Jodie Campbell (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker and members. Mr Speaker, I too wish to congratulate you on your elevation to Speaker of this House. Already you have displayed what fine skills you bring to this place. I rise for the first time in this place to speak on the address-in-reply to the Governor- General’s speech, in which His Excellency outlined the Rudd Labor government’s positive plans for the future of Australia. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on. I also wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we now call Northern Tasmania. I respect their continuing culture and the unique contribution they make to the life of our nation. It is therefore both an honour and a privilege for me to wear traditional shell necklaces handmade by Dulcie and Lola Greeno and to wear a piece of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture into the chamber. These necklaces are made of black crow and maireener shells collected on Flinders Island and at Low Head. The necklaces took six weeks to create from shells which were collected during the spring tide and then cleaned, dried and finally threaded. For both these incredible women I have the utmost respect and once again thank them.

I would also like to say at the outset that it is an immense privilege to speak in this place today. Putting oneself forward for public service is a challenge and a great honour, and regardless of where we sit in the House I extend my congratulations to all new members of this House. I am very humbled that the people of Bass have sent me here as their representative. It is truly an honour. I would also like to acknowledge my predecessor, Michael Ferguson, and thank him for his service to the community over the past three years. I wish Michael and his family all the best for the future.

The electorate of Bass is in many ways a microcosm of Australia. Ours is a hardworking, innovative and resilient community involved in traditional pursuits, such as farming and sustainable forestry, as well as new and emerging industries, such as tourism, winemaking, engineering and information based industries. Bass is also a tolerant community. It is a diverse, multicultural society. The oldest continuing culture in the world exists peacefully side by side with the culture of those who are freshly arrived from such places as Sudan, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The beauty of the landscape and the strength of our community make Northern Tasmania simply the best place in the world to live. While I am sure many members will make that claim of their homes, it is only in this instance that it is true.

On 24 November 2007 it became evident that the people of Bass were indeed an excellent barometer for the mood of the country. On that day the people of Bass, like the people of the nation, determined to forge a new future for our country and our local communities. They said yes to proper funding for health care and proper investment in the education of our young people; they said yes to ensuring our innovative, local business operators will have access to the skilled workforce they will require to continue to grow; they said yes to Australia reclaiming its place at the forefront of the fight against global warming—a fight in which Tasmania has long led the way as a generator of clean, renewable energy; and they said yes to a fair go for the first Australians and for refugees. In so doing, the people of Bass demonstrated their decency and their belief in a fair go—not just for themselves but for all Australians. Mr Speaker, it is therefore truly an honour to take my place on your right and behind a Prime Minister and Australia’s first female Deputy Prime Minister, who are listening to the people of Bass and who are already delivering for them.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s first act after taking his oath of office was to sign the instrument of ratification for Kyoto and attend the Bali conference on climate change. How proud we are for our country to be so ably represented on this global stage. This new Labor government has dismantled the so-called Pacific solution, which sent a message to the world that Australians do not care about people fleeing persecution for political, religious or social reasons—a message which, of course, misrepresented the view of the vast majority of Australians. The Prime Minister has already delivered on Labor’s commitment to recognise the damage done and apologise for the destroyed childhoods of the stolen generations. And the first piece of legislation to be introduced into this place since the election of the Rudd Labor government has begun the work of meeting Labor’s commitment to restore fairness to the workplace without removing flexibility. These are the acts of a government which is intent on keeping its bond with the people of Bass and the people of Australia. It is a government of which I am proud to be part as we deliver on each and every commitment we made to the people of Bass during the last election.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Put another way, I suppose, we are all products of those who surround us—our parents, siblings, friends and those in our community. In the time remaining to me today I would like to pay tribute to some of the very important people who have shaped me and helped me along the journey here and whose wise counsel I will seek as I strive to be an effective advocate for the community of Northern Tasmania. I pay tribute to my mother, Patricia, who raised me, along with my three sisters, Vicki, Julie and Diane. From my mum, who did shift work at Coats Patons wool mill in Launceston, I learned of the resilience of working people. As she struggled in her desire to provide for those she loved, her daughters, I also saw just how important it is that workers and their families are offered not an iron fist but instead a helping hand. My sisters showed me unconditional love as a child, as they still do, and I draw inspiration from them each and every day.

Also in the village that raised me were my grandmother and my grandfather. When I was 13 years of age my grandparents moved in with my mum and me—my eldest sisters had already left home. Mum took on looking after them in their old age, along with everything else. At the time I thought it was socially inappropriate to be living with my grandparents. Only in adulthood does one realise what a privilege it actually was. Because of my extended family experience, I learnt a great deal.

My grandfather was a returned soldier. He was a veteran of the Second World War and a survivor of the Changi Japanese prisoner of war camp. He went to war full of youth and with a sense of duty and left behind a young bride and four children. That bride, my grandmother, and those children, my mother and uncles, did not see or hear from him again for four years. Only occasionally, mostly on Anzac Day, did my grandfather allow me the tiniest glimpse of what he had seen and experienced in captivity as a kid barely out of his teens. As a child I sat wide eyed and open mouthed at my grandfather’s recollections. Unfortunately, they were the all-too-familiar horrific stories we have come to know.

