Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And taking credit! Yes, our candidate in Paterson, Meryl Swanson, is an absolutely outstanding woman and will make enormous contributions in this parliament.

I was the 949th member to be elected to this federal parliament. That shows just how few people have actually had the honour and the privilege of serving in this House. I made my first speech on 11 November 1998—and 11 November is a special date for all of us. I see the Deputy Leader of the Opposition; she also made her first speech on that day. We were elected together, back in 1998. I am only the third member for the division of Shortland, which was proclaimed in 1949. And I believe I have the fourth member for Shortland sitting right next to me now! I am really proud of the fact that we will have someone of Pat Conroy's quality taking over from me.

To be elected to this parliament is a privilege, a privilege that few people are afforded, and I have always been mindful of that great honour. I believe that all members elected to this place enter politics because they want to make a difference. It is just that, on different sides of the House, we have a different idea of what makes a difference. We have a different vision, different beliefs and different philosophies, and we all strive to see that our vision becomes the reality. And, without a doubt, I believe the Labor vision is the vision that should be the reality in Australia and the one that benefits Australian people. I have always been motivated by the need to make a difference and to see that the values of social justice, equity and egalitarianism are embraced in Australia. As a federal member of parliament it is a unique opportunity to actually do this.

In my first speech, I emphasised that good government is inclusive. It ensures that all people share the wealth of our great nation, and not just a few. It ensures that we have a society in which everyone is valued. It does not govern by fear or by marginalising one section of our society whilst advantaging another. A good government governs for all and delivers fairness, equity and social justice, not division, scaremongering and fear. I have to say that I have sat in this House on many occasions and felt that it was the latter that was being delivered to the Australian people. We as members of parliament should be showing leadership. We should be giving people confidence. We should not be scaring them. We should not be frightening them. We should not be trying to get elected by appealing to the lowest common denominator—by creating fear.

In my first speech I touched on Belmont Medicare office. One of the things I came to this parliament saying was, 'Labor will reopen Belmont Medicare office.' And do you know what? We delivered. We reopened Belmont Medicare office. The Howard government had closed it—yes, shame!—but there is worse to come. The Turnbull government closed it recently.

Opposition members interjecting—

Yes, they closed it. Not only did they close it, but they decided that it was not really a closure; they were going to co-locate it to Charlestown. They had previously co-located the Charlestown Medicare office to the NDIA office—guess where? Charlestown. And now they were co-locating Belmont, which is 12 kays away from Charlestown—

An opposition member: Down the road!

yes, just a short walk for those pensioners who live at Belmont, Swansea and Gwandalan! It is just a short walk for them! And they were co-locating it 150 metres away from the existing Medicare office in the NDIA, so it was going to be co-located with Centrelink 150 metres away from the existing Medicare office. Poor old Belmont. They have no Medicare office, but Charlestown are lucky; they have two.

But the story does not finish there. You would think that maybe this was a cost-saving exercise. You would, wouldn't you—a cost-saving exercise? Well, guess what. I believe it costs in the vicinity of $100,000 to break the lease and to have the fit-out removed. Is that an example of good government?

Opposition members: No.

No, I do not think so. The member for Swan is a friend of mine in this place, and I know that he has a Belmont Medicare office. It was opened at the same time as my Belmont Medicare office, but I suspect his is still open, whilst mine is now co-located 150 metres from another one. Shame!

The other local initiative that I mentioned in that first speech was the Fernleigh Track. We lobbied the Howard government time and time again to have the Fernleigh Track built. They ignored us. They were not interested. Maybe it was because it was a Labor electorate. I decided that I was not going to be put off by this. When we were elected in 2007, not only did we build the link between Whitebridge and Redhead but we built the link between Redhead and Belmont, and now we have this fantastic cycle-walkway that goes all the way from Belmont into Newcastle along the old rail line.

It really shows that, for the people of Shortland, you need a Labor government to ensure that you get the basics like a Medicare office. By the way, people who were travelling to Belmont Medicare office are now finding it absolutely impossible to contact Medicare on the hotline.

My proudest moment in this parliament was when Kevin Rudd delivered the apology to the stolen generations. It was long overdue. I see Jenny Macklin sitting down the front, and I know that she was very involved in that as well. It was a day where the whole of parliament came together. These galleries were absolutely filled. To see Indigenous people throughout Australia standing up and cheering and crying was just unbelievable—unbelievable—and I felt so proud to be an Australian, so proud to be a member of this parliament. It was long overdue. It was like a veil had been lifted from our society while positioning Australia to become a better, more inclusive country.

On Sorry Day in 2000, I—and, I am sure, many members on this side of the House—walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was really one of the most fantastic experiences I have had. As we got to the other end there were three young girls from Taree who were hopping on the train to go back over. They said, 'We've walked across three times already and we're going to do it again!' It meant so much to them that 250,000 Australians had turned out to walk across the bridge that day.

That was followed up by the apology, which I would have liked to see happen a lot sooner than it did. It happened, but we still have work to do with closing the gap. The Closing the gap reports have shown that there has been some progress made but not enough. There is still so much work to be done there. Aboriginal Australians get sicker and they die earlier. They are overrepresented in our prisons. That is something we cannot be proud of as Australians and something we need to address. Of course, our next challenge in that area is constitutional recognition. Constitutional recognition must be something that really delivers. We need to make sure it is not something that just makes people feel good. It has to be meaningful. That will be a challenge for those of you who are left behind, and I know each and every one of you is definitely up to it.

I have always been a politician driven by passion and belief. I have had the philosophy: 'Do what you believe in and believe in what you do.' That has driven me all the way along. One issue that I do not believe has been addressed is asylum seekers. I think history will judge us very poorly when it comes to the way this parliament has treated asylum seekers. We cannot leave people on Manus Island and Nauru forever. There has to be some light at the end of the tunnel. We need to make sure that we are seen as a compassionate nation, a nation that actually does something and does not use asylum seekers and refugees as election fodder. There is a real challenge for members of this parliament to show that we can right this atrocity. It is not good enough and we need to deal with it.

Another issue I have always been passionate about is live exports. I know my colleague Joel Fitzgibbon has been working very hard on this. Mahatma Gandhi said that the greatness of a nation can be judged by the way it treats animals. I have to say that animals leaving these shores as live exports have been treated appallingly. I know Joel has been working on this and is very keen to see the appointment of an independent inspector-general of animal welfare. Labor has a good policy in this area. Like the asylum seeker issue, live exports are an issue out there that needs to be addressed.

I would also like—Joel, while I am talking about your area: another little job for you—to talk about the export of greyhounds.

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