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

Before I call the honourable member for Higgins, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech and I ask the House to extend to her the usual courtesies. I call the honourable member for Higgins.

Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I stand here incredibly humbled by the people of Higgins who have chosen me as their representative in this federal parliament. I've always been fascinated by handwritten letters. They capture a fleeting moment in time—like a dragonfly in amber—an arrested moment for future generations to reflect on and marvel over. When I was seven, my school, Albury Public School, asked each children to write a letter for a millennial time capsule to celebrate the school's 150 years of existence. Twenty-five years later, my brother Tim and I travelled back to our childhood town, Albury, on the banks of the mighty Murray River, to retrieve those letters. To our surprise a further four letters dropped from our family's time capsule: one addressed to each of my three siblings and me. They were letters from mum, who had died of lung cancer at age 58, and they were like a voice from the grave. Even now the hairs on my arm rise when I think of those letters to our future selves.

Mum knew us as only a mother can. She knew our little foibles, and, being from country stock of many generations, she didn't hold back. She was always someone who called a spade a bloody shovel. She told me I'd go far if I could just get hold of my emotions; that I shouldn't worry about my brother Andrew teasing me and that he would grow out of it—he has; and that I loved my little sister Penny and she would be my lifelong best friend—she is. Like all mothers, she had dreams and aspirations for all of us. I was to be a teacher. She wasn't to know I would become a university professor. She worried about how my generation would juggle work-life balance. She could already recognise the warm winds of change for the place of women in the world.

But it was my eldest brother Tim's letter that was the most difficult to read. Mum and dad didn't know what lay ahead for Tim. They couldn't yet see the struggles with mental health and the development of schizophrenia that would consume Tim and our family for decades—a cruel and unrelenting illness that, but for a minor difference in a brain receptor, any one of us could have had. Tim, you've lived a life of grace and dignity. I know it hasn't been easy, and never once have you used it as an excuse. You remind me every day of the humility of life and that we cannot take our health for granted.

I am proud to be part of a new government that has made a significant commitment to mental health and, in particular, to youth and Indigenous mental health. Too many young lives are lost prematurely, including my beautiful cousin Matthew at only 25 years of age. Words like 'widow' and 'orphan' describe our losses but no word in the English language describes the loss of a child. We should never give up hope to prevent these tragedies.

While mum kept my feet firmly on the ground, dad lifted my aspirations to follow in his footsteps as a doctor. Dad loved his patients and his patients loved him. I know, because they told me so, whether it was the nurses at my work experience at the Albury Base Hospital or when many of them unexpectedly turned up to the church for our wedding or at his funeral in Melbourne. When Dad developed Alzheimer's he knew what lay ahead. It was heartbreaking to watch as this gentle man who had cared for so many with this disease was himself tortured by it. But throughout his slow and unrelenting deterioration he never once complained. In the last year before his death he lost the faculty of speech, but he had two words left: 'thank you'. Dad's gratitude for the family and life he was given was boundless—and even Alzheimer's could not defeat it. He taught me that no matter what you are dealt there is always someone in greater need. And he lived by example. For both mum and dad, actions spoke louder than words.

It was only much later that I realised we were raised by Liberal values. In Albury a town where Menzies laid the foundations for the Liberal Party, years later my parents lay the foundations for our family. We were brought up to understand reward for effort, to have a strong belief in ourselves and in Australia, and that financial prudence is as important in the home as it is for the country.

I came to Higgins as a teenager and I've grown and changed with this vibrant inner-city electorate ever since. I'm not just for Higgins; I'm of Higgins, and it has shaped who I am. I remember when I first arrived in Melbourne. I felt so excited by the opportunities a big city could offer. I loved the hustle and the bustle, but most of all, as a self-conscious teenager, I loved the anonymity of the place. I felt that I could be who I wanted to be, not what was expected by others. But as I've grown older I've realised that Higgins is filled to the brim with interconnected and vibrant microcommunities; communities around culture, country of origin, sports, education, social support networks—too many to name—and, of course, the vibrant culture of food and fashion that stretches from Chapel Street to Chadstone. We are home to a thriving LGBTI community, and I'm proud to be a member of the first LBGTI branch in Victoria, Liberal Pride.