Understanding how my grandmother felt took a little more time. It is only as we grow up that we realise that the effect of war goes deep behind the front line. It deeply affected in the most part women, children and the old. I wonder what it was like for my grandmother to not know for four years whether her husband was alive or dead and to wonder what the future without him might hold, and then learning to build a life with the man who eventually returned—a man as loving and seemingly unaffected as he was. This was the part of the story only my grandmother could share with me. In both their cases it is a story of duty, sacrifice and determination. It is a story I have dwelt upon in the past and from which I will draw strength when, from time to time, the duty and responsibility of representing the people of Bass and the inevitable attacks from my political opponents will seem overwhelming.

Beyond one’s family, of course, there are the inspirational people whom fortune conspires that you should meet. In my case they include educators such as Roger Francis, who taught me at Ravenswood High School and who nurtured my love of music, and my Ravenswood High School principal, Rodney O’Rourke. He led while staying on the same level as his staff and students, never looking down upon his students, and was a man who did his utmost to help the school community. Other educators, such as Phyllis Robinson and Tex Austin, also supported my development at Ravenswood High School. In my political campaign, another educator, Elizabeth Daly, a Northern Tasmanian education superintendent, believed in me enough to authorise all of my election material. I sincerely appreciate her support.

I am also fortunate to have been mentored by strong and intelligent women who were also previous federal members for Bass—Sylvia Smith and Michelle O’Byrne. I would like to acknowledge the support of the only remaining chapter of the Australian Labor Party Sisterhood, the ALPS, which was established by Margaret Whitlam. I would also like to recognise the support of EMILY’s List, who merely want our parliament to more accurately reflect Australian society.

In the time remaining I must thank as many of those who contributed to Labor’s campaign in Bass as I possibly can. I sincerely thank David O’Byrne and the LHMU team, who, together with other committed volunteers, doorknocked around 18,000 homes. They did this in all temperatures and conditions. As the member for Bass, I will do my utmost to be worthy of their efforts.

In the end, I cannot thank my mother, Patricia Crooks, and my sisters, Vicki, Julie and Diane, enough for their support. My young daughters, Sommer and Izabella, have also shared with me in this immense political struggle. As members with children will well know, children have an amazing knack of not too subtly bringing us back to earth whenever we become a little bit too full of ourselves. Mine are experts in that art and I love them deeply for it.

There are so many other people I would particularly like to thank. I would like to acknowledge Cindy O’Connor and the Your Rights at Work team, who, over the last three years, committed their time and energy with one single goal in sight—to put fairness back into the workplace. I, together with working families in Bass, congratulate them on this. I thank the many volunteers who staffed my campaign office and worked so tirelessly. I thank the LHMU, HACSU, MUA, CFMEU, SDA, NUW, AWU, ANF, CPSU and all unions who showed their support. I thank Carol Brown; Mick Leppard; Betty Grey; Mike Howe; Sophie, Matt and Ava Wheatley; Kate and Simon Brown; Michelle Cripps; Adam Clarke; the sartorially superior Mr Rick Youseff; Matthew Jose; Jack Lake; Ross, Annie and Peter Hart; Alex Cramb; Sharyn and Dean Lahey; Sue and Mike Walley; Maria Mischis; Debbie, Thomas, Joseph and Michael Kindermann for loaning their husband and father, Paul, to my campaign for the best part of three months without complaint and, best of all, without charge; and, of course, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, to whom I offer not only my thanks but my congratulations.

I am here today because I want to serve my community and because my community has honoured me and selected me to do so. When Ansett collapsed in 2001, my immediate thoughts were for my 400 fellow workers. What had they lost? We did not know. But, as Disraeli said, ‘There is no education like adversity,’ and I learned from the adversity we faced at that time. Stung by that crisis, and with the help of the labour movement, I was given the opportunity to join a team which fought for the entitlements of 400 northern Tasmanian workers who had lost their jobs that day.

Over the past 11 years those opposite, when in government, laid many charges against the labour movement, against unions who were trying to protect workers and their conditions. What a pity they have not experienced what I and so many other working people have experienced. In my case, the union movement gave me the opportunity to help secure the entitlements of others. It also taught me that individuals can make a difference and made me proud to be part of any organisation that will fight to improve the lives of workers and their families—organisations such as the union movement and the Labor Party.

If I could borrow some words from one of Australia’s greatest treasurers and prime ministers, Ben Chifley:

I try to think of the Labor movement not as putting an extra sixpence into somebody’s pocket, or making somebody prime minister or premier, but as a movement bringing something better to the people, better standards of living, greater happiness to the mass of the people.

We have a great objective - the light on the hill - which we aim to reach by working for the betterment of mankind, not only here but anywhere we may give a helping hand. If it were not for that, the Labor movement would not be worth fighting for.

If the movement can make someone more comfortable, give to some father or mother a greater feeling of security for their children, a feeling that if a depression comes there will be work, that the government is striving its hardest to do its best, then the Labor movement will be completely justified.

Although uttered 60-odd years ago by the great Ben Chifley, these words ring true today. I can attest firsthand that the labour movement is still about putting the extra sixpence in the pockets of workers. Ask the 400 former Ansett employees in Launceston. Ask the thousands of low-paid workers freed from the burden of Work Choices. But ask also those who have benefited from universal education and health care. Ask those who have seen the environment made into a mainstream issue by the Whitlam, Hawke, Keating and now Rudd Labor governments whether the labour movement limits itself to the sixpence. It does not—and nor do I. I look forward to representing the needs of the people of Bass in this place over the next three years and I will do so with all the energy, patience, skill and compassion I possess.

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