Geoff Prosser (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As my colleague just said, there are more zeros on the end. I was so passionate about that because getting rid of that debt freed up $8.6 billion just in interest, not in servicing the loan. What we have achieved is having that money go towards other things, whether they be health, education, lower taxes, defence or whatever. When we first came to office, defence spending was only about $11 billion; today it is nearly $20 billion. We have been able to achieve those sorts of things through running a better budget.

When I announced to my colleagues that I was not renominating, one person in my electorate said, ‘Thank God! We’ve had 20 years of an economic rationalist, thank God he’s gone.’ That might be the case. I take credit for it, but I make the point that you can have anything you want in the world as long as you pay for it. The government can only deliver the things that the Australian people want if the government can pay for it. We can achieve better health care, better education, better outcomes, better aged care, a suitable defence force and a whole range of other things, if we run a strong economy. That is what we have been about and that is why I have been so pleased and privileged.

My colleague David Jull mentioned the role of committees. I have been quite lucky to have been a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, and I chair the Standing Committee on Industry and Resources. I remember, particularly, the trip to Kuwait, Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan. It was hot! I never thought you could survive in temperatures of some 46 or 48 degrees. We got in a Black Hawk to go over some of Saddam’s old junkyard. I think the temperature was about 48 degrees in the cabin. We flew into Bishkek where, as my colleague mentioned, the RAAF aircraft were refuelling. It is true that the other forces preferred the Australian Air Force to refuel because, as they claimed, they were more reliable and better pilots and a whole range of other things.

We then went into Bagram and Afghanistan. I cannot use the words I am thinking of right now to describe what a terrible place it was. It was just terrible! In visiting the quarters of our SAS troops we found out what a hell of a bunch of guys they are. On a computer they were watching AFL—the Dockers playing another team. I forget which team it was—probably one of those Victorian teams that do not really matter. The SAS teams are out of Western Australia, and what characters those guys are! The Americans were in awe of our guys, because they were not up themselves; they were there to do a job. They got on with the locals because they talked to the locals, not down to them. You could not come away from a place like that without feeling unbelievably proud of the men and women who serve in our defence forces, and particularly the SAS.

My campaign committee has supported me all the way through. The late Mike Eastman had always been my campaign chairman. Unfortunately, a few years ago he passed away as a result of cancer. I thank Peter Nowland, my brother Steve, Charlie and a number of others. I have been very lucky that I have been able to run a very tight campaign without any interference from Perth. I do not think that you would ever get away from that nowadays. In those days, Peter Wells was our state director. I had a lot of time for Peter. Unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to also be elected to be the parliament’s representative to the UN in 1999 during the millennium changeover. That was a great experience.

What was impressed upon me was the great respect that Australia is held in around the world. When I address schools in my electorate, I say to them: ‘When you leave school, you might go backpacking around the world. You’ll probably sew an Australian flag onto your lapel.’ I explain to them that it is then incumbent upon them to behave. I say, ‘If you want to go and get blotto, sew an American flag on your lapel, not an Australian one.’ Just on that point, I was on a delegation with a colleague and one of the locals got a bit annoyed with us and asked where we were from. I said to my colleague, ‘Tell him we’re American, because most people get upset with the Americans and most people like the Australians and we’ve got to uphold the good name of Australia.’ I have tried to impress on the school students whom I address that this country is well respected. We are known for our hard work and for getting up and doing the right thing. It is incumbent upon them not to sully that reputation. I hope that I have impressed that upon them.

As I said, I have been unbelievably lucky to represent an electorate like Forrest. It is one of the faster growing areas of Australia. It is very pretty. I remember when John Moore, who was then the tourism minister, came down. I am sure that Moore only wanted to go to Margaret River because of the fine wine—much better wine than the wine from those other places. Moore said, ‘Prosser, I didn’t expect that sort of electorate.’ I said, ‘What did you think it would be?’ He said, ‘I didn’t expect the golden beaches; I didn’t expect it to be green; I didn’t expect the forest.’ He went on and on. I said, ‘What did you expect?’ He said, ‘Red dust, because Western Australia promotes red dust.’ It is a very special part of the world. There are some very special people there. I have been lucky to be the member for Forrest. That does not come to many people. Not many people get the opportunity to become a federal member, to serve in this parliament. I consider that I have been extremely lucky. It has been a great privilege and a great honour.

I want to thank everyone whom I have been associated with. I have made some great friends in this place. I do not think that I have made that many enemies, but I have made a lot of friends. There is not as much fun in this parliament as there was in the old parliament. I miss that a bit. You need the fun times to keep you sane during the boring times. I cherish the friendships. I cherish the people whom I have become close friends with. I am looking at one person whom I am a bit annoyed with, Russell Broadbent. He kept coming and going so much that in the end I said, ‘I’m so bored with Broadbent not deciding whether or not he wants to remain a member of this House that it’s probably time that I called it quits.’ You have to decide when it is time to move on. I chose my time to move on. Western Australia is in boom times at present. What is happening in Western Australia is exciting. I am still a registered builder, although I do not know whether I could build anything decent nowadays. I want to get back to business. I find it exciting. I am never going to retire, because business involvement is too much fun. I hope that I am going to be very busy. I need to be put back under the pump again; I have not been put under the pump for a long time. To all of you, thank you for your friendship. To my preselectors and my electors, thank you for the opportunity and the honour of serving in this place. Thank you.

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