Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

By the age of 15, I might have understood, like most members of this House, that there are 18 players in an Aussie Rules team. But I am still to fathom why a few individuals in the Labor Party were indulged in regard to the allocation of seats at the last federal election in New South Wales after a very odd redistribution. It is for that reason that, tonight, I will concentrate more than normal on thanking a large number of people for their contribution to my campaign in Werriwa.

In the campaign, the way in which seats were allocated meant that I and the new member for Fowler were not able to avail ourselves of the very large amount of largesse the Australian taxpayer provides to incumbent members. That was the first difficulty in the campaign in Werriwa. Obviously, I had to also arrange for an office and could not conduct the campaign from my Reid electoral office. Similarly, the distance from the area where many of my former supporters reside to Werriwa is quite significant. Finally, there was the reality that the previous member for Werriwa had been very popular locally, and there was a very vicious campaign by one particular press outlet in the electorate. So to limit the swing to eight per cent was, in a sense, an accomplishment, given that this tended to be the city-wide swing.

I therefore want to put on record my appreciation of a large number of people who helped in this campaign. Many of them were at first reluctant to accept me because of the decision of the national executive to impose me, rather than, as should have occurred, having rank-and-file selection ballots throughout the New South Wales electorates.

I want to thank councillors Anoulack Chanthivong and Aaron Rule, the then mayor; Wendy Waller, a councillor of Liverpool; Councillor Anne Stanley, the president of the federal electorate council; John McLaughlin, the president of the council; locals Owen Hooper, Brad Parker, Charishma Kaliyanda and Tim; Moinul and Masood Chowdhury; Brother Buryia; Farooq Iqbal; Vicki Meadows; all of my staff, but most particularly Steve Christou and Maurice Campbell; Dr Ali Sarfraz; Paul Drayton; Ian Pandilovski; David Voltz; Antonio Bifulco; Scott Mills; Mark Wine; Karl Appel; Kyle McGregor; Helen Samardzic; Mustafa Agar; Christopher Gosling; Sarah Frazier; James Kater; et cetera. Many of these, of course, came from my former electorate of Reid and are people with whom I have had a longstanding connection.

I also want to thank a significant number of ethnic communities, who, unsolicited, flocked to my campaign. Amongst those communities were the Sinhalese, Tamil, Arabic, Filipino and Bangladeshi communities, as well as those from the subcontinent of India and Pakistan, and Pacific islanders. I guess that over a long period of time I have been very active in multicultural and ethnic affairs in Sydney, and this was rewarded in large measure by a significant effort by these people on polling booths—people who were not party members but who welcomed me to the electorate because of my historic connections with these communities. So, in the end, I very much thank the people who contributed to the campaign for my ultimately having what I thought was a reasonable result.

One of the issues that I want the government to press more strongly on is the question of carbon trading. We had comments about how there was no commitment et cetera at the last election. Quite frankly, I think this issue is bigger than those commitments. I think that one of the failures in the last parliament was the reversal on this matter after Copenhagen. The opposition are comforted by events in the US congress, by the fact that it seems that as a result of the mid-term elections things might be slowed down. They are comforted by comments such as that from Tea Party Wisconsin representative Ron Johnson, a plastics millionaire:

I think it’s far more likely that it’s just sunspot activity, or something just in the geologic eons of time where we have changes in the climate.

They are comforted by that kind of comment. They are also comforted by another Tea Party quote I saw last week that, because apparently there was some biblical reference where God had said that he would never punish the world again, we can be comforted that there is no problem.

Quite frankly, I think that in American politics we should have far more respect for the fact that, back as early as 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson said that fossil fuels were a significant problem in regard to climate change. That was in 1965. It was similar with President Carter, in the period 1975 to 1985—a million years ago as far as some people are concerned. It was reported by Garry Wills in a review of the book White House Diary recently that in that period fuel use in federal buildings was restricted, solar panels were inserted in the White House, there was a regulation of gas consumption in vehicles, and tax breaks were provided for wind technology. This significant crisis that the world faces was seen by some US presidents, as I say, as far back as 1965. And we have people apparently getting some comfort from the idea that Obama might have to back off for political reasons. I would hope that we have no vacillation, no weakness, by the Labor government in the period forward.

