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

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

Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I am honoured and privileged to represent the people of Kooyong, a place of strong community values and the home of the Liberal Party’s great founder, Sir Robert Menzies—our longest serving Prime Minister.

Standing before the parliament of our great country, I see my journey to this place in the continuum of my family’s story. My grandparents on both sides were migrants from Europe. In the late 1930s Morrie and Leah Frydenberg came from Poland to Australia to seek a better life. They arrived while Europe was plunging into darkness.

The experience was different for my maternal grandparents, Sam and Ethel Strauss, and their young daughters, including my mother, who were interned in the Budapest ghetto by the Hungarian fascists. They survived and eventually made their way through displaced persons camps to Australia. My great-grandparents, and many relatives on both sides, perished in the Holocaust, but one who survived is with us today. My great-aunt Mary Frydenberg spent two years at Auschwitz. She was transferred back to Germany by the Nazis and then sent on a death march, but she escaped with the assistance of a humane German guard. In her run for freedom, she was given shelter by a Catholic priest—at great risk to him—before making her way to Australia.

Mary’s story serves us all as a constant reminder of hope, even in the presence of tragedy. Like so many other immigrants to our great shores, all of my grandparents came here with nothing. With his family of five crammed into a one-bedroom Bondi apartment, Sam Strauss found room to punch holes in belts to eke out a living. Morrie Frydenberg worked on the docks fixing naval vessels during the war and later went into small business, opening three haberdashery stores in country Victoria with his cousins.

I have vivid memories of accompanying my grandparents on weekends as they drove their Kingswood to Colac, slept over at the pub and restocked the shop. My grandparents on both sides worked hard, determined to give their children a better start in life. My mother, Erica, became a psychologist and my father, Harry, became a surgeon. Both are deeply respected for their contribution to the health and wellbeing of their local communities. This is a source of great pride to my sister and I, as our parents built a home where unconditional love and the obligation to help others was never in doubt.

The welcome my family received and the opportunities and freedom they enjoyed is for me the essence of what makes Australia great. My parents, like my paternal grandparents before them, settled in Kew, right in the heart of the Kooyong electorate. Never would they have dared dream that, decades later, one of their own family members would represent Kooyong in the federal parliament. But in Australia anything is possible. We are only limited by our imagination.

The seat of Kooyong derives its name from the Aboriginal word meaning ‘resting place’. It is my home and where my beautiful fiancee, Amy, and I hope to raise our family. Encompassing the suburbs of Balwyn, Balwyn North, Hawthorn, Kew, Camberwell, Surrey Hills, Deepdene and Canterbury, the electorate is characterised by natural beauty, demographic diversity and a thriving local economy. Not far from the embankments of the Yarra, one can find bustling shopping strips, historic public buildings and churches—many dating back to the 1800s. Some of the architecture from the Victorian period reflects the gently faded glory of an ambitious past.

You need only to be on a late afternoon tram to see some of the 30,000 school students making their way home from the more than 50 schools in Kooyong to realise that the electorate is an educational metropolis. More than one in five people speak a language other than English at home, with Mandarin the fastest growing among them. Vibrant ethnic communities, be they Chinese, Greek or Italian, are flourishing in our suburbs and enrich the cohesive, yet distinctive, Kooyong community.

Kooyong has an active citizenry. The service clubs, religious organisations and community groups are passionately committed to helping others. It was a cause well advanced by my predecessor, Petro Georgiou, and is reflected in his work. One of the great strengths of Kooyong is that it is full of grassroots organisations that are inspired and created not by government but by the people themselves. They are exemplars of cohesion. I derive enormous satisfaction from working with the people of Kooyong. Lending a helping hand is not only meaningful for me but my first responsibility.

The history of Kooyong tells a powerful story about Australian liberalism over more than a century. On 18 March 1895 Alfred Deakin addressed a public meeting at St Columb’s Church in Hawthorn with a speech entitled, ‘What is liberalism?’ His speech was an early enunciation of the attributes which we now identify as a fair go. His clarion call for equality of opportunity and a society tempered by a safety net for those in need has resonated through the decades. The members for Kooyong have taken heed of Deakin’s words—many have been giants in this place.

