Quotes from Bill Shorten

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

We will always be a fair wage nation in a low wage region.

There is no doubt our earth is warming and our seas rising - or that humankind is the cause. There is no evidence to refute this - or any genuine scientific counterargument in the climate change debate.

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

Poverty wastes people; it wastes opportunity.

This is what I think about poverty: why waste the potential of people? You never know what you've got going in society unless you give people a chance.

We cannot let it be said of modern Australia that the colour of your skin determines whether or not you end up in jail.

There are far too many people in prison with poorly understood disability, particularly cognitive and mental disabilities. We cannot tolerate a system that just processes people rather than a system that fairly administers justice.

The appalling rate of incarceration among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples demands we create justice targets under the Closing the Gap framework.

Ending discrimination and extending equality should always be a national priority.

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.

My father left school at 14 and became a fitter. He didn't want to be at school.

The supreme challenge of Labor is to recognise our 'revolutionary moment' when it arrives. And to have the courage to seize it - wholly, boldly, and completely.

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.

If we are strategic, if we are smart, Australia can power our future prosperity with solar, wind, geothermal, and tidal energy.

When someone has found not just another person they can live with but a person they can't live without, they should have an equal right to the true qualities of a bond that runs deeper than any law.

We have to become a learning society, committed to quality education from early childhood right through to re-training in later life.

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

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.

Australia's economic future depends upon getting smarter. This means investing in the skills and knowledge of our workforce.

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

Workplace relations is about getting the best out of people. An argument which says that the only way we can compete with other nations in the world is engaging in a race to the bottom in terms of pay rates, penalty rates, protections on rosters, getting rid of family friendly provisions - that is not Australia's future.

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.

We should never seek to compete with economies in our region by cutting pay and conditions - that's a race to the bottom we can't win.