and the representatives of the political establishment were wrong. Believe me that knowledge terrifies them. So next time an expert or politician tells you that it's unrealistic to expect that in a wealthy country like Australia no-one should go hungry or without a home, know that we were right and they were wrong. Know that when they tell you that tax cuts for billionaires, more coal and gas, and mandatory detention of refugees is the best you can hope for, they were wrong. If the Greens' wins in Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith prove one thing, it is that the only barrier—the only barrier—to change is our capacity to organise campaigns like this around the country. Our collective power terrifies the major parties and corporate donors but it should give you hope, because the Griffith campaign wasn't the end of something but the start. And if our political establishment thinks that this is our movement at our biggest, that somehow this is the best that we can do, then, oh boy, do they have another think coming! We really are just getting started.

So if, like me, you think that we should use $224 billion providing free breakfast in every school so no kid goes hungry rather than dishing out $9,000 to a federal politician; if you think everyone deserves a good home; if you think we shouldn't divide people up by the colour of their skin, gender, sexuality or the way they talk, but rather find common cause with everyone in this country who has been screwed over by the political system; and if you think that tackling climate change is more important than the share price of BHP, then join our movement, because I have seen the power of collective hope and I know what it can achieve. Thank you.

Joe Biden: 'To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away?', response to Uvalde school shooting - 2022

25 May 2022, Washington DC, USA

Good evening, fellow Americans.

I had hoped, when I became President, I would not have to do this again.

Another massacre. Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school. Beautiful, innocent second, third, fourth graders. And how many scores of little children who witnessed what happened see their friends die as if they’re on a battlefield, for God’s sake. They’ll live with it the rest of their lives.

There’s a lot we don’t know yet, but there’s a lot we do know.

There are parents who will never see their child again, never have them jump in bed and cuddle with them. Parents who will never be the same.

To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. There’s a hollowness in your chest, and you feel like you’re being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out. It’s suffocating. And it’s never quite the same.

And it’s a feeling shared by the siblings, and the grandparents, and their family members, and the community that’s left behind.

Scripture says — Jill and I have talked about this in different contexts, in other contexts: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” So many crushed spirits.

So, tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.

As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?

It’s been 340- — 3,448 days — 10 years since I stood up at a high school in Connecticut — a grade school in Connecticut, where another gunman massacred 26 people, including 20 first graders, at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Since then, there have been over 900 incidents of gunfires reported on school grounds.

Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Santa Fe High School in Texas. Oxford High School in Michigan. The list goes on and on.

And the list grows when it includes mass shootings at places like movie theaters, houses of worship, and, as we saw just 10 days ago, at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.

I am sick and tired of it. We have to act. And don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.

I spent my career as a senator and as Vice President working to pass commonsense gun laws. We can’t and won’t prevent every tragedy. But we know they work and have a positive impact. When we passed the assault weapons ban, mass shootings went down. When the law expired, mass shootings tripled.

The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.

What in God’s name do you need an assault weapon for except to kill someone?

Deer aren’t running through the forest with Kevlar vests on, for God’s sake. It’s just sick.

And the gun manufacturers have spent two decades aggressively marketing assault weapons which make them the most and largest profit.

For God’s sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry.

Here’s what else I know: Most Americans support commonsense laws — commonsense gun laws.

I just got off my trip from Asia, meeting with Asian leaders, and I learned of this while I was on the aircraft. And what struck me on that 17-hour flight — what struck me was these kinds of mass shootings rarely happen anywhere else in the world.

Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen with the kind of frequency that they happen in America. Why?

Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?

It’s time to turn this pain into action.

For every parent, for every citizen in this country, we have to make it clear to every elected official in this country: It’s time to act.

It’s time — for those who obstruct or delay or block the commonsense gun laws, we need to let you know that we will not forget.

We can do so much more. We have to do more.

