John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am honoured to have once again received a vote of confidence from the people of Bennelong and been returned to this parliament with an increased majority. The 45th Parliament was a turbulent time for the voters of Bennelong, with three elections in four years thanks to an interpretation of section 44, which I have some very strong views on. Despite this turmoil, voters saw fit to return the Liberals in Bennelong for the fifth time since 2010. It was truly a humbling experience to receive this vote of support.

Our local result was hugely impressive. We received 56.91 per cent, a 2.1 per cent increase over our by-election result. For context, John Howard got 54.22 per cent in the last election that he won, when Bennelong included parts of Hunters Hill and none of Parramatta. In that context, this was a great result. Even more impressively, we managed to get 50.82 per cent of first preferences, which is more than in 2016, when we almost got 60 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.

This of course was not a solo effort—far from it. I was just one of hundreds in our team who came out to volunteer for our campaign. They were quite simply the reason why we were able to get such a great result. Much as I would like to, obviously I cannot name everybody here, but I would like to single out a few people who helped above and beyond. Firstly, local stalwart Craig Chung was given the most important job and pulled it off with aplomb. Craig was in charge of manning all of the booths, and it was to his credit that we got every booth overstaffed at times. It was a huge effort. Thank you, Craig. John Bathgate also played a critical role in getting booths manned. John was in charge of manning prepoll, a larger-than-usual job with three polling booths running for three weeks. He did a terrific job, and the results were really worthwhile.

Bennelong is Australia's capital of innovation, so it is only fair that the millennia-old secret to perpetual motion should be uncovered here by none other than the peripatetic David Hayman, who bounced back from working his guts out at the state election to run all the activities that took place at Eastwood over the whole campaign, including prepolling, which required his unbounded energy. The FEC committee was wonderful as our campaign committee. Headed up by local legend Peter Graham OAM, the whole team facilitated open and friendly meetings where decisions were made quickly and harmoniously—always a key to a great campaign. Thanks to Peter for steering the ship judiciously, as well as to Janine Orban for balancing the books, Natalie Hissey—what a star—for keeping everyone up to date and running non-stop, Sarkis for your connections and advice, and James Wallace, who organised a cracking party. Everybody likes a party!

We were also lucky to have sage advice and wisdom from someone who has been here before, namely the former member for Eden-Monaro, Peter Hendy, who has witnessed his fair share of campaigns at all levels and is a vital edition to the Bennelong team. I know he's going to have a tilt for the Senate that is opening up, and I wish him well in that fight.

Most of the people listed above captained booths, but there were couple of dozen others who also performed this vital role. Captaining a booth is a real commitment in time and effort. People see you standing out in the sun all day, but we know that it takes even more than this—collecting kits, setting up booths in the pre-dawn light and, then, when it is all done, packing it all up again and often heading off to scrutinise the vote, then getting the kit back to the campaign team in the coming days. I now know how gruelling all of this is, and I would like to thank everyone who put in this effort from the bottom of my heart.

Returning to individual campaigners, there's a remarkable local family whose help was invaluable, the Lanes: brother, and councillor, Jordan, and twin sisters Kendal and Madison ran one prepoll as well as helping in the office and being up to helping with absolutely everything. It's endlessly helpful people like this that get things done and campaigns won.

Andy Yin was a person who came to us offering to help with our translations. Andy, you were invaluable. Together with Cheryl, he ran our WeChat accounts and oversaw the large amounts of work we did with our Chinese community.

My dear friend Hugh Lee once again was a great help in this campaign, as he has been in every campaign and, indeed, in everyday life. His counsel and friendship are ever valuable, and I'm hugely thankful to Hugh for welcoming me to his local community with such heartfelt kindness.

I would also like to thank Dr Anthony Ching, my dentist, for being a fantastic asset in Eastwood, helping to put on events and reach out to the local community that I would struggle to reach—not because I don't share their ideals, hopes and aspirations, but simply because I don't speak their language. Thank you for all of your efforts, Anthony.

To my dear friend Lieutenant Colonel Paul Kim—he is just a great asset, a great friend in the Korean community. A hero of the Korean army, his help in all of my campaigns has been invaluable, and his friendship is something of just enormous value. He is a great asset to the Liberal Party in Bennelong, and this goes right back to John Howard's time.

