Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am once again very grateful for the confidence the people of Cowan had in me in the recent election, which saw me re-elected with an increased margin. It is a great and humbling responsibility to be an elected representative, and representing the people of Cowan is the greatest honour I have ever had. I sincerely thank the people for their support.

There are, of course, many people who had a part in the successful Cowan campaign. I will start with my family, because without their support I would have been unable to devote the time needed to properly represent and work for my fellow residents of Cowan over the last three years. My wife, Kelly, is strongly supportive of me. She has for three years now asked only to be told when I would be home and does not make me feel guilty about being out all the time. Without her support I would be nothing. My daughters, Emily and Rebecca, also do not make me feel bad for working seven days a week, because they know I am on a mission. Also, I would thank my mother, Connaught, for working her third election for me in Cowan. Her support is always appreciated. Family is where we derive so much of our strength and our ability to go on in this challenging environment from. While I love doing this work, if it ever looked as if it would cost me my family then I would not do it. I therefore thank them for their unwavering support.

As members of parliament we work hard but the reality is that our effectiveness is maximised by our staff. We cannot assist all our constituents without great staff. I know that they always work hard and are never afraid of the extra hours required. My office manager is Helen Power, who has been with me from the start, just before the declaration of the poll in 2007. She is the wise counsel who has always served me and the Cowan community well.

Bill Coghlan has worked for me almost as long as Helen has and his people skills have proved an asset in our office’s relations with community groups and organisations within Cowan. Always positive, Bill, with his irrepressible optimism, has served me well. I thank him for his work and efforts over my first term and throughout the recent campaign.

Ryan Blake is a young staff member who has developed well and is most effective in dealing with constituents and policy matters. He has been a great asset to the team and works very hard. He is always present in all the campaign activities, and it is great to have Ryan as part of my team.

I also thank Lien Nguyen, who works for me on a part-time basis. She has been a great asset and has been instrumental in working for Cowan’s Vietnamese community and helping me to better assist my large number of Vietnamese constituents.

For two years I had Tim Brooks on my staff; however, for personal reasons he returned to his native United States about three weeks before the federal election. Tim was a very effective member of the team.

With just a few weeks to go in the election campaign, following the recommendation of the state director of the Liberal Party, my team was greatly reinforced by the arrival of the highly experienced Simon Morgan. An immediate asset, he was able to turn his extensive campaign ability to great achievement with the Cowan campaign.

Beyond my immediate team I was greatly supported by Senator Michaelia Cash and her staff, who volunteered so strongly before and after normal office hours and on the weekends. They were dedicated and highly effective contributors who provided both practical support and sage advice through the whole campaign. I thank them all, especially Lisa Scott and Marilyn Krawitz. They seemed always to be there for me and I acknowledge their efforts. I also acknowledge the efforts and support of Whitney Jago and Sarah Cunningham.

I was greatly pleased to have the support again during the campaign of Cheryl and Colin Edwardes, who gave the campaign team a great deal of local knowledge and political input when we needed it.

I also thank all my volunteers, who worked so well on the day of the election and came out in support in the weeks and months prior to the actual day. Your efforts helped to create a momentum that was critical when it counted.

The Hon. Chris Ellison was also on the team and was absolutely critical in coordinating the campaign. We were able to achieve a great deal due to his efforts and those of his friends and associates. Chris has been an outstanding mentor and his long-term support and belief in me has only served to strengthen my view that, despite the cynicism of some, politics is ultimately about loyalty, trust and integrity, and I hope that will never change.

When I think back over the months and weeks before and during the formal election campaign, I feel a great sense of warmth and regard for my supporters—those who worked for our cause, those who let us put up signs, those who made donations and those who spoke to me indicating their support, as well as the thousands who voted for me. On this day I thank and honour them for their faith in me.

It is also appropriate for me to acknowledge the sterling assistance of the state director, Ben Morton, and his deputy, Ben Allen, together with the whole WA campaign team. As the WA results show, they clearly got it right and I could not possibly have asked for better central support than we received during the campaign.

I would also thank the state President of the Liberal Party, Mr Barry Court, and the immediate past president, Danielle Blain, for their strong support and efforts for the entire Western Australian campaign—a perfect effort.

I also express gratitude to my federal and state colleagues for their support throughout the term of the last parliament and the campaign. I thank the Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, for his strong support; Julie Bishop, our deputy, for everything she has done in promoting and supporting me; and our other frontbenchers including my good friend Bronwyn Bishop, who has made many visits to Cowan, all of them effective and greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Scott Morrison for his visits to Cowan. Kevin Andrews has always been willing to support me and I greatly appreciate his support. The Hon. Eric Abetz was there for me, as were Malcolm Turnbull, Ian Macfarlane, Senator Connie Fierravanti-Wells, Steve Ciobo, Andrew Southcott and of course Greg Hunt, who has made two highly effective visits to my electorate.

