Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My name is Luke John Anthony Gosling and mine is the great privilege of representing the people of Solomon, the northern capital of Australia. In Darwin and Palmerston we have people from over 100 countries that have been welcomed by the Larrakia Aboriginal traditional owners to make the Top End of Australia their home, including me and my family.

I stand here today a very proud Territorian and Australian with a progressive view of our place in the world and our responsibilities as global citizens. I am here because of the path that lies behind me, so I will touch on some of that before moving to the path that lies before me.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that we meet on today, the Ngunawal people, and acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. I thank them for their warm welcome yesterday at the opening of this parliament. I live on Larrakia country, but I was born in Wiradjuri country, the first born son of John and Christine Gosling. Dad is here today—a legend! From a western suburbs working family, the son of a World War II veteran, dad was just 20 when he was conscripted to fight in Vietnam. Luckily for me, not before he met a beautiful girl from Abbotsford, who lived not far from Victoria Park. I know mum is watching today from Tassie where she is visiting with my sisters Lee and Elisabeth—mum, I love you so much. You are the reason I exist and also the reason that I am Collingwood. Let me be clear, everything I have been able to do in my life is because of the unconditional love and the values imparted by those two extraordinary people: my mum and dad.

I am a grandson to Dick and Bertha Gosling, and Percy and Cath Wellard on my mum's side—all gone to God now but with us still. I am a brother to Elisabeth, Thomas, Samuel, Xavier, Christian, Lee-Kathryn and Daniel. We were all brought up to love each other, to love our community, to love our country and to cherish life on this earth. I am the father of Frank and Sally and husband to my amazing best friend and life partner, Kathryn.

Kate and I met in Timor-Leste on Anzac Day 2008 playing two-up with the troops. I was living in Darwin and had taken a job as an adviser to President Jose Ramos-Horta. Kate was visiting the troops with her boss at that time, who is in fact now the father of this House, the member for Lingiari, the Hon. Warren Snowden, so thank you, Wazza!

I went to school in your electorate, Mr Speaker, before our family moved to the city. I joined the Army straight from school. I spent my first four years here in Canberra, graduating from the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Royal Military College Duntroon before serving around Australia and overseas with the infantry, commandos and in training roles and then finally with the Territory's own NORFORCE.

I travelled and worked around the world before settling in Darwin. I have sailed the Timor Sea to Timor-Leste and witnessed the birthing of that new country. I have worked with Pashtun elders in Afghanistan as we ran an election process together, even whilst being actively targeted by the Taliban. I have worked with Yolngu country men and women on their country in north-east Arnhem Land. I have made the most of tier 2 diplomacy opportunities that have come up for me in Asia that helped me develop a clearer view of our place in the nation, our region and the world.

But living the dream in Darwin is where I wanted to be. Of course, I had fallen in love with the Territory and the Top End well before that. It was in the heady days of 1986 when, as a 14-year-old, mum and dad pulled us all out of school to see our magnificent country. Off we headed, the 10 of us, in a HiAce van towing a trailer with all our camping gear, and every night we camped. We headed for Adelaide and through Coober Pedy. We crossed the border into the Territory, arriving at Uluru near dusk. The very first thing that we saw was a dingo coming out of a tent with a full bag of groceries in its mouth. We piled out of the bus and tried to track the dingo but, of course, it had disappeared into the sand dunes.

Next it was Kata Tjuta, which left an enormous impression on my 14-year-old self. It was the space, the light from the colours and the grandeur. I actually said to myself at that time, 'If I die tomorrow at least I've seen this.' We went on to the amazing parks and waterfalls further north up the track and then into Darwin, where the Royal Darwin Show was underway. I love our show so much. I know it is daggy, but I do. The seed was sown on that trip, and not just for me but for my sister, who, with her husband, nursed in the Northern Territory; for my youngest brother, who worked as a teacher in both Arnhem and the Red Centre; for yet another brother, who is currently a Territory firefighter; and for yet another, who served with NORFORCE in the Army.

The Army prepared me for a life of challenges. I served with the 3rd Battalion, Old Faithful, at that time a parachute infantry battalion, and set my sights on commandos. I served with the 1st Commando Regiment, whose members have served with distinction, including on operational service in recent years. For my part, I was proud to be part of securing the Sydney 2000 Olympics with the counter-terrorism task force. It was an absolute honour to serve.

Looking back now, I can see that those experiences prepared me well to serve in the Northern Territory, but I still had a lot to learn, and of course I still do have a lot to learn. After my time in Timor-Leste, I worked in remote Indigenous health service delivery, establishing the Remote Area Health Corps, and also spent time working with and for the Australians who were struggling and less fortunate than others, with the St Vincent de Paul Society, Vinnies.

All of these experiences drew me, I believe, to politics. I am not one to stand on the sidelines. And so I started working for federal parliamentarians and preparing myself for today, to serve the people of Darwin and Palmerston as their representative here in Canberra. I thank former senators Trish Crossin and Nova Peris and, of course, the Hon. Warren Snowdon. Working with them allowed me to meet the people who share the Top End every day, learning more about their needs and helping people.

I want to congratulate the Territory Labor leader and new Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, who was sworn in today as the third Labor Chief Minister and the Territory's 11th Chief Minister since self-government in 1978. Michael and his team absolutely thumped the Country Liberal Party at last weekend's NT election. The CLP is currently a spent force, and the responsibility for that lies with its outgoing leader.

I am so proud to be a member of Territory Labor and I want to thank the true believers, the members and supporters, for their faith in me. I also want to acknowledge the broader Labor movement that are standing up for people's workplace safety, conditions and rights every day. When I look back over this big year for Territory Labor, it is with absolute certainty that with everything we have achieved we did so because we are a united party.

At my first press conference during the election I said I was worried that our GST share was being threatened, and I still am, and I will fight for it because it is the way that we hold and grow the North. What horizontal fiscal equalisation really means is, 'We hold the North, right, it's our home and that's what it costs to deliver services for the people of Darwin and Palmerston and the great Northern Territory.' I will stand up for us and for those who need it most.

So, whether your ancestors spent 15 million nights under Top End stars, whether your family traded with the Macassans centuries ago or survived the bombing of Darwin in 1942 or rebuilt Darwin after Cyclone Tracey on Christmas Day 1974, or whether you are a descendant of generations of settlers from the UK, Europe, the South-East Asian communities, the Mediterranean, Africa or the Pacific, or whether you just came to the Top End to work for three months and never left—whatever brought you to the North—I will not ignore you. I will represent you here in Canberra, and I will keep my feet on the ground.

Darwin has always had economic cycles of growth and slowing growth. The important thing is that we must continue to grow in a sustainable way, that we secure federal investment funding and that we employ our own. We do not want to see our city become the fly-in fly-out capital of Australia. Workforces move around—I get that—but the priority must go to people that have called or want to call our tropical paradise home. My mission is to secure the support from the federal government that is needed for the investment in public infrastructure in our developing northern capital.

We have a vibrant lifestyle with fantastic arts and cultural experiences, including our markets, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair, the Greek GleNTi, the Italian Festival, the Garrmalang Festival, the Darwin Festival, the Darwin Cup Carnival, the million-dollar barra fishing competition, and major sporting events like the V8s. But we also have national soccer, NRL, rugby and AFL teams travelling to the Top End to play, and next year a first-class tennis centre which will host national and international tournaments.

Darwin is also the base for Australia's National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which is a key element of the Australian government's disaster and emergency medical response for incidents of national and international significance. I also believe that our Charles Darwin University is well placed to host a Darwin outpost of the Australian Civil-Military Centre. An ACMC North would let us develop a northern-centric civil-military capability to prevent, prepare for and respond to conflict and disasters. I believe in the power of education and innovation and will be actively supporting emerging entrepreneurs.

Health is one of my areas of focus with the delivery of the $15-million dollar PET Scanner program promised by the current foreign minister six years ago, and then re-promised by the current Prime Minister last month. Before and during the election campaign I visited the Alan Walker Cancer Centre in Darwin, and this month I visited the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne to better understand precisely what equipment and infrastructure the Territory needs. We are the only—only—Australian jurisdiction without a PET scanner, a diagnostic tool which uses radioactive tracers to track the spread of cancer. It was promised by the Prime Minister, and I have spoken with the current health minister, the member for Farrer, about this. I look forward to discussing the details of delivery with her as soon as possible.

The Palmerston Region Hospital, well known by members in this place, is also finally underway, but only after Labor held the coalition government and the Country Liberals to account, and I will make sure the government is held to account for its delivery.

During the federal election campaign this coalition government made a number of other promises, and I will be holding them to task, including: $3.8 million for a 24 bed dementia specific wing at Terrace Gardens; $29.5 million to develop Barneson Boulevard; $8.5 million to Carpentaria for the establishment of a new, purpose-built facility which will allow for the co-location of community, allied health, education, training, and childcare services as part of its $27 million Community 360 Top End Community Hub project; $9.65 million to improve the movement of heavy vehicles in and around Darwin;    $1 million for an eternal flame and a pool of reflection in Darwin city; $635,000 for new mobile CCTV cameras for the police; $8 million for the construction of a world class indoor netball stadium at Marrara.

I will work constructively with this government where they are serious about fulfilling their commitments, but I will also hold them to account. Projects like overdue Defence houses at the RAAF Base, Darwin are also on my list. This coalition promised more than $8 billion in Defence infrastructure spending, and we want to be bipartisan with the government whenever we can. But there was $70 million to be spent over the next 10 years upgrading Robertson Barracks. As I said, I am keen to work constructively, but we need to get these infrastructure projects going. I have already had some constructive meetings regarding these projects, because we need to make sure that Territory businesses are not locked out of that Defence work, because our local business have the capacity to deliver.

I will be working with ex-service organisations to build a veterans centre with crisis accommodation, gym facilities and chill out and chat spaces. And I have started fighting the ridiculous decision to take our head Department of Veterans' Affairs position away from the territory. That is not helpful. That is not right. The Vietnam veterans have a saying: 'Honour the dead, but fight like hell for the living.' I was proud to be a part of the effort that secured national recognition of the bombing of Darwin as a day of national significance and, more recently, I was proud that I helped secure support for Operation Bring Them Home, the repatriation of Australian soldiers killed in Vietnam, who were previously buried in Malaysia and Singapore. In Darwin I successfully campaigned to have contemporary veterans' war service in Afghanistan and Iraq acknowledged on the Darwin Cenotaph. But our young veterans need more, and I will be working with them on their priorities.

