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

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.