Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call Mr Hale, I remind honourable members that this is his first speech. I therefore ask that the usual courtesies be extended to him.

Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Address be agreed to.

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on becoming the new Speaker of the House of Representatives. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Prime Minister for this opportunity and the privilege to move this motion in reply to the Governor-General’s speech, on a day that our community, our party and our Prime Minister have ensured will be a significant one in our history. To stand here today, in the arena where for over 100 years the passions, values, wisdom and vision of so many Australians of all walks of life have shaped our great nation, is truly a humbling experience. I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunnawal people, who have lived in the region around Canberra for over 20,000 years. It is also appropriate, as the new member for Solomon, to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the region I represent, the Larrakia people, many of whom are here today.

There are a number of people who have supported me. Bob and Bev Hale, my parents, are here with me today. They have been fantastic role models for me in my life and recently celebrated 41 years of marriage. They have always encouraged me to pursue my goals and dreams and have supported me to that end. I have a wonderful relationship with them and appreciate their support. I thank my wife, Jennifer, for her support and love and my five children, Robert, Anthony, Jaclyn, Gabby and Dominic, all of whom are here today. Thank you also to my sister Jacintha, her family and my wife’s family. Thank you to the Australian Labor Party, the Northern Territory secretary, George Addison, the honourable member for Lingiari and Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren Snowdon, and Northern Territory Senator Trish Crossin, for their much valued advice since being preselected on 16 February 2007. To all other people who have helped me along the way—they know who they are; and some, I know, would wish to remain anonymous—I sincerely thank you for your contribution.

The electorate of Solomon consists of the cities of Darwin and Palmerston. It is a part of Australia with a rich cultural heritage and magnificent natural endowment. It is a place of great historical significance and considerable strategic importance to the nation. I was born in the Queensland town of Ipswich in 1969. My parents took up teaching positions in Maningrida, a community in Arnhem Land, in 1974. The general consensus at the time amongst the extended family in Queensland was that the urge to discover the last frontier would wear off quickly and they would be back in six months. I am forever grateful to them both that we did not leave.

I believe that living in the Northern Territory, coupled with the role models my parents have been, has shaped my character. I would go as far as to say that if every Australian could live in a place like the Northern Territory, or in an Aboriginal community, during their childhood, we would be a far better place. I feel very fortunate that I have done both.

During my time in Maningrida I met the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. There was much excitement in the Hale household. I grew up in a very Labor environment and would often listen to renditions of the Worker’s Song sung by dad—depending on how late it was on a Friday night. But the passion they had for the underdog, for the worker or for the less fortunate rubbed off on me, and that is the passion that I carry with me today. That is what we do in this party. It echoes the sentiment, Mr Speaker, that you expressed in your first speech to this House—I will not go into the year!—when you quoted Henry James Scullin stating: ‘Justice and humanity demand interference whenever the weak are being crushed by the strong.’

I attended the first meeting the Prime Minister had with the leaders of the various Aboriginal land councils, organisations and communities. It is often said that a good listener is the wisest of persons, so it was no surprise to me at this meeting that the Prime Minister simply listened. One of the reasons these cultures have survived for so long is their ability to change over time. However, it is us who need to change. We need to listen to what our Indigenous brothers and sisters are saying to us and to act on what we are hearing. As a nation we can now move forward and work to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. It is not about finding someone to blame or to seek retribution; it is about recognising the suffering of Indigenous people and acknowledging that things should have been done differently. In the words of a former Prime Minister, it is about opening our hearts.

The significance of the apology to the stolen generations should not be lost by political differences or opposing media opinion. The word ‘sorry’ will forever hold a special significance for all of us in this chamber and around the country on what has been a truly historic day for Australia. Today we start a new chapter. We have opened our hearts; now it is time to use our hands and our heads to ensure all Australians have every opportunity to realise their full potential.

Solomon is home to people from all corners of the globe, and this diversity has shaped our part of the world for the better. The positive influence that the Chinese community has had on the development of Palmerston and Darwin has been profound. With a history in the Territory stretching back over 100 years, one only has to take a walk around Darwin or visit any of the many markets to understand how this presence has enriched Darwin and Palmerston. It is fantastic to see the new Chinatown development rising on Mitchell Street and, like many Territorians, I can’t wait to see this project completed. As the Chinese are currently celebrating a new year, the Year of the Rat, let me take this opportunity to say to all Chinese Australians: Gong Hee Fat Choy—Happy New Year!

The Greek community has also had a profound effect on the development of Solomon. The ties between Darwin and Greece go back many decades, and Darwin has a sister relationship with Kalymnos. Like many Territorians, I look forward each year to sharing in the festivities of the Greek Glenti on the Esplanade. I can see Tony Burke nodding there!

I have used two examples there, not to diminish the enormous contribution many other communities make to the electorate of Solomon but to give a flavour of the wonderfully diverse and rich cultures that make Darwin and Palmerston such a great place to live.

It was with a great deal of excitement that I was recently appointed a special adviser to the new Minister for Sport and Minister for Youth, the member for Adelaide. I congratulate her on her appointments. I believe that sport is the base to much of Australia’s community fabric. The enthusiasm we as Australians have for our sport and our sporting heroes is known and respected around the world. We cry with our cricket captains, duck and weave with our boxers and readily adopt people from other countries if they wish to continue their chosen sport under the Australia flag. We sing about it, we paint our faces and we tattoo our bodies—and many a family feud occurs when rival teams clash on the field of battle. But all the time we maintain our sense of humour and an ability to laugh at ourselves, and I hope we never lose those two traits as a country. In the Northern Territory, we have produced many champions in a wide range of sports. Today I noticed Essendon legend Michael Long was here to celebrate the apology. What a legend he has been for the Territory. There are too many to mention for fear of missing one. The key is to get kids into the habit early in life to ensure it is a positive influence on them for their entire lives.

On Christmas Day last year, after having breakfast with family, I visited St Vincent de Paul’s Christmas luncheon for the needy and homeless. Many of the people there use the services provided most days and would not survive if those services were not there. However, they still had a sense of humour. I overheard one patron say to another, ‘Things must be really bad—even Damian Hale has to come here for lunch!’ As they finished lunch, they dispersed back into the escarpment. Some live in the ‘long grass’; others live in doorways in the city centre, under bridges or in bus shelters. There are 100,000 homeless people in Australia, many of them children; that figure is not acceptable. Organisations such as St Vincent de Paul, Mission Australia and the Salvation Army are stretched well beyond their limits at present. One of the great challenges that face the new government is to bridge the gap in Australia between the people who are enjoying the fruits which come at times of economic prosperity and the people who have missed out on this economic prosperity. I appreciate the strong leadership the Prime Minister has exercised on social equity. I welcome the positive steps the government has taken since, and we will work in government to achieve real results in this area.

As a government, we need to make decisions on the role that the north of Australia will play in Australia’s future development and population expansion. The shortage of water in many parts of Australia begs the question: should we be looking north for the major future expansion of our population? Obviously, the issues of responsible water use and land use need to be considered. Climate change has caused all of us to reassess our role on this planet. We are all only custodians of the environment and we need to make sure we preserve it for future generations.

The north of Australia has an amazing amount to offer young people currently residing in the southern states. The development will need to be sustainable; it will need to be well planned and measured. It is my belief that the Northern Territory is the future of Australia. The Northern Territory still offers itself as a frontier for all young people in Australia to come and make their mark. The government’s housing affordability scheme is a step in the right direction for the people of Solomon, many of whom have been unable to afford to buy into the current markets of Darwin and Palmerston. I urge my colleagues to embrace the development of north Australia and to understand the financial commitment that is needed to develop the Northern Territory in its future expansion.

We are currently experiencing a skill shortage in Solomon, similar to the rest of Australia; however, it has been magnified by our robust economy, due in most part to the resources boom. Mining continues to be fantastic for the economy of the north; however, it has also contributed in part to putting pressure on skill capacity requirements. A lack of investment in skilling our population has also left a chronic shortage of skills Australia wide and even more so in the underpopulated north. As a qualified greenkeeper and a Northern Territory and Australian Apprentice of the Year, I understand the value of a trade certificate. Trade certificates will survive favourable and not so favourable economic conditions. Paul Henderson, our Chief Minister, is a qualified marine fitter, an apprenticeship he completed in an English shipyard—but we will not hold that against him. The value of the trade certificate will never be underestimated. It is essential that we continue to invest in other industries to further drive our economic development. This will ensure we are not solely reliant on the resources boom. The government’s commitment to an education revolution has also been keenly received, as has further investment in trade training centres in schools.

The Darwin Convention Centre and waterfront development is nearing completion and already has in excess of 30 bookings. The Darwin skyline has some 13 cranes operating as developers realise the opportunities in Darwin. Recently released figures estimate that some $5 billion worth of work is currently in progress in Darwin alone—not bad considering the population of the Northern Territory is just over 200,000. The nearby city of Palmerston and the adjacent rural area are in the top 10 fastest growing areas in Australia. The time is right for further investment in the Northern Territory.

On 19 February—next week—we will mark the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Darwin, the day that World War II came to Australian shores. It is a reminder of the sacrifices many brave men and women have made and continue to make to defend the democracy we enjoy and often take for granted. Further to this thought is the sacrifices the families of defence personnel make, especially when their loved ones are overseas. There are close to 13,000 defence personnel from the tri-services in Solomon alone, many of whom have been or will be deployed at some stage.

Being in government means we have a job of work to do. It is about delivering on our commitments to the people of Solomon and Australia. For Solomon, it is commitments such as extending Tiger Brennan Drive, establishing a superclinic in Palmerston, installing CCTV cameras to make our community safer and providing more computers in our schools.

The historic resilience of the people I represent never fails to amaze me. Darwin was bombed in 1942 and blown away in 1974, but the reason it always bounces back is simple: it’s the people. It is a privilege and a pleasure to represent people with passion, something I will never take for granted. We have a balance of purpose, a positive business environment, a strong union movement and government leadership, which have given the Northern Territory a vibrant economy. In the electorate of Solomon, we have been able to achieve this economy with strong business acumen and disciplined union activity, which endeavours to deliver benefits for everyone. The electorate of Solomon is a melting pot of multicultural cuisine and truly represents all that is great about living in Australia. I am honoured to move this motion in reply to the Governor-General’s address.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the address be agreed to. I call the Minister for Home Affairs, who, whilst making his first speech in this place and therefore deserving of the extension of the usual courtesies, has other, greater experience.

