Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I congratulate the Speaker on his re-election to the position, the Deputy Speaker on his election to that position and, of course, you, Mr Second Deputy Speaker Scott, on your re-election to your position. You always undertake that role with great dignity, a great sense of purpose and an understanding of the importance of the parliament. The member for Mallee, another person who always takes his role very seriously, put very well his concerns about his own electorate. His was a very well-considered speech on the concerns about that river system, a large part of which—along with its people, who have to tackle the very large tasks ahead of them—he represents. I have also enjoyed being reinstated to the Speaker’s panel, a role I held in the last parliament. I enjoyed being in the chair this morning for the first time in this parliament. I first held a Deputy Speaker’s position when I was elected to the Tasmanian house of assembly many years ago.

The parliament is now undertaking some reform, and it is good that experienced members can play a role in that regard. In this parliament we need to make sure that we have good mediators and good people in the chair to keep the parliament in order. As the member for Mallee has said, the way in which we operate reflects on the parliament and on the members of parliament. He uses the analogy of the children in the galleries seeing how the parliament is performing, and rightfully so. I hope the reform of the parliament works very well. I am very pleased to see extra money going into the committee system and to see committees being properly funded and resourced. That will be a great asset for them and for the work that many members are involved in.

I take the opportunity to thank the member for Chisholm for the work that she did as the Deputy Speaker in the last parliament. She always held a high standard and kept the direction of parliament. Of course, the reason she was not chosen to undertake this role again did not have anything to do with the way that she carried out her work in the last parliament. Other arrangements were made in the way that parties play a role in the Speaker’s position. I thank her for the work that she has done and recognise it.

I was very honoured to be returned to the seat of Lyons for another term, with an increased majority. That is always a pleasurable thing to have occur. Three colleagues from the Labor Party and an Independent were also successful in Tasmania and I congratulate them on their return or their new role in this chamber. I thank the people of Lyons for renewing my contract and giving me the impetus to go on and work for regional Tasmania and, indeed, regional Australia, on which I focus a lot of the work that I do here through my committee membership. I believe that regional Australia is the poor cousin of urban areas and has been so for a long time, under various governments.

These new arrangements, with Independents keeping an eye on the bottom line as such, may allow the regions to properly benefit from mainstream programs, where before they had to rely on government organisations like Telstra and on Australia Post’s community service obligations to get equivalent services. In a sense those organisations have been corporatised and privatised and those obligations no longer apply, and the regions have become a lot poorer for it, with services dropping back. The last government had started to push to provide better and more equal services to rural and regional areas. It built up school infrastructure, gave local government funds to improve sports and community facilities and remodelled health programs. I think those who hold the balance of power are looking to Labor to continue this trend and deliver those programs further.

I believe that the coalition got things very wrong, especially in Tasmania during the last election campaign. They were unable to convince voters that they would be able to improve their standard of living or help them in times of hardship. The coalition took the electors for granted. They ran a negative campaign and really gave no credit for the work that had been done in communities right around the state. In the process they lost ground in every House of Representatives seat and they also lost a senator.

We live in interesting times. We have a completely new parliament and I guess its make-up reflects the changing views of the Australian people. We have to take this on board and work with other elected members and their communities to build on our system of democracy. It will be different. It will be a change of practice. It certainly will test us in many ways. We started by continuing the ‘welcome to country’ at the opening of each session of parliament. I am glad that the Speaker has chosen to take that one step further by having it at the beginning of each morning’s proceedings in the chamber. I think that represents a modernising of the Australian parliament.

There is much to achieve. I believe the bones are within the agreement, with the Prime Minister having negotiated with the Independents to establish a basis for stable and efficient government. We now have a binding commitment to regional Australia and within that there is a promise to complete the National Broadband Network extensions, to deliver on regional health investment, to implement regional educational investment and to continue the upgrade and redevelopment of regional infrastructure.

Tasmania as a whole is considered a region of Australia. It is isolated from mainland Australia, and all of its infrastructure, by a stretch of water. This was recognised in earlier times by the Freight Equalisation Scheme. We are deprived of many other programs because of the difficulties of transport and distance. The tyranny of distance still survives and, although we tend to dismiss it somewhat in Tasmania, it is still a very real disincentive for investment to settle with us and stay with us for a long time. There seem to be times when the businesses and the jobs go elsewhere. We need incentives for capital to stay in the state so that we can provide decent services, proper infrastructure and access to first-class health and education schemes.

