Jobs, jobs and more jobs.
That's what Australia needs most, says Bill Shorten.
And the opposition leader promises that if he is elected as prime minister, his party's policies will ensure jobs for Australians.
"For Labor, jobs has always been the ultimate test, the gold standard of whether our economy is growing as strongly as it should and as fairly as it should," Mr Shorten said in Adelaide on Saturday.
"Jobs is how we judge whether or not everyone has a stake in our society."
Speaking at Labor's South Australian branch state conference, Mr Shorten said better and more accessible education is the key to delivering jobs to the nation.
"It all starts with skills and education," he said.
"That means kids from poorer schools, from country schools and from schools with less resources get the funding they need so that they can get the best education.
"It's important that our young people get a chance to go to university, where their marks and hard work will get them in, not how much money their parents have."
Mr Shorten said South Australia, which has the worst unemployment rate of the states and territories, has "suffered more under the Liberal government than any other state".
He said the impending closure of Holden's manufacturing operations without a replacement is a big blow to the state.
But he said Labor's focus on clean energy and locally built submarines will drive jobs growth in SA.
"It's important that (South Australia) has a government in Canberra who supports policies about clean energy that are fair dinkum," he said.
When pressed by reporters on his sliding popularity since Malcolm Turnbull took over as prime minister, Mr Shorten had a simple response.
"If Labor gets its policies right, the polls will look after themselves," he said.
Later, at a question and answer session with local residents at Kilburn RSL in Adelaide's north, Mr Shorten said Mr Turnbull's popularity is inevitable given Tony Abbott came before him.
"Quite frankly, having had a prime minister that was about the equivalent of sticking something in your eye for the past two years, anyone would be popular," he said.
SA Premier Jay Weatherill also delivered a speech at the conference, taking aim at the Liberal Party for what he says is a lack of confidence in the ability of "working people" in Australia.
"When they're sitting around with one another, having their cigars and talking about working people, they say to themselves, 'They're lazy, they're incompetent, they're paid too much,'" Mr Weatherill said, raising his voice.
"They do not believe in the capacity of working people in this nation to engage in the most advanced manufacturing.
"This is why we see them permit the closure of the car industry without any plan for its replacement."
Share