Bob Debus (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak for the first time as the member for Macquarie. I also acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Ngunnawal people. It has been my enormous privilege to represent the people of the Blue Mountains in the New South Wales state legislature for many years. And it is now an even greater privilege to be the Labor member for a Macquarie electorate which again includes Lithgow, Bathurst and Oberon. It is the seat held by Ben Chifley, the man who fought the banks, who carried himself with extraordinary integrity through massive upheaval in the Depression-affected Labor Party, who fought for a decent social security net for the unemployed, who was Curtin’s strongest supporter when a Labor government saw Australia through the Second World War and who with great competence saw Australia through a dramatic period of postwar reconstruction. We would not now endorse every one of his attitudes and views—he was of course a man of his time—but few would seek to deny his magnificent status in the history of this nation or the profound regard with which his memory is now held in my electorate.

The seat of Macquarie represents most—not quite all, but most—of the spectrum of Australian society and opinion. Our best guess is that, at the general election of 2004, the vote of the major parties in the subdivisions that make up the new seat was almost exactly evenly divided. The state seat of Blue Mountains, half of Macquarie, has not been out of government for half a century. We reflect the mood of the nation.

Nor are we short of history in the seat of Macquarie. I am aware of evidence of Aboriginal occupation for around 25,000 years, but it is almost certainly much longer—Daruk, Gundangurra, Wiradjiri. Bathurst is the oldest European settlement west of the Great Divide. A Government House was erected there for Macquarie in 1817. The agricultural landscape of the Upper Macquarie Valley is the oldest in the nation; the agricultural landscape in the Oberon Shire might well be the most beautiful. William Cox had built a road across the Blue Mountains by January 1815. Charles Darwin travelled from Sydney to Bathurst in 1836 and made some very good observations on the geomorphology of the Blue Mountains. In 1851, the gold rushes began near Bathurst.

Lithgow is a cradle of Australian industry; the ironworks established there in 1875 were transferred to Port Kembla in 1928. Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established an abattoir and freezing works in 1873. The Blue Mountains saw the beginning of the modern tourism industry. The conservation movement in Australia may be said to have begun with the early attempts to preserve what has now become the World Heritage Blue Mountains National Park.

Chifley won this seat in 1928 and lost it by the narrowest of margins as Minister for Defence in 1931, when the Scullin government was swept from power. Having lost my own seat, as a state minister, in 1988 by an even narrower margin—through the combined efforts of anti-gun control campaigners and extremists opposed to homosexual law reform—I hope I have some limited insight into what Chifley then experienced as he struggled through the 1930s, finally recaptured the seat in 1940 and, of course, famously served the people of his electorate until his death in 1951, when he was replaced by Tony Luchetti for the ALP.

Malcolm Mackerras calculated that Tony’s personal vote was twice as high as that of any other member of the House, and he served until 1975. I knew Tony Luchetti as I have known later members for Macquarie and Calare. David Simmons and Ross Free became ministers in the Hawke government. Maggie Deahm, member for Macquarie from 1993 to 1996, staffed a polling booth for me at the last election. Alistair Webster, Liberal member from 1984 to 1993, is still active locally. Kerry Bartlett was my Liberal opponent at the last election and I salute him for his hard and fair campaign.

Peter Andren, member for Calare from 1996 to 2007, had all those high qualities that were so sincerely described in the speeches by the Prime Minster and the member for New England on yesterday’s condolence motion. Nobody campaigning as I did in Bathurst and Lithgow could have had the slightest doubt that Peter was a man of profound integrity at both a political and a personal level or that his constituents were almost universally of that opinion. I honour him and I believe that serious practitioners of politics will be learning from him for years to come.

This is my third or fourth career. I have been a journalist, a lawyer and a politician—three, I think I can safely say, of the most commonly, and unfairly, derided professions in our culture. I have indeed seen the worst of all three professions, but overwhelmingly I have seen the best. Contrary to popular opinion, Australian democracy is well served by the great majority of those who enter public life and by the scrutiny provided by journalists, whatever excesses may occasionally occur. And we too easily take for granted the probity and rigour of our legal system, the high standards espoused by the legal profession and, most of all, the independence and capacity of our judges.

When I retired from the parliament of New South Wales in March last year, I was somewhat tempted by the idea of a quieter life and I was conscious of the sacrifices my family had already made. In the end, though, my desire to participate in a process of national renewal under a new Labor government was too strong. I had found myself appalled by attacks upon refugees. As a person committed to reconciliation with Aboriginal people, I had watched in dismay as a discourse of blame, abuse and division once again took hold. I had seen the gargoyles of the right-wing commentariat encouraged to create the straw man of the activist judge as a weapon of intimidation against the courts. I had noticed the tendency to deride well-reasoned judgements based on sound legal principle if they took into account human rights or considerations of international obligation. Under the strictures of the previous government, it had begun to seem very old-fashioned to espouse notions of tolerance and inclusiveness, to look to Australia in the context of a thriving participant in the Asian region rather than the last outpost of some postcolonial dream, to view the arts and our great cultural institutions as vital to the growth of Australia as a society and to acknowledge the proud history of the trade union movement in defending the rights of working people.

In one of the most satisfying achievements that I had as the Attorney General of the state of New South Wales, I was able to assist in the fight to bring the James Hardie group of companies to account for their atrocious treatment of victims of asbestosis. With the late, great Bernie Banton, for whom we had condolences yesterday, and my new parliamentary colleague Greg Combet, we worked to bring James Hardie to the negotiating table and we ultimately succeeded. When the deal was finally done, Greg caught a cab to Sydney airport to fly back to Melbourne and I saw, with my own eyes, members of the public surrounding him at the taxi rank and waving through the cab windows at intersections when they recognised him. As the Howard government churned out its tedious anti-union propaganda, I thought about the sight of Combet, one of those reviled union bosses, cheered on street corners by random passers-by like a visiting rock star, and I began to hope that it was the federal government and not I who was out of touch with the Australian people. To my delight, as I began to campaign in the seat of Macquarie last April, I discovered that, indeed, it was not I who was out of step. As I stood on railway stations, walked through shopping centres and knocked on doors, I encountered an enthusiasm for change which I had rarely experienced. The Work Choices legislation, the refusal to sign Kyoto, the war in Iraq, the Wheat Board scandal and the vilification of refugees and unionists did not sit well with the coalminer in Lithgow, the prison officer in Oberon, the doctor in Bathurst and the retired clergyman in Wentworth Falls. The people once represented by Chifley were inspired by the new vision Kevin Rudd presented—not all of them, of course, but they came out in their hundreds in shopping centres to tell me so—and they came out to vote.

So what now is the challenge? It is to keep faith and to help create a new modern society. I have lost count of the number of people who talked with me in the supermarket in Katoomba, in the pub in Springwood and at a preschool in Lithgow with metaphors of renewal: ‘It feels like someone has opened the windows’; ‘I feel hope for the future again’; ‘I feel proud of my country again.’

In the portfolio with which I have been entrusted, there are many opportunities to keep that pact of trust with the Australian people. Home Affairs, I am reliably informed, is a departmental configuration which dates back to 1901. It was one of the first seven departments of the Commonwealth. I am also told that one of the first ministers for Home Affairs was King O’Malley—although I have been advised against overstating my connection in that regard unless I want a good seat in an Irish pub. The portfolio today is, of course, infinitely more sophisticated and complex than it was then, covering areas within the Attorney-General’s Department, including criminal law and its reform, strategies for dealing with money laundering and drugs, the operations of the Australian Crime Commission and much else; also the Australian Customs Service, the Australian Federal Police and Commonwealth territories. Our focus is not only domestic but also on Australia’s role in supporting our neighbours in the Asia Pacific. That role is notably carried out by the Australian Federal Police—one of the best and most educated forces in the world, leaders in building and promoting positive relations in our region. And, similarly, the Customs Service performs miracles on a daily basis.

I must say that, as a former Attorney General, I firmly reject the notion that law enforcement agencies and the courts need to be at odds. To the contrary, the professionalism of our police can only be enhanced by the rigour and scrutiny brought to them by the courts. I have myself had a lifelong interest in the criminal law, in schemes to divert offenders from custody and in prison reform. Priority reforms for 2008, in my eyes, are the issues of rights for victims of crime and sentencing and offender management. But I am also keen to work with colleagues on coordination of criminal justice reform; for example, the Model Criminal Code and its implementation. I want to move away from the adversarial approach which characterised the previous government and to take a consultative approach, including the legal profession. In New South Wales I found in the past the contribution of the Law Society and particularly the Bar Association to be invaluable, and I propose, in consequence, to hold a major forum later this year at which academics, the profession, the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Law Reform Commission and police unions will all be invited to participate and discuss proposals for reforms to federal criminal justice legislation.

I would be remiss on today of all days in the history of our parliament if I did not take the opportunity to mention also my great commitment to issues of Indigenous law and justice—a commitment which began with my involvement long ago in the first Aboriginal Legal Service at Redfern. I am committed to improving Indigenous community safety, to reducing Indigenous overrepresentation in the justice system and to doing my utmost, in cooperation with ministerial colleagues around the country, to protect Indigenous children. My responsibilities for criminal justice issues, crime prevention, victims of crime and Indigenous justice matters will allow me to follow through on important issues with which I have dealt in the past.

Shortly, I shall visit the Northern Territory to discuss the implementation of aspects of the Northern Territory emergency response in that jurisdiction from the point of view of my portfolio. I know that the House was discussing this issue earlier today. I will be making that visit well aware that the emergency response is often referred to as ‘the intervention’ in the Northern Territory, where also, as the minister responsible to territories, I am overseeing a range of programs that have caused considerable comment and controversy in the Territory. As members are aware, the government supports a range of programs in place now in Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory, but with the support we are also aware that we have responsibilities and I accept the responsibility to ensure that, where the measures are working, they are continued and also to find out what we can do better. I will be doing so by working with people on the ground and by taking the advice of experts. I intend to work closely with Territory ministers to ensure that the Home Affairs portfolio serves the Northern Territory community just as well as it must serve all Australians in all jurisdictions.