We of course face very significant crises on a national level. It has been projected that Australia could face by 2030 a further one degree of warming temperatures, up to 20 per cent more months of drought and up to a 25 per cent increase in days of very high and extreme fire danger. The results of these will be manifest in an increase in the frequency and severity of drought conditions resulting from climate change and reduced availability of water. The frequency of drought may increase by up to 20 per cent over most of Australia by 2030. The changing climate will threaten agricultural production. We have already had food riots throughout large parts of Africa and the Middle East because of the twin problems of the diversion of crops towards fuel alternatives and the drought, and also, of course, the continuing concentration of agribusiness in the world. If the temperature rises by two degrees, our national livestock-carrying capacity is predicted to decrease by 40 per cent. Temperature rises, with population growth, are projected to see 3,000 to 5,000 more people die each year from heat related illnesses by 2050.

It is also interesting to note that not everyone has been sitting on their hands, despite the fact that some people would urge that. Across the 12 largest economies, over US$177 billion of economic stimulus packages have been earmarked for clean energy initiatives. The United States, with $67 billion, and China, with $47 billion, are the biggest investors. Some suggest that the US is already halfway to meeting the target it submitted under the Copenhagen accord.

Very conservatively, 90 Australian animal species have so far been identified as at risk from climate change. We note that the South Korean government recently introduced a bill that will enable emission trading and that the government aims to put green growth at the core of growth strategy along with commitments to investment two per cent of GDP in green technologies.

People who take some comfort from the apparent position of China at Copenhagen would perhaps be interested in recent articles in the Financial Review. In an article in the Financial Review of 9-10 October 2010, Diane Lin, fund manager of the Sydney based Pengana Asia Equities Fund, noted:

… China has about 1 per cent of the world’s oil reserves and consumes 10 per cent of oil exports; it has 14 per cent of the world’s known coal reserves and consumes about half the world’s coal exports.

Because of China’s growth, it is a major user of these raw materials. The article noted:

This radical proposal shift to renewable energy is aimed at reducing the rate of increase in carbon emissions by about three-quarters over the next decade.

And the article further noted:

Much higher improvements in energy efficiency, technological breakthroughs in solar, wind and storage technologies could help achieve far higher reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

The Chinese government have walked down this road. They are beginning to actually do something, but such is the move that another article in the Financial Review, from 19 October 2010, talked about complaints by the United Steelworkers Union in the United States that China is now providing too much assistance for green energy. Interestingly, the same day that an investigation was launched by the United States in regard to these issues, China’s Community Party Central Committee held its annual congress and, according to the article:

Top of the agenda for the congress was the next five-year plan for the country and its focus on renewable energy, genuine attempts to reduce carbon emissions and to promote green technology and energy conservation.

The article further noted:

Examples of how China helps it green technology companies include the massive credit lines recently approved for solar energy companies Suntech Power and JSA Solar.

It is worth noting that Suntech has its derivation in this country. Its owner was trained at the University of New South Wales. That is another example of how Australia lost significant technology and significant production in a growing industry because of a lack of support.

Australia has particular responsibilities. A recent report by the World Wide Fund for Nature ranked Australia in the top 10 most unsustainable countries on the planet. We were ranked eighth in that study and were joined in that list by the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the United States, Canada and others. Dermot O’Gorman of the WWF says, ‘Every Australian person requires about seven hectares to live their current lifestyle.’ The report also found that the earth has lost a third of its biodiversity since 1970.

Those urging action are many. The government’s climate change adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, has been on the record again saying that there is a need to act swiftly, that delayed action is a recipe for failure and a recipe also for industries moving out of this country, and that there is more for countries that are a lot more active on these fronts to actually accomplish.

