Labor is not a group of physicians looking for a disease which no longer exists, according to the ALP's outgoing president Jenny McAllister.
"It's sometimes said that Labor's project is dead," she told the Senate during her maiden speech as an upper house member on Wednesday.
"This is false.
"Inequality and injustice persist."
While Australia's poorest 20 per cent own just one per cent of the country's wealth and while women earn less that men, Labor's project continues, she says.
The rural kid who joined the Labor party in 1992 also said she wants to eliminate inequality between the country and the cities, and between those who own property and those who don't.
"Many with good incomes remain unable to buy a home," the NSW senator said.
An unashamed idealist, Senator McAllister takes her responsibility to champion the institutions of democracy seriously.
"This place provides enormous opportunity to do good," she said.
Senator McAllister replaces the father of the Senate, Labor senator John Faulkner, who retired in February.
Two Labor MPs, Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese, received special mentions for their support.
Senator McAllister will step down as president of the ALP in July to be replaced by frontbencher Mark Butler, who won a recent ballot.
Share
