Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commence by acknowledging the Ngunawal people, the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet. I also pay my respects to the Noongar people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land that encompasses the seat of Hasluck, in Western Australia. I said in my first speech in this chamber, in 2001, that during my time in the parliament I hoped to participate in and be witness to real and meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous Australians, something I believe is essential for Australia to become a united and just nation. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Instead it seemed that the country became driven by the values that divide us—blame, suspicion, self-interest and greed—rather than the values that unite us—respect, empathy, compassion and equality of opportunity.

I truly hope that this 42nd Parliament, commencing as it has with a national apology, will witness a huge leap forward for social justice. I have been a member of the Labor Party since the early 1980s. The day of the national apology, 13 February 2008, led by our Prime Minister, was the proudest day of my party membership. I was asked recently by a year 7 student at St Brigid’s College in my electorate whether we intend to commemorate the day every year. My reply was that I sincerely hope so.

This opportunity to speak in the debate on the address-in-reply can be described, perhaps oddly, as my second first speech. As one joker quipped to me, ‘You can’t be a maiden twice.’ I do not resile from anything I said in my first speech, but I can say on this occasion, Mr Deputy Speaker Bevis—with respect  to you, to the chamber and to my fellow Labor colleagues and especially to the class of 2001—as they say in the classics: ‘I’m back.’ I have wanted to do that for some time! Perhaps contrary to the perception created by my last remarks. I believe I am older and wiser since last I was here.

It is with a sense of achievement but also humility that I stand in this House again as the elected member for Hasluck and make this speech. I know it will not be as eloquent or as profound as the first speeches delivered by my colleagues in the class of 2007. They are an awesome group who have spoken from the heart, full of passion, commitment and vision. I am proud that my name will stand in the history books as one of them.

The 42 members of the class of 2007 include 11 outstanding women, 10 of whom are Labor women. At the opening today of the refurbished ‘women in parliament’ exhibition, I was reminded that we still have a very long way to go before our parliament is truly representative of our community. Since Federation, of the 1,059 people elected to the House of Representatives only 77 have been women. Forty of the current 150 members of the House are women—only 26.7 per cent. This is another list that records my name. I am pleased that Labor’s representation is better, albeit only marginally, with 27 of the 83 members, or 32.5 per cent, and 13 of the 28 senators, or 46.4 per cent, being women. I hope to see the numbers on this list grow exponentially.

With my re-election to the seat of Hasluck in 2007 my name joins yet another list in history. I am one of a select group of over 80 people who have regained a House of Representatives seat after losing their seat at an election. Seventy-eight people have served two separate terms, returning after a defeat, and another eight people have served three separate terms—that is, returning after two defeats. I said a ‘select group’; I perhaps should say it is a select and diverse group, as it includes great leaders such as Ben Chifley and WA’s own John Curtin as well as the infamous Hugh Mahon, the only person ever to be expelled from the Australian parliament—alas, another Western Australian. There are six current members of the House who share this extraordinary experience with me—the members for McEwen, Canning, McMillan, Paterson, Lilley and Braddon. The most special to me and the one whom I wish to welcome back, acknowledge and say, ‘Well done, mate,’ to is the member for Braddon, Sid Sidebottom. I know that he, along with me, will today be thinking of former colleagues who also lost their seats at the 2004 election, especially talented, passionate people like Christian Zahra and Michelle O’Byrne. I wish they were both sharing this with us today, and perhaps they are. I would like to salute their service.

It is also appropriate for me to acknowledge Stuart Henry, the former member, who was defeated at the last election and to thank him for his hard work on behalf of Hasluck constituents during the last parliament. The lesson of our individual experience is that politics is not always fair or just—it just is. In life we learn and grow stronger from the tough times and the personal challenges. We learn that it is always better to live in the moment.

So, whilst I again have this moment, this privileged opportunity to represent and advocate for my community of Hasluck, I promise to do so passionately and diligently. I thank the voters of Hasluck for the chance to do so and I thank the Labor Party for entrusting me with the responsibility of contesting the seat at the 2007 election.

