I’m sorry I can’t be here today due to my long standing commitment to Oxfam and to my team-mates for the Oxfam Trailwalk in Melbourne.

The cause you have gathered together today to support and advance is one that is crucial to the future of the Australian Labor Party: the important and in my opinion essential reforms that will make us ready to meet the emerging challenges of 21st century democracy.

Labor’s greatest traditions are our dedication to reform and our dedication to democracy. Every generation of Labor activists and supporters has to apply those traditions to Party as well as to politics more broadly.

The Review I was part of is the beginning, not the end, of the discussion about our Party’s renewal.

That discussion must be one in which the voices of our members and supporters are heard most loudly of all.

I urge you all to make sure that is the case.

JOHN FAULKNER
Member 2010 National Review