Our prayer tonight is for those parents, lying in bed and trying to figure out, “Will I be able to sleep again? What do I say to my other children? What happens tomorrow?”

May God bless the loss of innocent life on this sad day. And may the Lord be near the brokenhearted and save those crushed in spirit, because they’re going to need a lot of help and a lot of our prayers.

God love you.

Adam Bandt: 'Google it, mate', Response to journalist 'gotcha' question - 2022

13 April 2022, National Press Club, Canberra, Australia

Journalist: Just very quickly, talking about fact checking exercises, you said in the speech that wages growth wasn’t going particularly well, what’s the current WPI?

I am sick …. I am sick …. If you want to know why people are turning off politics, it’s because what happens when you have an election that increasingly becomes this basic fact-checking exercise between a government that deserves to be turfed out and an opposition that’s got no vision.

This is what happens. Elections should be about a contest of ideas.

Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society. And instead, and instead, there’s these questions that are asked ‘can you tell us this particular stat’ or ‘can you tell us that particular stat?’

And those questions are designed to show that politicians are somehow out of touch and not representative of everyday people.

Well newsflash, most people in Canberra are on six figure salaries, just passing time until they go out and work for the coal or gas companies, and get a six or seven figure lobbying job.

Do you know what would be a better way of showing that politicians are in touch with the need of everyday people? It would be passing laws that lift the minimum wage. It would be making dental and mental into Medicare.

It would be making sure that we wipe student debt and build affordable houses.

And when you’ve got wages growing at about 2 per cent and inflation at 3 and a half per cent, that is the part of the problem.

And I hope that at this election, we can lift the standard and turn it into a genuine contest of ideas.

Anthony Albanese: 'I hope there are families in public housing watching this tonight', Election night victory speech - 2022

21 May 2022, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet. I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging. And on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I commit to the Uluru Statement from the heart in full.

And I say to my fellow Australians, thank you for this extraordinary honour. Tonight, the Australian people have voted for change. I am humbled by this victory and I'm honoured to be given the opportunity to serve as the 31st prime minister of Australia.

My Labor team will work every day to bring Australians together. And I will lead a government worthy of the people of Australia. A government as courageous and hardworking and caring as the Australian people are themselves.

Earlier tonight, Scott Morrison called me to congratulate myself and the Labor Party on our victory at the election.

Scott, very graciously, wished me well. And I thanked him for that and I wish him well. And I thank him for the service that he has given to our country as Prime Minister.

I also want to acknowledge and thank Jenny Morrison and their two daughters for their contribution and sacrifice as well.

My fellow Australians, it says a lot about our great country that a son of a single mum who was a disability pensioner, who grew up in public housing down the road in Camperdown can stand before you tonight as Australia's prime minister.

Every parent wants more for the next generation than they had. My mother dreamt of a better life for me. And I hope that my journey in life inspires Australians to reach for the stars.

I want Australia to continue to be a country that no matter where you live, who you worship, who you love or what your last name is, that places no restrictions on your journey in life. My fellow Australians, I think they've got the name by now. I think they've got that.

I know at the beginning of the campaign they said people didn't know me but I reckon they've got it.

The final warning for Morrison fell on deaf ears. Now women have voted him out
Melbourne seats have left Liberal hands for the first time. But the election holds lessons for Labor too

During this campaign, I have put forward a positive, clear plan for a better future for our country. And I have shared the two principles that will be part of a government that I lead.

No one left behind because we should always look after the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. But also no one held back, because we should always support aspiration and opportunity. That is what my government will do.

That is the what, but the how is also just as important? Because I want to bring Australians together.

I want to seek our common purpose and promote unity and not fear and -- optimism, not fear and division. It is what I have sought to do throughout my political life. And what I will bring to the leadership of our country, it is a show of strength to collaborate and work with people, not weakness.

I want to find that common ground where together we can plant our dreams. To unite around our shared love of this country, our shared faith in Australia's future, our shared values of fairness and opportunity, and hard work and kindness to those in need.

