The difference between Labor and Liberal is the NBN

I don't remember what year it was that I felt most disenchanted with the ALP. It might have been after Latham but before Rudd in that awful time in Australian politics where everything was about hate. Hate to refugees, hate to gays and hate to any voters that weren't based in Western Sydney. It was a time of three word slogans and in between Stop The Boats and Ease The Squeeze we were transfixed by fear and division. Maybe it was in the Rudd/Gillard era or even the early Crean days. There was a long term of darkness.

I was in my grandparents kitchen, the same kitchen where my Mama had proudly displayed Hawke's picture from back in the days when he was President of the ACTU. It had hung in the kitchen for as long as I remembered and in our Northern Suburbs home Hawke was something of a deity. Not quite as iconic as Whitlam, but as close to God as we atheists got.

"I'm going to quit the party" I told my grandfather, "I just can't tell the difference between the two".

I almost couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth. Somehow, in a few very short years, my true beliefs had turned into true doubts. I didn't recognise this weird vision that was so different to the ideals I'd signed up to. Nothing good seemed to be left and the Party definitely wasn't. How could I continue to support policies and people who seemed only interested in winning the votes of the swinging seats and not the faithful that turned out no matter what was offered up?

"It's the NBN" my Papa said. "The NBN is the difference".

I kept my party card.

My Grandfather was one of the smartest people in South Australia. Born without much money in between the wars, at a time when being a single woman meant that Papa and his mother lived a life in a tin shed after her husband died. For some reason the school test scores were regularly printed in the paper during those days and if you search for my grandfather on Trove you can find his name over and over again as he aces every test of his childhood. It is no surprise that he was an ideal candidate for the newly formed Weapon's Research Establishment in Salisbury North. He and my Mama moved to a Housing Trust home newly built for the nerdy engineers and their families, beginning our long and happy lives living in a part of SA that most Adelaidians avoid at all costs.

The North to me is my happy place. A place filled with love and family, smart kids and class clowns. It is a place where I honestly felt myself and where I felt safe. A place very different to the ones bureaucrats talk about with their stats.

It is a place where the dream of becoming middle class happened to my family. Through the post-war Menzies and Playford era policies of Defence my smart family were educated and we went on to become intergenerational university educated professionals.

When people talk about the economy of the North they talk about Holden's, but that's only one part of the story. There was Holden's and Levi's and Bridgestone and the pharmaceutical place that made sunscreen. It was a great place to find work and for many a middle class life was possible.

But not for all.

We can't talk about Holden's or the North without talking about the immense poverty that was a byproduct of South Australian manufacturing. It was there long before the last car rolled off the production line and while my family became intergenerationally educated for many of my friends their families became intergenerationally unemployed. I can't tell when or how that happened- some of the original suburbs were only built a few years before I was born which doesn't seem long enough for intergenerational anything.

I know that it was random, who got what. My family was lucky, my Grandad's intellectual potential identified early and invested in heavily. Our country and our technology have benefitted from his ability to live his potential through the technology innovation made possible by Defence. That wasn't the case for many other smart kids, still living in conditions most Adelaidians would refuse to accept for their own families.

Today, there was a forum about A Better Brighter Future for South Australia. Albo spoke at it and I wondered if one of my uni friends might have drafted his speech. I liked his speech and my Papa would have as well. Defence industries might sound like a weird thing for a left-wing PM to get behind, but human rights are worth defending. I hope we never have to use our technology for that purpose.

Fighting for our rights is only half the Defence story. The other half is Peace.

Peace is abundant in societies that are inclusive, diverse and where women and young people have a voice and hope. That doesn't always feel like it is the case in the North right now. The poverty has been ignored for so long that the threat of violence doesn't come from a far-off country, it comes from within. Often, it comes from those who are supposed to love you most.

This week, the local high school had several serious threats of gun violence. Fortunately, it turned out to be just a gel blaster, but it looked real. I wondered- what kind of hurt has happened to a 14 year old kid where they think that might be a real solution? How do we give back some hope? How quickly do we need to act?

I'm not ok with 14 year olds feeling like that.

In the speeches today we were reminded that we are at a turning point in our economic and technological future. I believe we are too.

Right now, we are simply ignoring the opportunities to engage our best and our brightest in coming up with the solutions that matter to them- the ones that help maintain Peace. Defence is important and I am committed to helping engage young people into these opportunities, but the North's kids need some support too.

Life is really tough in a post-Holden's world. 14 year old kids deserve better than the legacy policies they have been born in to. They deserve to be kids. They shouldn't feel so hurt that they turn to violence.

Technology has the potential to be a game-changing equaliser. Never before have we lived in a time where access to gold was at such a low barrier as an internet connection and a keyboard. If you are brilliant then in theory it doesn't matter who you are or where you are born- you can realise your potential. If we want to tap in to the potential of technology, of our state and of our best and our brightest then we need to embrace the opportunities with gusto. We can't wait and hope that everyone will become middle-class just because we build submarines or develop new housing estates. It certainly hasn't happened in our recent history, so why would we think we'd have more success now?

If middle-class is the new South Australian dream then we need to invest in solutions for all, not just the rich kids. If we are going to create advanced technology for Defence then let's double down and create advanced technology for keeping the Peace.

We don't need better metal detectors. We need solutions that make the kids want to put down the guns- to prevent them from ever feeling the need to pick one up.

Our kids deserve Peace at home and abroad. Every. Single. One.