Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks very much, Mr Deputy Speaker Barresi. I am very pleased that you are in the chair. Certainly you have been a great friend to me, Member for Deakin, and I appreciate you having joined me for the past term here. Tonight I rise in support of the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Democratic Plebiscites) Bill 2007. The Commonwealth electoral amendment bill implements through this House the Prime Minister’s announcement on 7 August this year to allow the Australian Electoral Commission to undertake plebiscites on the amalgamation of any local governing body in any part of Australia.

Since 1992, the Australian Electoral Commission has had the ability to enter into arrangements for the supply of goods and services to bodies under the act; therefore the AEC has the required expertise and skills to undertake these arrangements. This is not giving the AEC any significantly different functions. It already conducts arrangements for organisations such as trade unions and other employer organisations. The urgent need for this bill and its specific provisions arises from a law passed by the Queensland parliament that, unless overridden by the Commonwealth law, would prevent local governments in their state having any involvement with these plebiscites.

This bill shows our government’s commitment to addressing fundamental issues of freedoms and basic democratic rights of the people of Australia. Essentially, the bill ensures that the AEC maintains its independence and allows provisions to override any state law that seeks to prohibit, penalise and discriminate against anyone entering into an arrangement for the supply of goods and services with the AEC.

In expressing my support for this bill, I would like to take some time to reflect, if I may, on my time in the House, as this will be the last time I rise to speak in this House. It is my intention to retire at the next election. When I leave this place it will be bittersweet. I have many friends from across the parliament, people focused on achieving great things, and I will miss having a front row opportunity to influence policy and to stand up for the forgotten and the weak. Incidentally, this is the 450th speech made by me in this chamber—but who is counting?

In 1983 I stood with 15 other candidates for preselection for the safe seat of Northcott, a state seat, in Sydney’s north-west. The Attorney-General, who is here tonight, would remember that occasion, I am sure. I am aware that the members for Stirling and Moncrieff, who are sitting alongside me tonight, were 13 and nine years old respectively and were still attending primary school. When you see these fine young men here alongside me, it probably suggests to you that it is time for me to go. For the preselection, I was unexpectedly supported by both the left and the right, including the member for Mackellar. So, if you want to blame somebody, you can always blame Bronwyn! I put my hand up at that time because I thought I could make a difference.

By winning government in New South Wales in 1988 with Nick Greiner and being appointed as Minister for Transport, and later as deputy leader, I was able to make that difference. The former member for Burrinjuck at that time, Alby Schultz, was one of my colleagues in that place and I was very glad of his support. During my time in state politics we undertook, as Alby would know, some major reforms of state transport, reforms which included slashing the annual operating costs of the State Rail Authority by $450 million a year, building many new freeways and introducing Jetcats to Parramatta and Manly.

Of course, the highlight of my time in New South Wales politics was the winning of the 2000 Olympic Games for Sydney. When Juan Antonio Samaranch announced, ‘And the winner is Sydney,’ it was a great moment. Some people said that he took so long to make the announcement because he had never seen Beijing written that way before! I was very pleased to be part of it. For three years of my life—as my wife, Judith, would know—I was involved in lobbying for it, and it was a very interesting and challenging time. The joy of winning was absolutely indescribable.

There was great satisfaction in seeing what a sterling job Sydney did in hosting the Olympics. The whole city buzzed and danced through the night and was glued to the track or the pool during the day. I was there for Cathy Freeman’s win in the 400-metre event, which was a spine-tingling event and highlighted what the Olympics were all about for Australia.

I left state politics in 1995 and went to the Tourism Council Australia as CEO. Within three years I was back in politics at the federal level. Again, I was honoured that I could contribute in the Australian parliament, drawing on my experience in New South Wales. I became part of a new Liberal government promising the country greater efficiency and economic reform.

I have been lucky enough to play a part in some very significant moments in this country’s history. There are the 11 budget surpluses, our contribution to East Timor, this parliament’s motion of reconciliation with our Indigenous community, and the passage of major tax reform. We have signed free trade agreements with the United States, Singapore and Thailand worth billions of dollars a year and we have a further six agreements currently under negotiation with China, Japan and the Gulf nations. We have implemented major industrial relations changes, first in 1996 then again in 2005—reform that has helped create more than 2.1 million new jobs and higher real wages since its introduction. We have invested significantly in the future, creating the Future Fund and the Higher Education Endowment Fund, and we have eased the burden on working Australians, particularly parents and pensioners, with tax rebates and tax cuts.