And I can promise all Australians this — no matter how you voted today, the government I lead will respect every one of you every day. And I'll seek to get your vote next time.

We are the greatest country on earth. But we can have an even better future if we seize the opportunities that are right there in front of us. The opportunity to shape change, rather than be shaped by it. And we can shape change more effectively if we seek to you knowing people on that journey of change.

Together we can end the climate wars. Together we can take advantage of the opportunity for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower. Together we can work in common interests with business and unions to drive productivity, lift wages and profits.

I want an economy that works for people, not the other way around. Together we can as a country say that all of us, if the Fair Work Commission doesn't cut the wage of minimum aged workers, we can say that we welcome that absolutely. Together we can strengthen universal healthcare through Medicare.

We can protect universal superannuation. And we can write universal childcare into that proud tradition. Together we can fix the crisis in aged care. Together we can make forward equal opportunity for women a national economic and social priority. Together we can and will establish a national anti-corruption commission. Together we can be a self-reliant, resilient nation, confident in our values and in our place in the world. And together we can embrace the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

We can answer its patient, gracious call for a voice enshrined in our constitution. Because all of us ought to be proud that amongst our great multicultural society we count the oldest living continuous culture in the world. And I acknowledge Australia's next Indigenous Affairs Minister, Linda Burney, who is here.

My fellow Australians, no one gets here by themselves. And I wouldn't be standing here tonight without the support, hard work and belief of so many people. To my parliamentary team, including my Deputy, Richard Marles, and my Senate leader, Penny Wong. My terrific economic team led by Jim Chalmers and Katy Gallagher.

On Monday morning, arrangements are in place to have these people sworn in as members of my team. To enable Penny and I to attend the important Quad leader's meeting in Tokyo, with President Biden, Prime Minister Kishida and Prime Minister Modi. And I want the leaders of the economic team to start work on Monday morning as well.

I wanted to thank my shadow ministry and my amazing caucus members, including the people who are here tonight at this joint function in the corner of our seats, including Tony Burke, who is here. I want to thank all of our Labor candidates. I want to thank all those who have worked so hard for this victory.

We stand on your shoulders, most rank and file members of the Labor Party will never ask for anything. They knock on doors, they make calls, they work so hard. They hand out how to votes. They push the cause of Labor at the local P & C, the local kid's footy, the local netball, when they're shopping in the supermarket, when they talk to their neighbours.

I thank each and every one of the true believers of the Australian Labor Party.

And I proudly thank the members of the mighty trade union movement.

I do want to thank my campaign director, our amazing national secretary, Paul Erickson, and his team. My staff are led by my first campaign director back in 1996. And my electorate office team who haven't seen that much of me, who look after this electorate led by Helen Rogers. Thank you very much.

But to all those — and I'm not going to name them because there's too many — there's a lot of people who believed in me and backed me over many decades in this great movement to be where I am today. You know who you are and I know who you are and I thank you.

I said I've been underestimated my whole life during the campaign. Now while all that is true, I have also been lifted up by others who saw something in me and who encouraged me in life on this journey.

And I pledged to the Australian people here tonight, I am here not to occupy the space, but to make a positive difference each and every day.

And to the amazing diverse people of Grayndler. All politics is local. And in 1996, there were various people who wrote off the chances of Labor holding on to that seat. This is my 10th election. And I want to say thank you for placing your faith in me. It is an absolute honour to be your voice in our national parliament.

To my partner, Jodie, thank you for coming into my life and for sharing this journey.

And to my proudest achievement, my son, Nathan. Thank you, mate, for your love and support. Your mother, who's here tonight, Carmel, we are both so proud of the caring, wonderful, smart young man you have become. Love you, Nathan.

To my Mum, who's beaming down on us. Thank you. And I hope there are families in public housing watching this tonight. Because I want every parent to be able to tell their child no matter where you live or where you come from, in Australia the doors of opportunity are open to us all.