I guess we in Tasmania have had to be unique to be competitive—and we have certainly done that in many ways. We have had to address niche markets in innovative ways to keep our industries and products to the fore. For a small state we have a pretty big roar. If Tasmania decides to exercise its roar, it can have a bit of clout. But it needs to be for the betterment of the state, not for the indulgence of a few. The broadband rollout can help us with the question of distance—as it can with regions all around Australia. It will allow people to access the expertise of the cities in whatever field it is required. The fact that the rollout started in Tasmania has given us an opportunity to test out its promise first. The opportunities include providing access to whole new approaches in health and education using the resources of the internet and other communications. Tasmania is known for its resources—whether it be forestry, mining, agriculture, fishing or viticulture—its history and, of course, its tourism industry. Its magnificent scenery is a great asset for us. Yet many areas are struggling at the moment because of the changes in the world economy. To keep Tasmania working we need to restructure many of our traditional industries and encourage new ones to replace the old practices and the old uses.

Forestry is one industry that has had to reinvent itself several times since the 1970s. Forestry is an important part of the Australian economy but it is currently in the process of change. We must understand that it is necessary to secure the viability of forestry-dependent communities and to create well-paid, highly-skilled jobs that value-add to this natural resource. So I believe we should be supporting the efforts of the forestry unions, the federal and state governments and the industry, environment and community groups that are working to restructure an industry that has been much maligned in the past. We realise there are many points of view but, providing there is a basic understanding of the worth of the industry, there should be some common goals to be found. I believe the common goals should include a restructure or transition process that is fair and just for workers, their families, their communities and thus all Tasmanians.

Health is another area that has been the subject of many a discussion and argument in Tasmania. Tasmania has a small population of half a million people who are scattered right over the state; we are completely decentralised. As technology improves to deliver better health outcomes, its costs have restricted it to fewer and fewer regional areas. In the old days we had primary-care providers with a fair amount of equipment in many of our small towns. But, because of diagnostic processes and specialised treatment, we now rely on very expensive machines which we can only hope to provide in one or two areas. Our regional communities are therefore feeling very vulnerable and they believe they are missing out by not having a regional hospital nearby as was the case in the past.

Of course, the whole concept of health delivery has changed enormously. I believe that the new approach of providing regional health infrastructure by supporting groups of general practitioners to come together and work in superclinics or in large centres with other health professionals, and the upgrading of our main regional hospitals, will be a great help for our scattered communities. What we need is for primary care upfront to be well resourced and to have electronic access to all the innovation we see going on in major hospitals. I hope the National Broadband Network will be of great significance in delivering much of the technology for primary health outcomes in those areas.

We need the help of medical practitioners to undertake these reforms and to assist in making them happen. We need to make their jobs easier by providing infrastructure, by giving them help in running their practices and by giving them opportunities to find locums and other assistance so that they can attend conferences and additional training as well as take some leave from time to time. Most doctors find the move to a regional area difficult, especially if they are married with a young family. If their job becomes a 24/7 job it is very difficult; there is very little backup and they feel that they cannot get away. This is a very big disincentive to work in a regional setting.

We need to provide more flexible arrangements. Allowing for nurse practitioners to provide backup and to undertake some of the basic work of doctors would allow more freedom and give the profession a chance to reap the benefits of being in a regional and rural lifestyle with a better living environment and access to education, which should be on a par with any city. However, we have to make sure that Tasmania’s education system is up to the same standard as every other state on the mainland. We need to work very hard in that area.

We are indeed living in very different times, but I see change as positive and that we can have a better life if we can make our processes work for us and not be barriers to change. We need to work hard at that. I have lived most of my life in the country and I know what country people have faced and will face in the future. We are seeing some of that in Australia today. Primary industries have kept Australia moving forward and they still play that massive role in providing for the needs of all Australians so that they can prosper. Land management becomes a big issue and resolving some of those issues will be an important process as we go forward in working out which way we want to use our land and for what: how far urban infringement encroaches and what land we want to use for growing our food.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my staff Jess, Craig, Leeann, Eve, Marg and Dee for their help in the last parliament and for keeping me sane during the campaign. I would like to thank all my campaign workers and my campaign manager, Peter Kearney, and his wife Di, who managed to spend most of the campaign in Fiji because of the election timing, but who nevertheless contributed to the planning and effectiveness of the campaign. I would also like to thank those other tireless campaigners Richard Bolst, Chris Hinds, Grant Courtney, Marty Clifford, Blinky, Brian Harper and his wife, Anne, and their friend Ron. I want also to thank my old friend Danial Rochford, who appeared in the state at a timely moment and offered his help; he has a great skill base. There were others who came in when asked to help and my thanks to Jason Campbell and Kerry Armstrong, who had no hesitation in giving their time and effort.

I would also like to take the opportunity to remember my old friend and campaigner Tom Greenwood, who was with me during the last few campaigns but, sadly, not at this one as he passed away last year. We missed him very much this time as he put much humour into the campaigns. He used to drive me and certainly he was my sounding board. Tom, campaigning without you was just not the same. My thanks to all the people in Lyons who trusted me with their vote. I will continue to strive to give the service that I have given in the past and will endeavour to do what I can within this parliament to give representation to that broad cross-section of people who make up the Lyons electorate.

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