Australians Are A Passionate Lot. We Are

In Your Telephone Call, You [malcolm Turnbull]said That Neither You Nor The Cabinet Would Be Supporting My Nomination. When I Asked The Reasons For This, You Said That Neither You Nor The Cabinet Has The View That I Had The Qualifications For The Position [of Un's Secretary-general].

Politics Is About Power. It Is About The Power Of The State. It Is About The Power Of The State As Applied To Individuals, The Society In Which They Live And The Economy In Which They Work. Most Critically, Our Responsibility In This Parliament Is How That Power Is Used: Whether It Is Used For The Benefit Of The Few Or The Many.

I Deeply Believe That If The Australian Labor Party, A Party Of Which I Have Been A Proud Member For More Than 30 Years, Is To Have The Best Future For Our Nation, Then It Must Change Fundamentally Its Culture And To End The Power Of Faceless Men. Australia Must Be Governed By The People, Not By The Factions.

My Task, As A Member Of This Parliament And A 30-year Member Of The Australian Labor Party, As Its Former Leader, As Its Former Foreign Minister And Its Former Prime Minister, Is To Now Throw My Every Effort In Securing Julia Gillard's Re-election As Labor Prime Minister At The Next Election.

As You Know, The Australian Labour Party Is Committed To Turning The Country Into A Republic. We've Not Stipulated A Timeline For Doing That. We Are Sensitive To The Other Priorities We've Got As A Nation And In The World, But In Time The Country Will Head In That Direction.