When I first considered politics as a vocation I was driven by all that has shaped me: the eldest of eight in a working family, then through my time in the Army and then my time into humanitarian and community development work. It is summed up, I believe, in the phrase 'No one gets left behind.' It is a theme of the great Australian Labor Party and it is my pledge to the people of Darwin and Palmerston.

As you fly to my home—and I hope you can all visit soon—it is easy to be mesmerised by the patterns below in the great Australian outback. After a few hours the desert below gives way to tropical savannah and, as our tray tables are stowed, you will catch the first glimpse of the Adelaide River snaking its way to the coast and the Arafura Sea. The big rural properties pass under you: the hundreds of hectares of mangos and the Humpty Doo Barramundi farm; Robertson Barracks, home of the 1st Brigade and the marines; the growing suburbs and CBD of Palmerston; the Elizabeth River; the gas projects on our harbour; the industrial artery following the Stuart Highway into the city; the TIO footy ground at Marrara; and the northern suburbs spreading out to the beaches of Casuarina and beyond.

As we bank over the harbour you see the Darwin CBD, the green spaces, the beaches, the museum and art gallery. Don't worry; we're on final approach now! And for me, I start looking out at our family home in the suburb of Ludmilla. Ludmilla is a Slavic word that means 'favour of the people'. And when I see our tropical home I quietly say to my family below, 'Dad's home; see you soon.'

I have had a most fortunate life. There is a lot of work to do. There is a lot of work ahead. And I thank you for joining with us in Darwin and Palmerston in whatever capacity to grow our home for the good of our country. If you want to live a really great life, we welcome you to join us in the capital of the North.

I love our country, I love our Southern Cross above us and I love my home, the top end of Australia. And, of course, in particular, I love Darwin and Palmerston. So come and visit us. We have a beautiful city with much to see and do. Often on a Friday or Saturday evening we will be down at the ski club, catching up with friends and watching the most amazing sunset. Come and say 'Hi' and I will buy you a beer.

To my party members and the people of Darwin and Palmerston: again, thank you for this great honour, and God bless Australia.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Goldstein, 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.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to represent a division honouring a suffragette. Vida Goldstein was the first woman to seek political office in the British Empire. The 18 October 1913 edition of The Mail of Adelaide wrote of Goldstein that even those 'most strongly opposed to her expressed political views cannot fail to recognise that her efforts are based on sincerity and inspired by a very genuine humanitarianism'. That is the tradition I inherit from her and from my predecessors: Ian Macphee, David Kemp and Andrew Robb. There is no humility that can honour their legacies. They are intimidating, especially to somebody who seeks to follow in their footsteps.

Goldstein's status as a residential retreat with natural beauty, strong community, good schools, village shopping strips, and sporting and sailing clubs draws many. It is a community that embraces a forward-looking, modern liberalism that aspires for economic and social progress built on the preservation of our culture and institutions. I embrace Goldstein as my political home because I share its values: a culture of hard work and enterprise, and of people who want to contribute to make a better Australia. I am proud to say that that embrace has been reciprocated. The people of Goldstein deserve somebody who will represent them, who is prepared to sacrifice for their trust, and I give thanks for that trust today. But it is up to Goldstein's representative to live and honour that trust every day in service.

I have watched with frustration as small politics too often has stifled tackling the big challenges ahead of us. I do not love the game of politics. My interest is public policy and how we secure this country's promise for future generations, and it is time to have some honest conversations. The days of Australia being an island continent producing finished goods for domestic consumption are over. Australia is part of a global supply chain exporting goods and services to the world. We must continue our national mission of economic reform to build Australia's future. Sir Robert Menzies stopped nationalisation and preserved private enterprise. His legacy allowed Hawke, Keating, Howard and Costello to free enterprise for the 21st century, and the latter had the courage to start the shift towards a tax system for our times.

The legacy of my immediate past Goldstein predecessor was to open markets. The benefits of trade agreements begin with the signing of a pen but finish with new opportunity. Our task is to seize that opportunity, but we cannot do so if we are not competitive. Trade is not just about goods; it is about professional service exports too. We live in an age where capital is mobile, and so is talent. Too many of our skilled workers face barriers in foreign markets to practice their profession. Prosperity underpins the pathway to opportunity. We need to restructure industries to create the employers for tomorrow. We can start by driving reform to shift domestic sectors, like financial services and health, into outward-looking export industries.

Constructive reform of the health sector provides one of the greatest opportunities for this nation. It is a sector that is the perfect intersection of the budget, policy, human interest and outcomes, and technology. Technology is disrupting industries every day, and that is not set to change. We are producing more with less, securing efficiencies and displacing vested interests. But there is always a human cost. Those that survive best are those that incrementally adjust. If we do not start to have a sensible discussion around industrial relations, then workers' interests are being put second. Security is no longer achieved by legislation or regulation alone. Wherever the barriers are greatest come the incentive for technology to smash the status quo. Whether they accept it or not, those that argue for inflexible industrial relations are now the enemy of worker security.

The same is true of tax reform. We must stop fiddling at the margins. I have never understood why we tax people more than companies. It fosters perverse incentives for the wealthy to redirect energy to minimising tax, rather than growing profits. Australia has always been a net capital importer. To continue attracting capital, we must have a competitive and just tax system, and we have to move towards a simpler 20 per cent flat personal, company and consumption tax, which would ensure everybody pays—including multinationals on their phantom profits.

In any reform we should always be mindful our social fabric frays easily. When people lose jobs it is not just their hip pockets that suffer, it can be their confidence, security and their perception of opportunity too. At the heart of a just society is intergenerational equity. It recognises those that have passed have met their responsibility and that now we must do the same for those who follow. With an ageing population, many are lonely, isolated, and their closest friendship is a nearby radio. No government program can replace the strength of social bonds, but they can displace them. Society is not delivered by government from Canberra down; it comes from individuals coming together to form family, build community and, ultimately, country. The task of advancing our society now falls to us. We decide the agenda; we set the tone; now it is time for us to rise to the challenge.

Cynicism pervades modern political life, but the best way we can combat that cynicism is to act with integrity. Australians need to see their parliamentarians act with conviction. Politics necessitates compromise on policy, and integrity comes from preferring defeat with your principles than to win without them. But integrity also comes from knowing yourself. The story of finding myself dominated my teenage years. For six of them, I let fear decide and determine who I could be. It was not until I was 18 that I chose to confront that fear. It was a fear that took an energetic 12-year-old and hollowed his confidence to eventually doubt his legitimate place in the world. Yet it was within those depths that I found my deeper, inner strength. And as tormenting as that experience was, it is what has made me strong. I carry the confidence of knowing I have already conquered my worst bully. That is why I do not fear standing up, even when it is deeply unpopular. I am here to fight for the type of country we want to be.

We should never forget that government does not run this country—Australians do, through their everyday pursuits, just like my family. My maternal grandpa left behind the genocide of his people. I never met him—he died before I was born—but I still see him every day when I look into the mirror and into his dark and recessed Armenian eyes. After he married my grandma, together they ran a clothing factory on Gardenvale Road. They lived on Head Street and raised my mum and her sister, Sandra, and later, with grandma's second husband, Kevin. Yet Ronald and Winifred's relationship, despite its value, was defined by the lived prejudice of others toward the marriage of a man with dark olive skin to a woman of Anglo ancestry. And that is why I do not shy away from contemporary debate. It is not just for me. It is to honour the legacy of my grandma and grandpa too.

My dad's mum, Patricia, was a descendant of the Murrays of Athol. She died young in a tragic car accident. Grandad Charles then raised my dad and his siblings, Michael and Patricia, and was later re-married to Granny Yvonne. It is a reminder of what family is. It is not a rigid concept but the resilience that comes from the knitting of hearts. Grandad was awarded Cardinia's Citizen of the Year in 1998. He was earlier honoured Upper Beaconsfield's Citizen of the Year in 1984 for his service as the local GP in the community clinic after the Ash Wednesday bushfires. It earned him reverence, especially since he had lost his home and nearly his life. Outside of grandad's seeming love for a chainsaw—though he was a conservationist as well—and granny's support for her local church, it was their civic mindedness that instilled in me the value of community.

My mum, Linda, and my dad, Robert, met at the Central Hotel on Church Street, which is now known as the Half Moon. Both worked up from pulling beers to running pubs and owning small businesses. In response to my request for pocket money at the age of 11, mum got me a job delivering the Mornington Leader. Later, my sister, Carolyn, and I worked with her at a local reception centre. My brother, Simon, and I mowed lawns and carried timber around worksites for my dad's businesses in school holidays. My mum and dad worked for what they have, and instilled an ethic of work in their children. My family's liberal values are unremarkable. They evolved organically—so much so that Simon and I unknowingly joined the Liberal Party, completely independent of each other, shortly after finishing high school. We were taught to apply ourselves, to appreciate what we had, to stand up for what we believe in and to never judge others. Exactly the same values are held by my step-mum, Janet, and mum's husband, David, and later brought Ryan and I together too.

Everyone here is a reflection of the compounding influence of others. Sometimes others risk tying their own futures to ours, so on days like these they share our success. That is why I am eternally grateful to Michael Josem, David Davis, Alan Oxley, John Roskam, David Kemp, Rod Kemp, Shaun Levin, Cathy Baker, George Brandis, Mick Gooda, Jeannette and Mike Rawlinson, Hanife and John Bushby, and Brett Hogan. And sometimes we are aided by people when we have nothing to give. That is why I share the same sentiment towards Paul Young, Jenny and Allan Lawton, Mark Grogan, Christopher Montabello, Ita Buttrose, Paul Ritchie and the Ostroburski family, particularly my old friend Leo. To all my family—mum, dad, Janet, David, Simon, who I am very glad to see is here today, and my sister, Carolyn—to my friends, especially the large number here in the gallery today, my past and present colleagues, Bayside Forum supporters and Liberal Party members, activists, campaigners and stalwarts, I want you to close your eyes and know these words are for you: thank you. Most importantly, to my fiancee, Ryan: I know you have sacrificed so much for me to be here today, and we are only at the end of the beginning. For seven years a ring has sat on both of our left hands, and they are the answer to a question we still cannot ask. No matter what happens from here, we have already achieved more than many who come and go from this place because we have lived the change we seek in the world.