And like every other Labor government, we'll just widen that door a bit more. Friends, we have made history tonight. And tomorrow, together, we begin the work of building a better future. A better future for all Australians. Thank you very much."

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells: 'An autocrat and a bully who has no moral compass', Senate speech about Scott Morrison - 2022

29 March 2022, Canberra, Australia

Given the events and outcomes of the dodgy preselection where I lost by a handful of votes last Saturday, my time in this place will finish on June 30, 2022. Accordingly, there are a few matters I wish to place on the record before my departure. Many in this place would be aware of the history I have had with Scott Morrison. Let me give some clarity and context to that history so there can be no misunderstanding.

In order to understand the man, it is best to look at his past actions. While professing to be a man of faith and claiming centre right status, Morrison is a product of the left, having worked for Bruce Baird. He is adept at running with the foxes and hunting with the hounds, lacking a moral compass and having no conscience. His actions conflict with his portrayal as a man of faith. He has used his so-called faith as a marketing advantage. We learnt the leader of his Hillsong Church group, Brian Houston, was a mentor to Morrison. Houston recently stood down as head of Hillsong because he was charged with sexual offences. It is noteworthy that, in the past, Houston flew top cover for his paedophile father.

[Editor’s note: Houston was not charged with sexual offences, but resigned after being found to have breached Hillsong’s code of conduct.]

When Morrison worked for Tourism Australia, he backstabbed his minister Fran Bailey. Eventually he was fired from the position. As state director of the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party, Morrison honed his manipulative skills when overseeing the Wentworth preselection to unseat Peter King. About 120 membership applications were rejected to help Turnbull get selected, the person Morrison ultimately backstabbed.

Morrison might profess to be Christian, but there was nothing Christian about what was done to Michael Towke. When Morrison made his run for the seat of Cook, there were several hopefuls, including Towke, Fletcher and Coleman. Towke won the ballot in the first round with 84 votes. Morrison got eight votes. Having lost the ballot, Morrison and his cronies went to Sam Dastyari to get dirt on Towke, who had been in the Labor Party for a period of time whilst at university. This dossier of anecdotes was weaponised and leaked to the media to the point where Towke’s reputation was destroyed.

I am advised that there are several statutory declarations to attest to racial comments made by Morrison at the time that we can’t have a Lebanese person in Cook. The state executive voted 12 to 11 not to endorse Towke and ordered a modified selection process. The only way that Towke could get political exoneration for a future run was to agree to put his numbers behind Morrison. Morrison met with David Clarke and I and promised various things. Of course he took our votes and never delivered.

After the selection Towke joined my staff. He subsequently sued the newspapers for defamation. He won his cases but this was cold comfort. Morrison, his cronies and the Liberal establishment in New South Wales had destroyed a good, young man. I regret the day that Clarke and I agreed to put Morrison into Cook. Since then Morrison has never faced a preselection. Hence the trampling of members’ rights in New South Wales. Denying them proper preselections and installing captain’s picks is classic Morrison.

He and his consigliore, Alex Hawke, have deliberately contrived a crisis in New South Wales through a year of delays in not having selections. Hawke, as his representative on state executive for months and months, failed to attend nomination review committee meetings to review candidates, thereby holding up preselections. Spurious arguments were mounted to justify the unjustifiable. The constitution was trashed. There is a putrid stench of corruption emanating from the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party.

All of this was under the eye of Philip Ruddock. As a former attorney-general, I am appalled that he has allowed Morrison to bully his way to a situation where the next election has been put at risk all to save Hawke’s career. This is what it’s all about. Hawke knows that if he faces a plebiscite preselection, he will lose. Morrison has railroaded federal executive into setting up not only a committee which endorsed Hawke, Ley and Zimmerman but a second committee which is now endorsing captain’s picks in seats like Parramatta and Hughes, which were scheduled for preselections this week.