I am proud of having been part of a government that has implemented positive change and achieved so much. I am also proud to have spoken out on issues that are important to me. I have not always agreed with my colleagues and I have advocated many causes both in this place and in the party room. I give tribute to my colleagues because it is in this party that such tolerance is given for a divergence of views.

In 1998, when I rose for the first time to address the House, I outlined some of the significant challenges I saw facing this country at that time. Aboriginal reconciliation was clearly one of those challenges. It is encouraging that there have been some improvements in the key indicators of indigenous disadvantage. Death rates from respiratory illness and infectious diseases have more than halved. There has been some progress in reading and writing benchmarks, high school retention rates and employment growth. However, the challenge of entrenched poverty and unemployment remains. Our Indigenous population remains significantly below the wider community in relation to health and education levels, and above in relation to imprisonment levels.

For some time now the focus in Indigenous public policy has been solely on practical, measurable outcomes that bridge the gap between black and white in Australia. I commend Minister Brough for a lot of the changes that he has made and a lot of the policies that he has implemented. It is also important that we do not shy away from any significant symbolic gestures. We need to address some of those important symbolic gestures in the future.

In my maiden speech I mentioned my wish for Australia to become a republic. Despite the outcome of the 1999 referendum, I still believe the Australian public want an Australian head of state sometime in the near future. I think that, as we move further into the 21st century, we should revisit the question of constitutional change and approach any referendum in a way that makes constitutional change possible.

In 1998 I also spoke about the economy. Almost a decade later, I can say that I am extremely proud of this government’s economic achievements. I can see the Treasurer sitting in the chamber and I congratulate him on what he has achieved. He is an outstanding Treasurer, the most outstanding in Australia’s history. In particular, unemployment today is at its lowest level for more than a generation, and more than 2.1 million jobs have been created since 1996. This should be viewed not just as economic progress but as a magnificent social achievement. Having a job is an important step in developing dignity in an individual.

Thanks to ongoing reform and 12 disciplined and responsible budgets, our fiscal position is remarkably strong. Now that we have tackled many of our own economic problems, we are well placed to help those who need it most. That is why I believe Australia must step up its foreign aid program. Thirty-six years ago, Australia agreed to band together with other developed countries and to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on official development assistance to developing countries. Yet today we are spending only 0.3 per cent of GNI on foreign aid, less than half the spending of Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark. I am encouraged that the government has committed to increasing spending to approximately 0.37 per cent of GNI by 2010, which will amount to $4 billion—not a small amount. I hope this level of funding continues to rise.

At a time of almost unprecedented prosperity in this country, we are surely obligated to cast our eyes and minds across the world to Africa, where 4.8 million children die every year of mainly preventable causes. In our own backyard an almost equal number of children—4.7 million—die of preventable causes in the Asia Pacific region. Foreign aid is effective in tackling poverty and disease. Increased foreign aid has helped halve disease and death rates in the Third World over the past 45 years. Third World incomes have increased by more than 20 per cent in the past 12 years and there are 130 million fewer people living in abject poverty than there were in 1990. Life expectancy has increased and child mortality rates have fallen. So without a doubt our foreign aid contribution is saving lives and helping to build some kind of future for children in developing countries. When we think of some of the significant aid grants, the $1 billion to Indonesia was a very significant amount given by this government. My great hope is that in future years the federal government will meet the Millennium Development Goal target of 0.7 per cent of GNI. This is the greatest moral imperative we as legislators face. While foreign aid is an important element in helping underdeveloped countries, it must be remembered that global free trade is the key to ending extreme poverty. The World Bank recently said:

... trade liberalization is generally a positive contributor to poverty alleviation—it allows people to exploit their productive potential, assists economic growth, curtails arbitrary policy interventions and helps to insulate against shocks.

I encourage all those who are supportive of ending severe poverty to support the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks.

I would also like to speak briefly about multiculturalism—a core Australian value. This wonderful country was built on multiculturalism and our social cohesion is a testament to the multicultural policies of the last 35 years. We welcomed migrants from war torn Europe and those fleeing communism in the 1960s. Later we opened our arms to Vietnamese refugees, many of whom arrived in boats. We have accepted six million migrants since World War II and today 28 per cent of our population was born overseas. The diversity of Australia’s people has enriched, not hindered, our progress. Our country is held up around the world as a successful model of multiculturalism in practice. The hard work of migrants and their offspring cannot be dismissed. They are an intrinsic part of our economic and cultural prosperity today. There have of course been some problems. Some in our community have found it difficult to accept major changes in the cultural fabric of their local communities while others have not put in the required effort to engage with the neighbourhoods they have joined. This is not sufficient reason, however, to disown a winning formula—a formula that has served us well for more than 60 years and has helped make Australia a vibrant and accepting society.