At the state level I have of course been well supported by my local state MLAs: Paul Miles, the great member for Wanneroo, and Andrea Mitchell, the star member for Kingsley. I thank them both for their very strong support. I also thank my local state MLCs Liz Behjat, Michael Mischin, Peter Collier, and Alyssa Hayden from the East Metropolitan region for their great support. I was also very fortunate to have the support of Premier Colin Barnett, who visited Cowan and has supported me on many occasions.

I also take this opportunity to thank my close friends in the Macedonian, Vietnamese and African communities, who advise me so well on the issues that are of great concern to those communities. Their advice and support up to and including election day was most appreciated. It is when you see who is willing to work with you on election day that you see who is authentically there for you, so I thank them wholeheartedly. Ultimately the issues that are of concern to these communities are significant. In the case of the Macedonians, one of the big issues that they wish to have resolved is for their homeland to be called the Republic of Macedonia. I hope that comprehensive international recognition can be achieved; however, that will require the Hellenic Republic—the Greek government—to agree. I look forward to such a day.

In the case of the Vietnamese people, their issues and circumstances are deeper still. For those of us here in the federal parliament who have significant Vietnamese communities in our electorates, or a good knowledge of Vietnamese culture, we understand how hard they work and how important family bonds are to them. When you visit Vietnam you see the same strong work ethic and commitment to family that Vietnamese Australians display so clearly. The difference is that here in Australia when you work hard you receive the reward. In Vietnam, you work hard and you do not get the right return for the effort. Yet, as it stands, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam holds back its population. It holds back the relatives and the friends of Vietnamese Australians with archaic political and economic instruments. While the ruling elite of the Vietnamese communist party does well, the Vietnamese people themselves cannot fully benefit from their efforts because the system does not allow them to do so. This is what I mean by issues being very deep with the Vietnamese community in Australia.

I take this opportunity to ask: why did the Rudd government fete and fawn to the general secretary of the communist party in a visit to the parliament here in Canberra last year? Of course we have an obligation to receive and accord due respect and regard to a visiting government leader, but why was there such a reception, such pomp and ceremony, accorded to a non-parliamentary political leader?

My view remains that single-party systems are not legitimate systems. My view is that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam holds back Vietnam and the Vietnamese people. This is the Vietnamese people’s tragic reality: they are held back economically, politically and religiously. As a single-party state, the government of Vietnam is not subject to the scrutiny that a democratic, multiparty system provides, and that is why there are so many questions relating to the legitimacy of the territory agreements with China and the concessions to Chinese companies regarding the bauxite mining operations in the highlands of Vietnam.

It is little wonder that the level of dissent—all peaceful, of course—is rising, when there is no opportunity for the communist party to be scrutinised and held accountable. I look forward to a time when the shackles are removed from the Vietnamese people in Vietnam and they can finally enjoy the fruits of their labour. I look forward to democracy and the freedoms that we enjoy also becoming part of the way of life in Vietnam.

I have in recent times had more involvement with the African community. In particular I speak of the African Christian community. I know how positive they are about their lives now in Australia. They are very happy to have been given the opportunity to live and work in Australia and they are prospering. I see their community as being able to embrace the benefits and freedoms that Australia can provide. They believe in working hard to achieve success, and they do not believe in a welfare culture. While the colour of their skin may be different to most Australians, they have an Australian attitude of working hard but also looking after those who are in need of temporary assistance. They are good Australians and they add great value to our community. In the future I would like to see them have their own church building; that would give them the opportunity to add further value in the wider community. I look forward to seeing an even better future for their community.

I would like to take a moment to reflect upon an issue that was a significant one during the election campaign and one that is certainly of great concern to the people of Cowan, and that is border security. We often hear the words ‘dog whistle’ bandied about in this place by the Greens, Labor or the media—I suppose to try and suggest that those who support a return to strong border protection policies are in some way motivated by a less than honourable personal prejudice. I reject this view entirely. As I mentioned earlier, I was fortunate to have the shadow minister for immigration, Scott Morrison, visit Cowan during the campaign. On that occasion, we were able to meet with some people who have come to Australia as refugees. They expressed incredible frustration that, under the Rudd-Gillard government, those who are waiting in camps overseas to come here are effectively punished by doing the right thing, while those who arrive on illegal boats cause delays to the processing of legitimate, legal refugees.

During the campaign the coalition took a strong stance, designed to deal harshly with illegal immigration and people smugglers, and we do not shy away from that. Conversely, the Labor Party promised to establish a processing centre in East Timor but neglected to check with the East Timorese first. They also solemnly pledged that there would be no expansion at the Curtin detention centre, yet within days of cobbling together a government the Prime Minister broke that promise in one of the most brazen and deceitful moves it has yet been my misfortune to witness during my time in this place. It will do nothing to deter people-smuggling. Indeed, the recent announcements of holding facilities in Northam and Woodside in South Australia are encouragements, not deterrents, to illegal arrivals. These decisions are rejected by the local communities and are evidence of the government lurching from failure to failure.

