I came to politics because I had most of all a sense that what we had in Australia was so worth preserving. With this in mind, for me it was inevitable that I would feel obliged to adopt a protective, conserving and caring politic al party, rooted in the heart and not the pocket, one with an alternative story line. It is what has made me a strong environmentalist. It is what has made me so opposed to the current economic dogma. It is what has made me so opposed to the carpetbagger approach of selling off our assets to foreigners.
Economic colonialism is such an unattractive theology.
I have known war, strikes, riots and economic sanctions. I have known the menace of state security in the old regimes of Africa. I know the difference between tyranny and democracy. I am proud to be in this liberated and advanced democracy. But I am also aware of the road stretching before us.