Higgins is home to the full social spectrum. Younger than most electorates, we have a high proportion of university students. They worry about finding jobs in an ever increasingly competitive market and the cost of renting. Many have given up on the Australian dream of owning a home. Aspiring families juggle bills and constant work-life pressures. They worry about caring for their ageing parents. They want a positive future for their kids. They want politicians to get on with the job of delivering for Australia so they can get on with the job of delivering for their families. I'm here to represent you all, but Higgins is not just aspirational for itself. We care about our sense of self as a country. We care about Australia's intergenerational responsibilities, international responsibilities and role in the global order.

Higgins is a proud of its previous members of parliament and its record of federal leadership. It was Harold Holt, the first member for Higgins, who dismantled the White Australia policy and rejected racism. It was Holt who successfully passed the 1967 referendum for our Indigenous people. It was John Gorton as member for Higgins who established the first Department of the Environment and moved to end the criminalisation of homosexuality. It was Peter Costello as member for Higgins who repaired the budget, introduced the GST and set up Australia for the 21st century. It was Kelly O'Dwyer as member for Higgins who proved that a working mother could sit at the cabinet table. She set us on the road to superannuation reform and improved productivity through increased female participation and a reduced gender pay gap. I pledge today: as member for Higgins, I will continue this proud Liberal record of achievement. Personal responsibility, individual opportunity unfettered by government, mutual obligation, reward for effort, lower taxes and higher incentives, free trade and, above all, strong economic management—these are the hallmarks of a strong Liberal government.

I bring to this place a lifetime of opportunity that I hope will serve my community and my country well. I've been a paediatrician at the Royal Children's Hospital, serving the families of Victoria in their times of need. I've helped them make some of the most difficult decisions of their lives, ones that can affect the future of their child profoundly. The decisions paediatricians make cascade through the lives of others. But, more than caring for people, I've always wanted to prevent problems, not just wait with the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for the problems to arrive. I want to send resources to the top of the cliff so that we can keep people healthy and safe from the precipice. As a result, I've now worked as a medical researcher for more than 25 years. It is no secret that Australia has produced some of the best medical research on the planet. Our unique blend of Aussie character, of seeking opportunity but being resourceful by making do with what we have, can be seen equally in the corridors of our research institutes and universities as in the outback of our sunburnt country. Like our farmers dealing with the unrelenting drought, our researchers are resilient because they've had to deal with constant setbacks. Despite 75 per cent of national medical research projects considered fundable, only 13 per cent actually receive grants. Who knows what loss of productivity results from these unfunded and untranslated ideas generated in our own backyard.

But for all the thrills of discovery and translation that research has provided, the biggest professional joy for me has been to enable others and their ideas, including as Population Health Theme Director at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. It's been an enormous privilege to be on the board of the only hospital in Higgins, Cabrini, and to serve as Chairman of Melbourne Girls Grammar, a school that my grandmother came to from Rutherglen 100 years ago in 1920, and which four generations of my family have attended. These roles taught me that building our human capital is the most important aspect of a good society. Empowering individuals through education and ensuring their health ensures our society itself is healthy and prosperous. More than that, the health of our institutions is central to the health of a good society.

That is why I have put my hand up for public office. The decisions we make in this place affect each and every one of us each and every day. I wish to contribute to the good and wise collective decision-making that is our parliament. I want to champion the ideas that will make a real difference to the lives of those I serve. I want to champion Australia and its place in the world. I am here as a sensible, practical voice with a passion to serve the people who have put their faith in me to represent them.

