Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chifley for those kind words. Addresses in reply in the life of an MP are a moment to take stock and, in a sense, give thanks to people who have helped us get here. The member for Chifley is somebody who I have known for a long time; indeed, prior to coming into this place, both of us worked in the union movement. We are about representing people and that is what we have devoted our lives to. I am very proud of the time that I spent in the union movement, and I know the member for Chifley is as well. It was there that I first met him. The member for Chifley is making a fantastic contribution in this place. Not only is it in terms of this policy areas around innovation and technology, where he certainly is making a contribution, but he makes this a more fun and better place to be when we come here to sit. I thank him for that.

If I can focus on my side of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, you have been somebody who has been here since the moment I arrived. I very much thank you for your fellowship. The member for Bass is someone who has arrived in the last election, so in a sense we have got the spread here of people who have been here for the journey and what the future holds. It certainly makes me feel good about sitting on the Labor side of the parliament.

I also want to echo the comment that the member for Chifley made: we are really the beneficiaries of so many other people's work. I would not get elected my own. The thing that mostly gets me elected is the Labor brand; I will be a lifelong member of the Labor Party and ever thankful for that. There are so many who have worked in my office, who have volunteered around the election campaign, and I want to take the opportunity of thanking them in this speech today.

I will start with my office. In no particular order, I acknowledge: Saverina Chirumbolo, Catherine Bergin, Lidija Ivanonski, Zachery Power, Haley Bamford, Geraldine Eren, Simon Furey, Michael Tate, Bec SmithandSophie Andrew, all of whom worked with me during the last term of this parliament. I am nothing without them. They do so much of the day-to-day work which enables me to stand here on an occasion like this—to articulate the policy of the Labor Party, to come up with good ideas about how we can contribute in the various portfolios that I have worked in and, of course, to represent the people of Corio and the people of Geelong in this parliament, which is such an honour to do. I am enormously grateful to all those people who have worked in my office over that period of time. They make it fun to go to work. I thank them from the bottom of my heart for all they have given, and at the same time give an enduring apology for me on my worst occasions—which I hope are not too frequent.

In Geelong we are part of what is very much a Labor team, and that goes beyond just the federal sphere. There are a number of state MPs who I work with on a day-to-day basis. We see ourselves as a team representing Labor in the region. In that vein, I would like to acknowledge the Hon. John Eren who is currently the Victorian Minister for Sport but is also the member for Lara; the Hon. Lisa Neville, who is currently the Victorian Minister for Police and the member for Bellarine; the Hon. Gail Tierney, also a member of the state cabinet; and Christine Couzens, the member for Geelong. We are well-represented within the Victorian Andrews government; indeed, there are three MPs from Geelong sitting in that cabinet. It is an unprecedented level of representation at the highest level of the state government, and that is because of the quality of those people. They do an incredible job representing their constituencies within the state sphere, and I am thankful for the support they give me.

It is great to be part of that Geelong Labor team, representing the people of Geelong at every level. All of us share the experience of doing street stalls and meeting constituents. Constituents should not be expected to know, necessarily, whether the problem that they are raising with you is a state problem or a federal problem. They may have an issue with their dealings with government or with society, and they come to speak about that to you as their representative. But, in order to respond to it, often it means calling a state colleague and getting them to follow through on an issue—if it is a state issue that is being raised with you—and equally, a state member will call me, if one of their constituents has raised an issue which is a federal issue. It requires cooperation and teamwork, and we certainly display that.