So what is the hold that Hawke has over Morrison? Good question, especially given Hawke’s own corrupt antics in New South Wales. During a speech advocating for a federal integrity commission, I referred to Hawke’s activities and the dealings of the Baulkham Hills branch. At a meeting in 2018, 10 members were admitted to the branch. This was confirmed in text messages from the branch secretary. Hawke was present at the meeting. He saw what went on. I’m told there is video evidence of the meeting. I also have relevant documents, including correspondence sent to Morrison on the issue.

After the meeting, the minutes were falsified to show that the 10 members were not accepted. Statutory declarations were provided to counter this falsity. The branch was eventually suspended by state executive. The branch president and secretary, both acolytes of Hawke, refused to provide statutory declarations. Despite clear evidence of fraud, Hawke’s role in this process has never been fully disclosed. The New South Wales state director has sat on this matter for years. Legal proceedings are now on foot, and I look forward to the day when Hawke will be required to give evidence under oath to explain his corrupt conduct.

There is a very appropriate saying here: the fish stinks from the head. Morrison and Hawke have ruined the Liberal Party in New South Wales by trampling its constitution. Indeed, I understand at a federal executive meeting Morrison was asked whether he was running a protection racket in New South Wales.

In recent months I have kept members of the division updated. I have received hundreds, if not thousands, of emails outlining their disgust. They have lost faith in the party. They want to leave. They don’t like Morrison and they don’t trust him. They continue to despair at our prospects at the next federal election, and they blame Morrison for this. Our members do not want to help in the upcoming election. By now you might be getting the picture that Morrison is not interested in rules-based order. It is his way or the highway — an autocrat and a bully who has no moral compass.

Now to my own situation. Having lost by a handful of votes last Saturday and having analysed the data, I know the numbers tell their own story. Clearly, my push for democracy in the New South Wales division was certainly not welcome. This would mean that the factional operatives can’t control preselections. For years, figures in the Liberal Party have denied the existence of factions and criticised the ALP. This is hypocrisy, given that the Liberal Party is now no different to the Labor Party.

In addition, having been a critic of Morrison on a range of policy matters, I was a marked woman. I have known for a number of years of the machinations involving the PMO and others to move me on. Recent media reports confirmed a deal agreed to by Hawke, Yaron Finkelstein from the PMO, Charles Perrottet, Dallas McInerney, Trent Zimmerman and Matt Kean. In my case, Dallas McInerney from Catholic Schools NSW was encouraged to run against me. Realising he did not have support from the conservative base to win a preselection, they resorted to getting Jim Molan to run, despite Molan having promised he would only see out the Sinodinos term.

In my case, Wade McInerney, brother of Dallas, worked in my office for five years. Following his departure to work for Robert Assaf at Greyhound Racing NSW, I discovered he was engaged in inappropriate conduct and activities. I was duty-bound to refer him to the Australian Federal Police, the Department of Finance and the Australian Government Security Vetting Agency.

Having engaged lawyers and fought hard for a preselection, I got it because my enemies realised my strong support from delegates meant Plan B had to be implemented. Dom Perrottet’s premiership is held together by a thread through a so-called unity deal with the Kean-Poulos left. For years the Perrottets have railed against Hawke, threatening to prosecute the Baulkham Hills matter but never delivering. The Perrottets, the McInerneys, Assaf etc had only about 30 votes between them. In the ultimate act of treachery those numbers were press-ganged into voting for Hawke’s candidate, Molan. Why? In short, the so-called conservative premier aligned with his so-called enemy Hawke to do a deal: Morrison gets his captain’s picks in federal seats and no state members jump ship to the federal arena, which would in turn have crippled the premiership of a supine and weak state leader.

In my public life I have met ruthless people. Morrison tops the list, followed closely by Hawke. Morrison is not fit to be prime minister and Hawke certainly is not fit to be a minister.

