Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In this, my first speech to parliament, I would like to start with: Dhawura nguna, dhawura Ngoonawal. Yanggu Ngalamanyin Dhunimanyin. Ngoonawalwari Dhawurawari Dindi Wanggiralidjinyin. This is Ngunnawal country. Today we are all meeting together on Ngunnawal country. We acknowledge and pay our respects to the elders. To my local Kaurna brothers and sisters who may be watching today from the Adelaide Plains: Nina Marni.

I'm proud to be standing here today as part of a Labor government that will deliver the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full—voice, treaty, truth for our First Nations peoples. This is a crucial and meaningful step for our nation towards healing wounds that have been left open for far too long.

Former President of the United States of America Barack Obama said:

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

These words ring true, ahead of the single most important referendum since 1967. As representatives across the country, we have a duty to ensure the voices of our First Nations people are heard, delivering a result that respects the rights and the dignity of our First Peoples. The Indigenous tie I wear today is aptly named 'be the voice'. I will be a voice for the change we seek.

On reflection, from the House of Reps induction, I'm drawn to the detail mentioned by the former Speaker, the member for Fisher. The class of 2022 brings the number of elected members as representatives of our communities to 1,240 since Federation. I feel very fortunate to have this rare opportunity to influence the direction of change for our community and country. It is something I will reflect on every day.

I wish to congratulate my colleagues on all sides of the chamber for their success at the election, especially the other 34 new members. We have an obligation to serve with dignity and respect, displaying the leadership qualities expected of those elected to office. And, in reflecting on that fact, I want to affirm that every person has a right to feel safe and valued in the workplace, including all people for whom this is a workplace. We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to unacceptable behaviour. We must set the standard. It is not a right to be here, it is an honour bestowed on us by the people. It is our duty to improve standards across society through the considered decisions we make every day in this place.

I wish to acknowledge His Excellency the Governor-General and commend him on a powerful opening to parliament and a distinguished contribution to our democracy. I congratulate the Speaker of the House on your appointment and I wish you all the best in the role. To the voters of Spence: thank you—thank you for placing your trust in me to be your representative in parliament; it is truly humbling. I will work hard every day to deliver for our community. To the hundreds of volunteers that gave up their time during the campaign: you make the impossible possible. Thank you for your generosity. To my dedicated campaign team—Matthew Marozzi, Chelsea Bishop, Ruben Bala and Caleb Flight—thank you for keeping me focused and on track. To my wonderful staff—Matthew Werfel, Nymfa Farrell, Alex Pados, Scott Johnstone, Louise Drummond and Alex Coates—thank you for ensuring our electorate office is open for business and running smoothly, enabling us to meet the expectations of all in our community.

I am a proud member of the Australian Labor Party, a party that stands and delivers change for the betterment of all. We are staunch in our pursuit of fairness, equality and social inclusion. We strive every day to enhance the wellbeing of our communities. To the state Labor secretary, Aemon Burke; his predecessor, Reggie Martin MLC; and the broader party membership: thank you for your friendship, guidance and support over many years. To my great mate, TWU branch secretary Ian Smith: thank you for the opportunity to represent the road transport industry for the last six years as an organiser; I am grateful that you took a punt on me. We have enjoyed a great friendship forged from hard work and mutual dedication to advancing the cause of fairness for working people. You have been a fantastic mentor, and I thank you for your guidance. To Michael Kaine, Nick McIntosh, Richard Olsen, Tim Dawson, Mike McNess and your teams around the country: thank you for your support and encouragement over many years. To Josh Peak, Sonia Romeo and the team at the SDA: thank you. It has been a rewarding journey working alongside your union. To Brett Larkin, Campbell Duignan, Jamie Newlyn, Christy Caine, Paddy Crumlin and all the MUA rank and file: thank you. You have been fantastic mentors during my formative years within the trade union movement. I am grateful for your support during my almost 10-year career at sea as a seafarer, delegate and advocate for workplace safety.