Sir John Latham was Deputy Prime Minister and later Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. Andrew Peacock was, like Latham, a distinguished foreign minister and Leader of the Opposition. But of course it was Sir Robert Menzies who consolidated the Liberal cause during the course of his long prime ministership. His record of achievement is a measure of excellence for all of us. It is of special significance to me that Heather Henderson, the daughter of Sir Robert and Dame Pattie Menzies, is in the gallery today. Thank you, Heather, for your encouragement and support and, in particular, for sharing the stories of your father with me.

Each member for Kooyong has sought a tolerant, fair and prosperous Australia. I will be no different, for this is an honourable legacy. How would I like to see the future unfold? I want to see an Australia that is safe and secure. I want to see an Australia where the only relevant consideration is the content of a person’s character. I want to see an Australia where families are valued and encouraged. I want to see an Australia where each citizen has the opportunity to be the best that they can be. And I want to see an Australia where individuals, not governments, invent the future. This is why I am a Liberal, this is why I joined the Liberal Party and this why I am here.

What drives us as Liberals are notions of individual liberty, individual responsibility and a fairness borne out of a particular kind of equality. The equality which Liberals seek in a society is the equality of opportunity, not the other kind of equality—the equality of outcomes. It seems to me that these two notions of equality reflect the fundamental fault lines between us and the members opposite. It is not a thin divide. Let me illustrate.

How can we all be better off when a teenager loses his daily two-hour job at the local store merely because his employer cannot afford to pay the minimum three-hour shift? How can we all be better off when the government targets independent and Catholic schools merely because parents are exercising choice? How can we all be better off when the government discourages private health insurance at a time when the public system is overburdened? These examples go to the heart of the other side’s preoccupation with the equality of outcomes. By mandating outcomes, the state removes responsibility from individuals and denies the worker, the student and the patient the opportunity to be the best that they can be.

In the writings of John Stuart Mill, Edmund Burke and Adam Smith I have found what I consider the best elements of both liberal and conservative traditions. Mill’s argument that the state only has the right to intervene in the affairs of the individual in order to prevent harm to others is a fundamental building block in my political philosophy. Burke’s defence of the traditions of society and the institutions of the state and his opposition to utopian notions of change for change’s sake are also critical to my understanding of what is an effective role for government. The opportunity to prosper is given its best chance through competitive markets—the insight reached by Adam Smith more than two centuries ago.

My vision is to achieve what Menzies termed ‘civilised capitalism’, unleashing the power of the individual and his enterprise while always providing a safety net for those who despite their best efforts are unable to cope. These are my motivations, my cause and my way, and they not negotiable.

In this place we are painting the canvas of the nation and its future. We have a responsibility to dream large and think of what is possible in a difficult world. It may appear a paradox but the first of my large thoughts is that we need to limit the government. Our government is too big. For problems large and small, bureaucratic outcomes always seem to be the default option. This comes at a price—paralysing monopolies and a culture of dependence. It removes incentives for innovation and creativity. It often crowds out a capable private sector, impeding its ability to create jobs. The net effect is a less productive nation. We must always remember that whenever we create a new arm of bureaucracy or expand a field of activity we are not spending our own money; we are spending the money of our citizens who look to us as the guardians of their wealth.

More than 30 years ago, Margaret Thatcher said that the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money. Thatcher’s nemesis was socialism; ours is bigger and bigger government. My goal is to ensure that government learns to live within its means.

A rigorous reform agenda needs to be maintained by broadening our skills base, lifting the participation rate and creating incentives for those on welfare to find work. Our policies must engender a person’s confidence in their own self-worth and, for those who can, a responsibility to make their own way in life. Less dependence on government makes for a better Australia.

The next battleground will be the simplification of a complex tax system. This will require reconciliation between the centralisation of taxation powers and the need to maintain an effective distribution of responsibilities and roles between federal and state governments. In a world of global capital and competitive tax regimes, the threat of sovereign risk is poison.

I come to this chamber with a deep interest in foreign policy and national security. It is a passion fired by a belief that Australia has an important role to play in the world. Our geography is a strategic asset. It sets the stage for all our thinking. Located in the Pacific region, our strategy must be to broaden and deepen our ties with Asia. Asian engagement must be a national endeavour. It is where the opportunities lie. Genuine commitment in Asia requires immersion across all areas of public and private sector life—commerce, education, diplomacy and people-to-people links. Building our foreign language competency is an important element in this. Such a strategy upholds the finest traditions of the Liberal Party.