And that is why I am here—to lead change, to turn liberal values into liberal action. Conservatism teaches us the merit of glancing back to look for what we can learn and bring forward but not for nostalgia. Conservatism calls us to reject grand experiments to socially engineer. It also calls us to reject reactionary behaviour and hold back change to which society has already accommodated itself. Western civilisation is not a story of freedom delivered on a silver platter. It had to be fought for, and it calls people to sacrifice. It evolved out of a slow and incremental understanding that all people are equal in their dignity, that we divide power to stop government forsaking our freedom, that the Commonwealth serves states and is not a Canberra monopoly, that executives come from parliaments and are accountable to them, that people have a government and not the other way around.

And we owe an eternal honour to those who risked or sacrificed their lives to defend that freedom. Being the custodians of this powerful inherited legacy does not call for us to stagnate but to defend it and make our own contribution. As Edmund Burke argued, 'a state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation'. We must realise the conservative ambition to encourage couples to sew the first stitch in our social fabric and enter commitments of mutual support to the benefits of the two—and all—and the liberal ambition to preserve the freedom of people to express unpopular and challenging views and ideas, which acts as a safety valve to preserve social cohesion and unity through common citizenship.

Advancing both ambitions may not be economic, or create jobs, but both speak to our cultural confidence as a nation—just like defending free association and religious liberty. And if we expect respect for these values from others, we must also expect them from new Australians too. If we are to preserve these traditions we cannot indulge in cultural relativism. Yet our cultural confidence should be sufficient that we are not threatened by the Indigenous history that preceded us. We are all part of the continuum of this continent's journey and story.

The most satisfying work I did as Australia's Human Rights Commissioner was to build bridges between cultures and work with Indigenous Australians to build the case for full respect of one of the most important inheritances of Western civilization—property rights. And that is what Sir Robert Menzies understood when he formed our great party for Australia: that conservatism is a virtue, not a vision. It can be an anchor, but liberalism will always be our compass. A smart young man, Callum Shaw, said recently that the Liberal Party is successful when it is seen to be 'bringing the future forward.' And we are liberals. Our interest is the future.

The triumph of identity politics is to turn people inward and see differences first, and not our unity. We must never play into the hands of our opponents who want us to abandon liberalism for a moniker that defines what we are against. If we do, we raise a white flag and allow the future to be defined by others, only to temper the speed at which they take us there. The Fabians always sought an anaesthetisation from liberal democracy to the socialist alternative, through incremental tax rises on the productive, and the permissiveness of welfare and dependence. The consequence of this dehumanizing path has never been more real. Today, they dismiss free choice as an irresponsible luxury in subservience to the rising costs they deliberately shoulder onto the state.

I will not accept that future. I was not elected to slow their success—because there is an alternative liberal vision for this country, and it speaks to our ambition for national unity, the pursuit of freedom, justice and responsibility and our optimism for tomorrow. It is a vision built on mutual respect for each other's humanity, individuality and freedom to pursue their life, family, opportunity and enterprise. That vision values family—irrespective of their sum, or their parts. It appeals to a human compassion, not motivated by pity but by firm heads and soft hearts. Liberalism creates an opportunity society, where social mobility for the next generation is preserved through equal opportunity, but which understands reward comes from taking risk and responsibility, and in which we favour work because of the autonomy, dignity and security it provides.

We know people sometimes fall down. That is why we respect the speed at which they seek to pick themselves back up. People cannot always do it alone, and that is why family and community are so important. They form the first support in a rebounding safety net, not a cosseting one. It is a rejection of the selfishness that comes with the needless dependence, because it burdens others and abrogates our responsibility to those who cannot stand on their own two feet—and it understands that everything the government touches, it taxes.

Our support for free markets is underpinned by the prosperity and efficiency they deliver, but our commitment comes from knowing that the task of climbing economic mountains reveals character and skill. Yet we know that markets must be just, deliver human outcomes and provide pathways that regulatory roads block. That acknowledges that, as imperfect as the showerhead of trickle-down economics may be, history shows its flow is more dispersed than the garden hose our opponents prefer, and invariably hydrates those closest to power.

It is an ethos that prioritises reason, technological progress and scientific endeavour, to drive and realise progress and care for the environment. It knows that science and the environment must serve humanity, not be the dictator of it, and that progress inspires a glint in our eye, reflecting our confidence that the future is going to be awesome. And if we want the vulnerable to see the opportunity of tomorrow, they must feel secure today. We know there is no 'new' or 'old' economy; just the opportunity of service and technology industries financed by wealth created by mining, agriculture and value-added manufacturing, where the next generation are not shackled by the debt of others—because, as the finance minister said recently, 'today's debts are tomorrow's taxes,' and the young will not be free to pursue their own destiny.

Ultimately, we support these principles because they are the first line of defence to preserve our economic, social and national security by creating an investment all Australians have in a shared future. The people of Goldstein know that Australia can have a better future if we take responsibility today. The best days are ahead, but they are earned, not given. Liberalism is always most successful when people can see their lives lived through our values, because it provides a pathway for individual achievement and we can move forward together. Thank you.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call the honourable member for Perth, 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. I call the honourable member for Perth.

Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and congratulations on your re-election to your very important office.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present. I also acknowledge the traditional owners, the Noongar people, of my local community, and also pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

I stand before all of you today, incredibly honoured and privileged at the trust that has been placed in me, by my local community, my friends and my family, as I address this chamber in my capacity as the federal member for Perth for the very first time. That only 10 others since Federation have been able to make such a claim brings the magnitude of this privilege into even sharper focus. But we are by our very nature, having arrived here today, a competitive bunch and we all quite rightly claim more boldly than each other that the respective qualities of our electorates surpass easily all the rest. And not for the first time you will hear me make a confident yet possibly unqualified claim to it being beyond contention that the federal seat of Perth actually beats them all. I could extol the virtues of my local community until you have all gone home and the lights have gone out. Bordered by Perth city itself, Kings Park and flanked by the Swan River, the result is unrivalled beauty and a diversity of ethnicities, cultures and values. A truly wonderful, culturally-rich place with opportunities but also challenges around every corner. To the men and women in the federal seat of Perth: I am only here today because of the faith you have all placed in me, and I will not let you down.

I am also incredibly honoured upon entering this place to have been allocated additional portfolio responsibilities in the shadow executive as shadow assistant minister for Western Australia, resources, innovation, the digital economy and start-ups. Western Australia is of course important for a whole lot more than just mining and resources; but, having said that, the economic impact that the mining industry has upon our community is significant and cannot be overstated. In 2013-14, for example, the mining sector contributed $78 billion or almost one-third of Western Australia's output alone. Once the impact of the resources sector is taken into account in relation to indirect employment opportunities and community engagement, it is abundantly clear that the key driver to our future prosperity in Western Australia involves careful planning and risk management of the resources industry so that all Western Australians, and indeed all Australians, continue to derive the benefit from such an important and incredibly valuable part of our community.

No discussion of the interface between the resources sector in Western Australia and government would be complete without recognising the work of Gary Gray, the former member for Brand. Indeed, I owe Gary a great deal both for his support and friendship and also for the fact that he has the enduring confidence of the sector, which helps us greatly in ensuring a smooth transition from the past to the present.

I am also incredibly excited about having the opportunity to contribute our national conversation in relation to innovation, the digital economy and start-ups. Our communities and our places of work are changing forever primarily due to rapid advances in technology, innovative disruption and automation and it seems to me that our great challenge as a nation is to search out new ways of work and, more importantly, to make sure that our workers of today and tomorrow are ready to take their place in the global economy.

In my areas of portfolio responsibility, I have the great fortune of working not only with our leader, Bill Shorten the honourable member for Maribyrnong, but other immensely intelligent and hardworking shadow ministers in the member for Blaxland, Jason Clare; and Senator Kim Carr. To you all: I thank you in advance for what will be significant patience required. And a word of warning to all three of you: if the phrase 'what Tim lacks in natural talent he certainly makes up for in enthusiasm' springs to your mind as I undertake those responsibilities, I can assure you that you are not singing solo. It is a common refrain shared by every teacher, friend or mentor I have had since about the age of five and, on reflection, it was probably events of about that time that indirectly have caused me to arrive in this place. Mercifully for each and every one of you, restrictions on time limits on first speeches mean that I shall limit my story since that age to the abridged version. Growing up, if I possessed a character trait that rivalled my rampant enthusiasm, it was insatiable curiosity. My wife suggested that is just being plain nosey, but I beg to differ.

With a strict no-television-in-the-mornings policy in our house growing up, all roads actually led to the daily newspaper—The West Australian, for those seeking particulars. I would religiously read The West Australian in the morning, half of the thrill to see if I could put it back together in its preruffled state before the old man got to reading it because, if I did not, the result was not pretty. But I can assure members that any connection between a plug for 'the West' and the allegation that they went very easy on me in the course of the election campaign is purely coincidence and is more due to the fact that I live an entirely boring and unblemished life. Any alleged impeachable conduct almost certainly occurred in my youth, well before the digital age, and therefore never occurred at all!

Some 15 years later, my habit of reading the daily papers continued, and on one particular day—it was actually 12 June 1996—I was a twenty-something, long-haired university student who could not grow a bid to save my life. Meandering through an arts degree, I stumbled quite literally by chance across a story in the paper that was so powerful that it actually changed the direction of my life. The story was about Rex Dagi, a tribesman from a village in remote Papua New Guinea who, on behalf of tens of thousands of his fellow villagers, took BHP on in the Australian courts in a class action alleging wrongdoing for the damage done to the once crystal clear Fly and Ok Tedi rivers that now flowed hopelessly polluted past his home. And Rex Dagi was successful.

It might actually be the closest I will ever come to experiencing a moment of complete clarity, because right then it became pretty clear that with enough tenacity, with enough hard work, with more than a bit of luck and sheer force of will victory for a just cause was achievable even against an opponent who on face value just seemed too big, too well resourced, too clever.

I went in search of the Perth lawyer John Gordon, who acted for Rex Dagi and his thousands of fellow villagers. John would be much too modest ever to admit it, but for those wannabe lawyers like me in search of a legal 'light on the hill' John Gordon was a modern incarnation of Chifley. John gave me a chance, and I grabbed it and latched onto it like a limpet. And what a ride it was: too young to be fearful, crashing out or crashing through court cases that coincidentally took me to Papua New Guinea as the Ok Tedi litigation continued and then on to Bougainville and another class action, being confronted by armed rebels and bitten by a mangy dog, all in the quest for justice.

