Bill Shorten Quotes

#1. We commissioned an independent statutory economic body - the Productivity Commission - to review the possibility of funding a disability scheme. The commission returned with a view that it could. Then it becomes an issue of national will.

Bill Shorten

#2. What I believe to be every Australian's right - a good, safe job with proper pay and conditions.

Bill Shorten

#3. I'm proud of my record of negotiating agreements, representing people and making sure that both employers and employees could get the best out of going to work every day.

Bill Shorten

#4. Trusting people to pursue their own futures invariably provides better outcomes. Money goes where it is needed, rather than being absorbed by administration costs.

Bill Shorten

#5. I want to build a Big Labor party. A party of big ideas. A party which is deeply connected to the community. A party which reflects our diverse nation.

Bill Shorten

#6. I've spent my whole working life standing up for workers. Didn't matter if it was the two trapped miners at Beaconsfield or professional netballers or indeed factory workers or construction workers.

Bill Shorten

#7. What I've done as a union leader and what literally thousands of other union representatives do, is make sure that we have co-operation in the workplace. What I get is that where employees are well treated, employers do well.

Bill Shorten

#8. Labor should not be about creating monuments on hills or statues in parks. Labor's monuments and statues are when a young person can find a job, when a person with disability can get access to the ordinary life that others take for granted.

Bill Shorten

#9. Productivity is driven at the enterprise level. Better wages, better performing workplaces, are driven at the workplace level.

Bill Shorten

#10. When I entered federal parliament at the end of 2007, I was appointed parliamentary secretary for disabilities.

Bill Shorten

#11. Labor must work harder to attract and retain members. The party should be cheaper to join with discounted rates available for union members as well as for students, pensioners, and people out of work.

Bill Shorten

#12. I'm a Christian and a supporter of marriage equality under the law.

Bill Shorten

#13. Once upon a time, I thought denial was a river in Egypt. It's actually the attitude of the Abbott government.

Bill Shorten

#14. I think it is a cornerstone of our electoral system that you raise electoral funds for elections but that doesn't mean that therefore the implication can be made that the recipients are incapable of transacting their interests and their duties towards people any differently.

Bill Shorten

#15. To the best of my knowledge, when I became national secretary and, indeed, Victorian secretary, the - my predecessors in the union had detected wrong activities, activities which aren't in the best traditions of the AWU or, indeed, trade unionism.

Bill Shorten

#16. If I am elected leader, my shadow opposition team will actively incorporate the policy contributions of all our members by instituting policy action committees as recommend by the 2010 National Review.

Bill Shorten

#17. My preference is that employees pay their union dues, but what I also get is that I'd rather someone be in the union than not in the union.

Bill Shorten

#18. Labor is at its best when we are the party of ideas and action - ideas that empower the powerless and actions that build a better Australia for the long term.

Bill Shorten