Being born in Australia is luck, but you also make your own luck. Australia makes its own luck through a stable democracy, strong institutions, a strong economy, responsibly utilising our resources—both natural and human—and maintaining productive friendships with our international neighbours; this is 'Brand Australia'. And these are the central tenets that will always exist no matter which political party is on this side of the chamber. How these are addressed is what marks a successful government.

Immigration is central to our economic prosperity. I want to ensure that those who seek a better life in our country are warmly welcomed and made at home, that they are given the same opportunities as all Australians to aspire to a better life.

Climate change is real and affects us all. There is now a major and inevitable transition occurring in our energy sector to a clean and sustainable energy future. It is not just an environmental imperative to act, it's an economic one. We need to be open to new possibilities to reduce emissions to hasten that future and use our Australian pragmatism to lead the world in sustainable energy. I believe that the Australian public is ready for a mature conversation on new technologies, such as hydrogen, and even alternative energy sources, such as nuclear, which will only move forward with bipartisan support.

As a scientist I will champion scientific solutions for the challenges we face. Science is a contest of ideas, just like politics, and in both cases we are the servants of the taxpayer. Disagreement is part of being a scientist, as it is for politics. As our Prime Minister is apt to say, we don't need to disagree less as a parliament, we just need to disagree better.

We do well when we think of others but, even more, we do better when we enable others. A robust education that provides resilient learners is the best way to create opportunity. Our education system needs to continue to respond to the increased challenges of the 21st century. Work is rapidly automating and digitalising; it is changing faster than ever. But learning doesn't stop when you finish school, or TAFE or university, and we need to support a system of continuous learning. As our third-highest export, our higher education system needs support and investment to capitalise on its excellence. I will fight to defend academic freedoms.

We should be ambitious for our healthcare system. It is one of the best in the world. It is a unique and effective blend of public and private, where the private sector provides innovation and the public sector provides a safety net for all. Technology enables improved access for patients remotely and we need to explore healthcare systems that are better decentralised and more efficient—not just in our regions but in our cities too.

As our population inevitably ages, so too will the burden of the lifestyle diseases of the 21st century: diabetes, obesity, asthma, allergies and heart disease. With an ageing population, costs will rise while the tax base to support those costs will narrow. Our healthcare dollar needs to work harder. Most importantly, we need to incentivise preventative healthcare solutions rather than costly reactive ones. We need a strong economy to deliver the new wonder drugs that our scientists are now delivering to us at lightning speed.

A strong country is one that is at peace with its past. We still have more to do ensure our First People have the same opportunities for a safe, healthy and prosperous life, but I believe constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is an important next step on that road to a stronger future for all Australians. My time in the Northern Territory looking at the high rates of mortality among newborns in our Indigenous population shocked me. It mirrored what I had seen in Kenya, yet here we are in Australia, a First World country.

I grew up through the Thatcher years, when we as women felt the glass ceiling of possibility was finally shattered. At school, we were told we could do anything but not the practicalities of how to do it if we wanted to juggle a family. As the oldest of Generation X, I know many of us have privately struggled with having it all, but we were also lucky the digital revolution helped us to forge the way on part-time, flexitime and working from home.

One of our greatest opportunities for increased economic growth and productivity lies in increasing the engagement of women in the workforce. This will be achieved by answering tough questions relating to child care and responsibilities. True equality starts in the home. Our children need more than child care; they need universal quality early-life education to give them the best start in life. To me, that's non-negotiable. My cousin Margaret Bondfield was the first female member of cabinet in the UK parliament almost 100 years ago. In those days, women like our party's co-founder Dame Elizabeth Couchman had to choose between public life and having a family. The legacy of these women is left to us to champion. Some women choose not to have a family. For others, the choice is made for them. We should never judge.