I also experienced working alongside litigation giants like Peter Gordon during the time he and others took on the fight against big tobacco on behalf of a dying Rolah McCabe, as she was stricken with lung cancer and breathing her last breaths. Being in the thick of those fights against such powerful, well-resourced and well-organised opponents taught me that we could not always rely upon large corporates to get it right. Sometimes it was essential for someone to be there to hold them to account, to ask tough and uncomfortable questions and seek justice on behalf of those whose voices were otherwise not heard. It was a desire to help remedy that injustice that took me closer to home, back to Perth, to work as a lawyer and then a barrister representing in the courts men and women who were dying from mesothelioma and lung cancer, their lives robbed in the cruellest manner possible by an insidious and vile industrial disease caused by exposure to asbestos. Almost without exception, decades of their lives, their love, their laughter and their memories were stolen from these women and men as a result of exposure to a deadly dust in circumstances that were entirely preventable—preventable because available knowledge surrounding the harm caused by exposure to asbestos had existed as far back as the 1890s. But the reality was that asbestos companies, employers and governments had simply not done enough to stop people from getting sick. Good government could have fixed it but it was not fixed, and people died because it was not fixed. My working life became bedside courtrooms, shaking hands with my dying client as we landed a settlement just hours before trial. What I will never, ever forget about those handshakes is that they went on for just a little too long, with the grasp just a little bit too tight. It was too tight and it was too long because you could tell they just wanted to hold on to a life as theirs was slipping away.

Outside the courtroom, while all that was going on, it took a Labor government in New South Wales to step up and set up a special commission of inquiry to investigate whether James Hardie had left enough money behind to compensate current and future victims of asbestos disease. It is now common knowledge, of course, that they had not. And then we saw Greg Combet and the trade union movement, together with the victims groups, led by Robert Vojakovic and Bernie Banton, hammer out a deal that made James Hardie stay and pay. But where all of that actually began was with good government done well in setting up that special commission of inquiry. That is what brought me to the Labor Party—it was a Labor government making decisions to keep James Hardie accountable while having the welfare of ordinary working women and men in front of mind.

Much of my legal work, which it has been a privilege over the years to undertake, has been for precisely the same reason that I want to be here: to do whatever it takes to get outcomes that are fair, reasonable and just. More recently that has taken me to the far reaches of the north-west of Western Australia, dragging a courtroom out to remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, getting compensation for Aboriginal victims of road trauma on instructions from a rough-and-tumble, crazy-brave bush lawyer by the name of Tom Cannon, who is also known as 'the crash-bash man' to his Aboriginal clients, for many of whom English is a second language.

I have always had the belief that distributive justice, or at the very least compensation, to address a wrongdoing can go a very long way to restoring a balance when injustice has occurred. But it is actually here, in this place, on behalf of our electorates and with the beliefs that we all hold so dear, that I think we actually have a chance to get ahead of that curve, to improve lives, to improve outcomes in our communities and, most importantly, to enact laws that stop injustice or inequity from occurring. I really want to be a part of that. I want to be able to contribute on behalf of those in our community who, for one reason or another, just cannot advocate for themselves.

I believe that when federal government is done well it is the most effective and efficient means by which to improve the lives of every Australian. My best guess is that we achieve positive change in politics by being bold, by being a big target; sometimes by doing a lot of little things, even boring things, which result in living a big life in this place; putting our collective reputations on the line by spelling out how we will improve outcomes in education and health or create more jobs that will see us punch above our weight globally.

Being brave and bold saw us avoid a recession in the wake of the global financial crisis. I could not be more proud—together with having the utmost respect for the member for Lilley and my great friend Jim Chalmers, the member for Rankin—to say that I am actually now part of a federal parliamentary team that in 2008 and 2009 created hundreds of thousands of jobs, which meant this country avoided recession while the rest of the developed world reeled from the effect of the GFC.

Being brave and bold saw us challenge the paradigm of care and support for the catastrophically injured and unwell when Labor created the National Disability Insurance Scheme under the guiding hand of our current leader, Bill Shorten, whom I first met on the campaign trail in 2010 when I was trying to dislodge the member for Swan—who I see, as I look across the chamber, is still stubbornly here! What struck me at the time was how committed and focused Bill was in encouraging the disability sector to organise in a way that meant working together with Labor to achieve unstoppable change for the ultimate benefit of the disabled or impaired—and their carers—all of whom had been marginalised in our society for just too long.

I keep the faith that somehow, somewhere we will eventually see the completion of what could be our most magnificent infrastructure project since the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme: a proper National Broadband Network that is truly futureproof, with the capacity to unleash our enormous potential onto the world.

I believe that good government done well will address once and for all the overwhelming and institutionalised pain of Aboriginal Australians and those abused while in institutional care. Good government done well has a responsibility to steer our national conversation to a place that recognises and celebrates diversity and tolerance, not to a place where it is shouted down.

Representing in a courtroom men and women dying of asbestos disease has taught me that every single second is precious and life is very short.

Our obligation is to live a big life. But living a big life does not mean making a big noise or even arriving here. Living a big life means something unique to all of us. There is no playbook; there is no template.

Our recent federal campaign was a big campaign with big ideas and it was a campaign I was incredibly proud to be a part of. I thank our leader Bill Shorten, the honourable member for Maribyrnong; my great friend Chris Bowen; Tanya Plibersek; Anthony Albanese; Mark Dreyfus; Ed Husic and a host of others for all of the unwavering support that they have provided me without any hesitation at all over a gruelling 100-day campaign, to allow us to keep the federal seat of Perth in Labor hands. But I thank more than anyone else my beautiful wife Lindsay and my little girls Sidney and O'Hara, or more commonly known as Sid and Harry. You guys are everything to me. Lindsay, I know that you know I am brimming with pride at the moment but, make no mistake, as moments go it comes fourth behind the birth of our two girls and of course getting married to you. None of this will work for the right reasons unless we are in it together and by each other's sides.

To my campaign team and my immediate predecessor Alannah MacTiernan; to Bruce, Tommy Cazaly, Rob, John, Megan, Ron, Daniel, Mark, Prue, Colleen, Wade Lapp and Chris Prast; to my adviser, campaign auditor and all-time polling day sidekick, Stephen Smith: thanks to all of you and thank you to hundreds of others who helped me on the campaign. Thank you to all of the branch members in the federal seat of Perth and in Western Australia generally and thank you to the mighty North Perth branch of course and to all of the others whose names time, sadly, does not permit me to mention. To the trade union movement for supporting me and my campaign, but in particular Gerard Dwyer and Peter O Keefe at the SDA, Scott McDine, Stephen Price and Mike Zoedbroot at the AWU and Tony Sheldon and Tim Dawson at the TWU, thank you. To the Praetorian Guard—Lenda, Brendan, Laurence—none of us is having fun.

To my lifelong mates, some of whom have made the trip from various capital cities around Australia and are here in the gallery today—thank you. To the Q court, you will always be my ethical and philosophical compass. Thank you to my mum, my sisters Karen and Megan, and to Jaci and Ivan. To the ones I love who are not here anymore, I constantly look to you for inspiration—David Prast, Sharon Fletcher and of course my Dad, now gone more than 10 years.

As you can see many people have helped me live a big life in this world, but our new world does not sit cosily alongside our old world. Our teenagers are more likely to use their spare time collaborating with 20 other programmers, artists and writers all over the world in real time to create web based computer games in their bedroom in their spare moments. Globalisation seems to be now. Our challenge seems to be to embrace this change, not chase after it in a clumsy attempt to catch up. That means a new conversation about what it means for mums, dads and kids. Most of all it means a new conversation about what it means for prosperity, for productivity and for creating new jobs.

I remain completely convinced now, more than ever, that a Labor government is best placed to create an opportunity for our old and new generations to strive to achieve a new Australian community that takes the best of who we are and applies it to our new world, to give every single Australian the opportunity to exercise their fundamental right to achieve their full potential, to skill-up workers transitioning out of traditional employment roles so they can grab with both hands the opportunities in our digital economy and everything that it has to offer, to invest in our kids, to close the gap, to care for the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society and to make marriage equality a reality right now. That is good government done well.

When I am done and when we turn out the lights and the next member for Perth takes my place what do I hope my contribution to public life might look like? I just want the people of Perth, my colleagues and my party to know that I have given it everything. I just want to play a very small part in my own way in creating a prosperous Australia that is competitive on the world stage. I want my family to be proud of what I have worked towards and I hope above all else that my girls think I have done okay. Because if I can achieve all of that I do not reckon life gets any bigger.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The chair congratulates the member for Perth on his maiden speech and we welcome you to the chamber.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

May I also congratulate you, Mr Deputy Speaker, on your return to this chamber and your return to the Speaker's panel. I am sure that we will share plenty of good times together on the Speaker's panel over the next three years.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The stubborn member for Swan.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The stubborn member—I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the member for Perth for his maiden speech. I was glad to hear him focusing on the mining sector in Western Australia and talking about how important it is to our economy, and also the fact that Gary Gray was a great member for Brand in Western Australia. One of the things I would like to remind the member for Perth about is that I know privately that Gary Gray would never have imposed a mining tax on the West Australian industry.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Play nice for once.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am playing nice. I think the member for Perth is a fantastic person. When we ran the campaign together back in 2010 it was called 'the gentlemen's campaign', because we were both very cordial towards each other and did not get down in the gutter like many of our colleagues in other seats did. It was a pleasure to have a combat with a man of the quality of the member for Perth. I know he grew up in the electorate of Swan and I know his parents were highly respected within the Swan electorate as well, as he was in the time he lived there and attended the schools there as well. I am sure the member for Wakefield, who is on the opposition bench at the moment, will be pleased to hear that there is a due amount of respect between me and the member for Perth.

It is a pleasure to be back here in the 45th Parliament of Australia representing the people of Swan for the fourth time. A stat that was given to me after the election is that this is the first time the Liberal Party has won the seat of Swan four times in a row since 1960. I am proud of that achievement.

