Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to start by noting the near absence of Western Australian MPs from the Liberal side of politics. It's a desperate shame when you have a such great topic to speak on today. I'm very pleased to be able to speak today on the role of WA in the Commonwealth. Geography is important. Faced with the vast Indian Ocean before it, with all its bounty and all its peoples, we can never get away from the fact that we are separated from the rest of the nation by vast deserts and the Nullarbor Plain. It was Tim Winton, that great Western Australian author, who observed that West Australians, for the most part, live on the veranda of this continent, with the Indian Ocean before us, the desert at our backs and the spaces in between used for mining, agriculture and education to build a prosperous state.

Each state in this remarkable nation makes its mark in different ways. My colleagues all enjoy talking about the fine attributions and contributions of their home states—we all do. The role of mining and the resources industry in WA is well-known and the successful exploitation of natural resources gifted to us has been a cornerstone in the development of our state and this nation. The Wheatbelt of WA is the largest grain producing region. The last harvest was the biggest ever experienced, with Western Australian farmers harvesting over 16½ million tonnes of grain. Most of this grain is exported through the largest grain handling facility in the Southern Hemisphere—the CBH grain handling facility, with the blue iconic silos at Kwinana Beach in my electorate of Brand.

WA is playing its part in science and research. The world's largest public science data project is happening in Perth and in the radio quiet of the vast Murchison, where the CSIRO, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and their global partners are building the Square Kilometre Array. In the arts, WA excels. The Perth International Arts Festival, established in 1953 by UWA, is the oldest and best—of course—international arts festival in the nation. In our splendid isolation, great artists have emerged from the west: Guy Grey-Smith, Elise Blumann, Mary Moore, Elizabeth Jolley, Shaun Tan, Tim Minchin, the great soprano singer Sara Macliver, the Triffids, the Hoodoo Gurus and INXS. Before all that, the art of the oldest living culture in the world, Australia's first peoples, came to being on the rocks of the Kimberley and the Pilbara.

We all love our homes, but shouldn't we in this place think of this country as a nation made up of its states that is greater than the sum of its parts? I, for one, love Australia so much I would not part with a single piece of her. And to think the WA Liberal Party hold this nation in such disregard that they would seek to tear it apart. Yes, we've all heard about it. The WA Liberal Party state conference last weekend voted to set up a committee to seek to divide WA from the Federation. Such confidence they have in the Prime Minister and how he treats WA, they seek to leave the Federation! Can't get your six cabinet ministers to help out WA? Can't get your PM to listen and do anything? I guess if you are a WA Liberal you take your bat and your ball and you go home and take a third of the pitch with you.

This absurd motion came forward from the Brand division of the Liberals, from a local Liberal, Rick Palmer. I spoke with him just the other week at a chamber of commerce awards event in my electorate. He's been a great member of the community. He's flown the flag for the Brand Liberals for a while. But I'm not sure who else is in the Brand division of the Liberals, given their electoral results in 2016 and then in the four seats across Brand in the WA state election in March. They have clearly left the building. There is no doubt that WA Liberal secession talk is fodder for vast amusement, but the laughs mask a very serious issue. Political leaders have an obligation to work in the interests of the community, to seek to bring people together, to work hard for workable solutions to the problems we all face. In bringing forward this motion for WA to seek independence from the Commonwealth, the Brand division of the WA Liberal Party have engaged in the most rank of politics.

In supporting this absurd motion, the WA Liberal Party have sunk to new depths, by seeking to harness a populous and divisive agenda. This is very serious. How dare the WA Liberal Party damage the reputation of Western Australia and Western Australians in this ridiculous and shameful fashion? Their poor judgement serves only to divide a nation—a Commonwealth that is greater than the sum of its parts. WA is proudly a part of Australia. We have played and continue to play an important role in this great Commonwealth. As leaders, our political skills should be used in working hard to resolve federal difficulties like the GST distribution, not throwing our hands up in the air, insulting our friends and colleagues and deserting the nation. We have seen, around the world, divisions that are stoked up by such irresponsible political leadership. It's a dangerous game. WA is better than this. WA is better than the Liberals. I would say to WA Liberals and anyone drifting towards this separatist sentiment: you don't need to secede to get a fair share; you just need to vote for Labor.

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