To the people of Higgins: I promise to serve you to the best of my ability. My intentions will always be honourable. Politics is the complex art of balancing the needs of many voices but just on a very big scale. I am deeply grateful to the Liberal Party, from the support of the parliamentarians and secretariat to the more than 800 volunteers that gave up their time to help hold Higgins. Thank you. Our opponents threw everything including the kitchen sink at us, and they expected to win. My campaign team was incredible. After campaigning for 19 months in Prahran at the Victorian state election with an unsuccessful outcome, every single one of them got behind me just a couple of months later to do it all in Higgins. If that's not resilience, I don't know what is.

It is here that I want to personally thank the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. The victory you delivered is one for the history books. Along with our party's deputy leader, my friend and electorate neighbour Josh Frydenberg, you have delivered a strong, united and stable leadership.

To my family and friends, so many of you here sharing this day with me: there are too many of you to thank individually, but thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for believing in me and for your wise counsel over that essential cup of tea—Melbourne breakfast, of course.

Mum always said that women marry their father. I used to scoff at such silliness, but after 30 years of an extraordinary partnership with my husband, Malcolm, I realise he has a lot in common with Dad. Both are gentlemen, thoughtful and considered, and deeply committed to family. But what attracted me most to you, Malcolm, is your ironclad sense of what is right and wrong. You are always someone who will choose what is right over what is popular. This is the core of who you are, and your wise counsel will be more valuable than ever in this next phase of my career.

But children are my greatest joy. How good are kids! As Enid Lyons said in her maiden speech as the first female MP in the Australian parliament, when people began to think less of large families, it became 'a matter of courage, even of hardihood, to have a family of more than two or three'. Certainly, Malcolm and I took the Howard-Costello baby bonus initiative a bit too literally: we had one to replace each of us, one for the country and even one for the Liberal Party! Kids—Monty, Jemima, Arabella, Archie—I am not going to publicly embarrass you by telling you how much I love you. Know that what I do in this place, I am doing for you and your generation, and for those who follow. I don't know how long I have in this place or, indeed, on this planet, but I've always stood up for a better future, and I'm not stopping now.

But my final thanks are to my mother. I didn't always have an easy relationship with my mum. She had a difficult childhood and she carried a lot of unresolved anger. She taught me grit and determination because, as she said, she came from good peasant stock—although our friends think she came from wine aristocracy, as the sister of the great Mick Morris, of six generations of Rutherglen winemaker fame. I know it was mum's deepest sadness she didn't get to meet any of her grandchildren. I'd always thought she was gone, but, as I've written this speech, I realise she's here now: beside me, guiding me. As my uncle Mick said when he rang me after the election: 'Your mum would be proud of you, Kate.' I thank the House for its indulgence.

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

Before I call the honourable member for Curtin, I remind honourable members that this is her first speech. I therefore ask that the usual courtesies be extended to her.

Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The House of Representatives begins each day with an acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the land and the opportunity to say a prayer. And so I start my first speech here today by acknowledging and paying my respects to the elders of the Ngunawal and Nambri peoples, who are the traditional custodians of the Canberra area; the Whadjuk Noongar people, who are the traditional custodians of the land I call home; and the Ballardong Noongar people, the traditional custodians of the land on which I was born. As a person of faith, I also start by giving thanks to God.

An Australian music icon of my generation once sang, 'I should be so lucky—lucky, lucky, lucky.' As a woman who was born in the late 1960s in the regional town of Northam in Western Australia to two hardworking and loving parents, the third of four girls, these words strongly resonate. I have been very lucky—lucky, lucky, lucky—fortunate and blessed. I was born into a family where love was unconditional. My parents encouraged each of their four girls to find their own passions in life, find their own strengths, find and develop their potential and live their own best lives while always being open to others and contributing to society. My parents, through their own initiative, discipline, hard work and love, created a home and a world for us which was beyond compare. And by their example, we learnt about hard work, reward for effort, and service to others. We were allowed to fail and to fall. We were given freedom, and we were given praise and rewarded when appropriate. But we were also held responsible, accountable and disciplined where appropriate. My three sisters and I owe our parents a huge debt of gratitude. And while neither my beautiful mum and dad nor my three incredibly talented sisters can be here today, I trust they know how much I love them. I know that my sisters will give me brutal feedback on what I say and do in this place both now and in the future. They will also continue to comment on my hair. Such are sisters!

