Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Of course the Australian Labor Party have a great reform program, member for Canberra! They want to drive up unemployment, interest rates, petrol prices and grocery prices—and that is happening now. Congratulations on your first 100 days. Grocery prices and petrol prices have spiralled up. The Prime Minister went to the electorate saying that he would do something about this and of course it has gone in the other direction.

Tonight I want to recognise 22 February as an important day to reflect on the contribution of the federal Liberal Party to the advancement of Australia. That date, as the member for Bowman knows, was the Friday when the parliament first sat and when it last sat. I was to give this speech on that particular Friday but, unfortunately, with all of the problems in the parliament, I was unable to give the speech.

Twenty-two February was the day in 1950 that the Liberal Party of Australia, having won the December 1949 federal election, first took their places on the government benches in the Parliament of Australia. It was also the start of a long and distinguished period of political leadership, a day that laid the foundation for a collective period of over 40 years of Liberal leadership in government in Australia. In this light, it is important to reflect on the deeply held principles and unfettered commitment to improving Australia that has underpinned the Liberal Party from 1944 to this day. Young, spirited idealists were drawn to the newly formed Liberal Party of 1944, unified in their desire to make Australia a better place. When in 1949 the Liberal Party took government, 38 new Liberals were elected. Their average age was 43, and 12 were under 40. Twelve had university qualifications and 29 were returned servicemen.

First and foremost, the Liberal Party is a broad church. As Ian Hancock pointed out in his paper on the party’s early history:

One article of faith drew all the early Liberals together. They believed that their party was national and not sectional, inclusive and not exclusive. It was a party for all Australians, irrespective of class, region or religion.

And that is true today. The pejorative ‘born to rule’ tag that members of the Labor Party are quick to hang upon us could not be further from the truth. Just look down the list of hardworking Liberal members of the parliament and you will find people from all walks of life—from the country, from our cities—men and women dedicated to the principles of liberty of the individual, opportunity for all, freedom of choice and reward for effort. Our members are locals in their community, unlike the Labor Party, which often parachutes in ring-ins with no local connections, in safe electorates.

Women too have flocked to the Liberal Party since its formation in 1945. Liberal women can take great credit for breaking down many of the barriers to political equality in Australia. The first woman entered the Commonwealth parliament on 28 August 1943. She was Dame Enid Lyons, widow of former Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, representing the United Australia Party and later the Liberal Party. Dame Enid was elected to the House of Representatives and in the new Liberal Country Party ministry, under Menzies, she was appointed vice-president of the executive council.

In 1947 federal Liberal Senator Annabelle Rankin became the highest placed woman in the parliament through her appointment as Opposition Whip. In 1951, following a change of government, Senator Rankin was elevated to Government Whip. She also broke new ground as the first woman to have responsibility for a Commonwealth portfolio when she was made Minister for Housing in 1966.

Liberal Senator Margaret Guilfoyle entered cabinet as Minister for Education in 1975, and in 1976 she was made Minister for Social Security. Guilfoyle stayed in cabinet for over seven years. She was overtaken as the longest serving woman in cabinet by another Liberal, Senator Amanda Vanstone. The Liberal Party and its supporters have much to be proud of, and today we pay tribute to our founding fathers and hope to continue their fine traditions of leadership and representation.

The coalition’s economic credentials are unchallenged. Over the last 11½ years the coalition has put the budget back in the black, eliminated Labor debt, started saving for the future, restored Australia’s AAA credit rating and delivered more jobs, lower inflation, lower interest rates, lower taxes, higher wages, more productive workplaces, higher pensions, better living standards, more funding for important priorities like health, education, defence, transport and environment, and more funds to state governments for them to provide services.

However, tonight in the main chamber the Labor Party are undermining what we have done. They are stealing $2 billion worth of communications funds. Remember Whitlam in 1972 to 1975? Remember when Whitlam stole the superannuation of our Defence Force members? It was a fully funded fund at that stage. To Labor members opposite it must be embarrassing to know that your party stole the funds of our Defence Force members meant to pay for their superannuation and has never returned them. Now tonight the Labor Party government are trying to steal the Communications Fund—$2 billion worth of money—by taking money out of rural and regional Australia to put into metropolitan Australia, when the current providers of infrastructure in telecommunications would have funded it anyway.

We have a proud record on financial management. We did inherit a $10 billion deficit. Remember back in 1995-96 Keating saying that we were not in deficit but were in surplus? Of course we were in deficit. We inherited $96 billion in debt, which we completely eliminated. We inherited levels of government spending equal to 25 per cent of GDP. We inherited a ballooning unfunded superannuation liability. We introduced accrual accounting to provide details of the full cost of service delivery. For the first time, we published a balance sheet for the general government sector and for the whole of the public sector. We introduced for the first time consolidated whole-of-government financial reports audited by the Auditor-General. We introduced the outputs-outcomes framework to place the focus on what was actually being delivered for the money spent. We increased the efficiency dividend on government departments to ensure money was being spent on services at the sharp end rather than on administration. We completely reformed property management and procurement practices to ensure best value for taxpayers’ money. We instituted the Uhrig review of governance in the public sector.

A strong economy is not something that happens by chance. Managing Australia’s $1.1 trillion economy requires discipline, focus and experience. It requires an ability to put aside short-term politics and media spin and take hard decisions in the national interest. The coalition took those difficult but necessary decisions. We established the Future Fund. We reformed the tax system, which, by the way, was opposed by the Labor Party. We gave further encouragement to enterprise initiatives and savings. We created a simple and more flexible workplace relations system. We reformed the waterfront. Remember the Labor Party opposing the waterfront reforms?

See this speech in context