Here's how we can have a secure and prosperous future for all Australians

Labor built the modern Australian economy, and the Labor Party should always be proud of that achievement. Competition and productivity are Labor words. They don't belong to the Tories, they belong to us - not as goals in their own right, but as the best way of producing jobs and investment for the Australian people.

We are a prosperous nation, but surely we can make better use of our prosperity.

Surely in a prosperous country we shouldn't have 370,000 Australians as long-term unemployed. Surely in a prosperous country we shouldn't have 500,000 Australians, most of them elderly, waiting to get their teeth fixed. Surely in a prosperous country we shouldn't be losing bulk-billing doctors and child-care workers. Surely in a prosperous country we shouldn't have tens of thousands of students who miss out on a university place every year.

That's the problem with the Howard government. It's a waiting-list government that's turned us into a waiting-list nation. It's wasting our prosperity instead of turning it into opportunity for all.

That's what I want for Australia: prosperity with a purpose - all Australians climbing the ladder of opportunity.

When I was young, my mum used to tell me there were two types of people in our street - the slackers and the hard workers. We had our troubles at home, sure, but we were hard workers.

If I wanted to get to university, I had to study hard. So I did. If we wanted to buy our first family home, we had to work hard and save hard. So we did. If I wanted to get into politics, I had to be a good servant of the local community and get stuck into local government. So I did.

That's where the expression "the ladder of opportunity" comes from. I believe in it because I've lived it.

I believe in ambition and aspiration. I believe in the powerful combination of hard work, good family and the civilising role of government services. I say that economic aspiration is good and social mobility is even better - all Australians climbing the ladder of opportunity. The problem is that the Howard Government has been taking out the rungs. I want to put them back in.

This is the paradox of our time. The economy has become more prosperous yet people feel more powerless.

I know of no more powerful institution in our society than a good government school. And I promise you this: as prime minister, I won't be sitting on the sidelines - a negative, whingeing, carping commentator - taking potshots at government schools. If there's a problem in our schools - public or private - I'll be getting stuck in to fix it. The education of our young people is too important for political potshots.

I want every school in this country to be a high-achieving school - good teachers, parents and students working together. That's why Labor will introduce a needs-based funding system: all schools - government and non-government - reaching a strong national standard for resources and results.

We won't be setting sector against sector, school against school, public against private. We'll be bringing all schools up to a decent national standard. Our funding system will be good for needy government and non-government schools.

I want more expertise and resources in struggling schools. That's my top priority. And I am willing to pay more and reward the teachers who achieve better results in those schools.

Quality teaching is a passport out of poverty. It must be available to every student in our society.

Reward for effort is another rung on the ladder of opportunity. I want more incentive, more reward for the hard workers in our society.

Under the Howard Government, nearly 1 million families face effective marginal tax rates of at least 60 per cent. For some low-income earners the rate is 102 per cent. That is, for every additional $100 they earn, the Government takes $102 off them in taxes and the withdrawal of social security payments. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. For working hard and having a go, they are $2 worse off in net terms. That's a shocking disincentive - one that no nation should tolerate.

As a society, we need to reward the hard workers, not punish them. We need to make the tax system fairer and put some incentive back into the Australian economy.

I believe in the public sector. I believe in social investment. And the government I lead will invest more in the essential services of the nation.

But we won't be doing it the old way. The services we deliver must be responsive and flexible, working with communities, not against them.

Our services will provide new opportunities for people, but they must also demand responsibility in return. We can provide all the services in the world, but unless people are willing to work hard and respond the right way, we won't get the results we need for Australia.

Responsibility from all, opportunity for all: that's what I call a good society.

A strong community requires more than high incomes and government services. It needs strong, healthy relationships between people.

This is the paradox of our time. The economy has become more prosperous yet people feel more powerless. Record rates of GDP have been matched by record rates of depression, loneliness and isolation.

None of us can live by financial capital alone. We need to rebuild social capital: the trust and co-operation between people. This is where I want a new Labor agenda.

Government doesn't have all the answers. It doesn't have a monopoly on solutions in our society. We need to rebuild community and work with the voluntary sector.

This is why I have decided to appoint Lindsay Tanner as the shadow minister for community relationships, in addition to his existing responsibilities. No one in the Parliament has written more or thought more about these issues.

I have asked him to turn his ideas into Labor policy - new solutions to the problems of loneliness, work stress and community breakdown.

His first task is to develop a national mentoring program to give more support to our young people. In Australia today there are more than 600,000 children living with one parent only. For boys without men in their lives this is a real issue: a lack of male mentors and role models teaching them the difference between right and wrong. I see this in my own community: boys who have gone off the rails. And lost touch with a thing called society.

I want a Labor government to find new answers to this problem, building bridges between people - across generations and across cultures. I want a strong society as well as a prosperous economy.