The following is an edited transcript of a speech to the 50th ALP National Conference in Adelaide.

Regardless of your politics, the 135-year history of the Australian Labor Party is worth reflecting on, especially for those of us building businesses and products.

Labor has built a generational political brand – and one that endures in the face of some major challenges here and abroad.

And after all those years, it still has clarity about its values and purpose.

And they are clear in the party’s policy platform and Albanese government agenda.

The tax changes announced on budget night are a pertinent example.

Budget night will prove to be very expensive for me, as it was for many other Australians.

But if we are ever going to reduce inequality, it must come at a cost. And few could deny there is entrenched unfairness in the system.

Negative gearing should never have existed. I benefited from it — plenty of people in this room have — but it was a distortion, unique to this country, that has helped price younger generations out of the housing market.

There has been some backlash to the government’s budget reforms.

But the government – and no one more so than our Treasurer, Jim Chalmers – deserve credit for standing up to lobbying and the Murdoch press and being true to their values.

Getting the balance right between values-based conviction and staying in the sensible centre is why Australian Labor has been able to find success, when so many other centre-left movements around the world are struggling. 

This is even more important in a climate of populism on both the right and left.

That means resisting pressure from those who benefit from the status quo on tax. And it also means resisting some of the more outlandish demands of the unions and activists, such as a blanket mandates on working from home.

I focus much of my philanthropic activity on the mental health crisis, and so many of the leading experts in this space believe much of the division and discontent we are seeing in the world boils down ultimately to the rise of loneliness and disconnectedness in our modern age.

Mandating work from home makes this problem worse – it robs people of meaningful human and connection and career satisfaction. And in my opinion, perhaps a controversial one – it will disproportionately disadvantage young people and women in the long term.

Similarly, the government must push back on the more extreme demands of this conference when it comes to AI and technology.

The government has led the world on introducing a social media ban for children widely lauded and now copied by our global peers.

It should stick to this blueprint for how it engages with AI, standing up to Big Tech and partnering with the more ethical operators as it seemingly has with Anthropic.

We of course need to protect our workers and consumers and ensure that social cohesion remains an utmost priority. That theme has come through so strongly over the course of the last day and a half, including in private conversations with the Treasurer.

But equally, productivity is a real problem. And as an entrepreneur, who speaks to business leaders and investors around the world, the reality is that AI will create new jobs and careers but it will also result in some labour market disruption. There is a delicate balance here – and a huge economic growth opportunity.

Like its approach to Big Tech, I want to acknowledge this government, and in particular the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Trade Minister Don Farrell, for the way they have handled the Trump administration.

In the face of premature criticism from the mainstream press, the government went on to earn the trust and approval of a populist president from the other side of the aisle. It landed real achievements such as the critical minerals deal.

And key to this sophisticated diplomatic approach has been our ever growing superannuation system.

Using our unique pool of retirement savings as an instrument of soft diplomacy has been a smart, far-sighted move, in our national interest.

But it has still been willing to not pander to the president and has been robust in its defence of Australian values. We don’t want to be Trump’s America and the debates and discussions of this conference reflect that.

Those Australian values of ‘a fair go for all’ are alive and well in the current government and Australia is better for it.

Colin Tate AM is the founder and managing director of Conexus Financial, publisher of Investment Magazine. He is currently on long service leave.