Fabius believed in a strategic approach.

Attestation of beliefs

Simon Crean talks to the Fabian Society.

The Fabian Society & the Labor tradition

By Simon Crean

Thank you for the invitation to address the Fabian Society. In the last 12 months we have seen just about every Shadow Minister address the Fabian Society. To my recollection, this is a dramatic change. Labor Shadows used to be more often seen addressing CEDA or the Sydney Institute or the BCA.

This is a great development because it's about getting the party members and supporters involved again in policy development - which is one of the goals of the party reforms I have made. It's about reconnecting with our base and good Labor ideas.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the election of the Whitlam government. The Fabian Society was heavily involved in the development of Gough's great reform program, which changed Australia forever. Race Matthews in particular had a central role and served in Gough's caucus. So as we celebrate our victory in 1972, we celebrate the contribution of people like Race and the many, many other Fabians who worked so hard to make it happen.

As everyone knows, the Fabians are named after the Roman General, Quintus Fabius Maximus, who led Rome in its war with the Carthaginian General, Hannibal. His nickname was derived from the Latin word for delaying - 'Cunctator' - not the sort of name you want to try to pronounce after a few beers or glasses of wine at a dinner like this. Despite this, the story of Fabius - I'll call him that, not his nickname - is perhaps instructive.

During his struggle against Hannibal, Fabius was always being criticised for not rushing into battle at every opportunity. He'd seen his generals destroyed time after time by his opponents when they'd adopted a hairy-chested approach and attacked without thinking first.

Fabius believed in a more strategic approach. He was resistant to the quick fix and rightly ignored the critics of his day. But he was determined to win. He had one policy - defeat Hannibal and save Rome. Nothing would shift him from it. He won.

There's a lesson for Labor today. Just as Fabius defeated Hannibal, who was considered invincible in his day, we will defeat Howard - or Costello, should he ever replace him - and save Australia from their right-wing agenda.

We will do this by fighting our opponents on our issues, in our way.

We will not be shifted.

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