Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Much has been said in this place about Joe Hockey and particularly about his career, his contribution to parliament, to politics and to our nation since his election to this place in 1996. It is really true that Joe's contribution to our nation and our national debate has been quite significant. His legacy is one of which he can justly be quite proud. His political CV alone is quite impressive: Treasurer of Australia in the Abbott coalition government; in the Howard government, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Human Services, Minister for Small Business and Tourism, Minister for Financial Services and Regulation; and in opposition in the intervening years, the shadow Minister for Health and Ageing and Manager of Opposition Business and shadow Minister for Finance as well as shadow Treasurer.

But as impressive as his public service record is—and it is indeed impressive—I believe that leaders often make their impact in other, more subtle ways. They leave in their wake another rich and potent, albeit often unseen, legacy that may never be publicly acknowledged but which nonetheless is equally significant, or at least it is to those who experience it. Often leaders, particularly in politics, act as mentors to those who aspire to similar goals to serve their community in public life. For me, Joe was certainly one of those people. Today I wish to acknowledge Joe in this way, because I know that the role he played in backing me and becoming somewhat of a mentor, particularly in the early years of my involvement in politics, reflects a story of many other Liberal Party members whose political careers and perspectives have been shaped and influenced by Joe Hockey.

Joe was the first federal member of parliament to really back my political ambitions quite a few years ago now when I was a member of the Young Liberals in New South Wales serving on the Young Liberals state executive as vice-president and seeking to one day run for president. After hearing a fairly impromptu speech given at a Young Liberal dinner function some 14 years ago now, Joe came up to me and told me in no uncertain terms that he had decided to back me to run for Young Liberal president for the next year.

True to his word, his met me for coffee, confirmed his support and then backed me all the way that year to stand for nomination for what at the time was considered to be the highly coveted position of president of the New South Wales Young Liberals. I have to say it is a position that remains fiercely contested to this day. I remember that year quite well. Joe would not back down. He would not hear of me backing down either that year. Joe has an indefatigable belief in people and I was certainly the beneficiary of his belief that year.

While I regret to inform the House that I lost my bid to become the New South Wales Young Liberals president that year against a formidable opponent and, may I say, rather young opponent at the time—Alex Hawke—I learnt a lot from that experience. I remain grateful for the opportunity that it provided me as it helped me create other new opportunities to serve the Liberal Party and to gain new skills in politics, campaigning, innovation and leadership. To this day, I have to say I now follow somewhat in Joe's footsteps as I actively seek to give back to other young political aspirants what Joe and others afforded to me. I seek to mentor, support and fiercely back our next generation of political leaders.

Some 10 years later, in 2012, I received another call from Joe. I had been seriously considering a request from senior party representatives to stand as a candidate for the seat of Robertson, and in fact I was on my way across the Harbour Bridge to discuss it further—perhaps somewhat aptly—when Joe called. Serving my community as the member for Robertson was a childhood dream, a dream I had held fiercely since I was 15 years of age, but life, as it does, got in the way and some 25 years later my husband and I had two very young children. Mollie-Joy had just turned one and Oscar was just about to start preschool that year. I had a fantastic job, and the opportunity to run, with all the associated challenges of juggling a family, particularly a young family, while on one income and campaigning full time in what was to be a very fiercely contested seat, made this childhood dream seem somewhat of a pipe dream. I had been involved in politics for long enough to know that public life even as a candidate involves tremendous personal sacrifice, and I think we can all say that.

As I was weighing this up in my mind, I answered Joe's phone call. He said: 'It's Joe here. I want to talk to you. I hear that you are considering running as the candidate. Don't get me wrong. I think you will make a great candidate.' Joe was always a great backer of people, but he said: 'I want you to consider the impact it will have on your family. I want you to understand how you will actually have to manage this and what you will have to do with two young children. This is what I do.' He proceeded to spend the next 10 or 15 minutes just sharing with me some very personal details of that struggle to balance the challenge of a young family with the demands of politics. I have to say I remain ever grateful for that very decisive phone call, because I got off that phone call and, far from deterring me, it actually spurred me on. It made me realise that if Joe could back me again then we could actually succeed. It made me realise that, if people could understand that this was a unique challenge and a difficult sacrifice that all of us make to one degree or another but that it can successfully be done, then we can actually do it.

I might say, though, that Joe was the only person who ever actually placed on record the fact that this is indeed a sacrifice and it does involve huge, tremendous and ongoing juggling, and I will be forever grateful to him for that, because it is this determination of Joe's to never lose sight of his most important calling as a husband and a father, and to exhort me to never lose sight of my most important calling as a wife and a mother, that I think is the mark of a great man indeed. It points towards something deeper: that Joe is an investor in people, as the member for Grayndler referred to earlier. He certainly invested in me and, I know, in many others who are similarly now in parliament or about to enter parliament. But, even more importantly, his legacy in this place, beyond his contribution to public discourse and national decision making, is his obvious investment in his family, and I know much has already been said about that. In associating myself with the remarks others have made, let me add my thanks for his very timely conversation and his words of wisdom that he gave me that day.

Let me close by acknowledging Joe Hockey's tremendous investment in Gosford, my home town. I want to place on record my thanks and appreciation for his strong backing for our plan for a better future on the Central Coast, for more local jobs and local job opportunities, starting with the coalition's commitment to deliver 250 to 300 new jobs to Gosford with the location of part of a Commonwealth agency that we were able to make in the lead-up to the 2013 election. I want to thank him for doubling that commitment as Treasurer in his first budget of 2014 and for boldly backing the city of Gosford by announcing 600 new jobs for Gosford in a purpose-built building. Joe told me many times of his determination to see cranes in the sky and economic activity thriving in a city that to date has been more known for its past than its future—but now, I believe, not for long.

So as we begin to see this vision become a reality, as the people of the Central Coast begin to think cranes in the sky over Gosford are the new normal, as we start to envisage construction of new buildings and restoration of older ones that have stood neglected for too many years, and as we see more new businesses in Gosford have a go and get ahead—to cite Joe—I will remember how Joe and many others in the coalition government backed our great city. When coffee shops start opening in tiny lanes and bigger streets; when after-work bars and restaurants are the norm and not the exception in Gosford; when not just 600 Commonwealth employees pour into Gosford city each day but hundreds more alongside them who now have a new local job opportunity thanks to the chemist, the accountant, the solicitor's firm, the Imperial Centre and the construction businesses; when all of this becomes the new normal for our city, I am sure it will be not only me but thousands of other coasties who will join me in saying, 'Thank you, Joe.' Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for believing in our potential future and in the fact that we can see a better tomorrow than what we have today in Gosford, on the Central Coast and beyond.

If I could raise a glass in parliament today, right now, I would ask you all to charge your glasses in a toast to Joe, a true believer in family, in people, in cities and in Australia. So thank you, Joe. I look forward to being able to invite you back to the Central Coast one day in the not-too-distant future for a cup of coffee in a thriving city that is the Gosford of tomorrow.

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