My preference is that employees pay their union dues, but what I also get is that I'd rather someone be in the union than not in the union.

I've spent my whole working life standing up for workers. Didn't matter if it was the two trapped miners at Beaconsfield or professional netballers or indeed factory workers or construction workers.

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

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.

I'm a Christian and a supporter of marriage equality under the law.

What I believe to be every Australian's right - a good, safe job with proper pay and conditions.

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.

I'm proud of my record of negotiating agreements, representing people and making sure that both employers and employees could get the best out of going to work every day.

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

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

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

She sniffled. "Does he know?""Not a clue, " Law said. "There are concrete bricks less dense than my beloved.

My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home.

I'm interested in the fact that the less secure a man is, the more likely he is to have extreme prejudice.

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.

Vulnerability pushed, I pushed back. I lost the fight, but probably won my life back.

Even when I have to write a simple letter I'm scared stiff as if faced with looming seasickness.

On Earth, we still have a beautiful atmosphere that precisely maintains a thermally driven climatic system that shelters, shields and sustains our natural treasures.

The first time I saw 'Sunset Boulevard' I was probably eight or nine years old, and it really struck me how it's so simply put and elegant, yet there's so much going on.

It isn't courageous to go forth when you don't know the dangers. But it's very courageous to go forth when you do.

Getting there isn't half the fun - it's all the fun.