On Monday morning (4/12) Kevin Rudd was elected as the new leader of the federal Labor party.
"Kevin brings new ideas and a new style of leadership to the party" Ms Vamvakinou said.
“He replaces Kim Beazley, whose years of leadership and dedication to the Australian Labor Party have been tremedously important.”
“Like everyone else, I was deeply saddened by the news of his brothers death, especially coming on the same day as the Caucus vote.”
"Kevin understands that the ALP has always stood for an alternative set of values enshrined around notions such as fairness, equity and compassion."
"Everyone has the right to be ambitious and to strive for greater things in life. And everyone has the right to be rewarded for their hard work."
"The point is to make sure that all of us are guaranteed this right, no matter what our class, creed or colour.”
“This is part of the social contract each individual has with the state. Without a sense of social responsibility and social justice, one that focuses on making our society work for the many rather than just for the few, fairness, equity and compassion all disappear.”
“The cost of tertiary degrees makes it harder for kids from working class families to afford a university education. Affordable health care will soon become a thing of the past. Community well being has been replaced by rampant individualism and personal greed.”
“This is the legacy of the Howard government, which has focused on economic prosperity at the expense of social justice. The two are not mutually exclusive.”
“If you are contributing member to society, society has a responsibility to help you out when you fall on hard times. This idea has become the subject of ridicule under the Howard government.”
"We want to see fairness exist in the workplace and fairness exist beyond the workplace."
“The basic rights and freedoms that are under attack today were never just handed to us on a plate. They were hard fought for and won by the labor movement and by other social movements. It is these movements that John Howard is trying to crush.”
“The government’s new IR laws not only affect the working lives of millions of Australian’s. They also fundamentally affect the quality of family life enjoyed by millions of Australians. Australian families should be put ahead of profits.”
“This is the values debate that Australia needs to have.”
Media Contact: Alex Kouttab 0417 541 465
