Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Speaker, how do I follow that? Little Ms Perfect, Little Ms Organised. Here I am, Mr Grumpy, Mr Disarray. The best advice I have had for this speech is 'wing it', because there is no speech. In any case, first lyric:

And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain …

But 27½ years is a long time and I really don't know where to start. So, second lyric:

Let's start at the very beginning

A very good place to start …

In 1986 at Canberra airport I came down the stairway, across the tarmac, through the tin shed that was the terminal and outside to the open carport as the tractor brought the luggage in. You searched on the trailer, found your luggage and got the assistance of the ever-attendant Comcar drivers. First thank you: thank you, Comcar drivers, you are legends. Now we have Canberra 'International Airport', replete with street art. What a change!

I arrived here to this chamber—not particularly this chamber, the one down at Old Parliament House, the provisional Parliament House—and it was a very different chamber. There were no females as clerks at the table and there was one female attendant. I was going to say that that was balanced by the fact that Hansard reporters were predominantly female, but that may not have been the case because I have since researched that the first female Hansard reporter started in 1969 so it had only been two decades. But Hansard came in and it was taken in shorthand or with cumbersome machines. How the world has changed.

The first female Serjeant-at-Arms had just been appointed. And, of course, the circumstances that led me to being elected to this place, to taking my place, were the same that had led to the election of the first female Speaker of this place, the late Joan Child. And how proud am I that I will leave this place with the second female Speaker presiding—and, Speaker Burke, you are doing an wonderful job.

The next lyric that we go to is:

Most people I know think that I'm crazy and

I know at times I act a little hazy …

Well, the only reason I am here giving this speech is that Michele Jenkins—nee Sharp—exists. Without her I would not be here. I owe her all. Third lyric:

Michele, ma belle. These are words that go together well—

I know that members would expect me to hash a foreign language, so the words go on:

Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble

Tres bien ensemble.

Michele, like many spouses of members, has really had to share a great load.

Of course, we are not the only profession that is on the road, that travels and is away from home, but when you are in the public spotlight it is a bit different. The family does not stand for election, but they are still in the glare. In the sense that Michele has been a single parent, she can look with great pride at Ben, Emlyn and Amanda. Em has turned up out of the blue; I did not even know he was going to be here. He has a great streak of social justice. Ben is the father of our two darling granddaughters. Amanda has been so inspired by the achievements of many of my female colleagues in this place.

I thank my parents-in-law, Cliff and the late Barbara Sharp. It has been a bit tough for us over the last few weeks with asbestos matters being talked about, as my mother-in-law died of peritoneal mesothelioma. I thank Michele's brothers and sister for their support. To my family, of course I owe a lot. To my parents, the late Dr Harry and my mum, Wendy: I often say that, whilst I have been fortunate enough to represent part of the northern suburbs of Melbourne in which I grew up, I recognise that mine was a privileged background compared to those whom I represent. My father was first a general practitioner and then went on to be a state parliamentarian and then a federal parliamentarian.

Both mum and dad were active in the community. Both mum and dad were active within the Australian Labor Party, but at no stage did they ever say to us that this was how we had to move, that this was the path we had to follow. We were given ample opportunity to make those decisions ourselves. I think that is very important.

Whilst mum is very overly protective and takes on anybody who is the least bit critical of me, I know that that is from her sheer pride, and I thank her for that. To my two brothers and my sister and to their families: I congratulate you on your achievements. I ask you to be very proud of what you do. I thank you for your love and support.

Most members of parliament would agree that we are only really able to look as good as we might look by the deeds of our staff. There have been a lot of them over 27½ years in the electorate office when I was the Deputy Speaker, the Second Deputy Speaker and Speaker. I think the churning and turnover has been minimal. I am not sure why so many of them have been so loyal. Some have gone on to better things—to be professors at the ANU, to be chiefs of staff of ministers at both state and federal levels, to be important executive assistants to the great. I think these things are really important.

I only want to mention one by name, and that is the late Nick Ascenzo. Nick and I were elected to the then shire of Whittlesea in August 1979, so I have had 34 years as a public office holder as a preselected ALP candidate. I entered local government with Nick. Nick had come here as a four-year-old with his family from Italy. He was very much salt of the earth. A group of us all thought we knew how to change the world and what was required in local government. Because of the predominant migrant population of the southern end of the then shire of Whittlesea we said: 'We have to translate all of the information into the languages in the community. This will be a big step forward.'

Nick was very down to earth. We would be listening to 3LO 774 and he would be listening to 3AW when it was 1278 because he said: 'That's what the punters we are representing are listening to, so we better understand.' So we would be reading The Ageand they would be reading the Herald Sun, because that is what the punters in my electorate read. Senior journalists always remind me, when they want to get a comment from me, that it should be given to the Herald Sun! But one day Nick said, 'Listen, all you guys; you think you know what's going on. All this translating stuff—there's just one problem: people like my father are illiterate in Italian. Since the age of eight, I've had to do all the form filling-in, answering the questions. That's the real issue.' It is people like Nick Ascenzo that were very important in making me understand what was important in seeking to meet the aspirations of those we represent.