It is not just the Northern Territory that requires our dedicated attention to criminal justice and Indigenous justice issues. The agencies reporting to me have been charged with a responsibility to ensure, in the spirit of reconciliation which this House has come to terms with this week, that we are closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage and decreasing the level of Indigenous representation in the criminal justice system Australia wide. And I am particularly interested in working with the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General to develop a national strategic framework for Indigenous law and justice. The Council of Australian Governments recently agreed to take action to address Indigenous disadvantage, focusing on gaps in life expectancy, child mortality, literacy and numeracy. Child abuse not only has immediate physical, social and emotional health consequences for children but also has crippling consequences for long-term life directions. We need a broad and balanced approach, informed by Indigenous voices, organisations and by experts, that involves both justice sector agencies and prevention approaches.

Mr Speaker, I could test the patience of this chamber for much longer by talking of national issues and the excitement I feel at the historic opportunity this government has been given by the Australian people to build our economy for the future, to redress inequality, to restore the environment. But the timeworn maxim rightly states that ultimately all politics is local, so I will return to the electorate of Macquarie and pay tribute to those who worked so hard to assist in my campaign. They range from a few stalwart comrades like Merv Savage and Jim Angel, who have worked with me across eight elections, to my new friends in Bathurst and Lithgow who were able during the course of half a year to introduce me into the heart of their own communities.

My campaign was supported actively by literally hundreds of volunteers—and I hope I have sufficiently thanked them in one way or another in the last couple of months. Knowing that I could spend 20 minutes just reading our their names, I mention only a few among them: my astoundingly efficient campaign manager, Brenda Finlayson; Luke Foley; Amber Jacobus; my campaign committee chair, Wayne McAndrew; Mike and Sue Dickson; Councillor Paul Haysom; former Senator Sue West; Dr Chris Halloway; Cath Knowles; Mark Worthington; Arthur Williams; Mathew Martin; Pat Okon; Alex Bukarica; Gary Brown; Andrew Teece; Don Macgregor; Marilla North; Blair Kavanagh; Sarah Shrubb; Mark Andrews; Susan Elfert; Pam Crafoord; Mick Fell; Rose Tracey; Peter Letts; Karl Bennett; Sandra Stringer; Amanda Blanch; Steve Bevis; and Judy Brentnall. You can see that we are not intensely multicultural in Macquarie.

I was especially assisted by the state member for Bathurst, Gerard Martin, and his electorate officer, Fran Van Dartel, and by our duty senator, the Hon. Steve Hutchins, who was also active famously in the seat of Lindsay, and by Phil Koperberg, state member for Blue Mountains. I should also mention generous support from friends outside the electorate, not least Elsa Atkin, Yolanda Lucire, Errol Sullivan and Sally McInerney. And I am particularly indebted to a number of trade unions—the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the LHMU, the Finance Sector Union, the PSA and especially the CFMEU through its mining and construction divisions. A profoundly important contribution was made by the Your Rights at Work campaign coordinated in Macquarie by Daniel Walton. Throughout these arduous months I had the experience common to many—probably everybody in this House—the support of my family was the foundation upon which all else stood, and my partner, Leela, who had been anticipating a somewhat easier life in the last year, was absolutely steadfast.

During the election campaign the government laid down a significant program for the next three years and beyond in the electorate of Macquarie. The central west of New South Wales stands in great need of the rollout of high-speed broadband internet infrastructure. Within the great agenda for improving education at all levels, the promised upgrading of trade training facilities and computer upgrading at secondary schools will be of particular importance to school retention and workforce participation rates. New projects to improve the Great Western Highway and the investigation by Infrastructure Australia of long-term transport needs are critical for regional development. Substantial water-saving projects in Lithgow and Oberon will drought-proof local industry while improving environmental flows, especially in the Fish River. I am committed to supporting the establishment over time of new industries and job opportunities in the Lithgow Valley and in Bathurst.

In the Blue Mountains a modified version of the GP Super Clinic and a number of new childcare centres are high on the government’s priorities. Here too, road and internet infrastructure improvements are critical. The improvement to health services will generally be an important task, but everywhere in my electorate an improvement to the funding of the dental health programs neglected by the last government is of the greatest significance to people who are less well off.

It is hard to imagine a better day upon which one might make an inaugural speech in this House. Earlier I said that the new government had to keep faith with those who wanted a new beginning. What better way was there to do so? I look forward to serving the people of Macquarie and the citizens of Australia.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call Mr Robert, I remind the House that this is the honourable member’s first speech and I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.

Stuart Robert (Fadden, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great humility that I rise today to deliver my first speech to the 42nd Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. I am humbled by the trust that the people of Fadden have placed in me as their representative and I can assure them that I will not let them down. I enter this place with youth, vigour, determination and experience to ensure that the people of Fadden have someone that has the courage and capacity to fight for them.

I am especially pleased to have been elected on the 200th anniversary of when a great hero of mine, William Wilberforce, secured passage of the Slave Trade Act that abolished the abhorrent trade throughout the Commonwealth. His firm Christian commitment, his passion for justice and his unstinting resolve to fight for what was right are a great personal inspiration. I look forward to bringing the same courage of my convictions to the inevitable parliamentary battles that are ahead.

The electorate of Fadden was named for Sir Arthur Fadden, a distinguished parliamentarian who served briefly from August to October 1941 as the Prime Minister of this great nation. He led Australia during a critical period of our history, and he often joked that he was like Noah’s flood: he led the nation for 40 days and 40 nights.

There have been three previous members for Fadden. I specifically want to acknowledge the immediate past member, the Hon. David Jull, who held the seat for 23 long years with great distinction. I believe he is the longest-serving Queensland Liberal parliamentarian, and his legacy is surely substantial.

The electorate of Fadden is one of the most beautiful areas of this nation, located in the magnificent Gold Coast. I make this claim with great boldness here in this House, secure in the knowledge that Fadden is the fastest-growing federal electorate in the country, having grown by 31.6 per cent in the last six years. Indeed, more people want to relocate to Fadden than to any other federal electorate represented in this place, and frankly, colleagues, it is not hard to see why. Fadden is as diverse as it is spectacular. The suburbs of Labrador, Runaway Bay, Hollywell and Paradise Point cling to the magnificent Broadwater in the east, one of the nation’s great, exquisite playgrounds. To the west are the hinterland suburbs of Nerang, Gaven, Pacific Pines, Oxenford and Upper Coomera, that range from rural to family-friendly suburban areas. To the north are the cane fields of Woongoolba and the emerging areas of Coomera and Stapylton, and in the centre is the magnificent Gold Coast Marine Precinct, boasting some of the world’s great luxury boatbuilders as well as what is arguably the theme park capital of the nation.

Fadden clearly offers a lifestyle unparalleled, with world-class shopping, entertainment and living. There is a strong and vibrant heart to the electorate, and the Gold Coast also boasts the highest number of small to medium enterprises per capita in the nation. Fadden, together with the other two great Gold Coast seats of McPherson and Moncrieff, which are proudly held by Liberal parliamentarians, makes the Gold Coast the small to medium business capital of the nation. Fadden, and the Gold Coast, clearly has much to be proud of.

The background I bring to this place is one that resonates with and complements the broad base of the Liberal Party. I grew up in Bundaberg on a cane farm with hard-working parents who sacrificed a great deal for me and for my brother and sister. My family would later embark on a range of successful small businesses and would prove that hard work, initiative and risk-taking maximise one’s opportunity for success. I am forever grateful for my family’s unconditional love and support. I owe them a debt of gratitude and acknowledge my parents, Alan and Dorothy Robert, who are in the gallery this afternoon.

The value of family to our way of life is undeniable. The great Christian statesman Edmund Burke spoke of the ‘little platoons’ of our society—of family, church, neighbourhoods, workplaces and professional associations. He said:

... to love the little platoon we belong to in society is the first principle ... of public affections.

I think we must recognise that the most important of these little platoons is the traditional family unit. Family is the glue that holds society together; indeed, it is the bedrock of the nation. Families must be supported and encouraged, and what constitutes the traditional family unit should never be weakened. If we lose the family we lose everything.

My family, like many others, struggled financially to ensure that my siblings and I could enjoy the best possible education. I completed my schooling at the Rockhampton Grammar School, and my experience there strengthened my resolve that parents should be able to send their children to a school of their choice. I note that many parents struggle and sacrifice to do so. I firmly believe the federal government has a responsibility to support the private school system as the states do the public system.

I was fortunate at Rockhampton Grammar to secure a scholarship to the Australian Defence Force Academy as an army officer cadet. Twenty years ago this year, I marched into the academy, which is five kilometres down the road, at barely 17 years of age. Five months later I would stand in the military guard of honour that opened this great Parliament House. Following the academy, I attended the Royal Military College Duntroon and was subsequently fortunate to serve with a diverse range of units. These included the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, and the 51st Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment, based on Thursday Island, which was at the time the largest Indigenous unit in the Defence Force. This period was also a time of study, mostly part-time, for many years, to complete two master’s degrees in business administration and information technology, which would prove of tremendous value in later life. My military and tertiary education was instrumental in the success of future endeavours. Both are of great benefit to the development of future leaders and deserve our support.

A great part of my 12-year military career was spent working within military intelligence, specifically in intelligence and security. That included a five-month tour of duty with the peace-monitoring force in Bougainville following the civil war. I was proud to have served my country overseas and to have helped bring peace to an island that had suffered so much. I was proud to have worn a military uniform and to have served in the long military tradition of this nation and of my family.

My cousin was the first casualty in Korea as an Air Force pilot, and my uncle Alan was twice wounded in Korea with the 3rd Battalion. My grandfather enlisted at age 42 to fight with the 9th Division in Africa during World War II and would die midwar whilst on leave. His daughter, my mother, was two years old. He was a grandfather I never knew because he loved his country more than he valued his own life. Three cousins, who were brothers, fought in World War I, two of them with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade in Gallipoli. One of them, a young lieutenant with the 8th Light Horse Regiment, gave his life on 7 August 1915 with 233 others when the 8th and 10th Light Horse charged valiantly at the Nek. They lie buried where they fell, as do over 100,000 other Australians buried on foreign soil.

Notwithstanding our military service in the Sudan and the Boer War, that fateful day of 25 April 1915 began a great tradition of men and women serving this Commonwealth—serving us—with honour and distinction in demanding and dangerous operational areas. We owe our veteran community a debt of gratitude that in many ways we can never repay. They have served selflessly, many of them shedding their blood to protect and preserve the rights that we daily take for granted. This place has an absolute responsibility to respect and care for our veteran community. This place must ensure that our great nation remains safe and secure with a Defence Force capable of projecting power wherever it is needed. Our nation has a right to defend itself and an obligation to all Australians to maintain our national security. I look for inspiration to that great nation of Israel, which has an absolute right to exist and to strongly defend its borders from all aggressors. Its growth and prosperity is an inspiration to all free nations.