Peter Malinauskas: 'The Liberal Party are not our enemies', Election night victory - 2022

19 March 2022, Adelaide, South Australia

To our friends men and women of Labor, to the people of South Australia.

I stand here with my feet firmly on the lands of the Kaurna people. I pay my respects to their elders past present and emerging, but the way we pay our respects first and foremost, is not with our words, but with our deeds. And I affirm to each and every one of you here tonight, and the people across our state, that I very much look forward to, for the first time in the history of our Federation, having an initiated Aboriginal man leading our state's Aboriginal affairs movement, but also actively delivering on a state based voice treaty and truth for the Aboriginal people of our state.

Only only a few short moments ago. I received a telephone call from Steven Marshall. Stephen Marshall's call was utterly generous. It was gracious. And it was done with the class that we have become incredibly familiar with. Stephen Marshall has been the leader of the Liberal party in South Australia for nine years including four years as premier. And that is a very significant contribution to his party, and to our state. And we very much thank him for it

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Liberal Party of Australia. The Liberal Party of Australia is an essential component of our Federation. It's essential component of our democratic process. And I take this opportunity, this is important, I take this opportunity to acknowledge that the Liberal Party are not our enemies. They may be our adversary. They may be our adversary, but they are not our enemies. And we thank them, on what is a significant tonight for them too. There are a lot of there are a lot of MPs and candidates tonight who have not been successful at this election, and in our democracy, that is a particularly difficult price to pay. And I want to acknowledge all of the families of those MPs who have lost their positions tonight. Politics is a tough business. And while we are right to be proud of our efforts tonight, we should acknowledge the hard work of others.

But first and foremost I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people of South Australia. It is not lost on me, the significance of the privilege and the size of the responsibility that you invested in me in my team. Which means for my all of my MPs tonight, particularly the newly minted ones, and I'm incredibly proud of each and every one of them, it means that we've got a big job to do.

I think sometimes on election nights, when governments change hands, that the successful party can confuse the elation of electoral success with an inflated sense of achievement. Naturally people of South Australian Labor are right to feel satisfied tonight, but true satisfaction for us comes in realising our ambition, our ideal of delivering a fairer, better society and more opportunity for those who need it most.

To that end, I do believe that we have the policy and the plan to realise that ambition, but more than that, I know that I lead the team to deliver it. I want to thank one of the most intelligent, compassionate, hardworking, and reliable people I've ever met in my entire life, our great deputy leader, and future deputy premier, Susan Close.

[ 'Susan, Susan']

If we were cheeky, we'd be cheering out 'Dr. Susan', but that's another thing. People may not know, but Susan has been working so diligently behind the scenes compiling our policy effort, which is substantial. And I simply would not have been able to be here tonight without her. So thank you very much, Susan.

In the next parliament of South Australia, there will be a, a new longest serving MP. It's characterised as 'the father of the house'. And I do want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the longer serving MP in our parliament now. An individual that has been in serving in the parliament, have I get this maths right, for over 25 years. Every team needs a lion, and in Labor we have a loyal Labor lion in the honourable Tom Kousantonis. I've known Tom for a while, but, and we don't always agree, and when we when we disagree, it can get interesting. But the thing about about Tom is that he and I, like every other South Australian are utterly committed to our families and the long term future of our state. And I thank him for his service.

To the whole of my parliamentary team though. the confidence that you've invested in me from the moment I became leader has provided me with the greatest privilege of my life — up until a couple of hours ago— and I thank you for the confidence that you invested in me too.

To the most successful campaign director in Australia, Mr. Reggie, Martin,

Reggie Reggie, Reggie

Reggie,and I met in an old beat up Hyundai Excel, driving around visiting night workers many, many years ago. And it's hard to believe we're here today. But Reggie has been a, a loyal servant of the party for a long time. He is been campaign director for three separate elections. He's won two out of three of them, and I say two outta three ain't bad, Reggie. So well done.

