Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I join with other members of this place to offer my sincere congratulations for your election to this important role.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this parliament sits, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and future. I also acknowledge the traditional owners in my electorate of Werriwa, the Dharug, Gandangara and Tharawal peoples. Let me also acknowledge any other Indigenous people present in the house today. Labor, under the leadership of Whitlam, Keating and Rudd, has been a champion of reconciliation and recognition of our first people. I hope that in this 45th Parliament we can continue this work by finally recognizing our first people in the Constitution.

The seat of Werriwa is a Federation seat steeped in history. It takes its name from the local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which in the early 1900s was in the boundaries of the electorate. Werriwa was then a rural electorate, but with the growth of population it is now part of greater Sydney. It is an area that extends from Macquarie Fields in the south to Bonnyrigg in the north, Casula to the east and Badgerys Creek in the west.

It is soon to be the home of Sydney's second airport, a project often promised but previously not delivered. And this is why it is so crucial that its construction is done correctly, with the long-term interests of the people of Western Sydney at heart. The addition of the airport to my electorate has been made with the promise of employment and opportunity—something the people of Werriwa would welcome given that, according to the 2011 census, 68 per cent of the workforce travel outside the electorate every day for work. The average commute is approximately 1½ hours per day—valuable time which takes my constituents away from their families and communities. It has a crippling impact on their quality of life. It is hard to exercise, help the children with homework or coach a local rugby league team, as I did, when you are stuck on the M4 or the M5.

For the good of all Australians, particularly the residents of Werriwa and the adjoining electorates of Macarthur, Lindsay, McMahon, Chifley and Fowler, the airport must be properly planned and the EIS strictly followed, and my constituents should not be subjected to 24-hour aircraft noise. We must enhance the economic prospects of Western Sydney but also balance the environmental impacts. We need to protect the pristine areas of World Heritage in the Blue Mountains, in the electorate of my colleague the member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman. Labor is clear that the people of Western Sydney deserve an airport that is well planned, with the accompanying infrastructure ready before the first flight arrives. A properly planned airport, with a heavy-rail link and land dedicated to the industries of the 22nd century, will be an essential hub of employment and economic opportunity for the people of the south-west.

I have been reminded on more than one occasion that I have big shoes to fill. My predecessors have had a significant influence in Australian public life. For nearly a century, my seat has been held by Labor. The Prime Minister indicated late in the recent election campaign that he believed Werriwa would be won by the coalition. But the strength of the Labor campaign and our positive message meant that the seat was held by Labor with an increased majority. That is something which I am very proud of and humbled by.

The Hon. Laurie Ferguson, who retired from this place at the last election and is in the audience today, held the seat for six years after a career that encompassed two parliaments, three constituencies and 26 years of public service. Laurie was a tireless advocate for the people of Werriwa. He is an amazing person, a formidable intellect, and I am honoured by his support and mentorship over the past few years. Thank you, Laurie.

His predecessor, now the member for Fowler, Chris Hayes, is also an inspiring example of how to represent an electorate. I am grateful to consider Chris and his wife, Bernadette, friends. His advice and assistance, especially in the recent campaign, were amazing.

Werriwa has also been held by some very significant leaders in our party: Mark Latham, a Labor leader; John Kerin, a senior minister in the Hawke and Keating governments; and, of course, the Hon. Edward Gough Whitlam. Whitlam held the seat for 26 years and served the people of Werriwa and this nation for decades more. I moved to Werriwa in 1962, aged one. Gough Whitlam loomed large on the Australian political scene for all of my childhood with his distinguished contributions to Australian political life. One of my childhood memories is of my father wearing a party hat and cheering on the night of 2 December 1972, saying, 'We won, we finally won!' Finally, it truly was time.

The achievements of the Whitlam government are too substantial to list again here. However, it is right to acknowledge today that the achievements of the Whitlam government in relation to education, health and women's rights enhanced the opportunities of residents of Werriwa and all Australians. Whitlam championed women in the ALP. He thought women should be making ALP policy, not just making the tea. The Labor Party has ensured Whitlam's legacy through actively supporting women to be candidates in winnable seats. As a result, there are now more women members of our caucus than ever before. I could not imagine standing in this place as the first female member for Werriwa without the achievements of the Whitlam, Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments.

