Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before the debate was adjourned, I was explaining to the House the significance of the Liverpool GP superclinic and the specialised early childhood centre for children with autism, which is also located in Liverpool. These local solutions have been tailored to meet local needs, and I am very proud to be associated with them. They will go a long way to assisting families in my electorate.

I would now like to focus on another issue—one which really requires great and clear national leadership. I am talking here about climate change. When preparing this speech, I had a look at what I said about climate change in a contribution I made in 2008. I said:

It is time that we started taking responsibility not just for the problem but for actually developing solutions.

The need to develop and implement solutions to address climate change and to enhance activities that are already going on in so many households, businesses and enterprises throughout the land not only present us with challenges but, quite clearly, also open up opportunities for us. I know there will be difficulties in commercialising supportive technologies—particularly renewable energy technologies—unless there is an effective price on carbon emissions.

Drawing upon my experiences and background in working with organisations, particularly in the renewable and sustainable energy sector, I believe that the best way of addressing climate change is through an emissions trading system, and I do not say this simply because the member for Wentworth is sitting at the table! I think his views in respect of an effective measure for addressing climate change are well known to this House and are respected. I believe that an emissions trading scheme would provide the necessary balance between developing a sustainable economic position and making clear the development aspects of addressing serious environmental impacts, which must be confronted—not in the future, it must be confronted now.

One thing that is certain is that the cost for not taking action on greenhouse gas emissions far outweighs the cost of taking action to protect our environment, to support our future and, clearly, to develop long-term economic sustainability. These are fundamental and they are things that members of this place cannot walk away from. We are in a unique position in time where we are confronted with the opportunity to make decisions to redress these matters. With these sentiments in mind, I warmly welcomed the establishment of the multiparty climate change committee earlier this week. I hope that it will build on consensus and how this country will move to tackle the issue of climate change.

Another matter I would like to briefly speak about is the very different situation we find ourselves in today. Many people in this country, along with various social commentators, thought that a hung parliament would lead to a new spirit of cooperation between the major parties. Indeed, a hung parliament has led to the historic agreement on parliamentary reform and the amendments to standing orders that were passed only yesterday. However, the opposition’s decision to renege on part of that parliamentary reform, particularly in respect of pairing of the Speaker, is a disappointment not only to me but to most people. It appears that one thing that remains certain is that the opposition will put political point scoring ahead of good governance, such is their conviction for their right to rule. The focus on wrecking government, traducing honoured parliamentary traditions and walking away from agreements—signed agreements at that—all indicate one thing: the opposition will maintain a position of opposition for opposition’s sake. I would have thought that the Australian people deserved better. It will remain the position of this government, however, to always act responsibly and work in goodwill with our partners to deliver effective government to all Australians.

There are matters that we raise in this place that are important to parliamentarians and not just to do with whether or not we are supporting or opposing legislative proposals. Over the years I have lobbied for the greater recognition of two commemorative days which I am very passionate about, the first being the National Police Remembrance Day, which was held yesterday. I had the opportunity to speak on that matter last night during the adjournment debate. The other matter concerns White Ribbon Day. I am very privileged to be an ambassador to White Ribbon Day, which is an international day for the elimination of violence against women. The white ribbon campaign is led by men who are willing to take a stand and be positive role models to other men in the community. Violence against women is one of the most widespread human rights abuses in the world today. Every day, thousands of women and girls are abused in their own homes. We all share a responsibility for effectively addressing this sad reflection of modern day society. Remembering our fallen police officers and trying to prevent violence against women are two issues that I will continue to advocate in this parliament as long as I have the opportunity to do so.

It also goes without saying that we would not be in this House without our having the confidence and trust of our electorates. We would also not have our success here without the support of our respective parties and campaign teams. To that end I would like to pay regard, in my case, to the ALP members in Fowler. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the various members and supporters who worked so tirelessly on my campaign and everyone who helped work for the one goal we had in mind, which was the election of a Gillard government. They supported the election of a government that had fairness at its heart and a positive vision for this country’s future. In particular, I would like to give my thanks to my campaign director, Mel Atlee, who regrettably has just resigned from my employ to take up other opportunities. I wish her well. She was backed by Gai Coghlan, Alicia Bowie, TK Ly, Huy Tran, Tri Vo, Renata Cekic, Tania Huynh and Casey Tran. They all worked very diligently on my behalf. I would like to particularly mention James Chan, who deserves specific recognition, together with his wife, Jenny. They have befriended me over the last five years and their support for me has been extremely humbling.

To all the branch members of Fowler I offer my sincere thanks for their support. I look forward to working with each and every one of them over the coming term of this parliament to have greater Labor successes throughout the south-west of Sydney. I would specifically like to mention Dave Saliba, Ian McNamara, Frank Carbone, Brad Parker, Chris Dunn, Sharyn Henry, Misha Karajcic, Adrian Wong and the great Dr Ali Saffraz, who seems to be at every multicultural event I turn up to in my electorate. All of those people played an important role in Labor’s success in Fowler. I would finally like to thank my wife, Bernadette, and my whole family. I am indebted to all of those who came from distant parts of the state to man my booths and I will try to catch up with many of them over the course of the next few weeks at a family reunion.

I would like to conclude by reiterating the comments I made earlier on my fundamental commitment to the people of Fowler—that is, I will ensure that the voice of south-west Sydney is heard and that the people of Fowler will be represented strongly in this place. That is my pledge and that is what I am committed to.

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