TRANSCRIPT OF SPEECH, ELECTION NIGHT, WARNBRO YMCA, WARNBRO, WA, 3 OCTOBER 1998

Testing.... Testing.... 1...2... 3... Its fun to stay at the YMCA Oh shit were those cameras rolling?

You can cut that out cant you?

Well, it appears that we have won at least 17 seats tonight with 12 hanging there, swinging a bit doubtful. And this YMCA was not much fun to be at tonight. While I don't want to formally concede defeat tonight, I do have to tell you it will be difficult for us to reach a majority from that position. And, therefore, I think a win by us is unlikely.

But I can say this: this is the biggest number of seats won by a first time Opposition party in this country. Even though this is the biggest swing to a first time Opposition party since WWII.

For the first time in four elections I'll go to bed not worrying about my own seat because my wife just bought me a Smokey Dawson easy chair to sit on.

Can I firstly say oops, I already started, so really I should be saying secondly I would like to thank the Australian people for the attention that they have paid us over the course of the last five weeks because of all the money we spent in advertising they had no choice in the matter. We have a wonderful people and our democratic institutions are foremost among democratic institutions in the world. So you may ask yourself why do I want to change the current system to a Republic? It is because just because I can! We indicated, in this election campaign very firm stands. We will maintain those stands even though the voting public, have indicated for us to do otherwise.

If, as I suspect from the minority of votes, the Liberal and National Parties emerge in the next few days with a majority of seats, they have a mandate like any Government of this nation to govern well. They have a mandate to govern well. And we will try our best to stop that from happening.

The Australian people, who love their democratic institutions, even though those of us who sit in them fail them so often, also expect of us an Opposition that will keep a Government accountable to keep their promises. We would not have obtained the marvellous result that we have obtained today had we not proved adept at that.

Can I thank, too, my wife and family who are almost complete here on the stage. But 8.30 is beyond Rachel's bedtime even on special occasions like this. So, Mrs. Annus is going to spend her time over the next five minutes putting her to bed with any sort of luck.

But my family has been a wonderful boon and support to me in this campaign as they have been to me through my life. And I've actually had the odd experience of seeing more of Susie in the course of this election campaign than I've seen of her in the last two and a half years.

And then can I thank the magnificent Labor Party organization. I mean, I ask 'how did we do it?' How did we manage to get together after that shattering defeat and put together a coherent strategy and a coherent policy? And I thank in that regard our National Secretary, Gary Gray has anyone noticed that both his names are anagrams of each other? Pretty gnarly! To the team who worked with him in the National Office. This has been a humorous election campaign and you have done very well indeed. With one exception to the bloke who put a whoopee cushion on my seat before sitting down for that press conference.

Can I then move over to thanking my staff? I have a large staff and they are too numerous to name here - but they know I love them. And they know that I need them. And they know that they along with 90% of the voting public are a great deal cleverer than I am, and thank God for it. But I particularly thank David Epstein, who is my Chief of Staff, who has worked even longer hours than I have throughout this campaign and has, I think, kept his...well, my wife says he's kept his sense of humor. I have news for her; he hardly ever keeps his sense of humor. But nevertheless, he has done extraordinarily well in this campaign.

And I particularly thank the hundreds and hundreds here from the electorate of Brand who have done so well for me this time. I'm very grateful to you.

And through your efforts can I also thank the electors of Brand - for the first time in my political life they have given me something that looks remotely like a safe seat.

However, I know enough about my fellow West Australians to know this: that they regard continuing performance as essential if that situation is to be maintained.

We have also, I might say, had a magnificent result here in Western Australia. This is a substantial reversal of what was a seemingly permanent decline in the Labor vote here in Western Australia. And we have done very well indeed.

I notice my Mum and Dad are here. I'd love to thank them. Mum and Dad provided the best Labor Party

Advertisement, of this campaign, there's no doubt about that at all. Dad even though you support a GST, you are still my daddy. And they, of course, have sustained me through my life, educated me, trained me, and made me whatever there is of me today.

Can I finally return to where I started off, the Oxford rowing team? I will never forget the words of my coach. "Go backwards my dear fellow go backwards" That was a testing time for me, but I survived. We are a great resilient people, we Australians. We have to be. In so many ways the world is tipped against us. We are a very small country in population terms, occupying a very large piece of the world's real estate. We do that only by drawing upon all the reserves of cleverness and unity that we have. We must always, those of us in political parties, strive to enhance, not deplete those reserves. We must, as a people, constantly turn to each other and not on each other and against each other, with the obvious exemption being Parliamentary question time. We must, as a people, and I believe we do, operate in a way that gets the very best out of the multicultural and multiracial society that we are. In many ways I think that that has been emphasized by this election campaign and this wonderful outcome that we have had.

Finally, to the labor movement. The labor movement is a very broad Church, look upon me as the Pope as you the people are my congregation. Some have said in the past. It consists of its political and industrial wings. We understand that the right of ordinary workers to collectively bargain is an essential part of the democratic process in this country not to mention the rights of those in business so I wont. And we have been well supported in this campaign by all elements of the labor movement.

Well, in conclusion I'm proud to say the Labor Party is back in town. And we approach the next three years with great confidence.

Thank you very much.

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