Following my military career, a colleague and I founded an IT services firm that has since grown to be a nationwide company. For the last two years our firm has been named in the Business Review Weekly Fast 100 list, which recognises the fastest-growing 100 companies in Australia. I was proud to have led our firm during a period of exponential growth. Founding and developing a small business is difficult. It demands tremendous risk-taking, resourcefulness and courage in the early days to go without paying yourself for six months to meet cash flow requirements, to mortgage the family home and to work long hours to get ahead. This is what it means to start and run a small business in Australia. This is what it means to step out and employ fellow Australians.

Small business owners fight a daily battle to survive, to grow, to improve the livelihood of their families and to generate employment. They achieve this in the shadow of ignorant governments that battle tirelessly against them with moribund ideologically based legislation such as unfair dismissal laws, the rolling back of individual statutory agreements, land tax and payroll tax. The sheer notion that Labor state governments still tax the payroll of a small business for simply employing Australian workers is patently ludicrous; it is grossly anti-business and it is anti-employment. I salute all small business owners and I thank you for your contribution to our economy and our way of life. You employ 50 per cent of all Australian workers and you are, indeed, the backbone of this country.

I salute the tens of thousands of Gold Coast small businesses and thank you for the risks that you take. Thank you for employing Australians to help achieve record low unemployment. Thank you for your courage despite the dark, looming spectre of union interference cresting the horizon of your businesses.

I specifically acknowledge my business partners—David Smith, who is in the gallery today, and Andrew Chantler. They embody everything that is great about the Australian business owner: they work hard, they take risks, they put others first and they provide opportunities for everyday, ordinary Australians. I look forward to strongly defending small business in this place against narrow-minded collectivists who know little, if anything at all, of the challenges of the small business environment.

The purpose of my life has always been guided by a strong Christian faith that has set my moral compass and cemented my values. These values led me to become a founding director of Watoto Australia and a member of the Watoto International board, which operates one of the world’s largest and most unique orphan programs, operating out of Uganda, where there are currently more than two million orphaned children due to HIV-AIDS and war. The Watoto model is to rescue children and care for their physical, spiritual and emotional needs, including housing them with a mother and seven new siblings. These houses are grouped into villages with electricity, running water, schools, medical clinics and auditoriums. The premise is that orphaned children growing up in a home with a loving mother, with an identity and with an opportunity to go to the best schools, universities and technical colleges, will shine more so than if simply placed in an institution. I believe that, as we rescue a child, we raise a leader and we will rebuild nations. Children are 100 per cent of the future of every nation. We have a responsibility to protect our children and provide them with the best of education and care to preserve our nation’s future. We also have a responsibility as good international citizens to reach out with appropriate aid and development to build nations and enhance our international security and standing.

My own political journey began very early in life, when I first joined the Liberal Party in 1991. I was motivated to action as I witnessed the diabolical consequences of the recession which, apparently, ‘we had to have’, the crippling interest rates and the very high level of industrial disputes which so adversely impacted on my family and many surrounding families. Through all of this turbulence, the urgency to ensure that this place governed for all Australia and not just for sectional interests became self-evident. Sir Robert Menzies said to those who came to the Canberra Conference in October 1944:

… what we must look for, and it is a matter of desperate importance to our society, is a true revival of liberal thought which will work for social justice and security, for national power and national progress, and for the full development of the individual citizen …

These great tenets of what it means to be a Liberal hold as true today as when the party was founded. Among other things, I choose to stand in parliament to defend these views. I firmly believe they represent a path for every good citizen to have not only a chance in life but also a self-respecting life. I am proud of our nation’s common Judaeo-Christian heritage and the values that underpin that heritage and, indeed, underpin our society and way of life. We welcome new Australians from all nations and we look forward to them integrating into our great nation and embracing our shared values.

I am proud of the personal freedoms we enjoy, based on a bedrock of Christian based ethical standards. I believe in the family as the basic building block of society. I believe strongly in the sanctity of life. I stand for one common law for all Australians and will vehemently oppose any move to establish any other parallel law within Australia. I stand for a secure nation able to defend its borders from aggressors, internal or external. I agree with Jefferson that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I stand for the great tradition of smaller government and deregulation within a set of traditional virtues, initiative, hard work, saving, mateship and a fair go for all. I also support an appropriate safety net to assist the disadvantaged and the hurting without creating an ongoing welfare society.

I am an ardent and passionate supporter of free enterprise and of allowing people to engage in the free market unencumbered by government interference. People need to be provided with incentive and opportunity to better themselves, not mechanisms to vainly attempt a false equality. People must have the basic freedom and right to enter into an employment agreement with their employer, unencumbered by a third party. Small business must be able to operate in an environment of incentive and reward.

I began this speech by saying how humbled I am by the trust placed in me by the people of Fadden. Winning the seat well in the almighty shadow of the enduring legacy and strong personal following of the Hon. David Jull was achieved through the efforts of hundreds of people. I would like to take the opportunity to thank many of them now, as without them I would not stand here today. I have already acknowledged my parents, and I do so again in consideration of their great love and guidance. Thanks also to my brother Ian for never ceasing to believe in me and my sister Lisa, who always ensured I remained firmly grounded. I am indebted to some of the most tireless Liberal colleagues, with whom it has been my pleasure to work. To my campaign director, Steve Houlihan, who ran an excellent campaign to his enduring credit, you are not only a great campaign director but an astute political mind and a good friend. To his wife, Janet, thank you for releasing him to fight the campaign of his life. To my campaign personnel coordinator, Robert Knight, thank you for encouraging me to contest the seat and well done on a sterling job in difficult circumstances. Ably supported by your wife, Kerry, I salute you both.

To other tireless supporters: Phil Hunniford, Shannon Crane, Felicity Stevenson, Sandra Kuppe, Ros Bates, Simone Holzapel, Christopher Stear, the late Bill Stear and many others, a huge thank you. To my patron, Senator Brett Mason, you were always available and I look forward to campaigning with you in the future. To the FEC chair in Fadden, Peter Gallus, thank you for your guidance and support. To the Young Liberals, for coming out each weekend to campaign, well done. To the Fadden Liberal branches, and of course the Fadden women, thank you for your support and encouragement.

Let me also acknowledge some especially dedicated people on the campaign trail—87-year-old Nan Rogers, who campaigned with me for 70 days straight, as did Laurie and Betty Robertson. I am humbled by your commitment and support. Your lives are already rich through your community service, and my life is richer for the pleasure of knowing you. To 91-year-old Ron Bagely, you salty old seadog, I only hope I have your stamina in later years. To your wife, Judith, you bring grace and dignity to the party. To those parliamentarians who campaigned in Fadden, notably the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Brendan Nelson, the Hon. Tony Abbott, the Hon. Julie Bishop and the Hon. Ian Macfarlane: thank you. To my colleague and friend Steve Ciobo, thanks for all your support, guidance and answers to a million questions, some of which I may have inadvertently asked twice. You were a great coach. To the state director, Geoffrey Greene, your advice and guidance has been and will always be appreciated. Thank you to the state secretariat campaign staff: Peter Epstein, Sara Allard and Glenn Snowdon. To the many others who gave their valuable time, I sincerely thank you.

Let me conclude by acknowledging some great influences over my life: Robert Brown, Bill Thorburn, Brian Willesdorf and Gary Skinner. To my local community church, Southport Church of Christ, so compassionately led by Pastor Ross Pelling, thank you for your prayerful support. Let me also acknowledge some great and enduring friends: Ben Butson, Anthony Coleman, Steve Peach, Bryce Savill, Rob Molhoek and Peter Melville.

Finally, to my beautiful wife, Chantelle, who is in the gallery and our two sons, Caleb and Isaac: I thank you, Chantelle, for your love, support and patience over the many years of my military service, business pursuits and humanitarian work around the world. You and our beautiful children remain my inspiration to make this a better world as a gift for future generations we will not see. (Time expired)

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call the honourable member for Forrest, I remind the House that this is the honourable member’s first speech. I ask the House to extend to her the usual courtesies.

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make my first speech with a mixture of pride and honour, because I have been chosen by the people of Forrest to be their voice in federal parliament. I acknowledge and thank them for their vote of confidence in my ability to represent them in an electorate which is one of the fastest-growing, most diverse, dynamic and productive regional areas in Australia. I live and work in the small regional town of Harvey. As in most small towns, it is necessary for local people and families to work together to make sure that the community functions effectively. It does not happen on its own.

Like many people in regional areas I have worked with and for the community for the majority of my life. Equally, I respect and understand that those same communities know best what works for them. I was raised, very fortunately, in a pioneering transport family and both of my parents were very strong and committed community volunteers. My father was a Lions Melvin Jones recipient who provided his earthmoving equipment and expertise for countless community projects throughout his life.

My mother was a very quiet achiever, dedicated to her family and the local community. She was a life member of St John’s Ambulance. She assisted with Meals on Wheels, school canteens and many other organisations. But they both instilled in me a hard work ethic, strong family values and an absolute commitment to the broader community.

I worked in an accountancy practice until my husband and I purchased a small dairy farm in Harvey. Hard work and a progressive commercial focus has seen this venture grow into a significant family business. And like most small family businesses that meant that I had to basically master every job. It was this hands-on environment—and it was hands-on—that led me to agripolitical and broad regional involvement. As a member of a range of regional, state and national bodies, boards and groups, I have negotiated pretty complex issues with federal and state governments over many years and I am perfectly comfortable driving a tractor or a truck—I have got the truck licence—as well as discussing business strategies in any boardroom.

In building a small business during tough economic times and dairy deregulation, I have learned to be highly resourceful and innovative in order to survive and succeed. This enabled our business to operate effectively in a new environment of productivity and competitiveness. From my extensive community and regional involvement, I have a very sound grasp of the grassroots issues concerning families, individuals, business and community groups. I have worked with people of all ages, from kindergarten to senior citizens, as well as junior and senior sporting groups and football clubs as president for the last 10 years—and we won premierships! I have been a very strong advocate for the region, irrespective of whom I had to deal with. And I will voice my views for the people of Forrest in the same manner here in parliament. I well understand the challenges that lie ahead for one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia.