The leader of the opposition, isn't blessed with the an abundant array of resources, so you rely on the few staff that you, that you have. And each, every one of my staff have been truly exceptional over the last four years and I thank them all. But they've been, ablely led by the hardest worker I know anywhere in the Labor movement, my good mate John Bistrovic. So thank you very much John.

To to all the volunteers that dedicate themselves to a night like tonight, but also doing some good in the Labor Party, we can't do it without you. I thank each and every one of you.

To Every every single Labor leader in the history of our great party, always stands on the shoulders of giants. And in the case of the Australian Labor party, those giants are millions of hardworking men and women across this country, ably represented by the Australian trade union movement. It takes a lot of courage to represent your fellow worker and sometimes put yourself in harm's way. And tonight I do want to particularly acknowledge all those hardworking people within our health system. Every doctor, every nurse, every hospital orderly, they've all served us so incredibly well during the pandemic, but a particular shout-out tonight to our ambos.

But Labor at its best, always, always embraces the notion that to achieve the right balance between the interests of capital and Labor, then hardworking individual contractors, sole traders, small and medium business owners, then they are equally as important to our ambitions for a fair society as any other of Labor's traditional constituencies. So I acknowledge them as well.

To my mother, Kate, who's here somewhere. To my mother, Kate and her late parents Bob and Ursula, to my father, Peter and his late parents, Peter and Etta.They've taught me everything I know and taught me the value of hard work, and I can't thank you enough. I'd also like to acknowledge my parents in law, Robin and Vicki and collectively that unit represents the most professional babysitters you've ever met in your entire life. And I thank them for all their hard work

Friends, there's a there's a quote that I think in Australian democracy, in western liberal democracy around the world, we should reflect on a little bit more often. It comes from a retired Supreme Court justice by the name of Felix Frankfurter. He famously said that 'the highest office in any democracy is the office of citizen'. When it comes to our democracy, there's never a truer word spoken. I think sometimes we are vulnerable to taking that for granted. This morning, I experienced the most humbling moment of the campaign. This morning, I was at Woodville Gardens polling booth, and I arrived there with Retab and Michelis Atahali, Syrian refugees who only six months ago became citizens of Australia. They were voting for the first time today.

They came, they came from a town just outside of Aleppo where their home was bombed only a years ago. Everything they had was lost. They had a young son, and they had nowhere to live. They fled to Lebanon where they waited for four or five years trying to find a permanent place they could call home. And it was Australia that opened our heart to this beautiful Syrian family, who by then had grown to having three children. And they came to this nation seeking one thing above all else, the opportunity to have a say on their destiny and their future. And today, as Annabel and I lined up at the polling booth next to them, it struck me —here I was, as the leader of their Labor party, the alternate premier of the state, standing next to this beautiful couple who were voting for the very first time, who came here with nothing to their name. And at that very moment, as we were standing next to each other, our votes were worth exactly the same. One could sense the hope, the desire, the aspiration that their votes, their votes had the power to deliver a better society, a fairer future, not just for themselves, but for their children and their children. The democratic ritual is one that we should never take for granted, particularly now, more than ever, at this special moment in time, we get one shot to recover from a global pandemic as a state and as a nation.

And when we look back on this moment in 20 years time, let them say that this generation was the new reconstruction generation. Let them say that we took this opportunity to deliver an economy that left noone behind. Let them say that we took this opportunity to invest in education, training, and skills so that every young person could fulfil their potential. Let them say, Let them say that this generation realised the opportunity of a clean energy future and all the jobs it can provide. Let them say, that we had a generational investment in health and mental health to ensure that people call Triple Zero, the ambulance rolls up on time.

Let them say, let them say that in this moment, this most unique occasion, that this generation decided not just to think about the next four years, but for the next generation to live out on that truly egalitarian, Australian ideal that we care for others more than we care for ourselves. Thank you very much.