Australian Progressive Leader gives Values centerstage

Story:
In Australia our version of the Democrats is known as the Labor Party.

The current leader of the Labor Party launched his election campaign
today putting values at front and center - an excerpt is below, but if you'd
prefer a video version instead go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFmOrJo0As

"We believe in the solidarity of a social safety net for all Australians.

So that when tragedy strikes, as it almost always does, then we
extend the warm hand of compassion rather than the cold heart of
indifference."

"Our goal in a sentence.

To build Australia’s long-term prosperity without throwing the fair
go out the back door.

The Labor Party at its best has always been a navigator of the
nation’s future.

The conservatives, at their worst, so anchored in the past, so
dedicated to the status quo, failing often to even acknowledge the
challenges of the future.

In rising to the challenges of the future, as a party, and as a
movement, we are shaped by the values of our past.

Labor values are good values.

Labor values are Australian values.

They are values which build up rather than tear down.

They are values which unite us rather than divide us.

They are values that embrace our need to look after ourselves and
our families.

Just as they are values which embrace our parallel responsibility to
look after one another, to look after our community, our country
and, where we can, the rest of our common humanity.

This is what Ben Chifley meant 57 years ago when he talked of the
“light on the hill”.

Labor believes in the values of security, liberty and opportunity –
for all not just for some.

Security for the nation and security for the working families that
make up the nation, that have been the cornerstone of our party
from the start.

We fought for liberty in the great strikes of 1891- the shearers of
Western Queensland together with the maritime workers of the
ports of Melbourne – so that all might be free, not just some.
We are the party of opportunity – again opportunity for all not just
for some – a party which believes that every child should be given
every opportunity in life, no matter what circumstances they are
born into.

Equally we are a party of equity, a party of solidarity and a party
which embraces sustainability.

On equity, we believe that every Australian should have access to
first class healthcare when they need it, rather than a second class
system for those without means.

We believe in the solidarity of a social safety net for all Australians.
So that when tragedy strikes, as it almost always does, then we
extend the warm hand of compassion rather than the cold heart of
indifference.

And we believe in the sustainability of this marvellous planet, the
Earth itself.

And our responsibility to deliver to our children an environmental
inheritance for the future that sustains them rather than imperils
them.

We must stop playing fast and loose with the inheritance of our
children and our grandchildren.

Underpinning all the above there is, what we in this movement
have called for the last century or more, the great Australian “fair
go” for all.

This movement, and this party, should be proud of the fact that
together we have grafted fairness into the Australian soul.

For more, visit http://connectthroughvalues.com