May I remind the House that it was in 1957 that the Menzies government, in the teeth of opposition from Labor’s Arthur Calwell, negotiated the historic commerce agreement with Japan. This was as farsighted as it was courageous. The wounds of Changi and the Thai-Burma railway had not yet healed. Through the 1950s, Percy Spender’s Colombo Plan was visionary in its scope, helping to build a pro-Australia constituency among the next generation of regional leaders. Our challenge is to find and follow through on the next building blocks in what are always complex but fundamental relationships.

Governments have no greater duty than to protect their citizens. In a volatile international environment, we can take nothing for granted. Our alliance with the United States is the cornerstone of our national security strategy. It must be protected and defended by both sides of the House. Our friendship and common purpose rests upon more than Realpolitik; it reflects our values, traditions and commitment to the democratic ideal.

Those who seek to harm Australia and our citizens do so because of our values not our alliances. It is true that China is rising but this does not demand a choice. While China’s growth has widespread benefit for our region, America must not be encouraged to vacate the field. On the contrary, American primacy in the Asia-Pacific, characterised by a web of alliances, is critical to maintaining the balance. I am under no illusions. During my time in this place the security threats and foreign policy challenges for Australia will not subside. They will constantly require our very best judgment.

The third challenge I wish to address today is responsible sustainability. The reduction of our per capita consumption of energy and non-renewable resources is necessary. But part of being responsible is knowing what it will cost, who it will impact and how communities and businesses will need to react. There has never been a better time for innovative technologies, practices and solutions. It seems inexplicable that in Australia we have yet to have a constructive and thorough debate about nuclear power, the only baseload, carbon neutral energy source. More than 30 countries have successfully embraced the nuclear concept and more are coming on stream every day. It is a curious moral, economic and environmental position that we find ourselves in where we are prepared to supply uranium but not use it. Surely it is time to move on from the ideological battles of yesteryear.

Fourthly, I would like to address certain aspects of our education debate. It would be hard to find anyone who would disagree with the words of Thomas Jefferson that education is the first defence of the nation. It is a process with a beginning and no end. It is a foundation stone for civil society. It seems to me that there is bipartisan agreement with Menzies proposition that ‘lack of money must be no impediment to bright minds’. But at this point the ideological battleground begins. Increased transparency for the performance of schools and a national curriculum as a baseline are welcome but what seems to be missing is taking the pursuit of excellence seriously.

In the case of schools this requires educational opportunities more tailored to the individual and less dominated by a centralised, unaccountable bureaucratic system. School principals, councils and those closer to their students are much more likely to get this approach right.

Much of Australia’s future depends on opportunities created by research and teaching in our universities and the quality of training in our vocational sector. The funding of our tertiary institutions needs review. We must do better than funding them at below the OECD average. To underfund these institutions is self-defeating because the harvest of intellectual property generated by them can be the source of our prosperity in the knowledge economy of the future.

In this sector we need big goals. We should aim to have 10 Australian universities in the top 100 by 2030. This would also provide diversity, choice and regional representation. The hard one but the one we really should go for is to have two of our universities rated in the world’s top 10 by 2030. Then we can truly say that Australians will be afforded the opportunity to be the best that they can be.

The maintenance of public confidence in immigration is the final issue that I would like to address. I am one of the eight million Australians who have at least one parent who was born overseas. The success of the Australian migration story is a tribute to the tolerance inherent in the Western liberal democratic values and institutions of our great country. These values are paramount and reflect the kind of Australia we should always defend and strive to be. Australia’s diversity is a source of strength and reflects a confidence and a maturity in our approach to the world. We should never lose sight of these fundamental attributes.

We too cannot avoid the numbers reflected in our changing demographics and the demand for labour arising from our economic growth. To meet both these challenges we require a vibrant and orderly immigration program. At the same time I am conscious that a failure to provide sufficient public infrastructure dangerously undermines the community’s natural embrace of and optimism about the power of immigration. It is an experience I have seen in Kooyong, where clogged roads and plans for high-density living enforced over the wishes of local people are having this effect. We must do better. We must harness the creativity and the capital of the private sector. We must set in place long-term land release strategies and plan for the future. If we do not, we fail future generations. Our leaders have an opportunity and, in my view, a duty to make the public case in favour of immigration. It is in the national interest and it is the right thing to do.