I was born in a time and a place where we had material comfort. I had educational opportunities, which I encouraged to pursue. My race, my gender and my beliefs were no barrier to what I wanted to do or achieve. The only limitations were my own desires, my own skills and attributes, my own initiative and motivation. In later years, I found a career, a vocation, which combined my passions for law, teaching, service and management. I was privileged to work at a university, the University of Notre Dame Australia, for two decades and have many, many people who mentored and taught me all manner of things—from the governing boards, to staff and students. I was indeed very lucky to be surrounded by such people, and I owe a debt of gratitude to all. There are five who I want to acknowledge by name: Peter Tannock, Neville Owen, Peter Prendiville, the Hon. Chris Ellison and Peter Tranter.

I have also been lucky to find many friends, some going back to my early teen years and some of more recent origin. For those whom I've known the longest: we share many great memories, and we all know how lucky we are that social media didn't exist when we were growing up and that our memories are shared solely between us. And how lucky were we to grow up in the eighties? How good were the eighties—the best music, the best movies, the best fashion, and big hair or a mullet?

Of course, the greatest luck of my life was meeting the love of my life, Simon, more than two decades ago. Thank you. I would not be here today without you. I love you. Together we hit a jackpot of joy in having three wonderful sons: Sam, Josh and Tom. To quote a book: Katie didn't want to embarrass her family. I do. As a mother of three teenage sons, I frequently tell them one of the responsibilities of a mother and the greatest joy is to embarrass her teenage sons. It builds resilience, Katie. To quote a book that we frequently read when you were younger: I love you all to the moon and back. I also thank Simon's family, many of whom have quite different political views from my own, but we all share the wonderful, loving bond that is family.

I am lucky, again, to be living in one of the most beautiful places on earth, the electorate of Curtin, a place which I have called home for almost 80 per cent of my life, first moving into it at the age of 10. Curtin was created in 1949 and named after a magnificent Australian, our outstanding wartime Prime Minister John Curtin. There have been four previous members, all outstanding in their service to the people of Curtin, the state of Western Australia and the nation more generally: Sir Paul Hasluck, Sir Vic Garland, Mr Allan Rocher and the Hon. Julie Bishop. The Hon. Julie Bishop served with distinction in this place, including as the first female deputy leader of the federal parliamentary Liberal Party for over 11 years and as the first female foreign minister for Australia.

The area of Curtin is 98 square kilometres, bounded to the west by the Indian Ocean and the best beaches in the world—Cottesloe, Northcott, Swanny, City Beach, Floreat and Scarborough—to the south and south-east by the magnificent Swan River, and to the east and north by roads which are critical parts of the Perth transport network. Our part of the world is rightly known for its natural beauty: leafy green suburbs, vast tracts of natural bushland, some spectacular lakes, and beautiful natural flora and fauna.

The 140,000 people who live in Curtin belong to over 36,000 families. Families in all their shapes and sizes are the lifeblood of Curtin. We have 54 schools, one university and a number of vocational training providers. Twenty-nine thousand children are in school, and more than a third of our population attend an educational institution. We have 11 hospitals—a mix of private and public, serving the people of Perth and beyond—some incredible health research institutions and 40 aged-care facilities. We are home to the SAS at the Campbell Barracks in Swanbourne and to the Irwin Barracks in Karrakatta. I pay tribute to the members of the SAS, the reserves and, indeed, all Defence Force men and women, past and present, for the service they have given and continue to give to our country. I also say a big thank you to all of their families.

