Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, allow me at this stage to congratulate you on your election to this high office. You have been a member of this House for many years, as was indicated during the debate prior to your election, and I have to say that if we have to have a government member I could not honestly think of a better government member to have as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. You have always been firm and fair, you understand the standing orders, and if you have a robust relationship with the clerks, as you attested to in your acceptance speech, it is obviously because you understand, as do the clerks, the standing orders and, on occasions, you might have a genuine difference of opinion on how those standing orders ought to be applied.

I want to say just how proud I am to be an Australian. We have a wonderful democracy. We are the sixth-oldest democracy in the world. Last year on 24 November we had an election. The government won and we lost, and while one might quibble with the outcome one certainly cannot contest the importance of the process. We are singularly fortunate as Australians, because, unlike people in so many other parts of the world, every three years we are able to judge the government of the day. Australians get the government they deserve. That is appropriate, and all of us, regardless of the result, should rejoice in the fact that we are a country which has freedom, stability, and a way of life that has made us the envy of people throughout the world.

In this the first adjournment debate speech I have delivered in the 42nd Parliament, I would genuinely like to take the opportunity of thanking the electorate of Fisher for returning me as its member. It is wonderful to survive a tsunami. Right around the country, people survived tsunamis, and some people, sadly, did not. It is a great privilege to be elected to represent the most wonderful part of Australia and one of the fastest-growing areas in our country. The Sunshine Coast is a place to which people choose to come to bring up their families and to retire. It is undoubtedly an iconic area and I must say that I am singularly fortunate to have been selected at so many elections to represent the people of Fisher in the Australian parliament.

It is always dangerous to cite names and thank people for the debt you owe to them, but I would like to thank my wife, Inge, for her incredible support during the election. She was absolutely wonderful and it would not have been possible to achieve the result that we achieved without her input and support. I would also like to thank my campaign director, Michael Bloyce; my FEC chairman, Ken Hines; all the branches in the electorate of Fisher; and all the membership of the electorate of Fisher for their very strong support. We faced a very difficult election. We have only ever had four prime ministers from Queensland. We had Andrew Fisher, after whom my seat is named; Arthur Fadden, who was Prime Minister for a short time during the war; Frank Forde, who was Prime Minister between Chifley and Curtin; and now we have Kevin Rudd. With Kevin Rudd coming from Queensland it was always going to be an extraordinarily difficult ask for people not only on the Sunshine Coast but throughout Queensland to return the government. The quality, or otherwise, of the Labor candidate did not matter. Every single Liberal Party and National Party candidate at the election on 24 November faced one opponent—that, of course, was Kevin Rudd, who has now been elected as Prime Minister of Australia. I salute his election and I congratulate him. I do believe that our Prime Minister is a person of great integrity and quality. While I do not agree with his policy on many occasions, I think we are fortunate to have a person of very good values elected as Australia’s Prime Minister.

Alex Somlyay (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Somlyay interjecting

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Chief Opposition Whip, you are right. The Prime Minister was, I believe, born in your electorate, and he was nurtured in your electorate. Half of the Prime Minister’s family was conservative. In any event, there is a sense of reflected pride and glory that we have a Prime Minister from Queensland, and he is prepared to stand up and be counted on the issues that he believes are very important. A lot of people were critical of the apology, but I have to say that the Prime Minister announced his policy before the election and I am very much in favour of people delivering on their commitments to the Australian people. It is to the credit of the Prime Minister that he got elected and one of the first actions he took was to implement that campaign promise. (Time expired)

John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your elevation to high office. I also congratulate the deputy speakers—the member for Chisholm and the member for Maranoa—and I wish you all the best for the 42nd Parliament. I think the House has made a great choice in making you the Speaker. On this historic day, I sincerely thank the electors of Lowe for their vote of confidence in electing me to the 42nd Parliament. I am honoured and privileged. I will continue to work hard for my constituents’ interests to the best of my ability. I thank my wife, Adriana, my local ALP branch members, my staff and my supporters for their very hard work during the campaign and their ongoing hard work and encouragement. Without their hard work and support, I know that I would not be standing in this place tonight.

Our Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, and our Deputy Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard, have been elected with a mandate to bring to this 42nd Parliament an exciting agenda for change. I congratulate both of them tonight for their relentless campaigning and outstanding leadership since the election, which offers so much hope for our nation and the opportunity to achieve so much for our great country. As I reflect on the past 10 weeks that have elapsed since the Rudd government assumed office, it is astonishing to note how many things have taken place of which I am proud. Today, on this momentous occasion, the Prime Minister delivered, in this place, on his promise to deliver to the stolen generation and our Indigenous Australians. What a momentous occasion it was! How proud of our Prime Minister Australia feels tonight! I look forward to speaking on the Prime Minister’s motion soon.

Further, since the election the Prime Minister delivered on his promise and ratified the Kyoto protocol at the climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia. I am very proud of that. The Prime Minister has also travelled to Iraq and Afghanistan to support the brave members of our Defence Force. How proud I am of that. The Prime Minister has practised cooperative federalism, successfully conducting early in January the first of what will be many COAG meetings. I well remember the day Kevin Rudd was elected Leader of the Opposition in December 2006. One of the first things he spoke about was his determination to promote cooperative federalism. How proud I am of him in relation to that.

This week the Prime Minister has also shown great leadership and support for our neighbours and friends in times of trouble following the failed assassination attempts on the political leaders of East Timor—President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.

At a local level the Prime Minister, like me, has expressed his anger with the former government for the concealment of its plans, prior to the federal election, to close the east-west runway at Sydney airport. Just three days after the federal election, Sydney airport foreshadowed the closure later this year of the east-west runway. My constituents well know the implications for increased noise of the closure of the east-west runway. Sydney airport was obliged to inform the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government well in advance of these works, yet we did not hear a peep from the former minister before the election. That is an absolute bloody disgrace!

Safety is always paramount at our airports; however, consultation is imperative. The constituents of Lowe deserve much better, with honest communication about the proposed developments of Sydney airport now that it has been privatised by the Howard government. I commend the action of both the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon. Anthony Albanese, the member for Grayndler—who, like me, well knows Sydney airport—and the Prime Minister, who already have ordered an independent engineers’ report on the project and have suggested that a report on environmental impacts be sought. The newly reconstituted Sydney Airport Community Forum meets on Friday and I look forward to standing up for my electorate and prosecuting, through that forum, the many issues that relate to the airport. Despite the efforts of the former government to leave remnants of their negative, exclusive attitude to consultation, the election of a Rudd Labor government strengthens my resolve to deal with each challenge in the 42nd Parliament—(Time expired)