Today, I have the extraordinary privilege to stand before you because of the trust and hard work of so many people. I am deeply grateful to the Liberal Party, its members and the people of Kooyong for giving me the honour and the responsibility of representing them. To my many friends in the gallery, thank you for making the special effort to come today and for your support on this exciting journey. I could not have done this without you.

I want to thank my parents, Harry and Erica, for always loving me and for leading me gently by example. I am blessed to be surrounded by my young nephews, Oscar and Luca, and my niece, Claudia, the children of my dear sister, Lexi, and her husband, Adam. These beautiful young children are a constant reminder of the possibilities that we must make available to the next generation.

To my darling fiancee, Amie: your unconditional love, your fierce honesty and your endless support are a source of vitality and strength for me. This is very much our shared journey. I also thank Amie’s parents, Jackii and Nich, for embracing me.

To those formidable former cabinet ministers with us today—Alexander Downer, Richard Alston, Peter Reith and Dame Margaret Guilfoyle—and one who should have been—Michael Kroger—and the ones who are not here—Peter Costello, Michael Wooldridge, Kay Patterson, David Kemp and Rod Kemp—thank you for your friendship and for sharing your wisdom over so many years. I have had the privilege of working for Alexander when he was foreign minister, a man of deep conviction. He taught me much but perhaps most tellingly that in politics nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. Richard’s selfless commitment to our great Liberal cause has been an inspiration. He has always been prepared to stand up and be counted.

Two decades ago my close friend and counsel, Steven Skala, introduced me to his mentor, Sir Zelman Cowen. Since then I have had the good fortune of being challenged over hundreds of breakfast conversations with Sir Zelman, the most brilliant, decent and civil of men. He and Lady Cowen are two of the finest Australians.

I would also like to pay tribute to John Howard and Andrew Peacock, both of whom have helped me significantly on my journey. I was fortunate to work with John Howard when he was Prime Minister. His dedication to the people of Australia knew no bounds. His leadership, integrity and determination were profound. His record will stand the test of time. Andrew Peacock afforded me friendship and insight into the Kooyong that seemed once his own. I deeply appreciate his support.

The key to the Liberal Party’s success and why we had been in government for 42 of the last 66 years is that we are a grassroots volunteer organisation. There are hundreds of people who have stood up for me and I just want to mention the Swinburnes, the Booths, the Blackwell and Murray families, the Garwolis, Irene Hanvin, Jane Hargreaves, my campaign director Simon Frost, Tim Smith, Hugh Morgan and my friends in this House, Kelly O’Dwyer, Peter Dutton, Ian Macfarlane and my longstanding mate Greg Hunt. I am indebted to you all. I also want to put on record my thanks to the party’s federal and state directors Brian Loughnane and Tony Nutt for their support.

Today under the strong leadership of Tony Abbott our fortunes have turned with more members on our side than on the other. This is no accident. It is a tribute to the strength of our party’s message and to the people’s confidence in our leader’s ability to deliver it.

I am proud of my Australian story. Decades ago in the gathering darkness of Europe, my family could never have imagined this day. But because this country is truly a land of opportunity I have been given this chance. Working with my colleagues and my party I dedicate myself to advancing the Liberal cause in the betterment of our great nation and its people.

Thank you.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!

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

Order! In the member for Kooyong’s first speech he made mention of a raft of former cabinet ministers in the gallery, and I join with the member for Kooyong in warmly welcoming them, especially those who have become my recent friends. Before I call the member for McPherson, I remind the House that this is the honourable member’s first speech and I ask the House to extend to her the usual courtesies.

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am proud and honoured to make my first speech to the 43rd parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia as the member for McPherson, and I thank the people of McPherson for the trust that they have put in me to represent their interests both on the Gold Coast and here in this place. We have all followed very different paths to arrive here and our individual experiences have shaped the people that we are today.

I was born in Brisbane and grew up in Townsville where I attended Townsville Grammar School, which, at the time that my sister and I went there, was a boys boarding school and a day school for boys and girls. I chose maths and science subjects because those were the subjects that I enjoyed and did well at. Through years 11 and 12 my results were similar to two of the boys in my class and towards the end of year 12 when we were looking at future career options, the boys were encouraged to become engineers and I was encouraged to become a maths teacher. My response to that though was to do some research and find out exactly what engineers did and so, after looking at the engineering subjects and the work options for engineers, I came to the conclusion that engineering would probably be a good career for me.