Elizabeth Hamilton came to us offering to help and ended up playing a vital role running the special team of voting with a friend. This is a job that requires a certain sort of person: dedicated, organised and deeply caring— attributes that Elizabeth has in spades.

Our most dedicated campaigner, this year and every year, in every campaign, is the great Michael Zakka.

An honourable member: Hear, hear!

You're familiar with Michael. Out and about at every train station and every street stall, Michael was always there with a happy face and infectious enthusiasm. Thank you my friend Michael. I'll see you soon.

I also would like to thank the good people at headquarters, both in Sydney and nationally. They ran a tight ship and provided the support we needed when we needed it. Thanks to Chris, Luke, Cam and the whole team.

Closer to home, I must thank those in my office—it is a joy to go to work every day—Frances, Brendan, Daniel, Tim and Jonathon. So much of the work of this campaign was done by my team, and elections are easier to win because of the hard work that you put in to help me serve the electorate every day. The office would descend into chaos if it weren't for Frances, her steady hand and calm guidance at times. Daniel is the sole reason hundreds of people in Bennelong have got through issues with Centrelink and other departments. Brendan's return from a devastating illness has been inspirational. Tim somehow juggled a thesis and an election with style. And Johnathon, who is my senior adviser, although he is very much younger than me: what a great man and a great friend.

Most importantly, I would like to thank my family, from cousins to a friend called Stad and his wife, Rosemary, the mother of our children. It's a modern family. My daughters, Emily and Georgia, braved train stations and were absolutely heroic on election day and were magnificent at the party. My daughters do know how to party, so the DNA is there! Deb, like all political partners, has to put up with tiredness and crankiness from her partner. I'm sorry, Deb.

Before I finish thanking people, I have one final person to thank, and that's not the person who you might think I would thank. Thank you to the opposition's candidate, Dr Brian Owler. The quality of the campaign is usually determined by the interaction between the candidates. Politeness leads to happy volunteers and aggression leads to animosity throughout the entirety of both camps which, in turn, leads to a very unhappy campaign. We might not agree on all things, but we agree on many things. Brian was always a gentleman on the campaign and our interactions were more than civil and respectful. I consider Brian a friend. The result was a pleasant and happy campaign, and for that I'm very thankful to you, Brian.

It's great to receive a new mandate, because there is plenty going on locally: campaigns to help schools, students, shops, small businesses and families all loom large on the Bennelong horizon. The Bennelong Schools STEM Challenge will be on us again very soon. Educating our future generations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics holds the key to our growth and prosperity as a nation. STEM has received a great deal of attention in recent years, and rightly so; STEM affects almost every aspect of our lives, whether it's the food we eat, the clothes we wear, how we get to work or how we relax. STEM is indispensable to all these facets of our lives and many others. For our economy, STEM is the engine that will power our growth into the future. It is essential to so many of the growing sectors of our economy, such as health, education, finance, mining and manufacturing.

For the last two years, we have hosted the Bennelong Schools STEM Challenge in conjunction with the Re-Engineering Australia Foundation and our friends at Medtronic. Last year's event was a stunning success and featured dozens of schoolchildren using 3D software to design medical centres for the surface of Mars. It was an excellent opportunity for schoolchildren, many of whom were only in years 5 and 6, to show off their extraordinary talents and problem-solving abilities. The event will be on again this year, and we can't wait to see what our schools have in store for us.

The Bennelong Cup is another one of our fantastic initiatives that we run for the students in Bennelong. This table tennis tournament for local students and schools will be on again this year, its 10th consecutive year, which is an outstanding achievement. Back in 2010, I arranged for table tennis tables to be given free to every school in the electorate, thanks to the sponsorship of Hyundai. But after all these years and the rough-and-tumble world of schools—particularly the boys schools, which are particularly rough on these tables!—some of them were looking a little bit worse for wear. Hyundai have come in to replace those which can't be repaired and to repair those which can be repaired. This has been rolling over the last few months, and I'm hopeful we'll get the most out of the schools at the time of the cup.