Politics is about people. I entered politics to be of further service to the people of Forrest. I will provide them with emphatic and strong representation here in Canberra. Many of these people assisted me during my campaign. I would like to briefly take this opportunity to thank my family and friends, my campaign team, my Liberal colleagues and my supporters, the branch members, and those in the wider community, particularly those who were with me from day one. Thank you all most sincerely for your loyalty and dedication, especially over the last 12 months. I am now the seventh member and the first ever female member for Forrest.

Honourable Members:

Hear, hear!

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The electorate of Forrest was first proclaimed in 1922. It was named after Sir John Forrest, who was the first Premier of Western Australia. My electorate covers 21,000 square kilometres, encompassing the south-west corner of Western Australia, from a little-known place called Yarloop in the north down to Walpole. It is beautiful. Forrest includes the city of Bunbury and the 10 shires of Harvey, Donnybrook-Balingup, Dardanup, Collie, Capel, Busselton, Augusta, Margaret River, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Nannup and Manjimup.

My immediate predecessor, the Hon. Geoff Prosser, was a very well known identity in the south-west. In this House, I acknowledge his contribution over the past 20 years to an electorate that is now the home of over 140,000 people. It is worthy of note that approximately 22 per cent of the people living there are children, up to the age of 14 years—a higher percentage than those living in the rest of Australia. But, for me, the group aged between 15 and 24 years stands at only 12.2 per cent, a lower percentage than the rest of Australia. Here is where some of the regional issues kick in. I am using this statistic to illustrate that this is an issue facing youth and families in regional areas such as Forrest. I attribute this lower percentage to the need for students to leave my regional area to pursue tertiary education at universities in Perth and beyond. Many never return to live and work within the region again.

To improve student retention in the south-west, I will maintain support for the development of a further tertiary institution. It is essential to create additional strengths for the south-west economy, integrating with expanding mining and resources sectors and providing industry and various employment sectors with related programs such as engineering and surveying and trades that in the longer term will help to provide and address some of the chronic skills shortages in my region. Equally, it would attract and retain residents to study, train and work in our local communities. This initiative, importantly, could also reduce the financial burden on south-west students and their families who need to leave home to study at metropolitan universities and tertiary institutions. I want to ensure a sustainable evolving generation for tomorrow. Talented, motivated young people are essential to my region and to Australia. With a population growth projection of 45 per cent in the greater Bunbury region, Busselton and surrounding areas between now and 2021, the challenge ahead is to plan for and invest in the infrastructure and social services required to accommodate this growth. I take great comfort from the knowledge that Forrest is actually a microsnapshot of regional Australia. When I stand in this House to action initiatives, I can be assured that the benefits will apply to the broader regional population as well as to my own electorate.

Significant growth in industry also requires regional infrastructure. You want to hear about industry? Come to Forrest! The south-west is the source of many internationally renowned products. The mining sector is the highest earner in the region, followed by forestry, agriculture—which includes horticulture and viticulture—and tourism. In fact, the south-west of Western Australia is an absolute and utter economic powerhouse. I want to deliver that message here: it is an economic powerhouse. For example, we have major supplies of alumina, the world’s largest and highest-grade spodumene and the world’s largest tantalum deposit. As a result, the Bunbury port is one of the busiest in the state. Investment in road and rail infrastructure is essential to facilitate proposed expansions in this resource sector—and, let’s face it, investing in Forrest is investing for Australia.

I wish to briefly focus on two key issues facing not only the people in my electorate but also the Australian public. The first issue is water, and the importance of economically and environmentally sustainable land and water management. Harvey Water, in the Forrest electorate, is a regionally owned and operated irrigation scheme run by farmers. It is acknowledged as a world leader in its field. Secondly, we need to focus on food production that is also economically and environmentally viable. It is critical for farmers and growers to have continued access to quality water and land. Australian food has a hard-won international reputation as being clean and green. Furthermore, the production of food close to local and regional markets helps to reduce the carbon footprint of the Australian food supply. I am proud to say that we have some of the most efficient producers of food and fibre in the world, and I believe that our communities must be able to buy quality, fresh, locally and regionally produced home-grown food. Government must ensure that the policy environment progresses the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the agricultural sector.

As part of that, I also value small business. It is a critical part of the economic and social fabric of so many regional centres and towns right across Australia, particularly in Forrest. The majority of small businesses are family owned and run. They are a major employer nationally and are the cornerstone of our society. And never forget: small business is a critical player in strengthening competition in the marketplace.

It is my intention to engage in trade practices and small business issues. My focus will also be on implementing and building on practical plans to create regional economic development, employment and social opportunities, making my south-west an even better place to live, to work, to invest, to raise a family, to enjoy recreation and to retire.

The people of Forrest will have my full representation, from those who live in the major population centres to those who live in the rural and wider areas. I will continue to work diligently to address the issue of drugs in schools and in the wider community, and to strive to ensure security for our seniors. Every person has the right to feel safe and secure in their own home.

As part of my representation of the people in Forrest I will also maintain a focus on health delivery outcomes and work towards attracting more doctors and allied health professionals to the region to ensure medical services and aged-care facilities keep pace with the projected population growth.

Finally, I need once again to acknowledge and thank the people of Forrest for their support. To them, I say this: you can be assured that I will be ‘focused on Forrest’ and that I will continue to work tirelessly on your behalf as your voice in this parliament. Thank you.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call Dr Kelly, the parliamentary secretary for defence support, I remind the House that this is the honourable member’s first speech. I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.

Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Support) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

May I convey to you, Mr Speaker, my congratulations on your elevation. Hopefully it will be a fulfilling, if not necessarily peaceful, tenure.

I stand here today as the newly elected member for Eden-Monaro as a consequence of a mood for change and a demand for action. The community of Eden-Monaro is special in the way that it will not sit still when it sees failures of leadership on the things that concern it. The evidence for this can be seen in the formation and growth of the Clean Energy for Eternity, or CEFE, movement. This is a broad based community phenomenon that has raised awareness and galvanised citizens, councils and community organisations into action on climate change. It has been a privilege to work with this group, and I believe it is something we can build on to help deliver the secure future we all seek for our children.

I see the same community spirit in many other aspects of life, such as the Home in Queanbeyan project, where our citizens regarded the homelessness situation as unacceptable and have generated the support required to do something about it. I have also seen this time and again at the individual level in those who devote their time to the Rural Fire Service, SES, scouts, disabled care, auxiliary support for our hospitals, sporting organisations and many other critical community endeavours. Our community organisations also look beyond our borders to help those less fortunate, such as the Bega Valley Advocates for Timor-Leste and the Tumbarumba group supporting Ugandan children through the Watoto program. It is inspirational to be a part of this, and to dedicate my energies to supporting and harnessing this spirit and drive so that our community can reach its full potential.

Through our outreach effort during the campaign I have heard the message from our community loud and clear. They demanded action on the decline in health services in rural and regional Australia. They want something done to improve the options for our young, to ensure them the availability of full-time employment and to spare them the depredations of the extreme Work Choices laws. They insist that the neglect of our key infrastructure be addressed. Our farmers need help to tackle the existential challenges posed by climate change and weeds. I am proud of the measures we committed to in order to address these concerns.

We will deliver on the specific commitments we made to the electorate, and I will fight hard for our fair share of this government’s national plans with regard to health, education, water management, broadband services, child care and renewable energy. I aim in particular to work with our community to make Eden-Monaro a centre for leading-edge technology and creative thinking when it comes to the renewable energy industry. This will aid our struggle to address climate change but it will also benefit our regional economy and provide our youth with career options that will keep them with us. In this regard I embrace the objectives of the CEFE movement and challenge all our councils, households and industry to pursue the CEFE target of a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions and the transition to 50 per cent power generation from renewable energy by the year 2020. I am setting this fifty-fifty by 2020 goal as an aspirational objective for Eden-Monaro.

It was a difficult decision for me to leave the Army and take this step into politics. I dearly love the Army and had the prospect of a number of years of rewarding service, further promotion and a secure future ahead of me. This was outweighed, however, by a burning desire to end the previous government, driven by my personal experiences and my concern for the future that I would bequeath my son.

Two factors sealed my decision. The first is my faith in the Prime Minister to manage this country and its security with intelligence, common sense and compassion. The second factor was the appeal of coming home to my roots in Eden-Monaro. My family were instrumental in building this region and continue to play a part in generating its prosperity, community spirit and values. It began back in the 1850s with my great-great-great-grandfather, Daniel Gowing, who pioneered much of the early industry, such as founding the Tathra Wharf, and was a well-known philanthropist. This was built upon by my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Joseph Kelly, who founded the Bega Cheese Co-op and was its first chairman. His original land is still dairy-farmed today by the family. These pioneers of industry understood the fundamental values of cooperation, fairness and family. These values are alive today as the Bega Cheese factory benefits from a collective agreement and is an integral part of the community.

My great-grandfather, Benjamin George Kelly, was a schoolteacher who taught all over the region and ran for the seat in 1940—for Lang Labor at the time. One of his sons, Father John Kelly, was parish priest in Bombala and Braidwood and became the monsignor who supervised the Catholic education system in the region. He unfortunately passed away in August last year before seeing me complete what his father attempted in 1940. His brother, my grandfather, Benjamin Joseph Kelly, also born in Bega, had been, along with other members of the family, in the volunteer Light Horse and went off to the Second World War as part of the 2nd/3rd Machine Gun Battalion. He fought in the Middle East before being captured by the Japanese in Java and spending the rest of the war working on the Burma-Thai Railway. These examples inspire me to believe in service and an overriding responsibility to community before self. I hope now to build on their legacy.

My own life experiences have also played a major part in shaping my views. My immediate family suffered through the devastating pressures of debt and poverty. This followed my father’s falling into bankruptcy when his business partner absconded with their joint funds. I recall vividly the experience of living in my aunt’s garage in a row of five beds, my first taste of barracks life! I also remember surviving through this time on the charity of the St Vincent de Paul Society and how important these groups are to those who fall through the cracks. This experience taught me what a devastating effect debt, homelessness and poverty can have on families and the physical and mental health of individuals.

As a young man fresh from university, I was privileged to work for three years on behalf of the victims of asbestos in the firm of Turner Freeman in Sydney, where I met my good friend and colleague our Attorney-General Robert McClelland. In those days it was all to do with discovering and proving the culpability of the miners and producers of asbestos. It was at once rewarding to be part of the effort to disclose this shocking story of negligence and deliberate cover-up over many decades but at the same time distressing to watch the suffering and sit by the death beds of wonderful men and women and their families. In this respect it is important to note that Bernie Banton was only one of many hundreds who suffered appalling and agonising deaths. I think of people like Peter Calkin, who spent every last waking moment of his life ensuring the security of his family when others might have been tempted to focus on themselves. From this searing and unforgettable experience I learned the importance of ensuring the protection of working people by law. I also learned the importance of the right of working people to organise, as the asbestos victims would never have achieved justice without the support of their colleagues.