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They have got such a great member.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, member for Wannon. You do not have to stop; you can keep going if you like. For the past nine years it has been my privilege to represent the widely diverse group of people who live in Swan. I would like to now make a few comments about the campaign in Swan. As we prepared ourselves for the longest campaign in more than half a century I could not have been more appreciative to those who contributed towards retaining the seat of Swan. Over the eight-week campaign we had over 500 volunteers—people who devoted themselves to achieving the end result of keeping a Liberal in the seat of Swan. The 500 volunteers did letterboxing in their local areas, did volunteering at one of the 33 booths, did envelope stuffing or put yard signs in their front gardens. I was appreciative of their efforts towards the retention of the seat of Swan.

One of these volunteers was Liberal stalwart Ray Peek, who at the age of 88 was one of our star letterboxers. Ray, your commitment to the Liberal cause is inspiring and I would like to personally thank you for all your efforts not only in this campaign but for the entire four decades you have been a member of the Liberal Party. I also wish you all the best with Margaret, who I know is not in the best of health at the moment. I know you will be spending time by her bedside. I wish you and Margaret the best, Ray.

The successful campaign was a testament to the support I received from each and every volunteer, who devoted themselves to a government who are committed to budget repair, stability and cohesion and who are not prepared to sit idly by and let Labor's lies and untruths take advantage of vulnerable Australians—I will return to this later. I would like to thank my wife and campaign manager, Cheryle, who is well known within this place. The hard work she put into the Swan campaign each and every single day was astonishing. Her dedication to the campaign was evident in the professionalism she showed in her approach to coordinating our volunteers. I cannot thank her enough for all she did and all she continues to do as I serve the people of Swan. I am very proud of her.

When I returned to the House for my third term I noted that we put forward positive local plans for the people of Swan, that we outlined a positive plan that would help shape the future of Swan. As I return today for my fourth term I stand by the positive approach to politics. At the start of the campaign, unfortunately, I was labelled a rich white man by the Labor candidate. Those who know my background I am sure can see the irony of that, as I came from a very low-SES background. To be labelled like that I am sure would make many people raise the spectre of 18C, which I did not do.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Lucky you have got a thick skin.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well I have had to listen to you for nine years, so I had to develop a thick skin.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Glorious years.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, glorious years. I do admit that I am getting encore from the members who came in in 2007, at the same time I did. We must talk about that. At that time eight coalition members came in. There are still seven of us here.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is that right?

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. There were 34 Labor members and there are only 11 of them left from 2007.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quality they are.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Quality—the cream has risen to the top. I see that they have nobbled the member for Moreton by giving him the role of whip.

Despite the personal attacks we made sure we could hold our head high and continue to strive for the best possible election outcome for the people of Swan. In 2007, 2010, 2013 and now 2016 I established a plan for the community of Swan. It is my job as the community's representative to consult with them, establish the needs of the electorate and then develop a plan through which we are able to meet those needs. The campaign period provided us with an opportunity to communicate this plan and allowed constituents to decide which candidate was best fit to deliver. I have always tried to focus on community infrastructure which will meet the future needs of our growing community. Now we have six concrete commitments to the people of Swan and I look forward to a very busy and very exciting three years ahead.

The coalition has invested $490 million in the Forrestfield-airport rail link, which goes straight through my electorate. The link will connect residents to the airport and to the Perth CBD. There will be three new stations. The first will be Forrestfield, which is the outreach. Perth's eastern and south-eastern suburbs will be connected to the CBD and Perth airport. This will provide commuters with a short 20-minute journey into Perth's CBD. The airport central station will service the main Perth airport terminal. It has been designed to meet projected 2022 customer demand. Finally, the Belmont underground station, which is part of that link, will have a bus-train interchange and a 500- to 1,000-bay car park. It will allow commuters to travel to the CBD in only 15 minutes. The Forrestfield-airport link is a fantastic infrastructure project for the electorate and will change the way each of my constituents commutes.

Building on the government's unprecedented transport infrastructure package, I am also overjoyed by our commitment to fund the Manning Road on-ramp. We initially made a commitment back in 2010 for this project. Unfortunately, back in 2010 we just missed out on getting over the line and being able to fund that project.

The Manning Road on-ramp has been an important local issue in Swan, and one that I have campaigned on for many years with the support of the hardworking local MLA, John McGrath, who again has assisted in many ways and supported the drive to get funding for the Manning Road on-ramp. As most of my constituents and many other Perth drivers are aware, the Manning Road is a major road that runs through the south of the electorate, connecting residents to the Kwinana Freeway. Curtin University is also on Manning Road, which means that, with an enrolment of nearly 40,000 students, Manning Road is heavily used and requires fixing to have the on-ramp heading south, not only to the southern suburbs but also to the new hospital.

Any car that needs to join the freeway going south from Manning Road currently has to endure a difficult stretch of road before doing a loop all the way around the freeway that involves heading north, merging and lane-changing back across the Canning Bridge before heading south on the Kwinana Freeway. Then they have to merge with traffic coming off the freeway to get back onto the freeway. Not only does it cause great frustration to many motorists but it is a very dangerous design for one of Swan's busiest roads. To amend this we have now committed $15 million towards a southbound on-ramp at the Manning Road and Kwinana Freeway intersection, and we look forward to successful participation from the state government as well.

The provision of southbound access to the freeway will provide better access to Curtin University and now, of course, to the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch, with more patients needing to travel south to attend the hospital or emergency department from this major road.

In addition, our federal Treasurer, Mr Scott Morrison, personally visited Swan to announce the coalition's $9.675 million investment in the Belmont community centre, which will include the library, a senior citizens centre and a Belmont museum. This funding will also ensure that vital community services within the area of Belmont will be housed for free within this community centre. Many of the services they provide assist locals within the Belmont community, which is the second lowest SES rated community in Western Australia. These vital community services are currently operating in facilities well past their use-by date.

Labor actually opposed this centre in writing to the City of Belmont, which was extremely disappointing for the people of Swan. Thankfully, Labor's campaign was unsuccessful, and we, along with the City of Belmont, will deliver the community centre, providing an important boost for the region and delivering the City of Belmont's vision for the precinct as the centre of Belmont and a place for all community members to enjoy.

Another community infrastructure initiative that I have been heavily involved in is the Lathlain Park development. We are investing $13 million in the Town of Victoria Park to fund the development, which will drive local jobs and growth in Victoria Park. The development will be the new administration and training centre for the West Coast Eagles—who, I must admit, had some success in Adelaide last week, toppling the Adelaide Crows in the lead-up to the finals, and that means they will now have a home final next Thursday night at the current Subiaco Oval. That development will see the West Coast Eagles move out to Lathlain, in my electorate, with a $67 million infrastructure program. It will include tennis, netball and volleyball courts; a playground and BBQ area; and computer facilities, with a focus on modern technology to drive local innovation and education.

It will also house the Wirrpanda Foundation. I would like to thank Minister Bishop, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and member for Curtin, for coming down to Lathlain during the election campaign to announce the $3 million grant for the relocation of the Wirrpanda Foundation within integrated facilities, alongside the West Coast Eagles, at Lathlain Park. This supports local jobs as part of our commitment to support more Indigenous Australians to complete school and transition into work or further study. The new site will provide innovative, purpose-built spaces, setting new standards for community and recreational facilities. For those who are like-minded when it comes to the AFL, there will be two ovals at the new facility. One will be the exact dimensions of the MCG, for the Eagles to train on, and the other one will be the exact dimensions of the new stadium—again, in my electorate—which will be completed in the next 18 months and is well ahead of schedule.

The Lathlain facilities also house the Perth Football Club. My dear friend Vince Pendal, who was the president back in the late eighties for a while, then became president again in 2011 and has been president since then, unfortunately passed away two weeks ago from cancer. So Vince will not see the outcome of all his efforts to have his beloved Perth Demons housed in the same facility and grounds as the West Coast Eagles.

As the community of Swan continues to grow, so too does the need to ensure the safety of its residents. The government will provide $300,000 to upgrade 71 streetlights over eight kilometres in the Town of Victoria Park, under the Safer Communities Fund, to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. The streetlights will be upgraded to maximum capacity in East Victoria Park, the St James residential area and the Burswood industrial district adjoining the Burswood train station. These areas have been identified as crime hotspots. Everyone has the right to feel safe in their own neighbourhood, and better lighting is supported as an effective deterrent to criminal activity.

Just as we strive to protect our constituents, we strive too to protect our natural environment. Swan gets its name from the Swan River, which wraps itself around the north and west of the electorate and is named after the famous black swans of its local surroundings. In the south, the Canning River provides the electorate's border. Both rivers are landmarks not only within the electorate of Swan but also for the City of Perth and the great state of Western Australia. It is of great importance that we endeavour to protect, and aid in the recovery of, the Swan and Canning rivers. Stage 2 of the Swan-Canning River Recovery Program delivers another $1 million and a new Green Army project to help finish the job of eradicating the hydrocotyle weed. The Green Army team will work in partnership with local community groups to deliver the projects. This project will perform environmental restoration work on the Swan and Canning rivers to continue reducing the overall extent and intensity of hydrocotyle. It will also improve local riverbanks and protect threatened species' habitats, including those of the Carnaby's black-cockatoo and other local migratory animals.

This important environmental initiative is a much-needed project which will help to ensure that our local rivers and environment are improved and that threatened species' habitats are strengthened. In the Canning River regional area, there are 17 volunteer environment groups who regularly are out doing work, cleaning up and getting rid of noxious weeds, and who are part of the initiative that the funding went towards, which was to supply the necessary goods and tools for use by the volunteer groups—and they provided the labour free of charge. So it was a win for everyone, not only for the community and the volunteer groups, but also for the environment in the Swan-Canning regional area.

These funding commitments highlight this government's willingness to invest in long-term projects which provide economic benefits, not just in Swan but across electorates around the country, investing in jobs and community infrastructure. Through the commitments I have mentioned, Swan is receiving a total of $519 million for major local infrastructure projects, community safety and the environment. In doing so, this government is providing opportunities for the people of Swan.

In stark contrast to this, Labor offered its candidate for Swan only a $300,000 commitment to Swan's Sussex Street Community Law Service. It is an important service, nonetheless, but yet another disappointing offer for the residents of Swan—residents who deserve far more for the community in which they live and work; residents who continue to invest far more than Labor ever has done in their own community.