Nick was there for me when I had great self-doubt. When my father stepped down and nominations for preselection were being made, he was the one that convinced me to give it a go. I do not think that he envisaged the circumstances where I could come up through the middle in a three-person contest to be victorious. But, in any case, I owe him a lot. He was taken from us much too early, and there are not many days where I do not think, 'What would Nick expect of us? What would he want me to do?' And I am very grateful for that. It is a story of the comradeship of the Australian Labor Party: it is very much a story of the importance of being part of a movement that has collective action as its core.

I went down to the caucus room this morning and I looked at the photographs of the leaders on the wall. There have been 20 leaders of the federal parliamentary Labor Party. Since Arthur Calwell, I have known all of them personally. I met Frank Forde on one occasion; but, from Arthur onwards, I have known them personally. Gough Whitlam will always be the great man; he will always be the person that I look up to for what the Labor Party can achieve. Having said that, I know that, administratively and in their management, the Whitlam governments were not all that great. But they had waited those 27 years, and there was a lot to be done—and it was done. Bill Hayden was one of those unlucky leaders.

There was Bob Hawke—Hawkies, Hawkie. The first occasion that I had to do something official after being elected Speaker, I got sent off to the inauguration of the Korean president, and Bob was there because of his special relationship through APEC. All of a sudden, he says, 'I want to speak to you.' I thought, 'I'm in for it now.' But, knowing in the good Confucian way that I should respect my elders, I waited around until he had dealt with some things and sat down with him. He absolutely covered me in cigar smoke, but I put up with it because you respect your elders. He was larger than life, but Labor right through to the sinews of his body.

We then have PJ Keating—never got a vote out of me on an election ballot, but I have to say that, upon reflection, many of the things that he did were extraordinarily great. Bill Kelty tells of the story during the Mabo decision—or it might have been Wik—when things looked really bleak. The Left sat around and said, 'This is taking too much political skin; is it really worth it?' and even conveyed that to Keating. Keating said: 'No. We're going to move on.' I remember that Christmas, as we broke up for the holidays, that he simply said, 'It was the right thing to do; it was the Labor thing to do,' and everybody knew what he meant.

Kim Beazley and Simon Crean were two of the most unlucky leaders you would ever see. They were absolutely decent to the core. Perhaps that was the reason they were not successful—but, again, go through the things they championed. The great success in parliament this year has been the NDIS and DisabilityCare. I remember Beazley as leader championing that as a cause. Why did he champion it as a cause? He had sent out caucus members in working parties to look at issues—and that was the response we got from elderly parents with disabled children. Sorry, Em, I got that wrong. I mean 'children with disabilities'. He always corrects my terminology.

The thing was that we discussed these things. Then, when we won government, we were able to act. Instead of wasting the time we were in opposition moping around, we investigated what things were important—so that we were able to act when we returned to government. When we did return to government, that was important.

Leaders—the Lord Voldemort of leaders was Mark Latham. Even with Mark, though, if you really drilled down, among the policy issues were, from time to time, things that really challenge us. We should not dismiss those things. We should go forward, discuss and analyse.

We then come to the modern era. Nothing can be taken away from Kevin. He won the election and we formed government. The greatest moment of my 27½ years here was the morning of the apology to the stolen generation. You cannot understate the way this place buzzed—throughout the grand halls and right down to the mall. People were energised and excited. These are important things.

Then we had Julia as our Prime Minister and leader. All you have to do is look at the achievements of this period. Despite a hung parliament, a minority government, we have put through so many positive things, many of which we managed to get through because of her determination and her skills as a negotiator.

But when we talk about leadership, we—especially those of us on this side of the place—owe it to the people we represent to remember that we are here collectively. There is an onus on us to show collective leadership, to be proud of those things we have achieved, to take ownership of those things we have achieved and to ensure that they are explained—because we are one. United we stand; divided we fall. That is clear.

The motto is: unity is strength. I have to explain that there was a period when I did not actually use 'unity is strength' as my motto. This goes back to the dim, dark history of Victorian Labor around the time of the intervention which was the precursor to the election of the Whitlam government. The two major factions were the great Socialist Left and Centre Unity, which is another name for the Right. Centre Unity shortened its name to Unity—with a capital U—so I could never say, 'Unity is strength'. But I have moved on. It is important, though: unity is strength. That is what we as a caucus, as the federal parliamentary Labor Party—and the collection of other candidates who will go into the field for us—must remember.

I go back to the lyrics: 'I have travelled each and every highway.' I hear the sniggers and I hear the voices saying, 'Yes, he had a toothbrush, he had passport and he travelled well.' But I just want to use that to remind people that this is a national parliament. If we do not expose ourselves to things that are different—whether it is visiting Cox's Bazar, a camp with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people; whether it is going to a camp on the Thai-Burmese border and meeting with Karen people, whose simple message to us as we left was, 'Come back and visit us. Come back and visit us in Burma'—we will not be prepared to have proper debate.