I was inspired to join the ALP in 1996 as a response to the reactionary policies of the Howard government—in particular, the Howard government's attacks on workers' rights, his malicious war on multiculturalism and his appalling attacks on Indigenous peoples. As Keating famously said:

… in truth, we cannot confidently say that we have succeeded as we would like to have succeeded if we have not managed to extend opportunity and care, dignity and hope to the indigenous people of Australia—the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people.

I wanted to be part of the Australian Labor Party—the progressive party in Australian politics; the party that works to advance the opportunities of all Australians. My family have always been Labor supporters and union members, and they see these as core institutions that support a progressive Australia. I joined the union on the first day I started work and have been a unionist ever since. My mother worked for the Building Workers Industrial Union of Australia because, at a time when this was not required by legislation, the union paid men and women equal wages. The BWIU also allowed women to continue working once they married, meaning Mum continued to work for the union up to my birth some 10 years later.

My family have always taken an active interest in politics, but I wanted to move from the family tradition of yelling at politicians on the TV, pioneered by my feisty, Manchester born grandmother, who would engage in fierce mock debate whenever Malcolm Fraser came on the television. No doubt she had previously argued with prime ministers McMahon, Gorton and Menzies. I am too young to remember that, however!

While yelling at the TV can be satisfying, especially as you are always right in your own lounge room, I wanted to be part of the Labor tradition of making positive change through engagement in the political process. My family has always had a high regard for what a Labor government can do. While the achievements of the Whitlam government changed the nation, the Hawke, Keating, Rudd and Gillard governments did much to improve opportunity for all Australians. When I was a child, my father would frequently remind our family of the achievements of Curtin and Chifley, when they created the social safety net in the shadow of World War II. The achievements of these previous Labor governments remind us of what is possible in politics, and I need to contribute to that proud tradition.

I began my political career by serving as a councillor on Liverpool City Council from 2008 to 2016. I firmly believe that all politics are local and what affects individuals will affect everyone. One of my favourite achievements from my time as a councilor was working with council staff to ensure that employees at Hoxton Industries, an organisation that provides jobs for people with a disability in my electorate, had easier access to their premises. Early one morning, on the way to drop my grandchild at day care, I drove past one of the employees in a wheelchair struggling in the rain to gain access to their workplace due to a missing section of footpath. I contacted the CEO and we worked to complete that footpath. The organisation spoke to me once the work was complete and indicated the huge difference it had made to the workers. This is a modest achievement. It is not the creation of Medicare, nor the extension of universal education, but it is, to my mind, consistent with the best Labor traditions of extending a helping hand to those who need it most.

Following in the tradition of the previous members for Werriwa, I plan to contribute by continuing to focus on the services—often simple services—that people need to improve their lives. My predecessor Gough Whitlam recognised the importance of education and health care. Unlike many of his critics, Gough lived in suburban Australia. He appreciated the impact basic infrastructure like sewage and sealed roads had on people's lives. Like Gough, I will fight to ensure the residents of Werriwa have good-quality public education to enhance their life opportunities and access to appropriate infrastructure, from footpaths to first-rate broadband.

The residents of Werriwa need good-quality health care, which means adequate funding of Medicare and the public hospital system. Much has been made by those opposite of the so-called 'Mediscare' campaign and the claims of untruths and misinformation from the ALP. The people of Werriwa knew, however, by deed and example, that our Medicare campaign was indeed correct. You cannot back universal health care with a plan to privatise Medicare. Labor, the architects of Medicare, will always support universal health care.

I believe that everyone in a modern society deserves access to health care without worrying about how they will pay for it. Under the Liberals, pathology will cost more on 1 January next year. And the three tries at the introduction of a co-payment by stealth had GPs in my electorate raising concerns with me and, no doubt, their patients. A caring society makes sure that all its citizens are able to access health care that improves their lives. Universal health care is a right for all—not goods to be sold to the highest bidder, like the cancer register.

Medicare means so much to families in Werriwa. Before Medicare, I can remember discussions between my parents about how they would choose who they could afford to take to the doctor. I remember their relief when first Medibank and then Medicare made such choices unnecessary. My father had a good, stable job. We were by no means the poorest family in our neighbourhood. Now, I can only imagine what choices had to be made in other households.