Whilst on the tone of Labor disappointing constituents, I would like to return to Labor's `MediScare' campaign, which appears to have been the only successful commitment they did deliver on. Over the campaign, my office received countless calls from concerned, scared and elderly constituents. One lady I spoke to was 85 and she received a call at 10:30 at night, which woke her up, and she was told we were going to privatise Medicare. It was a disgraceful way to campaign by scaring elderly people into changing their vote. Let's hope we do not see it again.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was an O'Connor trait.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We were not mentioning any names. We will not go into that. Labor claimed our government would privatise Medicare and in turn cut much-needed services—which we have not done and we are not going to do. Again, it was another Labor lie. What won't they do? Anything it takes. What is that famous catchcry? Anything that it takes. Labor lied to prey on Australia's most disadvantaged, just so they could have something, anything, to base their election campaign on.

While our government was driving budget repair, jobs, growth and a plan that would deliver for all Australians, Labor drove the political tactics and, quite frankly, abused the trust of voters. Despite this, the people of Swan saw through those lies and returned me to serve as their federal member for a fourth term, and the people of Australia returned our government. They have sent a message to all of us that, if they want strong leadership, transparency and a government that has the ability to deliver on its commitments, they have once again put their faith in us in what is a critical time for stability—economically and in the current international climate.

For those who are interested in statistics, of the 84,464 votes counted in Swan, I received 48.18 per cent of the first preference vote in Swan. I think Western Australia led the first preference votes for the Liberal Party across the whole country. We managed to maintain our primary vote above the 2010 election. Despite redistributions, it was a great effort to receive that 48.18 per cent of primary vote.

The electorate of Swan understands our party's values, our government's actions and, of course, they can see the value of the infrastructure that we have continued to deliver for them over the nine years I have been lucky enough to represent them.

As I return for my fourth term as the member for Swan and as a member of the 45th Parliament of Australia, I look forward to building on the initiatives of this government, including all, but not limited to, budget repair, creating jobs for all Australians and maintaining our strong border policy.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I begin by congratulating you, Mr Deputy Speaker, on your position on the Speaker's panel. Even though it is not my first speech, I am going to treat it as my second first speech. Let's hope there is never a third first speech for the sake of everyone in this place and for the sake of my family, friends and colleagues.

I would like to start off by saying what a privilege and honour it is to be here. To be here in this place is something very special. To be here, as I said, is special and I would like to congratulate all of you who have been returned and all the newly members of parliament.

I also wish to acknowledge those who have served in this place before me, representing Hindmarsh. Firstly, the former member, Matt Williams, and I wish him all the best and for his contribution over the last three years. Regardless of what side of parliament we sit on and regardless of what side of politics we come from, I think we all come here with one thing in mind, and that is to create a better Australia. I would like to acknowledge that for all members in this place.

I also acknowledge Christine Gallus, who was the member before I was elected in 2004 and her work is fondly remembered in the electorate. She was a very hard worker; she was also a very formidable opponent and my sparring partner for a number of years. Before Chris Gallus there was John Scott, who was the member for Hindmarsh, who still lives in the electorate and who is still very active in the community. I see him from time to time and I value the advice he gives from time to time.

And how could you talk about Hindmarsh without mentioning Clyde Cameron? He was the very first person I handed out how-to-vote cards for back in the '70s. He was an absolute ALP stalwart, a cabinet minister in the Whitlam government and instrumental in reforming industrial relations in this nation, as well as being very involved in the labour movement.

I would also like to mention very quickly Liz Harvey, now known as Liz Truman, and good old Ralph Jacobi, both of whom represented the seat of Hawker, which was the southern part of my electorate and merged with Hindmarsh in 1993.

I would also like to acknowledge all the members from both places who were not re-elected, like my good friend Senator Anne McEwen. I would like to acknowledge the good work she did while she was in the other house. She so narrowly missed out on being returned to office. For those who were not returned, I know what that feels like. I've been there and I've done that. I really feel for all who were not returned.

I suppose I stand here today under quite extraordinary circumstances. There are not many people who get the opportunity to serve three terms in a row, have a three-year hiatus out of this place and then make a comeback.

As I said, I have had the extraordinary honour of serving the electorate for three terms. I ran twice—in 1998 and in 2001—and was successful in 2004 when I won by 108 votes. I sat in this very same place, so this seat here has my name written all over it.

This time it felt like a landslide—1,140 votes, which is fairly substantial when you compare it to 2004. I have had that humbling experience of not being returned and of now being back here. I believe there are only 12 MPs who served three or more terms that have ever made such a comeback. One of them is our good friend Warren Snowdon, who is here in the chamber.

After an election, the word 'privilege' is thrown about by many, so much so that it sounds like a cliche, but I cannot think of a more appropriate word than privilege. It is an absolute privilege to be given a second chance and to be in this chamber. While not being returned in 2013 was certainly hard—it was hard for me and my family—I believe it made me a stronger and even more determined advocate for the people of Hindmarsh. For this return, I express my sincere thanks to the good constituents of Hindmarsh and for giving me this opportunity once again. I promise I won't let you down.

I am no stranger to determination. Hindmarsh is one of the most marginal seats in the country. Today, it is the second most marginal after that of my good friend Cathy O'Toole here, the member for Herbert. I have fought for, won and lost this seat with the slimmest of margins. Each time the outcome has been uncertain, but it never ever deterred me from fighting as hard as I could, not just to win the seat but also to go on and fight for those constituents. Those that fall through the cracks, those who are unemployed and those who for whatever reason have been marginalised. It is our upmost duty to do that, to represent them and to ensure that we have a safety net to catch these people and make their lives slightly better.

One of the benefits of living in a marginal seat is that you get noticed. Not so much as the member—there is a lot of focus on the members—but the people of Hindmarsh get noticed. The good residents of Hindmarsh, the good voters of Hindmarsh, know this and understand this. I undertake to apply the same determination to ensuring that in this term of parliament their voices are heard and their concerns are taken seriously. Of course, this is something that I have always endeavoured to do as the federal member for Hindmarsh.

There is a great deal that I, together with my Labor colleagues, am very proud of when we were on that side of the House and on this side of the House that we have helped achieve for the people of Hindmarsh. For example, the establishment of an Adelaide Airport ombudsman was a private member's bill that I put up on two occasions and presented. I was very pleased when the then minister for transport, Anthony Albanese, made it a government bill. That was an achievement for the people in the electorate. They now have an independent umpire. They have someone who is totally independent to deal with their complaints and their issues.

Pushing the Torrens-to-Torrens project together with Kate Ellis, the member for Adelaide, was a big thing. I recall Anthony Albanese, as minister for transport, being in our electorate turning the very first sod when the then opposition, under the leadership of Tony Abbott, were arguing that it wasn't a priority. But those opposite heard the voices of the people of the electorates of Adelaide and Hindmarsh very clearly when they got into government and decided to go ahead with it and claim it as their very own project. But we knew, and the people of Hindmarsh knew, that it was the Labor government that ensured that project.

Another example was securing funding for the King Street Bridge, which was a bridge that was owned and run by the local council in Glenelg. For many years, under the Howard government and under the former coalition governments, the council applied for funding. They applied very hard to get this new bridge because the old bridge had something called 'concrete cancer,' which meant that it could collapse at any moment. It had been closed down for a number of months. I am very pleased once again that we achieved the funding for that bridge. I am very proud of it every time I drive over it and see the thousands of people that use it every single day.

They are just a few of the achievements under a Labor government when I was here last. The dedication of the people of Hindmarsh in ensuring that they got their message to me, as their voice in this place, ensured that those projects that assist them came to fruition.

As I said, in coming back to this place I am determined not to just sit here. I am here to continue getting results for my electorate, and that is what I will be focusing on every single day. I undertake to persist in fighting for the issues that I campaigned on in this election and the last campaign, such as the Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project. We finally have the agreement of all our local councils and our state government. All we need is the federal government to come on board.

The Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project is a mitigation program for flooding. There are 2,000 homes in my electorate that are under threat of being flooded out in a once-in-50-years flood. We have come so close to that this year and in other years. The project also covers infrastructure such as Adelaide Airport. You can imagine the projections of a once-in-50-years or a once-in-100-years flood. What will take place if this project does not go ahead? I acknowledge the shadow finance minister who, at the time, came to the electorate and met with the councils. He was good enough to ensure that had we formed government we would have put $44 million into the plan.

Another project was the Thebarton Oval—$6.6.million so that amateur football clubs could have a decent headquarters in the western suburbs. At the time, the Leader of the Opposition announced the extended tramline of $500 million that would have created over 2,000 jobs. It would have gone through the centre of my electorate, to the airport and down to Henley Beach. So it would not only have been a great infrastructure project but also have created 2,000 jobs. These are the things that we did while we were in government: infrastructure that gave facilities to neighbourhoods all around Australia but also created jobs.

I would also like to take this opportunity to undertake to hold the government to account on each and every one of the many promises that the Liberal government made in relation to Hindmarsh during the campaign. And this is important, because the federal coalition government have a history of saying one thing and then doing another after the election. We all remember the promises that were made on the eve of the 2013 election about the submarines being built in South Australia. It took the community of South Australia, the state government of South Australia and the federal members on the Labor side to take the government screaming and kicking, only when their jobs were at stake, to agree to it. So we remember this.

I felt that there was a lot of unfinished business for me in 2013, and there is still so much that I want to do—so much unfinished business. I now have that opportunity to complete some of those things that I started. As I said, one example is to continue fighting for the Adelaide Airport curfew, and I want to ensure that that is upheld and not slowly eroded away. The people of Hindmarsh around the airport need sufficient protection from damaging noise pollution, and this is something I fought for very hard, not only when I was in this place but also as a community resident association chair of the Adelaide Airport Action Group, way before I was even a candidate. Here is another example: on the eve of the 2013 election, there seemed to be bipartisan support by both parties that the curfew would remain, and we had promises from the Liberal candidate and from the Liberal opposition undertaking to maintain the curfew. Unfortunately, within months of coming to power—I think it was in 2013, November or December—the Abbott coalition then did a backflip, allowing aircraft to come in before 6 am and jets to land outside the hours of curfew. This was less than two months after they put leaflets out in the entire electorate promising that this would not happen. In all honesty, I believe that the people who live around the airport and under the flight path, as I have done my entire life, deserve a little more respect than that. The airport curfew remains one of the most important issues for those people who live around there.

