John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

an extraordinary election, as the member for Melbourne Ports said—as Deputy Speaker of this place. I know that each and every one of you will uphold the best traditions of the occupier of that chair.

I thank the people of Reid for putting their trust in me to represent them. It is a great honour and privilege to be re-elected to this place. My sincere thanks also goes to the many true believers in my local ALP branches, to my dedicated and hardworking staff and to all of my supporters for the great job they did to secure my re-election. I also acknowledge the support provided to me by the trade union movement, particularly by Andrew Ferguson and the CFMEU, who never let me down. I also thank my wife, Adriana, for her love and support. As I said in my first speech in this place: Honey, I could not have done it without you!

As all of us elected to this place understand and appreciate, it is the hard work of so many that makes for a successful campaign. I have been elected and re-elected to this House on five occasions, but this is the first time I have been elected as the member for Reid. By way of background, following the Electoral Commission’s redistribution in New South Wales last year there were extensive boundary changes. In short, the AEC abolished the old seat of Reid and proposed to rename my former seat of Lowe as ‘McMahon’. Following 77 letters of protest in relation to the proposed name change, the AEC subsequently announced that the proposed seat of McMahon would be renamed ‘Reid’, and rightly so. I should record that the long-serving former member for Lowe and Prime Minister, Sir William McMahon, never lived in the electorate when he was the member.

Whilst the changes to my electorate undoubtedly gave rise to considerable confusion for the people in my electorate, I am very pleased to represent new communities—namely, Newington, Wentworth Point, Lidcombe, Auburn, Homebush Bay, Sydney Olympic Park, Silverwater and part of Berala. Reid also includes the largest cemetery in the southern hemisphere, Rookwood Cemetery, and the Silverwater detention centre. The new boundaries stretch from the natural boundary of Duck River in Silverwater in the west and go along the northern border of the Parramatta River to Drummoyne in the east. The southern boundary runs along the train line through parts of Croydon, Burwood and Strathfield. Inside these new boundaries is the thriving and vibrant community, rich with cultural diversity, that I am so honoured to represent.

The Leader of the House pointed out that the parliament now includes the first Indigenous member of federal parliament and the first member of the Islamic faith. I congratulate the new member for Hasluck and acknowledge his inspirational and sensitive first speech, and I look forward to the first speech of the new member for Chifley. This parliament now includes representatives that better reflect the composition of our society, and this is a great leap forward for our country.

My former electorate of Lowe was also multicultural. However, the inclusion of suburbs such as Auburn, Lidcombe and Berala now make my electorate one of the most culturally diverse in the country. Information from the 2006 census indicates that almost 50 per cent of the people in my electorate, based on the 2009 boundary changes, speak a language other than English. Reid has the fifth highest proportion of persons speaking a language other than English in Australia. It is a large melting pot of Chinese, Turkish, Lebanese, Indian, Italian, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Filipino, English, African, Korean and many more migrants who have chosen to call Reid their home. Needless to say, the government’s second term agenda to improve social inclusiveness is a welcome announcement that will undoubtedly assist many of my constituents in overcoming social disadvantage, and I will come back to that point later in my speech. I was heartened by the very warm welcome I received from the schools, community organisations, community leaders and state and local representatives in the new part of my electorate. I look forward to working with them in the coming term.

Historically, Reid has had strong representation. My electorate is named after Australia’s fourth Prime Minister, Sir George Reid, who lived from 1845 to 1918. He was one of the framers of the constitution, Premier of New South Wales from 1894 to 1899 and Prime Minister of Australia from 1904 to 1905. Esteemed Labor members who have gone before me to represent Reid include Jack Lang, Tom Uren and Laurie Ferguson, all towering figures in the Labor movement.

It will be a challenge for me to fill the very big shoes of the Hon. Laurie Ferguson, and I am pleased I sit beside Laurie in this parliament. Laurie’s hard work as the member for Reid for 20 years ensured the ALP brand remained strong, and I thank him for that. From the many people with whom I met and spoke, it was evident that the former Member for Reid is very respected for the commitment and unfailing efforts he made within the community. I assure him that I am committed to building on his great record. I am also very pleased to note that Mr Ferguson was also elected to the 43rd parliament as the member for Werriwa. I congratulate Mr Ferguson on his re-election. I know he will be an outstanding representative for the people of Werriwa.

The 2010 federal election was indeed historic and has already brought much change for the better. We now experience our first hung parliament in 70 years, we have our first female Prime Minister leading our great country and we look forward to the reforms that will take place in this parliament. The results of the election provide a sobering reminder that nothing can be taken for granted. There was nothing more sobering for me than, when I first came into this chamber on Tuesday to be sworn in, to look across to the other side of the chamber and see that those opposite outnumbered us—that is, the Labor Party.

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