I am proud that amongst my strongest supporters in Cowan, including a significant number who handed out how-to-vote cards on election day, are those who came to Australia as refugees and who have made our local area their home. It staggers me that the Greens, some in the Labor Party and some in the media, as well as so-called refugee advocates, cannot see what is obvious to the people who actually have firsthand experience—that there is a right way and a wrong way to come to this country. I call upon the government to think through the wider ramifications of its weak and hopelessly ineffective border protection policies. Those who suffer most because of its failures are those who wish to come to this country legally, work hard and become good citizens. We should not be making their task harder by making the task of people smugglers easier through ineffective policy responses to this urgent and challenging problem.

During the recent election campaign the coalition made a number of significant commitments to the people of Cowan. Whilst the Prime Minister may have been able to piece together a government on the floor of this House, at least for now, the Labor Party was soundly rejected by the people of Cowan, who instead voted for the positive local action plan I put forward. I would like to touch briefly on some of its key elements, as these are things I am determined to keep fighting for.

One of the biggest concerns local residents in Cowan frequently mention to me relates to crime, particularly mindless vandalism. To that end, the coalition pledged to fund five mobile CCTV trailers that would be dedicated specifically to patrolling specific districts in Cowan. We already have a couple of such units operating in the City of Swan, and they have proved most effective in fighting crime. I will continue to push for more.

Likewise, local residents are extremely concerned about the speeding and hooning which takes place in residential areas. Those who engage in such activities are, to put it bluntly, idiots who show a flagrant disregard for the property, rights and safety of local families. To help combat this, the coalition pledged to fund a significant number of mobile speed humps, which would be used to combat hooning in local hot spots. These speed humps have previously been installed in some parts of Cowan to great effect, and I look forward to working with the Liberal state government to see what more can be done in appropriate locations.

I believe it is essential that we look after the interests of seniors in our local community. We must do all we can to ensure that seniors have access to facilities and services that allow them to enjoy social activities and retain a network of friends, which is so important in maintaining a healthy and independent lifestyle. That is why the coalition made a significant funding commitment to build a dedicated seniors centre in Ballajura, whose senior citizens group currently does not have its own building. I will continue to fight for this important community facility, which I believe is critically important to the health and welfare of our local seniors.

It is not my intention to go into the specifics of my campaign; however, I would say that the Cowan Liberal campaign for 2010 was, like my 2004 and 2007 campaigns, a fight defined by integrity and honourable behaviour. My campaign was done by the book in a spirit of fair play. I only wish the same could be said of my main opponent. We observed the rules and the by-laws and responded to legitimate concerns quickly, which stands in stark contrast to a number of breaches of those by-laws by the Labor campaign. They never acted on the many complaints made about their illegal signage and in fact only delayed removing their signs. The disappointing part was that the local government seemed less than enthusiastic in pursuing those Labor Party breaches and, in the case of illegal signage at a house in Wanneroo Road, took two months to have the signs removed. I note that it was one week after the election that the signs were finally taken down. I await the results of an external investigation into that and other matters regarding the inconsistent application of by-laws by one local government authority before deciding whether to take the matter any further.

As with all campaigns, I learned a lot about the way our opponents operate. In particular, I noted the partisan involvement of local government councillors. Their willingness to associate themselves with the Labor Party so clearly at the local government level is not really surprising, as I always knew who they were, but it is interesting that they chose to be so clearly partisan in a fight that was going so badly for the Labor Party. I suppose their perceived loyalty to the party in adverse circumstances gives them some status in Labor circles. To date, I have adopted the position that it would be wrong for me as a federal MP to become involved in local government elections. However, given the experience of the recent campaign coupled with the blatant partisanship shown by some councillors, I imagine that if a genuine, committed, community based candidate approached me for an endorsement on material they paid for using their own funds I would strongly consider it. Put simply, those residents living within certain wards deserve better than the sub-par service being provided by the clapped-out Labor hacks who currently dominate some of these councils. Some of them sadly appear to be more interested in the welfare of the ALP than they are in improving the lives of those whom they are elected to serve.

As the federal member for Cowan, I am deeply committed to supporting the local community and making it stronger. I see the positives and the potential in our children who will one day lead this country. I see that it is not through luck or a view that society owes them something that they will achieve their success but rather through hard work and a view that their destiny lies within the palm of their own hands. Sadly, there are too many people in Australia who do not see their own power to achieve success but rather hope to win Lotto or wait for their horse to win. There are too many who look for others to blame for their own problems. It is only once you look in a mirror and see the cause of your own problems that you can then also see in that same mirror the strength in yourself and the origins of your own success.

In this term of the parliament, I restate my commitment to the people of Cowan, not as some VIP or the lord of the manor but as the chief servant of the people of Cowan. I will continue to be approachable. I will continue to listen and I will always try to help the people of Cowan with their federal, state and local government issues. The people of Cowan can expect that I will be even more involved in the community. They will see me a lot. I regret that perhaps they will not always be able to walk in off the street and see me without an appointment because I will be out in the community. However, I guarantee that I will be out in the community more often, and they will certainly see me and have the opportunity to speak to me in those locations. I am 100 per cent committed to the electorate of Cowan and serving the people to the best of my ability. I thank the people of Cowan for their faith and confidence in me. It is a great honour to be elected as the member for Cowan and a great responsibility that I acknowledge again here today.

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