Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What an extraordinary week it has been in politics. I feel really lucky to have had this adjournment booked in for some time so that I can provide some reflections on this extraordinary turn of events. It is not every day that we come up to parliament here and start the week with one Prime Minister and end the week with another one.

What I thought might be fitting to use in this five minutes is to provide some thoughts to our new Prime Minister on behalf of the people I represent in Hotham, and it is a little letter that I have written on behalf of my constituents outlining three big things that I think and we think need to change.

Dear Malcolm. On behalf of the people of Hotham, I want to congratulate you on ascending to the Prime Ministership, the most important position in our country. We hope, we truly do, that your ascension will bring to your government a measure of fairness and competency that has so been lacking over the past three years. We hope for a period of more collaboration and less division, because that's what our country needs.

As our sitting period draws to a close, we find ourselves with a few days to reflect on what has occurred this week. We are going to need some quiet time with our families. But you, having taken on this role, are not, probably, going to have the time for reflection that you need.

Instead, you will be a very busy man this weekend. The phones will be running hot as colleagues jostle for ministerial portfolios, removalists will be grappling with the really tremendous task of shifting your prominent residence across Sydney Harbour. And, as you pack and lug boxes, I wanted to suggest three big things to reflect on. Three big changes we see will get your government back on track.

The first, Prime Minister, is to get your party, no matter how much kicking and screaming is required, into the 21st century in its climate policies. You have spent long parts of your career fighting for real climate action. You know that your party is not delivering it. Letting the real Malcolm shine through has to mean real action on climate change.

The people of Hotham, their children and particularly their grandchildren will have their quality of life in large part determined by the policies that we, and in future the globe, set down on climate action. You cannot, and should not, let them down.

Please do what you know and I know to be the right thing. Set down real targets that will help keep global warming within two degrees. And support Labor's push for an economy that sees renewable energy as one of the growth areas of the future and celebrates the thousands of jobs that can be created if we do the right things from a policy perspective.

The second area, Malcolm, is supporting the representation of women on your frontbench. You have professed to be a very of strong supporter of women and I truly, truly hope this to be the truth. A newspaper report today, though, suggests that you appointed fewer women than Tony Abbott to senior roles in your previous ministerial portfolio.

You cannot do any worse than Tony Abbott in his cabinet appointments. He appointed just one woman to cabinet, in his first cabinet—that, I think, put us lower than the cabinet of Afghanistan. We know that you can do better than that. I would invite you to look at our party and the incredible contribution that senior women play. Without Tanya, Penny, Jenny, Kate and all the other incredible senior female contributors, our party would be a lot lesser place to be. You need to find these women in your own party and give them the support they need to play on an equal footing to their male colleagues. I really hope you do that. Our nation and your party will be a lot better off for it.

Finally, Prime Minister, I want you to do what you know is right on marriage equality. This is an issue that is core for thousands and thousands of Australians. Do what is right and allow those people that care so much about this issue to have their representatives debate this issue in our nation's parliament and not just in the confines and the closed doors of your party room.

Malcolm, a plebiscite is a delaying tactic. You know it, I know it and it was put forward by the people in your party who simply want to stop marriage equality from occurring. You call yourself a liberal. All we ask is that you act like one. You know and I know it is an insult to the thousands of Australians for whom this is a burning and life-defining issue to make them go through a plebiscite.

These three things will be the building blocks for a better style of government and they all boil down to one thing: let Malcolm be Malcolm. Best regards and good luck. The people of Hotham.