Such backflips, however, soon became an all-too-common occurrence within this government from 2013 to 2016. On the eve of the 2013 federal election, the then opposition leader promised no cuts to education, no cuts to health and no changes to the pension and penalty rates. It did not take long for the government to impose an $80 billion cut to health and education spending over the next decade. They introduced legislation regarding penalty rates that would leave workers worse off, undermining their hard-fought rights. They undertook a massive witch hunt under the guise of a royal commission into unions that was nothing more than the opportunity to bash unions and weaken workers' rights. Yet, when we asked them to conduct a royal commission into the banks, they refused to. Despite the fact that they have been refusing continuously, we see today that they have come up with some furphy that they will look into an inquiry or something. We need a royal commission into the banks, and we need it now.

In the three years since not being returned, I had the honour and privilege of working for the Australian Services Union, where I was involved in the negotiations for the 5,000 redundancies of Qantas workers. What I hear from the other side and what I saw were two very different things. I cannot praise the union movement and the workers that it represents enough for the respectful way they ensure that workers are given a fair go and for the many, many young people that I met in the union movement over the last three years—brilliant young lawyers that could go off and earn three or four times the amount that they earn, yet are determined because they want to represent workers and do the best they can to make sure that they give them a better quality of life. That is what workers deserve. So what I hear and what I saw were very different. In addition, the coalition government announced that the pension age would rise to 70 by 2035—another broken promise when they said pensions would not be changed—and that the age and disability pensions will fall behind wages growth from 2017.

And, of course, there were the threats to Medicare. Regardless of what I have heard over yesterday and today, I know that Medicare was the most important issue in my electorate. This was not a furphy. What we had was a period of three years where three times there was an attempt through the budget to bring in a co-payment. It failed, planting the seed into people's minds that there is something wrong with this government when it comes to Medicare. It failed, and then the government went the backdoor way by freezing the indexation. And this is the message that people knew out there. So, despite anything that we hear about this not being true and how there were lies, there was action that this government took to water down Medicare and make sure it was made weaker than it currently is. So the message from my electorate was clear: do not meddle with Medicare. It was loud and clear. People do not want our Medicare system undermined.

I am determined to fight against this sort of injustice, because these measures hurt people and undermine the very fabric of our society. Many of these people—our elderly—have fought in wars. They have paid their taxes. They have protected our country. They have worked very hard. They do not deserve to be punished. And we will not have it on this side. In Hindmarsh we have a rapidly ageing population who rely more and more on these services. They deserve to be represented and they deserve to have advocates on their side.

Many of my constituents are migrants who settled in the electorate of Hindmarsh many years ago. I am talking about our wonderful Italian and Greek communities, who all came out here as young men and women in their late teens or early 20s and who are now rapidly ageing, at a rapid pace. These people worked in some of the lowest paid jobs, under horrendous conditions. They struggled with limited English and, at the time, limited support. They did it because they wanted to provide a better life for their children, who today you will find in every field, including politics, business, science and research. They left their homes and chose to make a new home in Australia to have the ability to dream—but not just to dream but to fulfil those dreams. This includes people like my parents, who came here in the early fifties.

I would like to take a moment to say a few words in my parents' native Greek, if you allow me. I have spoken to Hansard, who will have the translation.

Thelon a po ena megalo efharisto, ap ta vathi tis kardias mou stin elliniki parukias tis ethras mou Hindmarsh yia tin ipostrixi pou mou ehaite dixi.

Ohi monoyia tin ipostrixi alla pio simantika sas sinhero yia osa ehete apohtisi kai prosferi san metanastes stin kainouria patrida sas.

Ithela nap o afta ta liga logia stin elliniki ylosa na timiso olous tous ellines tis australias kai tin thikimou klironomia. Thank you for allowing me that.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't know what I have allowed, Steve!

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The translation will be given to Hansard.

The translation read as follows—

I wish to thank from the bottom of my heart the Greek community and residents of Hindmarsh for the support they have shown me.

Not only for their support, but more importantly, l wish to congratulate and acknowledge everything they have achieved and offered as migrants to their new country, Australia.

I wanted to say these few words in the Greek language to acknowledge the Greeks' contribution to Australia, and my own cultural heritage.

I have 200 languages spoken within my electorate. I wish I could speak in each and every one of them. Unfortunately, I cannot. I will have to stick to Greek and English.

We also have a growing community of Indians, Chinese, Africans, Middle Easterns, just to name a few who are the new, emerging communities in my electorate. Diversity is a reality in Hindmarsh as it is in many electorates around the country. I want to be able to ensure that people celebrate their diversity, their cultural linguistics and their religious ways.

To win an election takes a lot of people to assist, and I have many, many people to thank: David Di Troia from UV; David Gray; Joe Szakacks, who is here in the gallery today; my grandkids as well, who are crying, but I will get on to them; Joseph Scales and Abbie Spencer from the ASU, who were absolutely brilliant; Linda White, the ASU national assistant secretary; Liz Temple from the CPSU; Jamie Newlan; Michael O'Connor; the SDA; CEPU; AMWU; MUA; CWU and CFMEU. Of course there are many volunteers: Abbie Spencer and Cheyne Rich, who were my campaign coordinator and campaign manager—I thank them for the hard work that they did on my campaign; Emily Gore; Angas Oehme; Sam Davies; Pam Nadar; Steven Choung; Peter Bijork; John Trainer, who has always been there supporting me as a former speaker of South Australia in the House and is now the Mayor of West Torrens; Frank Violi, from the Italian pensioners; George Peters, who is the president of the St George Greek Orthodox Community; Depak Bhardwaj and his family from the Indian community; Reggie Martin; Steven May; the Australian Labor Party sub-branch; the Hindmarsh FEC office bearers and members; Tim Looker, president of the Hindmarsh FEC; PLUS; Young Left; AYL. I also thank Nick Bolkus, who gave me my first opportunity in parliament; Premier Jay Weatherill; Paul Caicia; Mick Atkinson; Steph Key; Tom Koutsantonis and his wonderful staff including Zoi Papafilopoulis and Betty Livaditis; Susan Close; Stephen Mullighan; and Annabel Digance. And, of course, my parliamentary colleagues here in this place: Bill Shorten, Penny Wong, Mark Butler, Anne McEwen, Nick Champion, Brendan O'Connor, Maria Vamvakinou and everyone else that assisted.

This would not have been possible without the love and support of my family who are all here today. When I left this place in 2013 I had one grandchild. I now have three and I am very proud of them. To Wendy; my boys, George and Alex; their partners, Irene and Eleni; to my grandchildren, Stathi—who I give a big wave to—Mia and Lia: I thank them for what I have put them through over the years, especially Wendy. No-one else would put up with what I have put them through to campaign and to achieve my goals and the things that have got me here, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. There is nothing more important than family, and you quickly realise that when you are not in this place. It is the family that we all turn to. Thank you.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the address be agreed to, but just before I call the member for Hughes, I remind the House that this is not the member's first speech and he is fair game under the standing orders!

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was going to thank you, Deputy Speaker, but with that prelude I am not sure if I actually should! But it is a great honour and privilege to be back here for my third term as the member for Hughes. My first duty is to thank the electors of Hughes in southern Sydney and in the areas of south-eastern Liverpool for their trust in me and for giving me the great privilege of coming back again. I would especially like to thank the electors of the suburbs of Kirrawee, Como, Jannali, Oyster Bay, Kareela, Bundeena, Maianbar, Grays Point, Heathcote and Heathcote East that came into the electorate of Hughes in the redistribution.

The very first job, the very first obligation, that we have here as members of this parliament is to make sure that we rein in government spending. It is completely unacceptable that over the next 12 months we have to borrow $100 million every day just to balance the books. We currently have a GDP growth at over three per cent. We have unemployment—yes it is too high, and we are going to get it down lower—with a five in front of it. Under these economic circumstances it is unconscionable for us to continue to borrow $100 million every single day. It is not that we are just doing it this year. We have done that every year since 2007. The first cost to the budget is our interest bill. This year the interest bill that must be paid is $16 billion. The fastest growing area of government expenditure is not our health system, our schools, our roads or our help for kids with disabilities. The fastest growing area of government expenditure that we have is interest payments on government debt. I look around at the things that we desperately need to do and I think about that $16 billion that just goes to pay the interest—the other things that we could do in this country.

We must arrest the rate of growth in government spending and we must go back to living within our means. If we continue to borrow, all we are doing is stealing from future generations. We are going to give them an inheritance of higher levels of taxation and less government services because we in this parliament refused to make the hard decisions. And there will be some hard decisions that will need to be made. I hope that the members of the opposition will work with us on those decisions, rather than, as we saw in the last parliament, going on and whinging and whining, talking about cuts and cruel cuts. We cannot continue on like that at the rate we are going.

One of the things I found during the election campaign, during the debates I had with some of my opponents, was that one of the great misunderstandings or misconceptions of those on the other side, the thing they failed to grasp is that the size of our nation's economic pie is not fixed. We in government cannot create jobs. All we can do is set the conditions in the economy that allow the private sector to get out there, to create wealth and to grow the size of the economic pie. If we do that, if we grow the size of the economic pie, then it means we have more to put in social welfare. It means we have more for schools. It means we have more for hospitals. It means we have more for aged care. So that should our other priority—to grow the size of the economic pie.

We often say we need innovation, but how do we get innovation? The simple way to get innovation is to set the economic circumstances so that people in the private sector, in every line of business that they are in, can take risks and experiment—can experiment with new ideas, with new methods of production, new methods of distribution. We know that most of those new ideas will not succeed, but it is those small numbers that do succeed, it is that small fraction of risks and experimentation that do succeed, that drive the economy. That is what gets the growth going, that is what creates wealth in this economy. That is why I was so supportive of the policy we had to lower the rate of corporate tax.

At first blush, and this is what the Labor Party ran on during the election, if you lower the rate of corporate tax it looks like you are simply giving a tax break to big business. We heard that during the campaign. The opposition leader, when he was running around the country, said this was a $50 billion tax break for big business. But look at our nation's history and at what has happened when we have lowered the rate of corporate tax over the last two decades. If we go back to 1987, the corporate tax rate in this country was 49 per cent. We have gradually lowered that over the years, down to 30 per cent. So you would think that if we have gone from 49 per cent to 30 per cent—if you follow the opposition's logic, we have given up at least 50 per cent or more of the taxation revenue of this nation. But if you look at the numbers, this is what has actually happened: almost every single time that we have lowered the rate of tax we have not got less revenue, we have got more. And we have got more not only in gross terms, but also as a percentage of GDP.