Behind every member in this place stand many others. In my case I have a loving partner and family, a circle of close and dear friends, a magnificent campaign team, a strong union and an army of true believers. I am grateful to them all. I especially want to record my appreciation of Catrina Tierney. No words will ever express the feelings I have for her and the thanks I wish to extend. I hope it is enough to simply say that I would not be here without her. She, along with Juliana Plummer, John Halden, Hayden Falconer, Liz Nedela, Terry Healy, Ron Sao and my partner, John Walker, held the key roles in my campaign team. I would also like to record my appreciation of my doorknocking mates James Turnball, Tristan Cockman and Peter Collins. I thank others like Marcia Maher, Paul Cheah, Nita Sadler, Di Meakins, my ‘bookends’ Brian Wright and Mat Nugent, the Your Rights at Work campaign team—especially Chris Merfield—my crew of truck drivers, the branch members, the local residents and supporters for their good wishes and their tireless hard work on the campaign trail. I wish I had time to name them all, but with over 750 volunteers it is simply not possible. Their unquestioning support was both heart-warming and humbling.

I am also fortunate to have behind me many women in WA and around Australia who supported my decision to stand again, including EMILY’s List. I am and always will be a campaigner for women’s rights. I want to pay my respects to the women who have come before me who have made it possible for women like me to get here. I hope that leap in social justice I want and referred to in my opening remarks will include, among other things, pay equity for women in Australia.

The Hon. Kim Beazley, Senator the Hon. Chris Evans and Senator Glenn Sterle cajoled, nagged or counselled me through the decision to stand again. For their benefit and for the benefit of the record I will now admit that they were right. I thank them for their support and encouragement. It was a big decision and a hard one for me. It is difficult to run for a marginal seat, especially when you know what the task requires—and, believe me, I knew exactly what the job entailed.

I was joined in that task by a number of outstanding candidates in WA who were not successful: the former member for Swan, Kim Wilkie, but also Sharon Theile, John Hughes, Peter McFarlane and the two whom I worked most closely with, Liz Prime and Peter Tinley. I want to thank them and their families for their friendship and support, for the campaigns that they ran and the sacrifices they made to help Labor achieve its election victory.

As I said earlier, politics is not always just or fair. It was a hard contest for the seat of Hasluck. I am part of the Hasluck community; it is where I live. They are the people I had the privilege to represent as the first member for Hasluck. From Midland to Maddington, Gosnells to Guildford, Kalamunda to Koongamia, I know the diverse communities that make up the electorate of Hasluck and the local issues that concern them. Hasluck communities are full of good people—genuine, hardworking Australians doing their best for themselves and their families. As the local member, I established a good reputation and was known for being active in the local community. We ran a strong local campaign highlighting the ways in which the Howard-Costello government had lost touch with Australians, and I believe this, combined with Kevin Rudd’s positive plan for Australia’s future, was responsible for the increase in our support among Hasluck voters.

I said I had returned to the parliament older and wiser. I have learnt a lot since the 2004 federal election, especially about government and my great home state of Western Australia. I thank the Hon. Bob Kucera for offering me the opportunity to work as his chief of staff when he was Minister for Disability Services, Sport and Recreation, Citizenship and Multicultural Interests, Seniors and Volunteering. It provided me with even greater insight into the lives of people encompassed by the portfolios, especially people with disabilities and their carers. I understand the level of unmet need in the areas of supported accommodation, respite and therapy. I share the frustration felt by many in the disability services sector about the inadequate levels of funding committed to the Commonwealth state/territory disability agreement. This must become a priority area for reform and improvement.

In a nation that reveres sport, it is ironic that we do relatively little to genuinely sustain and support recreation and sport in our community. Whether it is providing the funding necessary to establish and maintain community sporting facilities or supporting and developing the volunteers who are critical to the operation of most of our sporting clubs and associations, we do not do enough. I was appalled to discover that, other than a grant of $8.5 million from the Keating government in 1995, the federal government had provided Western Australia with no funding for sports infrastructure since the Empire Games, now called the Commonwealth Games, held in Perth in 1962. It was a fabulous year, the year of my birth, but that is simply not good enough and must be addressed.