During the last election, we had more than 370 volunteers. They helped by working on street stalls, doorknocking, phone banks, putting up yard signs, and handing out leaflets on pre-polling and election days. It was a Herculean effort across the entire electorate. I would like to name all 370, but I think I would be stretching your courtesy, Madam Deputy Speaker Bird, if I did that. However, I do want to mention a number of people who particularly helped during that period of time: Stephen Hogg, Lena De Rosso, Vlad Selakovic, Gail Cook, Wayne Mader, Leonie Sheedy, Tegan Whitten, James Koval, Jett Fogarty, Rachel Penny, Ellen and Alex Csar, Lex Chalmers, Tony Kelly, Wendy Jones, Owen Sharkey, Rodney O'Brien, Cameron Granger, Chris Kelly and the entire Port Arlington branch of the ALP—who did a sterling job out on the Northern Bellarine. I thank also Chris Van Ingen, Roger Lowrey and Jill Peterson—long-time friends, Craig Meddings, Joe Pavlovic—who is an icon of the Croatian community in Geelong, and a really big supporter; I appreciate his support, Kelly Toyne, Desiree Balaburova, Ali Heydari and the team of volunteers he brings to bear—I was with Ali a couple of weekends ago celebrating Nowruz; Ali is a member of the Iranian community in Geelong and a very significant contributor at whole levels of Geelong society. I also want to mention Darren and Natasha Lamont, who are old friends, and Glenn and Russel Menzies—Russel used to work for me, a long time ago, and Glenn and Russel and their families are such supporters. Thanks also go to Sam Lynch and all those from Young Labor who came down the road from Melbourne, Julie Field, Wendy Jones, Fred Bree and Robyn Davis, Rosemary Nicholls, Tristan Groegar, Yunxiang Zhu, Sharon and John Mitchell, Sue Thompson, Steve Bellis, Hendrika Markevitch, Geoff Fary, Zoli Lucso, and Mick Kremer. I could mention so many more, but I wanted to get those names on the record because each one of those people devoted significant amounts of time during the election campaign. Again, as the member for Chifley said, we are but the consequence of the efforts that they put in, and I know very clearly that the incredible privilege I get to enjoy as being a member of this place is in large measure because of the work that they put in completely freely and in their own time.

I particularly want to mention William Reeves, who came down from Melbourne and handed out for me on the day. I have known William since I was 11, I think. He is a school friend of mine. He does not live in Geelong but has always made it a point on election day to come down and assist me, and there is something wonderful about having friends over that journey. Both of us are witnesses to each other's lives. I have many other friends of that duration, but I particularly wanted to mention William, who made the time to come down on election day. I am very grateful to him.

Geelong is blessed with a significant and active civic leadership. G21, an organisation which represents five councils in the greater Geelong region, is in fact in Canberra in the last sitting week, so many members on both sides of the House got to meet them, and that is a frequent occurrence, as it is to meet those from the Committee for Geelong who come to Canberra and advocate on behalf of our community. They obviously do the same in Spring Street in Melbourne. The level of organisation and commitment that we enjoy in Geelong from those groups is really important, and they are, of course, bipartisan and work with all sides of politics, as they should. I am indebted to them for the sorts of ideas that they put forward. In terms of having an understanding of one's community and knowing what it is that we in this and my colleagues in Spring Street should be advocating for, the work that those organisations put in is hugely influential. I think it is important in the context of the last election to acknowledge them, not as partisan supporters of mine in any sense but as people who influence the scene and do so in a really positive way for our community. I acknowledge Bill Mithen and Elaine Carbines from G21. I mentioned Dan Simmonds and Rebecca Casson from the Committee for Geelong and Kylie Warne and Bernadette Uzelac from the Geelong Chamber of Commerce.

I would also like to acknowledge Geelong Trades Hall, who play a very significant role within our community as well. There are many from Geelong Trades Hall who I mentioned in that long previous list who have been assisting me. They also play a very significant role in the ideas and the advocacy that they mount on behalf of our community.

There are four people I particularly want to mention who, if I can put it this way, are a source of personal advice for me about Geelong. I know that these people give advice to all sides of politics, and they do so with the intention of trying to put the representatives of Geelong in a better position to do their work: Frank Costa, Andrew Balaam, Brian Cook and Peter Dorling. Each of those people is so important to me in giving me guidance, advice and mentoring, and I am very indebted to them. They are great people, and they are great people on the national stage. We are really lucky in Geelong to have them living in our town, and I cannot give enough thanks for all that they do for me but, much more significantly, for the region. It is an appropriate time to acknowledge them as well.

I want to mention Richard Lange. Richard was the candidate from the Liberal Party for the seat of Corio. Richard ran a very impressive campaign. He worked hard. He did it with an enormous amount of honour. Representing one of the major parties in a federal election is a huge thing to do. It is essentially a volunteer act; he was not paid for a moment of his time. He participated in the discussion with me about the future of Geelong, and we are better for the fact that he did that. I do not know if it is the right thing to say I enjoyed working with Richard, because I do not think that is the way one puts it when we were competing with each other for a seat, but the truth is I did really enjoy getting to know Richard. He is a really good person, and I thank him for the time that he put in in this election campaign. I really do wish him the best for the future. From where stood, I thought he did a great job in the role that he performed.