I have gone to the camps of Palestinians in Jordan, where they have lived for generations. I have visited Malta and been at a Jesuit NGO as Somali refugees, who have just been acknowledged as refugees, receive a kit to set them up in a home. Why were they in Malta? Because there is a trade in illegal passage across the Mediterranean. People buy a position on a rubber dinghy to get them to Italy: no crew, a mobile phone and when the dinghy flounders, because Malta has responsibility for search and rescue, they end up in Malta to be processed. I have been on the Green Line in Cyprus and told, 'Over that mountain to the north, you're an hour's flight from Syria'. And we think that we have ownership of the challenge of asylum seekers on our own. Well let's wake up: this is much bigger than us, and if we do not challenge ourselves by ensuring that we discuss this widely, globally and regionally, then it is a nonsense.

I have visited the Afghan parliament, I have met female members of that parliament, female members of parliament who live in fear of what might happen as the international forces withdraw. We stand here, so soon after the fortieth death of an Australian in Afghanistan, and we remember those sacrifices and the sacrifices of those who have been injured, and we must ensure that as we move from that military engagement to that civil engagement, that we remember we have that investment and that those sacrifices demand we do not move away from helping Afghanistan and the Afghan people in what they hope to achieve.

Speaker, back to the lyrics.

Regrets, I've had a few

But then again, too few to mention

I did what I had to do …

Do not mourn for me about anything that happened to me earlier in this parliament. I have been around politics long enough. I knew that some other possibilities were inevitable. I accept responsibility. I signed the resignation as Speaker. I attended the meeting with the Governor-General to hand it in. In attending the Governor-General, I am very pleased that there was a military band to play as I came in. I was a bit disappointed when I was told it was for the ambassadors who were handing in their papers—and doubly shattered when I was shown the 'Malcolm Fraser' door to go! Came through the front door, left by the side door! But never have any regrets do I!

Quickly, Speaker—because I am pushing your indulgence, because I am Mr Disarray and shambolic!—I want to state why I do not have any regrets. I first saw members of parliament when my father entered the Victorian caucus back in 1961, and they were so bitter. I later realised that that was six years after the split, so perhaps these blokes had reason to be bitter. They were turtlebacks, shellbacks, moping around. When I saw them, I decided I never, ever wanted to be like that, not only because it makes life miserable for others but also because it must be so miserable for the person themselves. That is why I want to stress optimism. The Brisbane Lions were 52 points down seven minutes before three-quarter time but had a five-point win. So just remember: it's not over till it's over! It is a long bow to draw, I know, between one AFL game and an election, but it is not over till it is over.

There is a lot that I could say about the parliament—what a wonderful institution it is. Over my time in this parliament, I think it has run well. Some have confused their political difficulties with criticisms of the parliament, but it has functioned really well, and that is a great credit to people like Bernard Wright and David Elder and their predecessors. I am a bit embarrassed to be a museum piece, part of history, upon the 25th anniversary of Parliament House, given that there are only four or five of us members and senators, and 70 others, that have worked here for the whole 25 years. That is probably how I knew it was time to make the decision to pull up stumps and move on!

There have been only four members for Scullin. Ted Peters was the original member for an electorate called Scullin, with very different boundaries. Between us, my father and I have represented the electorate for the last 44 years. I am not demanding that Andrew Giles change his name! He will be a great member—I expect him to be elected—and he will make a very great contribution to the people of Scullin, to the Australian Labor Party here in this parliament and to the nation more widely. I thank the people of Scullin for entrusting me with the role of their representative in this place.

For the achievements of this government over not only this parliament but also the parliament before, I refer you to the speeches of my fellow voluntary Labor departers of 2013, the member for Batman, the member for Gellibrand, the member for Newcastle, the member for Bendigo and, in particular, the member for Capricornia. Kirsten made a wonderful speech, where she set out everything that has been spectacularly good about Labor in power.

I simply say to the people of Scullin that to leave this place at a time there has been so much interest and investment from a federal government is extraordinary. Scullin being a safe Labor seat, I could never have expected it, but this is a government that has distributed its program resources in a very fair way. We see that when we open a super clinic, when we look at opening another trade-training centre next week and when we consider the investment in schools through the BER, which was not just about the building but about the psyche. The fact that the people and schools of Scullin have been recognised and assisted is something you cannot put into a budget; there is no way that you can allocate a value to that. But it is tangible. It is what happens here. The National Broadband Network is an extraordinarily popular program, and the take-up has been extraordinary, in the electorate of Scullin.

In my first speech, I indicated that the epitaph on the memorial of James Henry Scullin would guide me in this place. The words are, simply:

Justice and humanity demand interference whenever the weak are being crushed by the strong.

That really did make it easy to journey through this place, to know what was required of me. Now, as I get towards the conclusion, another lyric:

Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye

Cheerio, here I go, on my way

And to paraphrase some other lyrics, I will go placidly amid the noise and haste, and I will remember what peace there may be in silence, and:

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,

it is still a beautiful world.

Be careful—

Strive to be happy.

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