Without Medicare our family would have been bankrupted by the frequent hospitalisations and medical tests required before and after my mother's diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. My twin sons, who last month graduated from Western Sydney University, were born prematurely, at 29 weeks. Their early weeks were spent in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Westmead Hospital. Our family is forever indebted to the hardworking staff at that hospital—the orderlies, administrative staff, nurses and doctors who worked so hard caring for their patients and my sons. Without the expert care available in the public hospital system my sons would not have survived. And without Medicare our family would have had significant bills to pay at a time we could least afford them.

Westmead Hospital is a legacy of the Whitlam Labor government. Whitlam understood that hospitals should be built where people are, rather than where the doctors live. Gough's vision and Neville Wran's determination saw the hospital built. This is the sort of infrastructure that makes a society humane. It should not be outsourced or privatised but supported by all governments. With the burgeoning population growth in my region, hospitals are still under stress, and it is time for upgrades at Campbelltown and Nepean hospitals—a need Mike Baird has overlooked and those opposite continue to ignore.

Protecting Medicare and maintaining health funding is personal for me. I know from conversations with my constituents that many share such stories of how good-quality public health care enabled their families to provide support to love ones facing major health challenges. As the member for Werriwa, I will work with colleagues to ensure that Medicare survives and thrives and ensure that access to high-quality health care is dependent on a patient's need and not the size of their bank balance.

The quickest way to improve lives in our community and reduce reliance on welfare is needs-based funding of education. Like many of my constituents, including my children, I attended Lurnea high. State schools like Lurnea provide opportunity for all through the hard work of teachers and support staff and with the encouragement of local families.

Families in Werriwa have a higher incidence of developmental issues such as autism than the population as a whole. Funding depending on need to support such families through early childhood and school education is vital. The government must support our hardworking teachers and support staff. They make a huge difference to the lives of families in Werriwa. Their contributions will be enhanced through a properly funded needs-based education system.

But education does not stop when school ends. Adequate support for tertiary education is vital. The New South Wales government is currently undermining the TAFE system which has provided generations of Werriwa residents with the qualifications necessary to develop a rewarding and stable career. The federal Liberal government was prevented by colleagues in the Senate from similarly undermining the university sector, but nonetheless made substantial cuts to schemes designed to support disadvantaged people's access to higher education. My generation was the first in my family to attend university. Both my parents should have—they were brilliant, and would have offered so much—but the costs were prohibitive. As the member for Werriwa and as a member of the Labor team, I will work to ensure that access to education at all levels promotes opportunity for all Australians.

While sewers were essential in Gough's time, and footpaths are vital for many today, we must ensure that we equip our cities andsuburbs with the infrastructure of the next century. The lack of high-speed broadband remains a significant problem for the residents of Werriwa. During the election campaign, and as the member for Werriwa, I have been repeatedly approached with concerns about the availability, speed and reliability of internet services in my electorate. In some areas of my electorate, constituents are moving into new housing estates with no hope of any—or at least not fast and reliable—internet access for years. One constituent emailed me in September to tell me that Telstra had suggested that if she wanted an internet connection she should move! She lives just 10 kilometres from the Liverpool CBD—a regional city—and five kilometres from the nearest Telstra exchange.

The lack of reliable internet, let alone the NBN, reduces my constituents' life opportunities. They cannot work or run a business from home. They cannot work on or submit assignments for school, TAFE or university. They cannot maintain their ties with family members through services such as Skype and Facebook. The recent announcements by NBN Co that it will not use the HFC network means that a large part of my electorate is again wondering if they will ever have the benefit of the NBN. Constituents cannot sustain connecting to the internet using portable internet devices which are not fit for purpose and are extremely expensive. As high quality internet facilities are key to the contemporary drivers of economic development, such as education and innovation, the poor access to facilities in Werriwa systematically disadvantages my constituents' access to the growing digital economy. As the member for Werriwa, I will be guided by the principals of access, equity and social justice. I want to ensure that the people of my electorate are able to have somewhere to live that they can afford, properly funded Medicare and education and high speed broadband connections.