This was followed by 20 very special years in the Australian Army. The memories and experiences of those years cannot be captured in this short speech, but I treasure every moment and every friendship cemented over that time. The Australian Defence Force is a special institution which not only serves our security but is the guardian of many of our fundamental values, forged through a tradition that all Australians respect. During my time in the Army I served in conflict zones in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific, which enabled me to draw lessons that are applicable to all environments and types of operation. My experience ranged from fundamental infantry tasks of toting rifle and radio on patrol to helping to direct operations at the highest level. It also involved labouring to establish the rule of law and postconflict reconstruction. I am now excited about bringing this experience to bear in helping to formulate our security policy.

I am highly conscious, though, that as we sit here today in these air-conditioned and comfortable surrounds there are hundreds of my ADF brothers and sisters who are doing it tough in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. Whether it is a matter of humping around in body armour in 50-degree heat or at 20 degrees below zero, struggling to avoid a cocktail of diseases or wondering whether you are spending your last moments in one piece, our ADF personnel will always be in my thoughts.

I know that for every member deployed there are many others preparing to go, returning, or supporting our personnel in establishments all over this country. I will bend every sinew to promote their welfare and safety, and to support their families. Defence families are always under intense stress. Moving house is said to be one of the most stressful experiences of life, and we compound a constant requirement in this regard with the worries they face for their loved ones in high-risk training and overseas deployments. I aim to advocate for ways to ease that strain.

I am also highly conscious of the fact that I am the only war veteran represented in parliament since the retirement of Graham Edwards. I feel a particular responsibility to be a voice for our veteran and ex-service community in this government. I serve fair warning to my colleagues that I will be an extremely persistent and annoying advocate on behalf of that community. Many veterans are looking to us now after bitter disappointments, and we must consolidate ourselves as the party they should naturally look to by not letting them down.

The Federation seat of Eden-Monaro is thought to be special because it is described as the bellwether that determines which party will form government. I believe that it is special for many other reasons. It is special because of its people and because of the land itself and the seas that frame its eastern flank. I urge all Australians to come to Eden-Monaro to find out for themselves why it is so special. Come to its glorious mountains and experience their magical rhythms in winter and summer. Experience the breathtaking scenery of the Alpine Way, the Snowy Mountains Highway and the Princes Highway. Enjoy the voluptuous country around the south-west slopes and the awe-inspiring Yarrangobilly Caves. Come to the historic towns of the Monaro plains and the Bega Valley. Marvel at the sweeping coastal views and beaches of the south-east coast. It is worth enjoying this experience before seeking to travel overseas.

We nevertheless face serious challenges in rural and regional Australia, and I am pleased now to be in a position to help deal with them and to advocate for the communities whose problems are so little understood in the major cities. We must devote a more concerted national effort towards weed control. Our agricultural sector loses in the order of $4 billion a year as a result of the weed threat, not to mention the environmental damage such as the menace of blackberry in the Kosciuszko National Park.

Health in our regions is in crisis, and I expect to now see a major and focused effort across all levels of government to address this. The shortage of doctors in some of these towns has reached an unacceptable level. I pay tribute to those country doctors such as Dr Colin Pate of Bombala, recently recognised in the Australia Day honours list, who are battling on under the pressure. We must bring them help. I call on the doctors of this country to come to the rescue of these towns as an act of national service. I ask our graduating doctors and those looking for a change to commit to a country town for a five-year period in your careers. You will find that the experience will enrich your life. You will be seduced by the charm of these towns and communities and you will have the satisfaction of having rendered your country as vital a service as those who serve us in uniform. The gratitude and reverence these towns will show you will humble and inspire you.

I want to assure the hardworking men and women of the land in Eden-Monaro that this government is as much for you as anyone else. You have often been disappointed in your representation and have sometimes turned to alternative voices, only to often be again let down. I say to you that I am your man; I am in your corner. I want to ensure our towns are living and vibrant economic, cultural and historical centres, not museums.

I believe the future of this country will largely be shaped by our response to the challenges posed by two liquids: water and oil. We cannot grow and will find it difficult to sustain our current lifestyle if we do not come up with a major national effort on our water resource management. We must give thought to whether we are selecting the appropriate land usage in tune with our various regions. We should reach out more vigorously to countries like Israel to collaborate on the development of water management and agricultural technology.

With regard to oil, I view the threat posed by the future dependency of this country on overseas and dwindling supplies as a critical strategic vulnerability. I believe we must follow the lead of the Swedes in taking a proactive approach towards eliminating this substance from our economy. The future oil shocks that we are facing will have the greatest impact on communities like Eden-Monaro and, for their sake, I intend to keep this issue in the forefront of our thinking. One of the primary purposes of government is to anticipate future threats and take appropriate risk management measures, so we cannot turn from this challenge.

One of the major motivations in the journey to this place has been my Iraq experiences, which, as many know, included the Abu Ghraib and AWB sagas. While I have seen appalling suffering and destruction and experienced the loss of friends in Somalia, Bosnia and Timor Leste, in Iraq this was greatly intensified and made more painful by the frustrations of the operation.

I left Iraq carrying with me the ghosts of some special people—people like Lieutenant Colonel Chad Buehring. Chad was a bloke everyone liked. He loved kids and was a wonderful family man. On one particularly dark day—among many in Iraq—Chad was with me and many of our colleagues when our building came under sustained direct fire and was struck with 27 rockets. Chad, like the true soldier he was, rushed to the window with his M16 to try to return fire. Chad took the force of a rocket strike against his window and had half his head and his left hand blown away. He did not die immediately but there was nothing that could be done for him. We took around 20 casualties in that attack, and I was to lose countless other friends amongst UN workers, Iraqi colleagues and my coalition brothers and sisters in my year in that tortured land. I entered into this political venture as part of a compact with them to hold the previous government to account and to right the wrongs of Iraq, and I feel those colleagues with me as I stand here today. We now have our work cut out to make their sacrifices and the efforts of our troops in Iraq worth while and to give them meaning. I am looking forward to this government contributing ideas to the solution to that conflict and bringing more effective direct assistance to the Iraqi people.

Given all I have seen in my 20 years in the Army, I am delighted now to see a new direction is possible in our security policy: a wiser, more sophisticated approach that acknowledges that security is achieved by working on a number of levels. One of the greatest challenges we face is from Islamic extremism. I believe that this stems from the watershed struggle for Islam that is currently playing out, similar in nature to the Christian experience of the Reformation, which had far bloodier consequences. It is vital that we reach out to the moderate voices of Islam, to do all we can to assist and encourage them in this struggle. The greatest contribution we can make to our own security is to ensure we have social cohesion here at home. Our greatest ally in the fight against Islamic extremism is our own Islamic community. We must reach out and embrace them as fellow Australians and work hard at interfaith dialogue.

Further to this, we need to pursue a more intelligent approach to multilateral security, both in our constructive engagement with the United Nations and in our regional outreach. Over the last 11 years I have watched in my work with the UN and our neighbours how much our standing has suffered and how our effectiveness at advancing our security interests has been impeded by neglect in these respects.

I also want to take advantage of this opportunity today to pay tribute to the men and women who worked so tirelessly on the Your Rights at Work campaign. The Work Choices experience showed us why it is still vital that the fundamental human right of working people to organise be protected. It has also shown us, however, that the Australian union movement must take this reprieve as an opportunity to re-examine itself and explore ways to reach out to working Australians with a positive message and experience regarding the benefits of union membership. The union movement desperately needs the same fresh thinking and creative leadership that the country responded to in the Rudd Labor team. I stand ready to do all I can to help promote that process in this new role.

So much also needs to be done for those in our community who are struggling to deal with the care of the disabled, the challenges the disabled themselves face and the mentally ill. I was proud that we committed to supporting the work of the Home in Queanbeyan project. This project points the way to the ideal of the community and government working in partnership. It is not good enough that we expect government to provide all the answers to these great challenges. We all bear a responsibility to do what we can to help our fellow Australians in their need. I want to prioritise my support to community based projects in this respect, and I call on all in our community to come together to join this partnership and to emulate the Home in Queanbeyan model.

On this historic day I would like to say to our Indigenous community in Eden-Monaro: ‘I hope to help you to help yourselves.’ There are projects and ideas that we need to pursue to empower the people of these communities, and I will be reaching out to them to explore how we can advance these.

There are countless people that I ought to thank, for their support to me personally and for the campaign, but it would not be possible to name them all here. I have been steadily seeking them out to thank them individually, and I want them all to know that I am fully conscious that I only stand here thanks to their effort. There are two people I do wish to single out, though: my wife, Shelly, and my son, Ben. They have experienced all the stress and heartache of a Defence family. They know the wrench as a little piece of your heart breaks away at every separation on deployments, and the personal stress that has come with my commitment to call things as I see them and to make a personal stand when I feel something is unacceptable. I have not always been to them what I should have, and I want to fully acknowledge here that I would not have achieved anything without them.

Finally, can I say to the people of Eden-Monaro that we are now a team and I am looking forward to working with them. I am conscious of the record of previous members for the region, and I have a great deal to live up to. Jim Snow, who represented the electorate from 1983 to 1996, has shown me what being a good local member is all about. Juggling my Defence responsibilities with my electorate work will be difficult, but I know the people of this region have always understood the need to support the national interests with respect to security and I will be grateful for their indulgence in this respect.

I am proud to be here and to be in a position to continue my service to the country as part of this wonderfully talented Rudd Labor team. I now anticipate a future for this country of prosperity enhanced by compassion and justice, where we can move beyond the small-minded and the mean-spirited and, as Lincoln said, give flight to the better angels of our nature. Thank you.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have chosen to confine my remarks this evening in the address-in-reply debate to the apology to our Indigenous peoples moved in the House this morning and supported by the parliament. Last Saturday, a number of Indigenous people met with me in my electorate office in Perth. On a number of occasions since the government announced the date for the formal apology, I have invited Indigenous people to my office, and they have all been willing to meet with me to discuss the apology and I thank them for that. On this most recent occasion, a proud Nyungar woman told me her story. I have sought, and been given permission from her, to relate to this House some of what she told me.