Curtin is home to the Royal Agricultural Society of WA, surf lifesaving clubs and every possible sporting club you could want. We also have some great sporting facilities which service the whole state. We are the home of a number of wonderful volunteer and philanthropic organisations, including a dogs home and a cats home, of environmental organisations and of great arts and culture, including the wonderful annual Sculpture by the Sea. Lest you get completely the wrong impression about Curtin, we also have one of the largest wastewater facilities in Perth servicing far beyond the boundaries of the electorate. We have one of the highest levels of employment in the country. Over six per cent of people in Curtin work in hospitals and over five per cent in education, and, for better or worse, we have more than the average for lawyers. There are 26,000 small and medium businesses operating in Curtin, employing thousands of people from across the wider Perth region. Curtin is home to hardworking people: retirees, families and business owners. There are those who are financially well off and those who are struggling, but all are people who care about each other. They are people who care about our environment, our arts and culture, our health and our world. They are generous, open-hearted and philanthropic people. I am humbled and privileged to represent and serve all of the approximately 140,000 people who live in Curtin. I shall at all times seek to fulfil the trust and responsibility which they have placed in me.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all those who helped me to be in this position today: the Curtin campaign committee, chaired by the Hon. Peter Collier MLC, with Curtin division president Tim Walton, Daniel White, Jon Betjeman, Anne-Marie Patrick, Cody Hudson, Adele Coyne, Julie Lloyd, Stefan Deselys-Claite, Melanie Lynn, Peter Moore, Shannon Coyne, Damian Collins, Roz Baker, Patrica and Murray Turner, and Phil Patterson; our Liberal Party state office, president Fay Duda, state director Sam Calabrese and Louis Meyer; and all of the Young Liberals. I also thank the Hon. Chris Ellison, Senator Mathias Cormann and other state and federal members of parliament present and former, including former Premier of Western Australia the Hon. Colin Barnett and former Prime Minister the Hon. John Howard. I also thank all members of the Curtin division of the Liberal Party.

To the donors and hundreds of volunteers who did mailbox deliveries, worked at pre-polling, handed out how-to-vote cards, worked on election booths, made cakes and sent nice notes: I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I would like to note with special thanks my regular doorknocking buddies—Angela, Pauline, Dylan, Cody, Matt and Sam—and all of my old friends for keeping it real—Helen, Elena, Mel, Bree, Susan and Rommie. To the Prime Minister: thank you for your leadership. Your authenticity, realness and humility are clear and inspirational. You even convinced my mum, and she can spot a phoney a mile off!

Australia is a wonderful country. But, as wonderful as it is, I recognise that the luck which has been mine is not the same for everyone. I have a beautiful family and the bestest of friends. I have had opportunities, and I have had the encouragement, love and support to pursue those opportunities. That is what I want for all Australians. I want Australian families to be supported so that they in turn can provide the support and love which individuals need to flourish. I want all Australians to have equality of opportunity and strong encouragement and support, so that everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential as individuals, to make their own decisions about life and to take personal responsibility for their lives so that they can lead their best lives and contribute to the communities in which they live, and to society more generally. To do this, I believe that we need to ensure that our wonderful country has a strong and robust economy, has the essential services people rely on and need and continues to uphold, promote and embed our core liberal and democratic values of human dignity, individual freedom and equality. These are the core values of the political party to which I belong, and it is for this reason that I stand in this place as a proud member and representative of the Liberal Party.

I am proud to be part of a government which promotes policy positions supporting free enterprise and which understands and emphasises the importance of a strong and robust economy. I am proud to be part of a government which is committed to doing this through keeping taxes low, creating the right environment for job creation and ensuring our employment settings and frameworks are balanced so that the interests of both employees and employers are protected. I'm proud that our government is backing small and medium businesses, and that we are keeping expensive, frequently repetitive and ineffective red tape to a minimum, pursuing trade agreements with other countries and boosting our exports, and ensuring that we, as a government, spend within our means—that we spend wisely, efficiently and productively. I will advocate for and support all of these and other initiatives which strengthen our economy.