My thanks also go to the Hon. Alan Carpenter, Premier of Western Australia, for the opportunity to work in the Premier’s Policy Division of the Western Australian state public service. There is a dedicated group of policy officers employed in the division and I enjoyed working with them. Doing so restored my faith in the public service and made me realise that effective government can and will make a difference to people’s lives. Where there is a will there is a way. That is why ending the blame game between Commonwealth and state governments is vitally important. I note the announcements by the Treasurer last week following the meeting with all state and territory treasurers, and I welcome this commitment to try and genuinely tackle the issues associated with Commonwealth and state funding. Most Australians expect all levels of government to work cooperatively and efficiently in the interests of the whole community—a not unreasonable expectation. I would like to wish ‘Carps’ and his team the best for the coming WA state election.

I have said that I have learnt a lot since the 2004 election. I am pleased to say that the voters of Hasluck showed that they had also learnt since 2004. They know they had many rises in interest rates after John Howard and Peter Costello promised to keep them low. They know that many people are doing it tough with rising mortgage payments or rents, high childcare costs and high petrol and grocery prices. They know that, under the Howard government’s extreme workplace laws, the basic conditions which make up the take-home pay of working Australians, like overtime and penalty rates, were under threat. They know that the Howard government wasted a decade with their inaction on climate change. They were disturbed by the controversies that plagued the Howard government: the disgraceful AWB wheat payments scandal; the circumstances of the detention and treatment of Australian citizens such as Cornelia Rau, Vivian Alvarez and David Hicks; and, of course, the deterioration of the war in Iraq and Australia’s role in it.

Wherever they lived—in the suburbs of the cities of Swan and Gosnells at either end of the electorate, where they are experiencing both the pleasure and the pain of urban renewal, rapid growth and development, or in the foothills and surrounding suburbs where there is great anger at the Howard government decision to allow a brickworks to be established on Perth airport land in the middle of a residential area—the 2007 election presented all Australians with a choice about the sort of future they wanted for themselves and their kids: did they want more of the same or a change for the better?

After more than a decade of John Howard’s leadership, the electorate were ready to make a change. They want a better and fairer future. They want high-quality, affordable health care for themselves and their families throughout their lives. They want a national dental program that fixes people’s teeth when they need it, not months or years later. They want real investment in healthcare services and cooperation that ends the blame game between federal and state governments over funding.

They want better education services and fair funding for Australian schools. They know that learning does not start at school; it starts on the first day of life. They want investment in the early years of a child’s development. They want high-quality, affordable schools and child care, whether community, government or private, with great teachers, good carers, good discipline and sufficient resources. They want every child to have the chance of a quality education. They want to know that their kids or grandkids have real opportunities for postsecondary education and skilled employment. They want more university and TAFE places closer to where they live. They do not want to see kids who are making an effort missing out on a place because they cannot afford to pay.

They want safe and fair workplaces that appreciate the realities of family life and respect the dignity of working people, where everyone has the right to a fair go no matter how they are employed or engaged—employee, contractor or small business person. They want a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

They want action on climate change and sustainability. They want to secure our water and energy future. They want a national government that is wise to the pressures on our natural environment and that is proactive in protecting and conserving it. They want a federal government that is committed to nation building and investing in our infrastructure, like a high-speed national broadband network, to meet the challenges of Australia’s future. They want Australia to be a proud and independent nation that is a good international friend and a strong voice for human rights and freedoms.

That is the sort of future that I want, too. I am honoured to be part of the Rudd Labor government. In closing, I will borrow from my leader’s style and ask: do I believe the Rudd Labor government can build a better future for Australia? The answer: yes, we can. Thank you.

Debate (on motion by Mrs Moylan) adjourned.

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