The Bennelong Cup seems like a bit of fun, but it's underscored by a very important message: Bennelong is one of the most multicultural electorates in the country, with large numbers of families from China, Korea, Armenia, Italy, India and many more places. While this gives us a very rich cultural tapestry to our streets and shops, it often leads to segregation in our classrooms, and particularly in our playgrounds. A simple, fun sport like table tennis can bridge this divide. Not everybody likes to play cricket or can play football, but everybody can play table tennis, and playing sport together creates friendships that cross the cultural divides. The Bennelong Cup looks like it's about sport, but it's actually much more important: it's about community cohesion and making friends.

The Bennelong Village Businesses campaign continues to go from strength to strength. Back when I first became an MP there was a real lethargy about our local shops. The global financial crisis was upon us; some were reducing hours and some were even closing as the economy slowed, which was preventing people from shopping. What was more galling was the fact that what little money was being spent was going to the chain retailers and shopping malls even though there were cheaper and better quality wares just down the road. Surveys showed that only 40 per cent of residents said they shopped at a local business, despite the brilliant local shops and facilities, and we had to do something to turn that number around. The Bennelong Village Businesses campaign was designed to raise awareness of the local shops, to encourage shopping locally and to build community spirit up again. Over the last nine years we've been able to reach out to shopping villages multiple times, plugging them to the local residents—not only for their wares but also to promote the huge number of benefits that come from shopping locally.

There are also big things afoot on the national front. Three more years in government, a firm mandate and the Labor Party in disarray, not to mention our new leadership, means that this Prime Minister will be here for the length of the parliament at least. The future is looking bright. There is one thing, though, that needs urgent attention, which we need to tackle in this parliament. Australia is undergoing rapid change. Population growth, urbanisation, the ageing of the population and the transformation of the economy towards service and knowledge based industries are causing profound changes in the urban and regional landscape. The outcome of these changes will depend on how they are managed. In recent decades there has been no plan for how to accommodate the growth in our cities and population. Managing these challenges requires a national vision. We need a national plan of settlement. We must set out a vision for our cities and regions for the next 50 years and beyond. It must take account of the fact that Australia's cities and regions are not sustainable in their current form and will become less sustainable as the population grows and ages. Achieving the required economic, social and environmental outcomes for the sustainability of our cities and regions will require a high level of integrated planning. This is not achievable without the coherent vision which comes from master-planning land use and facilitating infrastructure.

The successful development of both cities and regions is intrinsically linked. Regional development needs to be seen as part of a broader pattern of national development, with cities, towns and regions being developed as part of an integrated whole. Greater connectivity is an essential element of this joint development. Having well-connected cities and regions means that opportunities can be distributed across a wider population. High-speed rail can bring distant communities into close proximity to each other. This in turn would enable a more dispersed pattern of settlement and the creation of polycentric cities without the attendant vices of urban sprawl.

Value capture must be a part of the conception of any infrastructure project to equitably capitalise on taxpayer funds invested. It should be incorporated organically into its planning and development. Suitable value-capture mechanisms should be identified and applied from the outset. Ideally this should involve coordination between different levels of government and project developers to ensure a maximum return on investment. The potential for value capture to contribute to the development of infrastructure has been discussed in two inquiries that I have already chaired, and I will certainly appear in the next one.

More locally, there is one thing that we can do in this building that would increase the dwindling faith people have in politics. Before I conclude, I would like to put in a plug for bipartisanship. As we all know, we are all a lot friendlier off camera than the casual observer of question time could believe. The shouting at question time, the point scoring and the emphasis on style—if you can call it that—over substance all turn off voters. When we focus on fighting each other rather than helping Australians, let's face it: we don't look good. The past shows us how this can be done. Menzies, who founded this party 75 years ago today, and Arthur Calwell used to dine regularly. They would work things out. They would set aside their politics for the sake of all Australians. This was bipartisanship, where the national interest was put above the fight for the best zinger at question time. If we had these ideals again, imagine what we could get done.

So there's a lot going on and a lot still to do, but if I can have a hand in getting these things done, it will be worthy of the good people who I mentioned at the top of my speech who put so much effort into getting me here.

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