But I would emphasise that our pursuit of a strong and robust economy is not done as a standalone goal for its own sake. The economy is not our master and we mere blind servants to it. The economy must always serve us. We pursue and emphasise a strong economy because it is a necessary foundation for us to live our lives to their optimum: for us to flourish individually, to thrive collectively as a nation and to contribute to the wellbeing of the global community.

A strong economy is both dependent upon and ensures that our country has all of the essential services and ingredients which are vital to our individual and national wellbeing. We need educated, skilled, healthy people; we need quality infrastructure; we need social services to help those in need; and we need a secure, protected and safe country so that we can deliver a strong economy. But we also need a strong economy to deliver these. They are intertwined. Some of these are deliverable by the government, some are best served through an efficient private sector and some by a combination of both.

Of these essential services ingredients I will mention only a few about which I am deeply passionate. The first of these is education. We must ensure that we have excellent educational and training opportunities for all and that there is a diversity of offerings and opportunities and real choice, from early education through to postgraduate education. Our schools and all those who work in them are one of our country's most valuable assets, and we recognise that we need to continue to support them so that they, in turn, can do the best by our children. Our educational offerings must be properly balanced. We need to teach skills—basic skills, life skills and work skills. We need to prepare people for the changing world. But we also need to impart knowledge. It is true that nearly any piece of information you want can be found on the internet, but this is information; it is not knowledge. And mere access to information does not guarantee wisdom.

Part and parcel of our responsibility to provide excellence in education is a need for us to continue to invest in, encourage and value research and entrepreneurship. We must continue to emphasise and build the links between research and industry and ensure that our research is directed towards the betterment of our society at large, because good, strong and ethically responsible research should underpin the decisions we make, individually and collectively.

We must ensure that our health services, public and private, are supported so that all Australians can access timely and excellent health care. We have rising demands and needs—and our government has rightly recognised the criticality of them—particularly in areas of mental health, palliative care, chronic pain and dementia. Like many here in this House and many across Australia, I have had personal experience with all of the above areas of need; I know how they impact on those suffering and also on their families and loved ones. The measure of a good country is how well it provides for those who are ill or are in need, and I am proud that we in government are giving the necessary attention to these areas.

We must ensure that we have appropriate and resourced social services so that we can support and help those who need it. Our social services and support systems must uphold the dignity of each person and their individual needs and to do so they must, to the greatest possible extent, facilitate and enable self-sufficiency and individual autonomy. In this regard, I note this government's commitment to ensuring that the NDIS actually works for the recipients and is tailored to their individual needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

I also note our rising needs in aged care. It is the very circle of life that the very people who raised us, loved us and supported us in turn need to be loved, respected and supported by us as they age. Again, I am proud to be part of a government that understands this and is actively taking steps to ensure that we take proper care of those who cared for us to enable them to live the twilight of their years with dignity.

We must ensure that we continue on our path to closing the gap between our Indigenous peoples and the broader Australian community. Symbolic steps without effective action are ultimately pointless and potentially do more harm than good, but symbolic steps can give momentum and effect to concrete actions and initiatives. To that end, I will be fully supporting the efforts towards constitutional recognition of our Indigenous peoples and exploring new ways of working together to ensure that the concrete actions and initiatives which are delivered actually work.

We must be responsible stewards of our natural world. We must protect and preserve the environment in which we live, and we should do this individually and collectively through evidence based and effective steps. We live in a beautiful country; let's make sure it remains so, so that our children and their children's children can say the same things—boys, you're too young yet!

We must ensure that there is rightful support and encouragement for the arts and culture in our country. I have not a creative streak in my body, and there are many works of art which I don't get or, truth be told, don't like. However, I strongly believe that while a work of art might not save your life in the way that good healthcare can and while it might not make your trip to work any quicker or easier than a good road system can, we need the arts to challenge us, to entertain us and to help us to look at the world in different ways.