My proudest achievement in public life in this House was securing concessions in the way that the government processes refugees who come to Australia. I would like to thank my colleagues for their support for that bill. The concessions that were legislated were reasonable and fair. They did not open the floodgates. Sensible time limits were implemented so that people would have their case turned around in 90 days. While awaiting the resolution of their cases, women and children were able to remain in community housing. I note that not one family absconded or created difficulties when residing outside the detention centres. I have said before in this place that the measure of a society is the way it treats the weak and vulnerable. Our great challenge today as a nation—with our ‘McMansions’ and plasma TVs in abundance—is not to harden our hearts to those who look to us for help. We must use our power for those who have no power and our influence for those who have no influence. A young man I met in detention had fled Iran after militia had entered his local church and shot up half the congregation. Despite being knocked back by the Refugee Review Tribunal, today he is an Australian citizen thanks to Minister Philip Ruddock. He is at university studying engineering by day while at night he works in a factory to pay for himself. He also spends his weekends as a translator at his church in Blacktown so that his Iranian friends can learn about Christianity in their native tongue. This for me illustrates why a compassionate approach is so important. I would again like to thank my colleagues for their support. It is no secret that some of us have disagreed on this issue. The Liberal Party’s greatest strength will always be its preparedness to accept differences of opinion and allow for expressions of conscience.

Finally, I hope that Australia can play a greater role on the world’s stage in fighting human rights abuses. As Thomas Jefferson said:

... the care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government.

We can apply more pressure to bring out positive changes in the Darfur region of Africa. We can keep leading the fight against the oppression of democracy in Burma. We can do more to advocate the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. The United Nations is still the forum to effect this kind of change and apply this kind of pressure. Australia should play a major part in the much needed renaissance of the UN organisation to prepare it for a remarkably different global power balance in the future.

It has been an honour to represent the electorate of Cook in this place. Cook is a wonderful electorate. It is where Captain Cook first landed in 1770. The southern shire is often called ‘God’s own country’. Cook is literally girt by sea. It is characterised by a distinct surfing culture and love of the ocean. We are home to some of the great Australian swimmers like Ian Thorpe and Susie Maroney. On many mornings I swim at 6.30 at Cronulla beach with the hardy swimmers from the Polar Bears. We have seen countless sunsets and stroked past blue gropers, stingrays and zinc-nosed surfers. As Ernest Hemingway wrote in The Old Man and the Sea, describing a flight of wild ducks across the water, ‘no man is ever alone on the sea’.

One of the most difficult times for us in the shire was in December 2005 with the very public disturbances at Cronulla and the subsequent so-called ‘revenge attacks’ of the day following. I extend my thanks to the Prime Minister for his speedy assistance in setting up a fantastic education program called On the Same Wave. This program has helped to break down the barriers between the local community around Cronulla and the Lebanese community. It has helped to introduce the beach to cultural groups that otherwise shy away from it. It has helped to train lifesavers from diverse backgrounds, and for the first time we now have Lebanese lifesavers, Muslim and Christian, patrolling the beaches at Cronulla. The four surf clubs—Cronulla, North Cronulla, Elouera and Wanda—have all been outstanding, as have leaders in the Lebanese community. They have all embraced this program with open arms. It is a testament to the shire’s determination for a fresh start and their willingness to move forward from December 2005.

Finally, I thank my parliamentary colleagues for their support over the years. I have many colleagues I want to thank, but of course I cannot thank them all. I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership of the party. I particularly thank the Treasurer for his personal friendship and support and congratulate him on his achievements. My thanks also go to the Minister for Education, Science and Training; my good friend the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations; the Attorney-General; the Minister for Ageing and the Minister for Defence. I also thank the other colleagues who I have been close to, particularly in relation to the refugee issue: Petro Georgiou, Russell Broadbent, Judi Moylan, John Forrest and others who were involved. Thank you all for your support.

I also thank my family, particularly my wife, Judy, and my children, Michael, Julia and Stephen. I would like to thank my staff: Nathan Seidl, Emma Johnson, Joshua Hatten, Andy Nilson, Jo Apthorpe, David Morris and Joe Aston—who did work for me before—and Brendan Lyon. My thanks also go to the Liberal Party branches in the Cook conference. Thank you to the Liberal Party. Without them, of course, I would still be in the PR world in Sydney—I would probably be earning more money but I would be without the great opportunities of this House. I would like to thank the Cook conference president, Michael Douglas. Thank you all for your support and your friendship, from both sides of the House. I thank my colleagues who tolerated me in this House. Finally, in the words of a film: good night and good luck.

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