In fact, look at the numbers. In 1986-87, company tax, as a rate of GDP in this country, was 2.4 per cent. It was raising $6.7 billion. If we fast forward to 2007-08, as a percentage of GDP—even though we had lowered it from 49 per cent down to 30 per cent in that big tax cut—we ended up doubling the rate of company tax that we achieved. We went from 2.4 to 5½ per cent of GDP as company tax being paid into the Treasury. In actual dollar terms, it was a 1,000 per cent increase, a tenfold increase—that is, in 1986-87 it was $6.7 billion of corporate tax that we received when the tax rate was 49 per cent; in 2007-08, it was $64.7 billion.

This is not a prediction of the future, but I believe that if we lower the rate of company tax, as we set out during the election campaign, it will not cost the budget a single cent. If history holds and we lower that rate of corporate tax—we encourage investment, we encourage risk-taking, we encourage experimentation in the economy—then we will get a bigger economic pie and we will have more for social welfare, we will have more for hospitals, we will have more for aged care. We will be able to do all of the things that count as a government.

Saying that, one of the things that was very disappointing during the election campaign was the Medicare scare campaign. The lie—I know that may be an unparliamentary word, but it was a lie to say that the government was going to privatise Medicare. It is not so bad that it was a lie—that is the cut and thrust of election campaigns: one side says one thing, the other side counters it with something else and people make up their own mind—but what was particularly objectionable about the Medicare privatisation lie was the use of false documents through texts on people's mobile phones. This is something that our electoral laws simply have not caught up with. To send a text message to someone's phone that creates the perception that it has come from some official government source, that should be fraud. That should not be permitted in our democracy. And to see members of the Labor Party come into this chamber today and to laugh about it—'Ha, ha, ha. We've tricked you; we've tricked the public. We conned them. We hoodwinked them. We got them to change their vote because we sent out false and fraudulent documents'—is a black spot on our democracy. I hope, during the course of this parliament—this has happened, it is an event in the past. But for the sake of our democracy, we cannot allow a repeat of it. Otherwise, at the next election, what is to prevent the major parties or the minor parties from sending out millions of text messages that have at the top 'Centrelink' and creating the perception that people's Centrelink benefits would be cut, or a message from the immigration department that says your visa will be cut if you vote in a certain way or a message from the taxation department that says your taxes will be cut if you vote in a certain way? We must say this was a black mark on our democracy and we need to fix our electoral system to ensure that, if any political party is sending out a text message, it is absolutely crystal clear that it is not being sent from some official source.

How we would deal with same-sex marriage was another issue during the election campaign. We went to the election campaign with a clear and concise policy that if the coalition was successful, if we were returned to the government benches, we would hold a plebiscite and give every person in Australia a say. The opposition had another policy. They wanted to have the parliament vote on it. Those were the policies that were taken to the election. The opposition lost the election. The Labor Party and the Greens lost the election. The coalition have been returned to the government benches albeit by a small minority. If election commitments mean anything in this country, it is incumbent upon the opposition not to block the plebiscite in the Senate. To do so would say to people that the opposition are snubbing their noses at election results and election commitments. I hope that in the coming weeks the Labor Party will see sense. If they really want to have same-sex marriage as quickly as we can, let the coalition put to the people the policy that was voted on at the election. Let us do it. Let us have that plebiscite. Let us have that vote. Let the Australian people have their say on this issue.

Another issue I would like to bring up is 18C. I know it is controversial. The Prime Minister said today that this government does not have any intention to change 18C. Perhaps one of the reasons is that the numbers in the Senate make it clear that it would be almost impossible to get a change through. The member for Watson, in question time today—and I am paraphrasing him—asked: 'With these changes, what words are you trying to allow to be said that cannot be said now?' The question was ruled out of order. But I will give him the answer: it is what the student from the Queensland University of Technology said. I will read it to you.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

The member for Moreton may be interested to tell me whether he thinks this is acceptable in our society. This is what the young student said: 'Just got kicked out of the unsigned indigenous computer room. QUT is stopping segregation with segregation.' Do you think speech like that should be allowed in this country, or do you think government censorship should clamp down and that poor kid should be dragged through the courts facing a $250,000 fine? Do you support that? I am interested to know whether you support it—a simple yes or no. Do you support that outcome—that someone can be dragged through the courts of this country for merely saying that? We should be able to have a debate in this country about that issue. The issue is: should we have segregated rooms in our universities? Should the colour of your skin or your racial background determine whether you can go into a room or not? I think not. This is a terrible idea. It is against the interests of integration, harmony and racial tolerance to have separate rooms. That should be debated, but the effect of 18C is actually to stop that from being debated. And to have university kids being shaken down—

Ms Butler interjecting—

I hear the member over there interject 'Rubbish!' Do you understand? Have you read the circumstances of this case? Do you know what happened to these kids? Do you actually support that? I am interested to know. Are you happy to see a student who has merely said these words being dragged before the courts and sued for $250,000? Is that what you are defending? You are defending it. What a sad example we have! It is typical of the Labor Party. They do not trust Australians with free speech.

Brendan O'Neill is not from the political right. In an article he wrote in The Australian the other week, he argued that supporting 18C is the very opposite of anti-racism. He said:

The truth is anti-racists should be at the front of the fight against 18C—for the simple reason that if you want to defeat racism, as I do, then you must insist racists have full freedom of speech so we can see and know their ideology, and confront it before the public. Leftie rads who love 18C’s suppression of racist speech are failing in their first duty as anti-racists: to shine a light on racism and do battle with it in the full glare of public life.

Those of us who support changes to 18C do so because we want to defeat racism. We want to bring it out in the open. We believe free speech is the best antidote we have to defeat racist sentiments. I hope the Labor Party have a rethink on this rather than going around with a scare campaign saying Australians are ready to attack other Australians if we make any changes to 18C. I believe Australians are better than that. I believe we can have these debates with good sense and respect for each other. I believe that is better for the Australian public.

Another issue I would like to raise in the remaining time is the nonsense argument about a bank royal commission. A royal commission will achieve zero, apart from becoming a lawyers' picnic. There are issues that we can address in this parliament—some of the problems we have in our banking sector—without having a royal commission. One of them is acting on the penalty fee issue after the recent High Court case. The High Court case has basically found that late payments for credit cards of $35 are not a penalty, and are lawful. I believe that the High Court, in that 4-1 split decision, extended the law beyond where the parliament would want to be. In this parliament we can act, and we can set in legislation what penalty terms actually are, in relation to late payment of bank fees. I believe the High Court has extended that far too often in the bank's favour. The court said in that particular case that, for someone that was running a business, a $35 late payment fee on the credit card was not in terrorem, or in fear. But for a single mother or an aged pensioner with a credit card limit of a couple of hundred dollars that may have a $20 monthly payment fee, who could not make that payment fee because they had some illness in the family or some other emergency, a $35 late payment fee is in terrorem. That is something this parliament should deal with.

Another issue I would like to raise is the Moorebank Intermodal, in my electorate—something that I have spoken about many a time in this parliament, particularly about how it is a white elephant. It is a waste of a very valuable piece of land, a waste of a resource, and it is a cost to the taxpayer of several hundred million dollars because of this failed plan. For a while, I did not think I had much support in this. But just a few weeks ago, one of the proponents of the Moorebank Intermodal, the Aurizon company, have dumped their shares—I think they agree with me. They sold out. They could see that the writing was on the wall that this project was not going to be a goer. And I would hope that the other shareholders look at the Aurizon decision and see that this project is just not going to be a goer, and it is going to cost the taxpayer money. If we needed Intermodal in Sydney to distribute goods, the ideal place for it would be either out at Eastern Creek or at Badgerys Creek airport. Let's use the savings that we could have at Moorebank, and put that into the infrastructure to get Badgerys Creek, with all the transport links up and running.

Another other issue that I have some concerns about, and one of our particular policies, is the cigarette tax. I would like to precede this by saying that I am a fanatical anti-smoker. I would like to see cigarette consumption in this nation at zero. I would like to see those large cigarette companies run out of town, and their share price not worth the paper that it is written on. But I am a realist, and my great concern is that if we raise the retail price in this country—and this is a bipartisan policy—to $40 for a packet of cigarettes when the wholesale price of lawfully made cigarettes throughout Asia is around one dollar, we risk turbocharging the black market, and all the criminal activity that goes along with it. So I am pleased to see in the coalition's policy that we have put an extra $7 million into resourcing our policing agencies on this black market. But I fear that that may not be enough, and I fear that we may see an increased amount of crime because of that policy. It was only last week that we saw a kidnapping and stabbing of a tobacco executive, related to that issue.

The other thing that I am proud that the coalition government did during the election campaign was some of the solar grants that we were able to give. I was pleased that the solar grants I was able to allocate went to places that were not connected to the grid. One of those was a grant to Garie Surf Lifesaving Club. For those that do not know it, Garie Beach is in the Royal National Park south of Sydney—one of the most spectacular, naturally beautiful pieces of real estate that you would ever want to see, with a magnificent surf club, a magnificent facility. And I am very pleased that the grant that we were able to give them—especially as they are not connected to the electricity grid—will enable them to increase the facilities in their particular area. But, saying that, I must admit that I have some concerns with some of the other subsidies that we have been giving to the solar industry and how they are working out, and the cost to the economy. There is a Grattan report titled Sundown Sunrise: How Australia can finally get solar power right. In the overview it says:

… the cost of solar PV take-up has outweighed the benefits by almost $10 billion.

By the time the subsidies finally run out, households and businesses that have not installed solar PV will have spent more than $14 billion subsidising households that have. Australia could have reduced emissions for much less money. Governments have created a policy mess that should never be repeated.

Whatever we are doing with the issue of climate change, it is our obligation to ensure that that does not push up electricity prices in this country. We have already seen a very, very substantial increase in electricity prices over the last decade, which has caused enormous harm to many families. We have seen record numbers of families have their electricity cut off. We have seen businesses relocate their manufacturing to overseas because of the high cost of power in this country. Whatever we do, there should be a full cost-benefit analysis, and we make sure—