Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thirty-four years ago, in 1977, I decided to join the Liberal Party. I did so because of the party's strong commitment to free enterprise, the family, individual liberty and community responsibility. As a mother of five children, at the time aged between 10 and one, living and working on a rural property outside Heywood in western Victoria, these were important values. I knew also that the Liberal Party, with its proud traditions of repre­senting rural electorates throughout Australia and providing equal representation for women at every level of the party organisa­tion, would be a welcoming place for a person with my background and interests. I was also a great admirer of my local member in the electorate of Wannon the Rt Hon. Malcolm Fraser, who was at the time Australia's Prime Minister.

I could not have imagined that the Liberal Party would provide me with the opportunity to rise rapidly through its organisational ranks, reaching the posts of state vice-president and chairman of the State Strategy Committee, and then represent Victoria as a Liberal senator for 18 years, along with my distinguished colleague Senator Minchin and also with Senator Ferguson.

I consider myself to be a liberal in all senses of that word: a so-called capital-L Liberal, who has been a proud and committed member of the party for more than three decades, and also what is often described as a small-l liberal—a person who believes strongly in individual freedom and the importance of tolerance, decency and integrity as cornerstone values of our society.

Members of the Liberal parliamentary party, unlike those in some other parties, have always had the right to differ from other members of the party on matters of principle and conscience. This important individual freedom has been enshrined in the Liberal Party and its non-Labor predecessors since the days of Alfred Deakin, Robert Menzies and other great prime ministers. I am delighted to recognise today Mr Russell Broadbent and Mrs Judi Moylan, who I know also believe strongly in that tradition, and I am delighted to see the Hon. Warren Truss, my former senior minister in the portfolio of Agriculture.

I have made full use of the opportunity provided to me as a federal parliamentarian and senator to take a stand on certain human rights issues and to help ensure that Australia's treatment of refugees has been respon­sible, compassionate and in accord­ance with the rule of law and our international obligations.

In an earlier era it was a Liberal-National coalition government which was responsible for Australia's generous and compassionate accommodation of Vietnamese refugees arriving in Australia, just as the Menzies government had done for refugees escaping the devastation of Europe in the 1950s.

Today, unfortunately, it seems that every possible barrier is put in the way of asylum seekers and refugees who come to Australia seeking protection from persecution. They also seek the fulfilment of their fundamental human rights and ultimately a better quality of life in a free and democratic society.

As a Liberal senator I have on occasions exercised my right to vote on matters of conscience and principle about which I feel strongly. The right of Liberal MPs must never be taken lightly or abused, but it is a right which must remain firmly entrenched and protected within the party. Australians expect discipline from their parliamen­tarians—disunity is death—but they also want their elected representatives to stand up and be counted when they believe it is right to do so. I consider that I have fulfilled that expectation.

Thirty-four years after becoming a member of the Liberal Party, I know that my decision to join was right. Everything I have experienced during my long and rewarding political career has reinforced my belief that it is only the Liberal Party, with its com­mitment to the values I have mentioned, that pursues policies which meet the needs of every Australian from every background and with every aspiration.

At the same time, my 18 years here have convinced me that Australia is very fortunate to have the hard-working and dedicated members of this parliament who, regardless of their political party or persuasion, are committed to represent their constituencies in the most effective way possible. It is of deep concern that it remains fashionable to deride politics and to deride politicians and for the coverage of political trivia to frequently interest the media more than matters of substance and real importance.

I am particularly fortunate that my time in the Senate has provided me with the opportunity to pursue and further develop my interest in regional and rural affairs, the status of women, and education and training. In 1997 Prime Minister John Howard appointed me as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Primary Industry and Resources, and then in 1998 and again in 2001 as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I was the first woman appointed to executive office in this portfolio and, apart from a brief stint by Sir William McMahon in the 1950s, the first Liberal appointed to this role, which has traditionally been a National Party appointment.

Working with ministers John Anderson, Mark Vaile and particularly Warren Truss during my seven years as parliamentary secretary was a particularly rewarding and enjoyable part of my parliamentary career as we sought to position Australia at the front of global agricultural development. Australia may no longer ride on the sheep's back, but our wool, grain and horticulture are highly priced and valuable—highly prized, I should say; I wish it was always going to be high prices! They are highly prized and valuable exports and among the best in the world.