I graduated as a mechanical engineer, starting work with the Queensland Electricity Generating Board initially in engineering design before moving to Gladstone Power Station to work in plant maintenance. My next job was in the oil industry in Victoria. That was the first job where I was directly or indirectly supervising employees, including fitters, electricians, store workers and drivers, and I was working with them on the shop floor. At that site I was the youngest plant engineer that they had ever employed and I was also the first female. There were some bitter demarcation disputes in the early to mid-1980s, and the oil industry was certainly no exception. In order to keep the plant running effectively, I needed to be able to work with the employees and get them to willingly, or perhaps unwillingly, do the work that was needed. So dealing with demarcations in the oil industry as a young engineer was my introduction to industrial relations.

At the time that I studied engineering, the degree course did not include any subjects in industrial relations, and when I first started as a supervisor I had a very limited understanding of industrial awards and how to interpret the provisions. I enrolled in a graduate diploma in industrial relations so that I could learn more about the theory of IR, but the practical skills I learnt on the job. Shortly after I had completed the course I was offered a job as an industrial advocate with the national employer association, working in their metal, engineering and construction industries. My job was to represent the interests of employers, primarily small businesses, in negotiations with their employees about terms and conditions of employment.

After working for a number of years as an industrial advocate and in the broader field of human resources I was approached by the Victorian government to head up the industrial relations branch for the Department of Health and Community Services, as it was known at the time. The mid-nineties was a critical time for industrial relations in Victoria. The health minister that I was responsible to was the Hon. Marie Tehan, a politician and a woman that I hold in very high regard who was a significant influence on my decision to pursue a career in politics. So I am delighted to be a member of the 43rd Parliament alongside Marie Tehan’s son, the member for Wannon, Dan Tehan.

For the last 15 years I have worked as an industrial relations specialist throughout Australia and New Zealand, where the focus of my work became alternative dispute resolution and, in particular, mediation. This work continued when, in 2002, I moved back to the Gold Coast with my family and we made the McPherson electorate our home. The division of McPherson, named after the McPherson Range, was first proclaimed in 1949, and the first elected member was Sir Arthur Fadden, later to become Prime Minister of Australia. I am the seventh member for McPherson and the 1066th person elected to the federal parliament.

McPherson covers an area of approximately 230 kilometres, from Clear Island Waters in the north to Mudgeeraba, Tallebudgera Valley and Currumbin Valley in the west and to the Queensland-New South Wales border at Coolangatta in the south. Our eastern boundary is the Pacific Ocean and includes the very well-known and popular beaches of Kirra, Palm Beach and Burleigh Heads. We have the best surfing beaches, with world renowned surf breaks at Snapper Rocks, Kirra and Burleigh. We have the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, which has been attracting visitors from all over the world for the last 60 or so years. We have Tallebudgera Creek and the Currumbin estuary, where so many families have holidayed and return each year to continue that tradition. We have rock pools and some great walks through the Currumbin Valley and of course some fantastic walks along our beaches.

We have great shopping. We have our beachside markets at Coolangatta and Burleigh, emerging designers with boutique shops at Palm Beach, all the way through to our newly renovated and expanded Robina Town Centre at the north of the electorate. We have music festivals. We support young talent looking for the opportunity to reach their potential. We have kite festivals, film festivals and beachside art exhibitions. We have warm temperatures and lots of sunshine. We have something for everyone. We are the entry point, the gateway, to Queensland.

Today there are three things that I wish to speak about because they are important to McPherson and they define who I am and what I stand for: infrastructure, business and veterans. We have had significant population growth in South-East Queensland, and specifically the Gold Coast, in recent years, and this trend is predicted to continue. I have spoken to many local residents and business owners, and the issue that is raised with me the most is the lack of transport infrastructure on the southern Gold Coast. They are concerned that the bottlenecks on the M1 cause delays as they travel to and from work and that the limited public transport on the southern Gold Coast means that owning a private vehicle becomes almost a necessity.