The seat of Corio is intimately connected by geography with the seat of Corangamite. We are the two seats which represent Geelong and inevitably I do a lot of work with the member for Corangamite. I very much congratulate her on also being re-elected at the last election. In the context of that election, I worked very closely with Labor's candidate for Corangamite, Libby Coker. I want to acknowledge Libby as well for the work that she put in. She did a sterling job and got a swing to Labor in that seat. It is a really hard and thankless task. I know that she knocked on thousands of doors and made thousands of phone calls and spent the better part of 18 months working on this. It did not go unnoticed. It was not the result that Libby hoped for, but it is a really significant contribution to fly the Labor flag in the seat of Corangamite, and we certainly have hopes at the next election. It is important to acknowledge the work that Libby put in at the last election.

I want to thank my family and my extended family, a number of whom came down and helped on election day: my sister, Liz Marles and her husband, Ken Quail; my other sister, Vic Marles, and her partner, Geoff Westcott; and my third sister, Jenny Green, and her partner, Sue Doust. I am so lucky to have three elder sisters. I often say that I feel like I have been raised by a tribe of women, with three elder sisters and my mother, who was the first Equal Opportunity Commissioner in Victoria. I want to acknowledge her, Fay Marles, and my father, Don Marles. We are a very close family. There are some challenges that we are all facing together at the moment, but it is a joy for me on election day to see all of my family participating in this. I also want to acknowledge my wife's family, Vince and Judy Schutze, my wife's brother, Jason Schutze and his partner, Wayne Norman, and my wife's sister, Mel Schutze and her husband, Albert Landman. They are a great source of friendship to me and support in what I do. My children, Sam, Bella, Harvey and Georgia all played a role during the election campaign, including Georgia who was six at the time, so we are working on her early. Most of all, I want to acknowledge Rachel in this context who is an ongoing support. Her support was incredible during the election campaign. I am not here but for her. I want her to know that, but also know that whatever I do here and whatever significance is attached to that in my own life, it does not bear comparison with the importance that Rachel has in my life and the future that I really look forward to sharing with her, as we have shared our past.

There were a number of significant regional issues which came up during the election campaign. I was pleased that we were able to make announcements within the Geelong region. There was a $16 million regional innovation fund which would have seen 20 new regional innovation hubs around Australia and part of that would have been in Geelong. Indeed, the member for Chifley came to Geelong to participate in that announcement. We announced a $5 million pledge to AnamCara, which is a community hospice, together with a lot of private money that has been raised. It would have made a significant contribution in putting in place a hospice. That understates the significance of it. It is a new form of end-of-life care which really is state-of-the-art in how that should occur. We made announcements in relation to Avalon Airport to ensure that the airport was deemed as a regional airport and, in the process, that classification would delink it from Melbourne and, as result, would not be constrained by air service agreements with international airlines that apply to Melbourne. This is important because we need to see Avalon become an international airport, and we are all working very hard on that endeavour.

We announced $59 million for a Manufacturing Transition Boost jobs package. That would have applied across Australia, but a significant component of it would have applied in Geelong. That is important as well because we are a community that is going through a transition with a number of difficult decisions that have been taken around manufacturing, most notably the decision by Alcoa to stop the Point Henry smelter, and the decision by Ford back in 2012 to stop manufacturing cars in Australia; they indeed stopped manufacturing cars in October 2016.

I was really proud that just about the first announcement that was made across the country during the election campaign was a $2 million contribution to the GROW project being run by G21, which I mentioned earlier. GROW is a project that is focused on dealing with disadvantage in the areas of Geelong, and the region, that are doing it toughest; places like Norlane, Corio, Newcomb and Whittington where we are seeing a divide grow, which worries me greatly. People often ask me how Geelong is doing in the face of decisions by Alcoa and Ford. At one level across the region we are doing okay, but it is in suburbs like Norlane and Corio, where a lot of those who worked at Ford and Alcoa live, where you do see an added layer of disadvantage occurring. The GROW project is about targeting in on that, and I was very proud that we made a funding commitment to that. It is sad that that did not eventuate by virtue of the election result, but I really hope that we can do something if ever we come back to power, and that we can focus not only on suburbs like Norlane and Corio in Geelong, but indeed on suburbs like that around Australia.

That then speaks to the national effort, and I want to thank Bill Shorten for the incredible role that he played. Throughout the last term of the parliament, we were policy-brave in the kinds of things we were talking about. We did not shy away from things like negative gearing and tackling issues like that. We also articulated our core values around making sure that there is a strong social safety net—I notice the member for Ballarat is here, and she did a sterling job in relation to the Medicare campaign—and focusing on jobs and making sure that we as a country are not going to leave anyone behind. Bill was fantastic in the way that he did that, and that was certainly a message that resonated in Geelong.

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