After living on a farm in south-west Victoria for many years before becoming a senator, I needed no introduction to agriculture. And during my many trips to rural Australia I came to appreciate even more our farmers' traditional qualities of resilience and true grit and, more importantly, their willingness to adapt to new technologies and to perform to world's best practice.

In addition, I was privileged to work with outstanding secretaries of the department in Mr Ken Matthews and Mr Mike Taylor, both of whom have now retired from the Commonwealth Public Service, and in the deputy secretary's position with Mr Don Banfield and Mr Cliff Samson and with many senior officers of the department, who were outstanding in their application and dedication.

My particular portfolio responsibilities included rural women, horticulture and especially research and development. Up until the late 1990s the governance of the research and development corporations in the horticultural sector was strictly regulated by act of parliament, with the sector divided into two arms: research and development, and marketing. Our aim was to bring these two complementary but separate arms together to form one corporation which was better able to meet the needs of the sector. There are a diverse group of small and large industries in horticulture and there are many and varied products. Each industry naturally wanted to make sure that their interests would always be part of the new plan.

The merger took more than two years to achieve, with daily painstaking attention to detail, but the results have been very worth while. Horticulture Australia Ltd, the new body, is now an industry owned corporation with an annual budget of $101.4 million. Research and development accounts for $71.9 million, with the Australian government matching funds, and marketing absorbs $14.8 million. I sincerely hope that there will be no cutback in Australian government research and development contributions as this part of the industry continually requires new research and development projects to ensure continued excellence in Australian horticulture.

One aspect of the Senate I have most enjoyed is the work of committees. My first experience of this was a complete baptism of fire. I have to say after Senator Forshaw's remarks yesterday about the Scrutiny of Bills Committee that my experience was a total contrast to his. Given I was not a lawyer and I was a new senator, my learning curve was very steep. But, through hard work and helpful coaching by the then secretary of the committee, I did not commit any glaring errors and learnt a lot along the way. I commend the Scrutiny of Bills Committee to any senator who wants to know more about some of the ways in which legislation can be scrutinised. I was reappointed to that committee after the 2007 election and I have thoroughly enjoyed my work on it. I have also been Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee and Chair of the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee.

Senate committee work is extremely important for the functioning of the parliament as it enables this chamber to scrutinise legislation in detail. Nowhere was this more important than in the run-up to the 2007 election as the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Legis­lation Committee scrutinised the govern­ment's Work Choices legislation, a journey I am sure Senator Marshall will never forget. Those laws were groundbreaking in the formation of industrial relations as we now know it and very necessary for productivity gains in the workplace. They were also extremely controversial. As a former teacher, the education and research elements of the committee's work were also of particular interest.

I have also been a member and more recently deputy chair of the oldest committee in the parliament: the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, which scrutinises all government expenditure on public works over $15 million. This is a joint committee. We have undertaken committee tours of inspection in almost every state. We have achieved some notable successes, including the redevelopment of the Maribyrnong detention centre in Victoria in 2005-06, and the insistence by successive chairs of the committee that departments brief us thoroughly so we can fulfil our brief of scrutiny of public works.

Committee work has also provided a valuable opportunity to get to know other senators and members outside the confines of the chamber, where our behaviour and words can sometimes lead to a less than flattering assessment of our character. I thank all senators for their work on these committees. I particularly thank all Senate committee secretaries and staff for their heroic efforts in maintaining functional and effective committees at all times.

We live in the best country in the world and, difficult though our personal circumstances may be at times, nothing in Australia, except for some Indigenous living conditions, can compare with the low education rates, the high incidence of maternal and child mortality and exclusion from economic gains suffered by many of our near neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region. For this reason I became a member of the cross-party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development and worked with senators and members from other parties to persuade ministers to affect such changes as the AusAID extension of family planning guidelines in the Pacific countries to our north-east and also to provide additional support to hardworking aid agencies.

I was also very pleased to join the cross-party group of Senator Nash, Senator Moore and former Democrat senator Lyn Allison who together brought about change in 2006 with the transfer of approval for the abortion drug RU486 from the minister for health to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. I have also worked with Senator Ludlam on bringing in a private member's bill about the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, which I sincerely hope helped prod the government to take some action on this. I see they have appointed such an officer recently. The opportunity for cross-party initiatives will always be limited, but the fact that the RU486 legislation took place as a private member's bill sponsored by four senators from different parties will I hope inspire other senators to undertake similar initiatives in the future. Political philosophies may divide us but surely the opportunity to bring about real change in important policy areas will unite us.