She is considered one of the stolen generations and, as she spoke, I was not thinking about whether the term ‘stolen generations’ was or was not the most appropriate way to describe her life circumstances. No—I was listening to what had been stolen from her: her childhood innocence, her trust in people, her sense of self, her sense of belonging, her culture, her heritage. Whether, as a young child, she was taken from her family because of race or because of welfare, she lost her childhood. Whether, as she grew older, she was separated, time and time again, from her brothers and sisters because of race or because of welfare, she lost her family. Whether, as a young woman, her first child was taken from her because of race or because of welfare, she lost the opportunity to nurture and love her baby.

As she told her story, in a voice so soft that I strained to hear her, and as she described her feelings of alienation and deprivation, it was palpable that she was hurting as much then as 40 or 50 years ago. She spoke of painful events in her childhood as if they were yesterday, and as if her heart would break yet again. We are about the same age. As she spoke, I thought of my childhood, with my parents and sisters and brother, and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, all living on the same farm in the Adelaide Hills and enveloping me with love and support, and I cried with her.

This woman is part of the history of Western Australia, a history that is and will remain highly controversial when it comes to matters Indigenous. It is, however, an incontrovertible fact that there was state legislation, beginning with the Aborigines Act 1905, which imposed a strict regime of control over the state’s Indigenous population. This 1905 act conferred on a Commissioner of Native Affairs powers over Aborigines, including the power to remove Aboriginal children from their families by virtue of the commissioner’s role as guardian of all Aboriginal children up to the age of 16 years. This act also gave the commissioner the authority, under ministerial warrant, to direct Aboriginal people to any reserve or settlement the commissioner thought fit. It also outlawed miscegenation—the procreative sexual union between the races.

Such were the times and prevailing attitudes that similar legislation and accompanying practices existed in the 19th and 20th centuries in European settlements across the globe. Over the next 50 or 60 years, Aboriginal children were separated from their mothers and their families on a systematic basis. In Western Australia, Aboriginal people were directed to settlements at places such as Moore River; Carrolup, near Katanning; and Roelands, outside Collie. Particular attention was directed at the growing number of what were termed half-caste children and how to address that problem. Whatever motives lay behind this legislation and however one chooses to interpret it, the acts and statements of those entrusted with its powers made it clear that it was based on Darwinian theories of survival of the fittest. The full-blood Aborigines were thought to be a dying race. The problem was what to do with the half-castes.

In 1936, the Western Australian Native Administration Act gave much wider powers to the commissioner over a wider range of persons of mixed descent. Virtually any children of Aboriginal descent could be forcibly removed from their families and placed in government institutions to be trained in the ‘ways of white civilisation’. The commissioner, not parents, controlled the lives of Aboriginal children until they were adults—21 years of age. From this age, any person of quarter-caste descent or less was prohibited by law from associating with Aboriginal people. In this way, Aboriginal people were forced to live in the white community, but there were no measures introduced to ensure their acceptance. As the first Western Australian commissioner, appointed in 1914, explained at the inaugural Commonwealth-state conference on Aboriginal affairs in 1937, ‘the natives must be absorbed into the white population of Australia’ and that while the state had control over their marriages this would ‘prevent the return of half-castes who were nearly white to the black’. While the commissioner noted that, ‘It is well-known that coloured races all over the world hate institutionalisation, they have tremendous affection for their children,’ he was confident that with the absorption over time of the entire Aboriginal race into the white community it would be, as he said, ‘possible to forget that there were ever any Aborigines in Australia’.

Throughout the 1950s and sixties, Indigenous children continued to be separated from their families and institutionalised in places such as Sister Kate’s Children’s Home. The reasons children were sent there and how they got there are a complex tale. They were sent for welfare reasons. Single Aboriginal mothers, for example, had no access to social security up until the 1960s and were particularly vulnerable to having their children taken away from them and put in homes. Some were forcibly removed, others were placed there by families who could see better opportunities for their children than they could offer. There is evidence that children were sent there based solely on their Aboriginality. In more recent times, some who grew up at Sister Kate’s have acknowledged the opportunities and benefits, including an education, that they gained. A few years ago, I attended an anniversary event at Sister Kate’s and Magistrate Sue Gordon spoke, as did many other Indigenous people present, of the good times and the bad growing up at Sister Kate’s.

The damage done to many children who were brought up in closed institutions cannot be overlooked, whether Indigenous or non-Indigenous. White children taken from their families in the post-war era and placed in homes by welfare authorities and Indigenous children in institutional care can suffer lifelong psychological, emotional and physical damage. A number were subject to gross mistreatment and abuse.

In more recent times, there has been greater understanding of the harm occasioned to children who are separated from their families and as a consequence feel they have lost their identity, their sense of belonging, their inner security. And where there was and is physical, mental or sexual abuse, the effects can be profound, challenging their capacity to take part in society, to form lasting relationships and to mature into functional adults. The policies and practices of the past, for which we as a parliament extended our apology today, existed up until the 1960s in one form or another. Today, welfare authorities still remove children from families, Indigenous and non-Indigenous. In many Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities today there is despair, disadvantage and dysfunction. As legislators, we must understand the circumstances that gave rise to the stolen generations so that we do not repeat the injustices of the past.

As a minister for just over four years in the coalition government, I had the privilege of having responsibility for two separate portfolios that brought me into close contact with many Indigenous people, people who were working hard to overcome the challenges that confront current generations of Indigenous people. As Minister for Ageing, I was acutely conscious of the fact that, in the provision of aged-care services, the government assessed Indigenous need at a far earlier age than that of the rest of the population, recognising the brutal truth that the life expectancy of Indigenous people is 17 years less than the rest of the population. As Minister for Education, Science and Training I was assisted by many Indigenous people who served on advisory committees and who provided me with valuable counsel and advice on Indigenous education and training issues. I thank them all for their support.

There was an outstanding initiative involving the federal government and all state and territory governments when relevant education ministers—and I was among them—agreed unanimously in 2006 to a series of recommendations relating to Indigenous education in a report entitled Australian directions in Indigenous education. The recommendations covered early childhood Indigenous education, partnerships between schools and Indigenous communities, school leadership, quality teaching, pathways to training, and employment and higher education. It is my hope that the relevant ministers will recommit to these recommendations in this report so that educational outcomes for all Indigenous Australians can be improved and they are at least the equivalent of those of the rest of the population.

We must break the perpetuating intergenerational cycle of social and economic disadvantage. The Indigenous population is young. About 40 per cent are under 15, compared with 20 per cent of the non-Indigenous population. While we can point to improvements in educational standards for Indigenous Australians over the last decade or so, we should not accept that incremental gains are acceptable. All governments must accelerate the pace of change by making Indigenous education at every level core government business.

I visited many communities and observed a number of wonderful initiatives. In the Tiwi Islands, for example, the local community have taken responsibility for the education of their children, supervising the building of a boarding school for the island children, funded by the federal government. At Eva Valley, a school sponsored through the Ian Thorpe foundation has a focus, through its Literacy Backpack Project, on supporting literacy levels in the school and in the home. And at Woolaning in the Northern Territory, I was so impressed with the facilities and opportunities for Indigenous children that I worked hard to secure more funding for this and similar boarding schools in the 2007 budget. These schools offer a safe, secure and nurturing learning environment.

Two of the most successful development programs, the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program and the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program, have seen young Indigenous people provided with opportunities to pursue academic and training pursuits. These young people are selected by their communities to undertake studies away from their communities and in some of Australia’s best schools, public and private, and best universities. It is the hope of the Indigenous communities that they are developing through these programs the next generation of Indigenous leaders. There is much more to be done to heal the ravaged communities in the Northern Territory, and I hope that the Northern Territory emergency response is permitted to run its course as introduced, in the interests of every child who is at risk.

Today must mark the beginning of another journey. It cannot be, nor should it be, seen as the end of a journey; it must be seen as the beginning of the next. The opposition welcomes the government’s initiative of a joint commission on Indigenous policy.

This brings me back to last Saturday and the woman who spoke to me of her life story. She is one of generations of Indigenous Australians who feel so deeply the loss of the precious things in life that were taken from them. To meet with her and with others was important for me, to shed light on our past, shake my comfortable certainties, enlarge my appreciation of the challenges we face as a country and enrich my understanding of reconciliation. It will be hard for any of us who have not experienced their story to fathom the depth of their feelings. One of the Indigenous men said to me: ‘Julie, I don’t blame you. It was the time. It was the place. It was the circumstance.’ Time, place, circumstance. To the Indigenous people who made the time to see me and tell me their story, I say thank you. This is the time, this is the place, this is the circumstance in which I say, in the terms of the motion, ‘Sorry’.

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I congratulate you on your election to your office. Can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet here today. There has been no greater recognition than the events that have taken place in this House in the last couple of days, for the very first time in Australian history. Firstly, there was the welcome to country, which I found deeply moving and, in fact, quite emotional. It seemed to have a nice fit in this place. It seemed so natural and so much a part of the way this House should have always been and yet, starkly, it was the first time it had ever happened. Secondly, there was the apology. The apology was a long time coming. It was something that this nation as a whole had to do and something that I think we wanted to do, but we needed the leadership to carry it out. That took place today and, for all the fear that surrounded it, it was a day of happiness. It was a day where people were smiling. It was a day where, as a member of parliament in this place, I felt in a way complete about what our role is and about the things that we need to do to make this an even better country. Those were two very significant events. I will have more to say on both of those and some other significant issues in relation to the first Australians at a later time.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the Indigenous peoples and elders of my local region, the Ipswich region and the Inala region and surrounds. I am great friends with all of them. I deeply respect them. I love working with them and want to continue that relationship in the future. We have some wonderful Indigenous folk in our area, who contribute so much not only to their own people but also to the greater good and to everyone else in the community. I wanted to take the time to acknowledge them.

Being elected to this place is always a great privilege. It is not my first time, obviously. This is my fourth election. I am deeply honoured and deeply privileged, as is everybody, to be elected to this place. Being elected for the fourth time is of course an even greater honour. In saying that, I wanted to let the people of Oxley know that I feel more committed, more energised and more prepared to work even harder for them today than on the very first day I was elected.

I feel this new energy. You might say that that is just because we have got into government—finally. I was elected to opposition in 1998 but I have finally got into government here now. But, it is more than that. It is about a new agenda, about a new government with fresh ideas. It is about the great opportunities that we have. I cannot think of a time in our history when we have been in a better position to make those significant changes that will carry us forward in the 21st century and deliver all those things that need to happen. There is a whole century ahead of us, a whole heap of things that we have to do. When I contemplate those thoughts, and that I can be a part of an Australian parliament that has acknowledged the original Australians, along with the Australians that came on the first fleet and all Australians today, I think this is a great honour for me as well as for everybody who has been elected here.

