“It was different to the other conferences I’ve been to in that it created a lot of debate and was like a high profile festival of ideas,” Dr Kelly said.

“I was exhilarated by the level of ideas and policy issues.”

Dr Kelly said a key area of debate focused on reinvestment in education and a commitment to Gonski reform which he said is “critical for our electorate”.

“There was a recommitment in those areas and also supporting higher level education,” he said.

“And also a commitment not to butcher the public service who are holiday makers to the electorate and spend in the economy.”

High on Dr Kelly’s agenda was the issue of federal asylum seeker policy, an issue that has troubled the former minister for some time, he said.

“It is a comprehensive package taking into account commitments to human rights and a whole raft of measures,” he said.

“The boats will be intercepted and people properly cared for.

“There was a new measure introduced for a body independent of government to look after children through the whole process and remove children from detention as soon as possible.

“It will have independent oversight at each facility and the standards will be raised to where they should be in a country like Australia.

“To ‘turn back’ means in this context that people are kept safe and don’t drown at sea and it has reset the policy debate,” he said.

A commitment to defend Medicare, GP tax measures, an Australian republic and a higher representation of women in the party were also discussed along with climate change measures.

“We’ve set a goal to achieve a republic by 2025 and have 50 per cent representation of women by the same year,” Dr Kelly said.

“We are also determined to do something about climate change while the government is stuck in the past at an important time in our history.”