Bill Shorten has pitched Labor as championing a "smart, modern and fair" Australia, as he opened the party's national conference.
The opposition leader told 400 delegates in Melbourne on Friday a Labor government would roll out a globally-linked emissions trading scheme and seek support for a republic and same-sex marriage.
Mr Shorten also threw his weight behind more indigenous people and women being preselected as Labor candidates - with a target of 50 per cent women in the caucus within a decade - but is unlikely to support broader internal reform of the party.
"We are ready to lead a smart, modern and fair Australia - ready, friends, to advance Australia," he said.
Having faced two days in the royal commission witness stand, the former Australian Workers Union national secretary defended the role of unions.
"No group of people in all of modern Australian history have done more to guarantee safety at work, to build national wealth, to lift the living standards of ordinary people, no-one has done more than our unions, and 10,000 royal commissions won't change that fact," he said.
He accused the Abbott government of damaging confidence in the economy.
"We can build an economy where growth is strong, where prosperity is shared and opportunity belongs to everyone," he said, adding that Labor would deliver tax reform without changing the GST.
Mr Shorten called for the elimination of family violence and equal pay for women.
Contrasting Labor with coalition "flat earthers", he said Labor would support an emissions trading scheme and 50 per cent of electricity being generated by renewables by 2030.
"Let me say this again to our opponents in words of one syllable, an ETS is not a tax.
"And if Mr Abbott wants to make the next election a contest about who has the best policy solution for climate change I've got a three-word slogan for him: bring it on."
The Labor leader pledged to build the next generation of submarines in Australia and modify the China free trade agreement to uphold Australian safety standards, wages and jobs.
Taking aim at the Abbott government, he said the prime minister was leading an "erratic, indulgent government" with "knee-high hopes" for the future.
"Australians deserve better than a PM who wants to make them afraid of the future," Mr Shorten said.
The conference was notable for having no former prime ministers in the audience, however state Labor leaders were present.
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