Speeches & Opinions
Read speeches and opinion articles by ACTU officers and staff.
Our collection contains speeches delivered at conferences, forums, summits, rallies and events by Executive and senior ACTU staff. It also contains op-eds previously published in mainstream media by the ACTU President, ACTU Secretary or ACTU Assistant Secretaries.
Recent Speeches & Opinions
Joint Statement on Sovereign AI Capability in Australia
October 1, 2026
In this unique joint statement, the union movement and Australia’s leading AI researchers have come together to propose a government-coordinated national endeavour to enhance Australia’s Sovereign AI Capability.
AFR op-ed by ACTU Secretary Melissa Donnelly: Tech leaders’ safety alert our last chance to reset AI trajectory
September 17, 2026
The warnings are clear, and so is the lesson: Australia must not wait any longer to regulate this all-powerful new technology.
ACTU Statement on Bondi Beach terror attack
December 15, 2025
Unions stand in solidarity with Jewish Australians and express our sorrow and heartbreak at this horrific anti-Semitic attack that targeted people celebrating what should have been a joyous occasion on the first night of Hanukkah.
ACTU statement on Gaza
May 23, 2025
The ACTU calls for an end to the occupation of Palestine and a just and sustainable peace in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, including the removal of illegal settlements, the withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian lands along with the dismantling of the separation wall. In line with the ACTU’s commitment to a two-state solution with the security of borders for both nations, we call on all countries to recognise, without delay, Palestine as a sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital. This will confirm the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in a free and independent Palestine.
ACTU calls for an urgent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine
October 19, 2023
The ACTU condemns the bombing, killing and kidnapping of Israeli civilians by the terrorist organisation…
Michele O’Neil, President ACTU National Press Club, 28th March 2023
March 29, 2023
Michele O’Neil, President ACTU National Press Club, 28th March 2023 Check against delivery Thank you…
SALLY McMANUS, ACTU SECRETARY SPEECH TO NATIONAL PRESS CLUB WEDNESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2022
September 28, 2022
SALLY McMANUS, ACTU SECRETARY SPEECH FOR: NATIONAL PRESS CLUB WEDNESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2022 (CHECK…
Sally McManus Speech to AIRAANZ February 2018
June 29, 2021
Good morning, it’s a pleasure to be with you today.
I want to pay my respects to the Garna people and their elders past and present.
Today I want to talk about the union movements change the rules campaign and how necessary that campaign is because the rules at work are broken.
ACTU Congress 2018 Secretary’s Welcome Speech 17th July, 2018
June 29, 2021
I’d like to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land on which…
Sally McManus, speech to TJ Ryan Foundation, Brisbane 1st September, 2017
June 29, 2021
Acknowledgement to Country We are coming to an end of an era. The end of…
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