For Australia to have a strong economy and essential services, it is imperative that we continue to uphold, promote and embed our core Liberal and democratic values including the innate dignity of every individual, of individual freedom, rights and responsibilities and of equality.

There is evidence of a rising lack of understanding of and confidence in democracy and free enterprise both here in Australia and in other parts of the world. Our form of government is not perfect. No government can do everything. It cannot fund everything. Choices need to be made. I also readily acknowledge that free enterprise and market forces cannot do everything. But I nonetheless firmly believe that democracy is the best form of political system and that free enterprise, a strong federalism and small government are key for our country to continue to flourish, just as they have proven to be in the past.

There is evidence of an increasing lack of trust in our institutions, not only government but also public service, banks, religious institutions, the media and universities. Much of this is understandable. These institutions have never been and will never be perfect, and some actions carried out by these institutions, or those associated with them, have been unconscionable and despicable. Such institutions need to be held accountable and we need to have appropriate legislation and regulation to ensure that they are held to account and that the same things are not repeated. But let us resist being lured into the false belief that regulation or legislation will, or even can, fix everything. We need to be circumspect and considered in our responses and we need to resist overzealous legislative reactions. There is always the danger of unintended and uncontemplated consequences, some of which can have long-term and wideranging negative repercussions.

Finally, there are also signs that we are becoming increasingly intolerant of the views and opinions of others, of extreme polarisation, of excessive individualism, of blame, of victimhood and of division. We all want our own individual freedoms and we want to exercise our own rights but we're not so happy when others do it in ways which differ from us. Instead of arguing the point there is an increasing tendency to attack the person—to label them and to seek to shut down the discussion. It has always been a vital part of our country that we have a diversity of opinions and views, and part of the success of our country has been that these different views and opinions have been able to be expressed and debated freely and robustly. What's more, in many cases the differing views and opinions and robust debates have led to what I would call sensible and pragmatic compromises, compromises which have been accepted by the majority and compromises which have worked.

To make sure that we continue to do this we must hold fast to our key values: the inherent dignity of every individual and our individual freedom. But we must also recognise that none of our individual freedoms or rights are completely unfettered. We owe responsibilities to ourselves, to each other and to society more generally. We must balance our freedoms and rights with our responsibilities, and while there is a very important role for the government to play in ensuring that the right balance is struck there is also a big role to play for the individual. We, as individuals living in society, must take personal responsibility for how we live, how we act, how we react and how we respond. The golden rule, present in many religions and cultures—treat others as you would like to be treated—is one worth remembering at all times.

We live in a wonderful country, and I'm a proud Australian—and an even prouder Western Australian—who is privileged and humbled to represent the people of Curtin in this 46th Parliament. I shall at all times strive to live up to the trust and responsibility which has been placed in me. We face some challenges, but it's not the first time we've faced challenges, and nor will it be the last. In the maiden speech of the first member for this seat, Sir Paul Hasluck, he referred to the:

… troublous times in the half century that lies ahead …

Likewise, the Hon. Julie Bishop stated in 1998:

We are experiencing a revolutionary societal change in time, space and power.

The exact type of challenges we face may be different, but it would be the height of conceit to think that we have never faced challenges before.

We can, and we do, rise. We learn, we adapt and we make change when change is required in the best interests and for the common good. Let us remember our resilience, our can-do, our fair go, our compassion and our humour. Let us embrace and encourage our individualism and celebrate our diversity, but at all times remember our shared humanity. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Debate adjourned.

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I'd just like to congratulate the member for Curtin for her election to the seat of Curtin and also for her excellent first speech. I'd also like to acknowledge her husband, Simon; and her sons, Josh, Sam and Tom, and their uncles Matthew King and Jamie King—my husband. I can only acknowledge the great support both Celia and I have had from the wonderful King family in Western Australia. I thank the House. Thank you for the indulgence.