To the AWU and broader union movement: thank you. A little over 12 months ago, I approached a very close mentor and confidante for advice around pursuing preselection and life as a parliamentarian. Former Senator Alex Gallacher, unfortunately, is no longer with us. He was a fierce advocate for the preservation of superannuation and the improvement of road safety for all. In his absence, I would like to thank his wife, Paola, for allowing me the time to seek his counsel on a regular basis; I hope to meet the expectations he set out for me in those formative discussions. I would like to thank Senator Don Farrell; the member for Kingston, Amanda Rishworth; and Senator Marielle Smith for their time and support during my campaign and since. I look forward to working with you all over the coming years.

I grew up in Mildura, in the surrounds of Sunraysia. Born to my parents, Julie and Glen, my life started out on the dark clay soils of the Murray River junction town of Curlwaa, on 45 acres of citrus and vegetables. Dad was a farmer. Mum, a nurse, was our carer, and raised me and two younger sisters, Georgina and Kristina. Our house was small and modest, a 10-by-10 fibro farmhouse. It was our home—a home I remember fondly to this day. My parents were involved in all aspects of our community: the tennis club, the Country Women's Association and the Country Fire Service, to name a few. Community was a way of life, where everyone looked out for each other in the district. This sense of community and service was something encouraged in us by our parents, and I always felt supported in my pursuit of life—although, upon telling my mother that I'd enlisted into the Army Reserve with the 8/7th Royal Victoria Regiment, I think that support may have wavered as only a mother's care can for the safety of a child.

To my mum, Julie, and sisters Georgina and Kristina, thank you. I thank you for your support, especially since the loss of my best mate with dad's passing in 2017. I know if he were still here with us, he would have been so proud.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

To my amazing wife, Cassandra, I wish you could have been here today. I feel I've waited a lifetime to find you, or for you to find me. You are my lodestar. You keep me grounded, and I will be forever grateful for your selflessness in supporting me—thank you. To my predecessor, the Hon. Nick Champion, with over 15 years dedicated to this place and the people of Spence—formerly Wakefield, you helped to shape and deliver lasting outcomes for our community. I thank you for your contribution, friendship, wise counsel and enlightened wit. I wish you all the best in your endeavours within the South Australian parliament as part of the Malinauskas Labor government, and look forward to working alongside you within our respective electorates for many years to come.

The division of Spence was named in honour of Catherine Helen Spence, a formidable pioneer of the women's suffrage movement, an advocate for electoral reform and a champion for women's representation in parliament during the late 1800s. Spence is a diverse electorate, stretching from St Kilda on the Gulf St Vincent across the Adelaide plains to Gawler, from the hills of Humbug Scrub in the Mt Lofty Ranges and across the flat to Angle Vale. It takes in the Salisbury, Playford, Gawler, Light Regional and the Barossa councils. It's home to one of the most culturally diverse communities across Australia. Historically known for agriculture, manufacturing and defence, it is home to RAAF Base Edinburgh, which plays a significant role in our homeland defence and operations abroad. I thank all our current and former defence personnel for their service.

Spence is also well known for developing some of the AFL's greatest players, home to names like O'Loughlin, Wanganeen, Bond, Burgoyne and Warrior, to name a few. We are home to iconic South Australian brands such as SAFCOL, Bickfords and RM Williams. Winaityinaityi Pangkara, the country of the birds, is the acclaimed Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park. It starts at the beaches of St Kilda, running north along the coast for 60 kilometres, and forms part of the East Asian-Australasian flyway, a significant flight route for migratory birds across the world, part of a diverse ecosystem in the area and tourist destination for avid birdwatchers the world over.

The suburb of Elizabeth, named in honour of the Queen, was the centre of a significant population expansion in the mid-1900s, welcoming migrants, particularly from the United Kingdom, to help expand our manufacturing capabilities within South Australia. Now, our electorate welcomes migrants from around the world to be part of building our future. We are a place of opportunity.

I'm extremely fortunate to have enjoyed opportunity throughout my life. My parents cared for our education as kids. Foundational literacy and numeracy were fundamental basics that our parents instilled in us. For many years, I took these skills for granted. My work has exposed me to the realisation that there are high levels of illiteracy in the workforce and the community. Unfortunately, for far too many, this fails to be recognised or addressed until far too late in the learning cycle.

When we fail to invest strongly in early education, we run the risk of missing out on the next David Unaipon or Dame Roma Mitchell. It is a risk that could compromise our ability as a people to solve the greatest challenge of our future. More than that, failure to invest appropriately in public education is an abrogation of our responsibility to honour every young person's fundamental right to a good education. This is why I believe in the need to ensure every child in this country receives the best quality education and is supported to reach their full potential in life.