I very much want to thank the people of Oxley for the trust that they have placed in me. I want to reassure them that the fact that they have given me an almost doubling of my margin will only drive me to work even harder. The challenge is there: can I possibly increase it one more time! Having a solid margin in a seat, I can assure you, is no excuse for not working very, very hard. I continue to do that. I have always believed in that and I have very strongly believed in the view that if you are a good local member and you work hard then you have a very good chance of being re-elected.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who helped me get re-elected. As we in this place all know, you cannot be a one-man team, as it were—there are just so many people involved. Let me start by acknowledging and thanking my family: my wife, Margie, and my three children Tim, Emily and Madeleine. They might only be young—Tim is 12, Emily is nine and Madeleine is eight—but they are incredibly good campaigners. There would not be a day at school during an election campaign when they are not telling their young friends that they should be voting for their dad. It is a wonderful thing to see. My wife, Margie, who is an incredible campaigner herself, very diligently did a lot of work on my campaign to make sure that it flowed and that we did all the things that we promised that we would do. I think it is a really important thing that, when you get out into the community and you promise to do a whole heap of things, you actually do them.

It is very hard to do that when you are a member of the opposition. I experienced that, as many of my colleagues have in this place, for many years as an opposition member. To go out there and to be able to deliver for the community while not being in government is very hard. Can I assure them here tonight that, now being a member of the Rudd government, I will be doing my utmost to ensure that every single one of the election promises that we made during the campaign will be honoured. I am very comfortable and I feel at ease in saying that, because I know that, through the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and all of our ministers, we have made an absolute commitment that we will honour all of our election promises—and for that I am very grateful to my party. Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, you would know from your experience over many years, perhaps more than mine, that it is often the case that governments make promises during election campaigns but find that they just cannot keep them for whatever reason. I am very proud to say that I am going to be part of a government that honours and keeps all of its election promises.

I also want to thank very deeply the Australian Labor Party in the Oxley region for all the hard work that they did—but not only them. I want to thank ALP members everywhere who came and gave support, not only in my seat but in other seats; my FEC and FDE that worked so hard; all of my local branch members; my campaign committee—which sometimes you do not know how many people are on, there are so many people out there working for you—and to all the young people who came and assisted and made my job so much easier and allowed me to focus on getting out there on the street, talking to people, whether it be in their homes, at shopping centres, at railway stations or on the side of the road. I am deeply in their debt for helping me to be re-elected one more time.

I also want to thank Kevin Rudd and I want to thank all the members of our caucus. We did a great job, but it is by no small means through the leadership of now Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that we actually managed to do what we did. The strong message of fresh ideas and change is not only a slogan but a reality and something that we will experience through this place in the coming term.

I want to particularly make mention of something that I think is significant. We tend to do this at the end of a parliamentary term rather than at the start, as they are all marked by a significant thing or event, something that truly marks what they are about. I will not tread through history, because I do not have time tonight—I will do that on other occasions. I think this parliamentary term will be remembered for a number of very significant events—I won’t number them—but I think the turning of the corner, the most significant event, as I have mentioned, is the apology to the stolen generations and Indigenous people in this country. I think that will go down in history in 20, 30, 50 years time as: why did this not this happen earlier? Why did it take so long? I think that this is one of the things that will mark this term of the Rudd government. The other is, very importantly, the issue of those promises that I mentioned earlier. They will be honoured. I can assure you of the work that I will do, and that I know all of my colleagues will do, to ensure that all of those commitments are honoured. We will ensure that we will be remembered as a government that had only one type of promise: a core promise, one that was actually delivered for the people we wanted to help and we promised we would help.

I also want to acknowledge and thank the new members. I have to say they would have to be the best and brightest class, and some of my most favourite people in the world. I say the best and brightest—possibly except for the class of ‘98, which is the class I came in. But they come very close!

I mention the following people in no particular order. Brett Raguse in the seat of Forde, giant killer, did a sterling job, always had faith that he could win the seat and worked like there was no tomorrow, and for that he has been well rewarded. Yvette D’Ath in the seat of Petrie, another giant killer, went out, worked very hard and wore out several pairs of shoes, as I understand. Jon Sullivan in Longman did a brilliant job. Chris Trevor, ‘CT’, in Flynn is in a tough part of the world but he is a tough character and he deserved his seat. There is James Bidgood up north in Dawson. My very good friend Shayne Neumann from Blair fought a wonderful fight—one that he had had some experience at fighting in the past—and won a great victory. He never lost faith, he never lost his belief in the party, the ALP, or the people of the region—the people he was going to help—and I think that is part of the reason that he got here. There are also Jim Turnour in Leichhardt, Kerry Rea in Bonner and Graham Perrett in Moreton. Congratulations to you all—I am only going to mention the Queenslanders—for a truly well-deserved victory and for being a very significant reason that we now have a great Labor government with Kevin Rudd as the Prime Minister.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank a number of members who are no longer with us. At the top of my list is the Hon. Kim Beazley, the former member for Brand, an incredible public servant, an incredible person who gave his whole life—everything of himself—to his electorate, to his party, to people. He did a wonderful job and he has got so much more to contribute. It is very sad not to see him in this place, because of all the great things he did, but in the end he left at a time that was right for him and right for other people. I congratulate him on that decision.

Still in Western Australia, I also want to make particular mention of my very good friend, who is no longer a member of parliament, Kim Wilkie in Swan, who fought incredible fights. Swan is not a seat traditionally held by Labor. Kim Wilkie actually won that seat in Western Australia against the trend, against all odds and against all betting, I would say, but he just could not quite do it a fourth time. It was so close, it was incredible—a very hard one to call. But Kim, I know, will contribute in a whole range of ways and will continue to contribute to public life, so I wanted to make particular mention of him. He was a great member of parliament, he did a lot of good work in this House and he will be well remembered.

I also want to mention Senator George Campbell, who did some very good things in this place—in the Senate—and who will be leaving us at the changeover, along with Senator Linda Kirk. Ann Corcoran in Isaacs did a fantastic job; she was an incredible team player. My very good friend Graham Edwards retired but he will always be in our memories. There was no more unique or colourful a character in this House than Graham Edwards. His exploits were so many and there are so many tales to tell I would not have the time tonight, but he is a great man, a truly inspirational person who will be well remembered.

Michael Hatton, a good friend of mine—we sat close to each other—is a man of boundless energy and boundless speeches, and I see Michael Danby, the member for Melbourne Ports, having a laugh. Nobody made more speeches—apart from maybe John Murphy—than Michael Hatton, so good luck to him in the future. Kelly Hoare followed in some great traditions, and Dr Carmen Lawrence in Fremantle had an incredible career. Senator Robert Ray will leave us a little bit later on. Bob Sercombe in Maribyrnong did a wonderful job of looking after the portfolio of the Pacific islands, and I was very proud of the work he did. Rod Sawford from Port Adelaide was the voice of sometimes reason but certainly the voice on many different issues and a person that never feared speaking out. I want to mention all of those people because I think it is important.

There are many opportunities for me to speak in this House and I have made many speeches, so I am not going to talk on a whole heap of other traditional things. I have left one person to last that I want to make a particular mention of and to honour—the late Peter Andren, who was an incredible person, a wonderful person in this House, who brought a unique perspective, a different colour to this place. He had an incredible work ethic. He was well loved by many people in here and well disliked by many others. He was not disliked because he was not a hard worker or a great MP but perhaps because of some of the realities that he thrust in all of our faces. Peter is a great loss to many people, and a lot has been said about Peter already and will continue to be said in this House, but I want to make particular mention of him.

As I have said, I have made a number of speeches and I will not follow the traditional protocols but I want to make mention of a couple of things. I took it to heart when the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, asked us to go out and visit schools and a homeless shelter in our electorates. I thought it was a really great idea. I took it to heart so much that that very afternoon I organised to visit not four but six schools. I went and visited two independent schools in my electorate, two public schools in my electorate and also my local TAFE. I saw a great institution called Education City in Springfield and had a talk to them about the difficulties and challenges they face in delivering excellent educational services for young people. I learned a lot and I will use that knowledge to help guide our education policy into the future.

I also visited one of my local youth homeless shelters at Goodna and caught up with some great friends there and some great people. I had a good look at some of the real issues that young homeless people face. There is so much more we can do. The words ring in my ears when I hear the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, talk about a bipartisan approach and that we have to take the politics out of some issues and work together in a bipartisan spirit to achieve things. I think the issue of homelessness is another one of those issues. These people need our help. These people need us to do more for them. That is certainly one of the things that I will be working very hard to ensure we deliver on.

I will quickly mention some of the issues I campaigned on not because they helped me get elected but because they are issues of great importance to local people in my area. I campaigned on the full upgrade of the Ipswich Motorway versus the Goodna bypass, and I have done that for many years—for a decade, I have campaigned for this road.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like a broken record.

Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Almost like a broken record—thank you, Member for Melbourne Ports. But the reality is this road is about people’s livelihoods, their lifestyles and their sanity. I am very happy that that commitment has been made and that the minister responsible made it the No. 1 priority not in Queensland but in all of Australia—for that I thank him very much. I campaigned on the issue of the cost of living—of how difficult it is becoming for ordinary people; on housing affordability; on dental health; on broadband; on general health issues; on Medicare; on education and skills; on infrastructure, which I dearly love as a portfolio area; on Work Choices; on people’s work lives; on their family lives; on climate change and the environment, just to name a few—all great things to campaign on but, even more importantly, great things to work on into the future to make people’s lives better, which is why we are here in the first place.

I said I do not have the time tonight to deal with all the issues I would like to speak about. That would take a number of hours, but can I just note now, before my time expires, that I will take significant amounts of time in this House to highlight the injustices, the inequalities and the rampant, drunken way in which the previous Howard government wasted taxpayer dollars, the way they pillaged our economy and the way they ramped up inflation. I am also going to be looking very closely at the deception of the Australian people in the way they were always conned into believing for many years that all was fine in the house of the Howard government. But, the day after the election, we learned that things were not so rosy.

Mr Speaker, while I have the opportunity, I congratulate you on your election to high office. Already you have demonstrated your great skill as a Speaker, and I thank you very much.

Debate interrupted.