With the indulgence of the House, Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to take some time to thank just a few of the people who have helped me to stand in this place today. My election success was definitely a team effort. I would like to thank all the branch members of Werriwa who phoned, letterboxed, worked on pre-poll and polling booths and did the many other tasks that make an election campaign possible—people like Sam Kayal, Slobodan Lazovic, Nathan Hagarty, Dom Mosca, Frank and Rhonda Sulman, Keith Kerrigan, Pat Glossop, Chris Noble, Tim Kaliyanda, Grace Fava, and the list goes on and on. For the Werriwa campaign team of Charishma Kaliyanda, Raf Catanzariti and Emily Baldwin, 'thank you' seems so little when you gave up so much of your time to encourage, doorknock, phone and organise for me. You did so much to help me; thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

To Laurie Ferguson and the member for Macquarie Fields, Anoulack Chanthivong, thank you for your support and early morning train station camaraderie. I also thank the member for Macarthur, Dr Mike Freelander, for his friendship and support. I also thank the staff of Anoulack's office—Natasha, Rowena and especially Aaron Rule for his encouragement over my time in the Labor Party. I thank my staff Linda, Vicki, Steve, Alex and Katerina and the recently retired Maurice Campbell for all they have done for the electorate of Werriwa.

I also acknowledge my fellow Liverpool City Council colleagues Wendy Waller, Ali Karnib and Geoff Shelton and congratulate them on their success in the recent elections. I know that, now the numbers have changed, Liverpool will now include the community's and not just developers' interests into the future. I congratulate and thank the Campbelltown councillors for their support, especially Mayor George Brticevic, Meg Oates, Darcy Lound, Wal Glynn and Rudi Kolkman.

I acknowledge the support of several unions and their leadership—Andrew and Kathleen Williamson from the AIMPE, Rita Mallia and Brad and Brian Parker from the CFMEU, Graeme Kelly and Steve Donnelly from the USU and Gerard Hayes from the HSU. There are the staff of the New South Wales ALP head office, especially Kaila Murnain. Kaila, I cannot express in words how much your encouragement and support means to me—thank you. I also acknowledge the support of Rose Jackson, Pat Garcia, Jessica Malnersic, and the rest of the team at New South Wales head office for their assistance during the campaign.

I pay tribute to the national secretariat and the shadow cabinet, especially the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, the deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, and Penny Wong for delivering leadership and a positive campaign with over 250 polices that resonated so well with the voters of Werriwa and Australia. I especially thank and acknowledge the Hon. Chris Bowen and the Hon. Jason Clare for their assistance with my campaign fundraising efforts, and the Hon. Sharon Bird for coming to Werriwa and meeting with TAFE teachers and constituents. I am very proud to be part of this Labor caucus and I thank each of you for your support, encouragement and assistance.

To Loretta Fletcher, Alfat Karnib and Paul Lynch, my work colleagues for the last nine years, it has simply been a pleasure to work with you. It is without a doubt the best place I have ever worked, it was your support and assistance that made it so. To Paul Lynch, New South Wales shadow Attorney-General and member for Liverpool, thank you for everything you have done to support and mentor me over my 20 years in the party. Your patience, belief and inspiration are one of the reasons that I am able to stand as the representative for Werriwa. Thank you for your confidence in me. And to Deb Ferguson, thank you for the cups of tea, biscuits and letterboxing and all that pre-poll. You helped me keep my sanity and I value our friendship. I also appreciate the very helpful advice and assistance offered by Adam Tyndall in the preparation of this speech.

My life is enriched by many friends and I thank you for your support and practical help over the years, some are in the audience today—Michelle Cross, Kim and Alan Bradley, Kirstyn and Amanda, Kim, John and Richelle Ellery and Alison Megarrity.

Lastly, and probably not before time, to my family: I thank my grandparents John and Winfred Mee and Henry and Ivy Davison for choosing Australia as their home. My parents William and Margaret Mee—I hope I make you proud; you ensured that your daughters knew they could do anything. To my sister Kathy and her beautiful daughters Lizzy and Evie, and Adrian, thank you—I couldn't have done it without you, and certainly not this speech! For the longest time, Kathy, it was just you and me against the world. I am so proud of what you have achieved, Dr Mee; I love you so much.

To my husband Larry for your love and support over the past 33 years; thank you for making our home a place where I could pursue my ambitions and dreams. I could not have done it without you. My children Michael, Matthew, Meaghan, Andrew and Christopher and their partners, Chantell, Kate and Shivawn. Matthew, Andrew and Christopher I am so proud of you; you are wonderful young men, and graduates pursuing your career goals. I revel in your achievements. I love you to the Moon and back. And finally to Meaghan and Horatio; my wonderful grandchildren. It is for your generation I want to make a difference and create an Australia and a world of which you will be proud.

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