From early childhood to higher learning, education is a gateway that opens us up to inclusive social experiences and better health outcomes, and gives us the capacity to adapt to an everchanging global environment. It sets us up for success throughout life. Crucially, an educated workforce forms the foundation of a strong and successful economy.

I am a proud trade unionist, unashamedly proud. And to each and every worker: value your union and its membership as you would your passport. It is your ticket to good, secure, well-paid work. It opens you to the possibility of travel and so much more. As a member of the MUA and TWU, a former delegate and senior organiser, I have witnessed the exploitation of workers. Profit is put before people and wage theft is often the norm not the exception.

I have seen the collapse of our Australian merchant shipping fleet, forcing thousands of highly skilled seafarers onto dry land. We have 12 Aussie flagged ships left on our coast. It is a national disgrace that we have left ourselves so compromised, unable to respond in times of crisis. Our merchant navy has played vital roles in numerous conflicts, none more so than World War II, ensuring our armed forces were supplied with munitions, helped with the injured and refused to ship pig iron to the enemy.

I have watched the tsunami-like surge of the gig economy leave a trail of destruction in its wake, displacing traditional well-paying jobs for systems where the lowest bidder wins the work. It has caused a fast-paced dash towards insecure work, cost-cutting and avoidance of safety practices in the workplace. It has allowed the opportunity for the employer to turn off your ability to earn altogether, with a simple keystroke.

The Amazon effect is forcing good companies with gold-standard agreements to the wall, in a war they just can't win. It is why we need a tribunal to set minimum rates and standards to protect both employees and employers, ensuring our roads are safe, our skies are safe and, above all, our people are safe. I cannot be any clearer when I see this: safe rates save lives.

There are many in the gallery today who have sat beside me at a negotiation table or opposite. I am unapologetic for being a fierce advocate in demanding fair outcomes for workers. We need to adopt an approach where our workforce is seen as an asset and not a liability, where loyalty in both directions is rewarded, where the success for one is a success for the other. Fostering good workplace relationships with unions, workers and employers alike will lead to higher levels of productivity in the workplace, in turn, delivering better outcomes for all.

Industries, governments and the community must work together more effectively in another critically important area—that is, the protection and preservation of the planet we share. We have all been witness to the tragic events over the last few years, from bushfires to flooding. It is clear we have a climate emergency. The only viable option for the future of humanity is to ensure we can sustain life here on earth. We owe it to ourselves, to our children and to future generations to leave the world not only habitable but thriving. The transition to a clean energy market is an exciting one. It will create new jobs and opportunities for our nation. By embracing change now, we can ensure prosperity for our country to become market leaders not market followers.

We must also work to secure our food production. As a farmer's son, it was clear our seasons were changing two or more decades ago. Water restrictions, brought on by lengthened periods of drought and upstream influences on water flow, affect the livelihoods of all who rely on access to secure water supply. Extreme weather events regularly affect crops and compromise the viability of primary production. Through sustainable, regenerative farming practices, we can ensure better yields by conserving the quality of our topsoils, using less water for our crops and limiting pesticides and herbicides.

We must find new ways of packaging and distributing food and limiting its waste, providing safe, affordable, high-quality nutrition to Australia and the world. It is time to embrace the circular economy fully and find ways to recycle more products destined for landfill, more products that can be remade into new materials for building houses, roads, furniture and much more. These new materials will help with more efficient buildings, requiring less energy consumption, delivering a new wave of meaningful employment for our next generation of workers, a fair go for all, and ensuring opportunity for everyone.

Strengthening our communities is the Australian way. We have a moment in time, a moment when we must be bold and push the boundaries of the possible to achieve the impossible, where a dream of shooting for the stars becomes a reality, to be a nation that knows no limits and seizes the moment, to lift our people to a new generation of prosperity through the embrace of innovation and investment in the future. Leadership simply must come from government in these matters. With the election of an Albanese Labor government, Australians have given the signal that they are ready for a new chapter. To do my part in exercising the leadership that our community deserves, it will be my honour and privilege to serve the people of Spence and the nation in this the 47th Parliament of Australia. Thank you very much.

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