The first eight months of 2010 were as hot as the first eight of any year since 1998, despite the fact that there has been a drop in the El Nino. We are in a time when the opposition are attempting to talk about the costs and are trying to divert away the issues. We saw it from them again in question time—not all the opposition but some elements of the opposition. They ridicule the problem and have recourse to the opinions of a minority of scientists, who have been absolutely overwhelmed by the mass of scientific evidence from around world. The opposition continue to cite a minority of people who are usually identified with corporate interests, many of whom receive financial support from the petroleum industry and other industries with a direct interest.

I hope that in this term we have a government that acts swiftly, acts strongly, makes sure that Australia is in the forefront and understands that countries like Denmark and Spain have gained by being active and understanding that there are industries for the future, and understanding that for the world this is very necessary.

Another issue I want to talk about is the question of the government’s contribution with regard to schools. In the electorate of Reid $114-plus million was spent on 137 school projects over 55 schools. As I go around the electorate, I obviously come across a few issues where schools have not got the total satisfaction of what they would have liked. There has been clear evidence in New South Wales, compared to the rest of the country, that there have been issues of mismanagement with regard to these. But on balance, overwhelmingly, we have a situation where people are congratulating the government for what has been accomplished.

People have talked about what has occurred in education as being the best thing that has happened in three or four decades. I can see it at All Saints Senior Catholic College at Casula and the construction of a science centre. I was out at Dalmeny Primary School the other week and they were absolutely jumping as they showed me what has occurred out there. At Macarthur Adventist College, we had 125,000 go towards refurbishment of buildings, shade structures, sporting facilities et cetera. This is, as I said, a significant fillip to education at Unity Grammar college with 150,000 for the refurbishment of buildings, green upgrades, sports facilities et cetera.

Throughout the campaign I had people in education, I had parents, I had schoolchildren asking me why the government was not more positive about its contribution. I ran into the president of the Catholic principals association of New South Wales, whose main criticism in life was the fact that the Labor government had not more widely promoted letters that she had written on behalf of all Catholic principals about the gains made through this construction. A failure of the government in the election campaign was to drive home over the previous year the realities that not only were these educational measures gains for education in this country, but they also avoided a critical recession that would have occurred in this country.

I come from an area that was built around the construction industry. It was an area that in the 19th century was characterised by the timber industry and later by a significant number of brick-making enterprises. In the old electorate of Reid there continues to be significant employment in that industry. I have an association with a large number of builders and developers, particularly in the small flat sector and in the housing construction sector. They might not all vote Labor, but a number of them have said to me that the action by this government in the last term for construction and keeping the industry going—making sure the building supply companies could sell their product, that the builders could pay their employees, that people could get jobs—was crucial. As I said, it is a bit of a failure that people came away with an impression over a year that because nothing occurred in this country—because we are not in the newspapers with Ireland today or a few months ago with Greece, because we are not there in joint headlines, because we do not have unemployment of 10-plus per cent which the United States has had for significant parts of this year—it was all never a possibility; there was never going to be a recession in this country. We have overcome the problem because in this case we have been so successful. And I do not for a moment ignore the contribution the previous government made with regard to the budget. But to say that we could have sat on our hands for that period and done nothing and therefore have hoped that all was well was not good enough.

I also note that for all the talk about the deficit in this country, when you look at the proportion of our GDP, the current budget measures, we are at the lower end of the spectrum internationally. Most European countries would be extremely pleased to have a GDP proportion of debt that we have. I do believe it was one of the more significant contributions made over that period for two reasons: to counter the recession the world endured over speculation and lack of regulation in the investment sector and also because these measures were worth while on the social front. This was a major accomplishment of that period and I would very much salute the efforts.

I also want to recognise tonight in this parliament that the Hindu Council of Australia is conducting a Diwali event with politicians from both sides of the parliament. India has been a significant migrant source over recent years due to skilled migration. Diwali is a very important event in the Hindu, Jain and Sikh cultures, and it is certainly testimony that for the eleventh year it is being held in this parliament in the dining room. Of course it is not only here; this is a major international event. From Suriname and Guyana in South America, to Mauritius near the African coast, these are countries where it is even a public holiday. So I salute the Hindu Council for doing that. It is also a council which is engendering in young Australian Indians a measure of protecting and preserving their culture, but also recognising they live in Australia with the culture and laws of our country.

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