In 2007 both the Howard government and the then Labor opposition promised $455 million to upgrade the M1. The priority area was identified as Nerang to Tugun, with an upgrade from four lanes to a six- to eight-lane motorway. To date the M1 from Merrimac south to the border remains at four lanes. Not only does this impact on local residents and tourists but it has a significant economic effect, as the M1 is a major transport artery from New South Wales through to Queensland. Upgrading of the M1 must become a priority. Heavy rail, servicing Brisbane to the Gold Coast, goes only as far south as Varsity Lakes, and that station was opened only in the last 12 months. It took 11 years to lay 4.1 kilometres of track from Robina to Varsity Lakes, which is just one station. At that rate it will take about 40 years to get heavy rail to Coolangatta, which is simply not good enough. Stage 1 of the light rail project, which will service the northern end of the Gold Coast, is scheduled to come on line in 2014, but there is no evidence that the light rail will be extended to the southern Gold Coast, even in the medium term.

Transport infrastructure becomes an even more pressing issue when we take into account, as we must do, the Gold Coast Airport at Coolangatta. It currently has more than five million passenger movements per year and has experienced 10 per cent growth in the last year alone. We cannot have visitors arrive at the airport and face a bottleneck when they are trying to travel to other parts of the Gold Coast. Further, there is the very real prospect that the 2018 Commonwealth Games will be hosted on the Gold Coast, and we must ensure that we meet the needs and expectations of athletes, officials and visitors. The issue for us is that traffic movement on the southern Gold Coast is already restricted and there are no real plans in place to address the needs of the area. However, we should not consider the M1, heavy rail and light rail in isolation. We must consider the overall needs of the Gold Coast and work towards an integrated solution. I call on all levels of government to work together and to also work with the community—the residents and the businesses—to find solutions to this most important issue.

Whilst we have a diverse business base—and I will speak more about that later—tourism is one of the Gold Coast’s main industries and employers. Even though there are certainly some large operators on the Gold Coast, many small and medium businesses are dependent on the tourism dollar. It is fair to say that there has been a downturn in tourism in recent years and our businesses are hurting. Our accommodation providers tell me that occupancy rates are down and that room rates are significantly discounted in order to attract tourists and to compete with the larger providers at the northern end of the Gold Coast. Local businesses that rely on tourists are suffering. Coffee shops, newsagents, restaurants, local corner stores, tour operators and retailers are all struggling to make ends meet. We cannot afford to approach this issue, however, with a doom-and-gloom attitude. We must continue to look at ways to attract visitors to the Gold Coast and to encourage those who come for events to stay for a week or 10 days and not simply make a fly-in fly-out visit. Over the coming months and years, I will continue to work with our local businesses and tour operators to identify strategies to attract visitors to our area, and I will always promote the best interests of the Gold Coast.

As well as tourism, we have a significant manufacturing and engineering industry and also retail, finance and education businesses. The common theme that is consistently raised with me by businesses across all industries is the amount of red tape and the associated cost to business of compliance. Further, the administration of reporting requirements takes business owners and operators away from their core business, further adding to costs. Having been a small business owner myself for many years, I understand the frustration in having to comply with government regulations when what I really needed to do was meet the needs of my existing client base as well as look for further growth opportunities. I believe that we should work towards a lean government that minimises interference in our daily lives and that government should not impose unnecessary and onerous regulation and red tape on citizens or businesses.

I turn now to our veterans to whom I believe we owe a debt of gratitude. We should honour our veterans and never forget the sacrifices that they and their families made for us. McPherson has a large veteran community. I have had a long association with veterans through my father, William Weir, who was a veteran himself. Dad’s story is similar to those of a number of World War II veterans. He enlisted in the RAAF in October 1944 with his mother’s written permission as he was under the age of 21 years. After serving at a number of bases in Queensland, he served in Labuan and then spent 18 months in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Like many veterans, dad never spoke much about his RAAF war service, particularly the time spent in Japan after the bombings. However, in later years, his pride in his RAAF service and fellow ex-service men and women led him to take on the position of National Secretary and Treasurer of the Australian Federation of Totally and Permanently Incapacitated Ex Servicemen and Women—the TPIs. His tireless work for this organisation saw him awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia. To dad the medal meant that his voice for the welfare and support of TPI veterans had been and would continue to be heard, and I intend to carry on his work.