Rural women are the backbone of our rural and regional communities. Thirty-two per cent of women working on farms describe themselves as farm managers and yet some 10 to 12 years ago these women rarely featured in public identifications, such as agriculture advertisements, and very few were members of national or regional boards or involved in commodity boards. During the 1990s the ABC started the Rural Woman of the Year program, which brought state winners to Canberra and the National Woman of the Year was chosen and awarded a prize. Given that rural women were part of our agricultural portfolio I did think that this good program could be made much better. I decided that if rural women were to make their way in the world, and I include in those numbers women living in regional and rural communities, in large and small towns, we needed to revamp this competition.

I was successful in gaining sponsorship from the Australian Women's Weekly, and I will never forget the support provided by Deborah Thomas, the then editor. I was quaking as I walked into her office in Sydney to ask for program support and she could not have been nicer or more forthcoming and has stood by it ever since. That sponsorship has continued to this day.

Under the program that I set up not only did we have the state winners but I persuaded each of the research and development corporations to choose a woman that they felt represented their industry very well, and these women together with the state winners came to Canberra. All of those women from both programs undertook an Australian Institute of Company Directors course and had to pass an exam. Each of them had received a bursary for use in their industry. They would have the cash prize from the bursary and a qualification from the AICD and then would be mentored through their industry for the next 12 months. That has been running for 10 years now and a number of these talented women have served on research and development boards, and some are running their own businesses. I would like to think that that training has assisted them.

I would particularly like to thank the former heads of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation: Dr Simon Hearn, Dr Peter O'Brien, the present director, Mr Craig Burns, and particularly Edwina Clowes from RIRDC. They have all been instrumental in seeing that the program continues.

There should also of course be much stronger representation of women in parliament. Numerically, we are half the population and yet we still struggle to have women comprise more than 30 per cent of our federal members of parliament. Women may be put off politics as a career by the daily hostilities in question time, but I do ask those who are considering it to have a go. I did, and I regard the last 18 years as some of the most exhilarating, rewarding and exciting times of my life. We need more identification and mentoring of interested women. I have spoken in the past about a quota system, and I still believe the Liberal Party needs some sort of jump-start to achieve a critical mass of women parlia­mentarians. Women need not be in parliament to represent women's views, but the composition of the parliament should reflect the numbers in society, and at present it does not.

I am very proud to have been a senator for Victoria. In my view, Victoria leads the rest of Australia in its liveability, its diversity of manufacturing and industry and its culture. I am delighted with the election of the Baillieu government in Victoria. I am heartened that the government has begun in earnest to deliver on and implement all of its policy commitments given at the election, and I am confident of a prosperous and progressive future for Victoria.

I have been very fortunate with the staff members who have worked for me. From the early days in Broadmeadows at the railway station to the melting pot of St Kilda and then on to the CBD, everyone has contributed to make our office a happy and efficient workplace. To my staff who are with me here today—both past and present—I extend thanks and good wishes. They are Sue, Meri, Mary and Paolo, and I would also like to note the presence of Jennifer, who is Russell Broadbent's staff member and who has always been a particular help to me. Thank you, Jennifer. To my great friend Mr Ian Robertson I owe a great deal for his constant wise counsel and sensible advice. To the staff of the Senate—and I think I can see some of the members of the Public Works Committee sitting up there, thank you very much—other parliamentary staff, and all the Comcar drivers, many thanks for having made my task easier.

Thank you to my family, none of whom could be here today because of family commitments, but I assure them we will have gala celebrations in Melbourne as I finish my Senate term. Thank you to you all: my children, their partners and my grandchildren for tolerating a sometimes obsessed mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother, but the opportunity to be in government for 11½ years and to be in a national parliament has been one of the most satisfying achievements of my life. And so my work in the Senate comes to an end, but not, I hope, my dedication to the causes about which I have spoken.

I would like to end with these words from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

What is Success?

To laugh often and much.

To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children.

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends.

To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others.

To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch

or a redeemed social condition.

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.