What are the skills and experience that I bring to this place? As an engineer, I understand project management and the importance of meeting realistic timelines. I understand the need to maintain a sound theoretical approach in order to enable the introduction of new technology and to balance the issues of costs, benefits, safety and quality. I know that, as an engineer, if I had recommended a project be undertaken without a thorough cost-benefit analysis, my judgement would have been questioned and, if I had proceeded to implementation without a rigorous analysis, I would have lost my job. As an industrial relations specialist, I understand the role that employees have to play in productivity and continuous quality improvement at the workplace. I know that adversarial industrial relations is outdated and has no place in modern and progressive workplaces. As an advocate, I am experienced at listening to the needs of others and representing the views of those in the workplace and in the community. As a parent, I understand the importance of health and education to our future generations and the need to nurture and encourage our children. I want our children to have the opportunity to reach their full potential, whatever that may be. So, what do I believe in? In addition to what I have already said today, I believe in equal opportunity in the broadest possible sense. I believe in freedom of thought, worship, speech and association. I believe in a fair go.

To the members of the Liberal National Party who selected me as their candidate to represent the people of McPherson, I say thank you. To the President of the Liberal National Party, Bruce McIver, the executive and the staff of the Liberal National Party: congratulations and thank you for your outstanding efforts in the 2010 election and for your commitment to promoting the best interests of the party and upholding its principles. My thanks also go to Bruce Duncan, our regional chairman, and his wife, Muriel, who work tirelessly for the party throughout the Gold Coast region. To Peter and Lesley McKean, Ben Naday, Andy Lamont, John and Esther Leff, Peter and Mary Flynn, Jill Allen and Ann Nelson who went to extraordinary lengths to help the campaign, I say thank you. To our booth captains, scrutineers and booth workers, I say thank you. I could not have done it without you. To my campaign manager, Jeszaen Lee, who as well as all of his campaign tasks single-handedly organised information booths every weekend for weeks: thank you, you did a great job. To Glenn Snowdon: thank you for everything that you did for the campaign and your support for me. I could not have asked for more.

To my patron senator, Senator the Hon. Brett Mason: thank you for your support and encouragement. To the members and senators who visited McPherson and helped me in many ways—the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Tony Abbott; the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Julie Bishop; the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop; the Hon. Peter Dutton; the Hon. Sharman Stone; Scott Morrison; Greg Hunt; my electorate neighbours Steven Ciobo and Stuart Robert; Senator the Hon. George Brandis; Senator Barnaby Joyce; and Senator Russell Trood—I say thank you. I was helped enormously by our state members: the member for Currumbin, Jann Stuckey; the member for Mudgeeraba, Ros Bates; the member for Mermaid Beach, Ray Stevens; and the former member for Burleigh, Judy Gamin. I thank you for your support and friendship.

To my very good friend Susan Greenwood, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer two days before my preselection and passed away in May this year: it was my very great privilege to know you, Susan. To my good friends Jude Pettitt and Sue Kellogg: I thank you for your wise counsel, and I know that I can rely on you for more sage advice in years to come. To Janelle Manders, Hamish Douglas and Natalie Douglas, who are here in the gallery today: you have been a wonderful support to me and to my family over the years and I thank you very much for that. Janelle, I have always found your positive outlook and your attitude to life refreshing.

To my sister, Ann, who now lives in Broome with her husband, Ken, and is unable to be here today: I could not have asked for a better sister. Ann, this was your first election campaign and you did a fantastic job. To my mother, Moya Weir, who is here in the gallery today: you have been such a wonderful role model throughout my life. Dad would be so proud of you, as we all are. To my father, William Weir OAM, who died in March this year: I miss you and I miss your pearls of wisdom.

To my husband, Chris: we have always had an equal partnership and we have always supported each other’s career choices, even when it meant that those choices made life a little—or sometimes a lot—more complex. You have always been there when I needed you and I thank you for that. My final words today are to my three daughters: Emma who is 14, Jane who is 10 and Kate who is seven. Each of you played a part in my being here today as the member for McPherson, and I thank you for that. Girls: life will offer you many opportunities and many challenges. I encourage you to grasp every opportunity that comes your way with both hands. View each challenge that you face as an opportunity to learn and remember that, no matter what, you will get through it. Believe in yourself because you can do it. I believe in you.

Debate (on motion by Ms King) adjourned.