Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sport) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that interjection. I was incredibly lucky to serve in that role for 18 months. I do not think I need to explain to anyone in this chamber, anyone in the audience or anyone who is listening how important sport is to us as Australians and to our culture. But I do not think Australians really understand the power of sport. We love watching it but we do not understand the power of it. Sport has the power to transform lives and, right across the country, in small towns and big cities, I have seen sport inspire young people, old people, people with a disability and people from every imaginable background and circumstance to do things they thought were never possible. I just need to look at my own life to understand the power of sport. If you do not believe me—if you think I am gilding the lily—speak to someone like Kurt Fearnley, one of Australia's best and greatest athletes, about the power of sport to help young kids with a disability. Sport changes lives. So much of the values you learn through sport, like resilience, friendship and self-confidence, are lifelong values we need to teach all our kids.

A fundamental goal that has underpinned everything I have tried to do as minister for sport is the desire to get more kids enjoying the benefits of sport—getting kids off the couch, away from their PlayStation and onto the playing fields. The best way—the only way—to do this, is to make sure that sport is part of our national curriculum. We must introduce sport into the national curriculum for students. We must give them the opportunity to play sport. Dropouts in participation always start because young kids do not pick up the core fundamental sports skills when they are in primary school or when they are in the early years of high school. Since I have been the minister I have been advocating for sport in schools, and I will continue to do that outside of this parliament.

I have also been an unapologetic supporter of elite sports. Elite sport creates great role models and provides inspiration to Australians young and old. There is no doubt in my mind of the inseparable connection between Australians being on the podium and young Australians participating in sport. I think we have laid the foundation for Australia to continue our incredible achievements at the high performance level. Through the Green and Gold project, the joint initiative between the Australian Institute of Sport, the Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Paralympic Committee, with the cooperation of the government, sports funding has never been greater. I believe we are now well placed going into London, and I would say to all of our athletes who are heading over there to compete generally: 'Best of luck; every Australian is immensely proud of you and I honestly believe we will have a great games—sorry I could not join you.'

I have also made preserving the integrity of sport a priority during my time as minister. In particular, I believe the next great challenge we face in sport is match fixing. Match fixing and any type of cheating in sport erodes people's confidence in sport. It strikes at the heart of sport. It is one issue where we simply cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. However, just as Australia helped lead the way in the fight against doping in the eighties and nineties, we are again leading the way when it comes to combating match fixing. The Commonwealth has reached agreement with all states and territories to develop nationally consistent criminal laws to ensure that anyone who engages in match fixing is punished. This is a great achievement. It took a great deal of work. I thank all my state sports minister colleagues and all their departments for the effort they have put in place.

But we need to go much further. Sport is international, gambling is international and corruption is international. While it is important that governments, sporting organisations and betting agencies take a stand domestically, at the same time there is an imperative that there is a framework for cooperation internationally. We need an international body similar to WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, that can deal with match fixing, and I will be doing everything possible to urge the government and sporting bodies to achieve that goal.

Finally, I would encourage every senator in this place and all sides of politics not to relegate sport to the backbench. When a sports minister in the future goes to the ERC and sees Penny Wong—or Senator Bernardi on the other side, when eventually he is the sports minister, probably two decades from now—please understand the power of sport and the social benefits that come from it. I have many thankyous, but I start by thanking a group which is extremely important to me, and that is the rank-and-file members of the great Labor Party of New South Wales and the great Labor Party of Australia. These are the people who really go out of their way to help a party they love do so well at every election. They are always out at the polling booths, even when they know in some seats there is no chance of winning. Their dedication is stunning. But it is not just about the machinery of politics—the pamphlets, the postering; it is also about policy. When I was an organiser and party secretary one of my favourite party members was a man named Brian Driscoll. Brian recently passed away. He was from Lockhart, and the Lockhart branch and was an amazing stalwart for the party in Tiger territory, but the one thing I remember most about Brian is that, in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympic Games, there was a change in the way pub licences were issued in New South Wales. Country pubs were losing their licences to the city to make sure the Olympics had enough pubs and drinking places for people. Brian Driscoll took the issue to the party conference. He took the issue to parliament. He took a stand on the issue. He convinced Country Labor members to change the policy, and that is where community pub licences came from. One man, one party member in his late 60s, changed the policy that affected millions of New South Welshman and allowed them to go to their local pub. That is the power of the ALP rank and file. I pay tribute to Brian. I pay tribute to all those party members.

There is never a perfect time to leave politics. All of us have an inner political clock and our political lives do come to an end, often earlier than we anticipate. It is incredibly hard leaving behind a young family to travel so often as a minister and a senator. I have to say that the real test for me was leaving home every Sunday night. I did not want to leave the house; I did not want to get into the car; it was a big test. I think many Australians think that politicians do very little other than go to Canberra to abuse each other. While it is one of the most satisfying careers, all of us in here know the toll it takes on our families and, as a consequence, our personal happiness. My first speech in here reflected a degree of intuitive foresight, I think. I said in my first speech almost four years ago:

The birth of my children has been the most profound and defining moment of my life. I am proud in the knowledge that my greatest achievement now and in the future will always be the development and care of my daughters.

…   …   …

… what is required is a new definition of success, one that champions the balance of home and work life, because there is no benefit in forging a stellar career if it is at the expense of your children.

When I was promoted to Assistant Treasurer in December, my six-year-old daughter cried. She understood it was going to mean more time away from home. For me, that was a very, very important moment. When I announced my resignation as a minister and a senator I received a huge amount of personal support from friends and colleagues in this chamber but also in the other place. Family is everything, and I think everyone in this chamber understands that. Everyone in this chamber makes sacrifices every day and I hope all Australians understand the sacrifices made by senators and members of the House of Representatives.

I have so many thankyous. I am eternally grateful to the people of New South Wales, who elected me, and I believe I have kept true to my commitments to them and worked for their benefit. I will miss so many people in this place on all sides of the chamber. Today I might start with the Liberals and Nationals. Amazingly, I have a great number of friends on the other side of the chamber. Sometimes I felt I had more friends on that side that on this side. It was probably true! I pay tribute to Senator Williams. Senator, we have worked closely together on a number of different issues in your area. You are an absolutely outstanding senator for the people of north-west New South Wales and I pay tribute to the work you have done. I enjoyed meeting you and I enjoyed your friendship. Thank you. You have a friend in me for life.

I say to Senator Fifield: we started out together on Sky News many years ago. I actually returned to that studio the other morning. It brought back some good memories. I say to you: thank you for your friendship and good luck in the future. Senator Mason, Senator Payne, Senator Cormann, Senator Cash and Senator Kroger and I started the Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse and Neglect group, and I know your commitment to that cause. It is something that I am totally committed to as well, so thank you for your friendship and support too. Thank you to all the Liberal Party and National Party senators for all the work you do. We disagree on many things and on policy we really disagree, but I understand your commitment. I know you are doing what you believe is in the best interests of the country.

It has been a pleasure working with some of my friends in the Independents. I say to Senator Xenophon in particular: I have really enjoyed working with you. I cannot believe that anyone would have the work rate that you have, especially in a Senate where you held the balance of power. I pay tribute to you and your staff for the work that you have done and I know your heart is in the right place as well. Senator Fielding is not here, but I would say that, similarly, Senator Fielding is also a friend of mine. He was a great football player. His heart was in the right place and he worked very hard for the people of Victoria, so I pay tribute to him as well.

I also have a great deal of respect and time for Senator Bob Brown. While I, again, disagree with many of the policies of the Greens—we come from different parts of progressive politics—I have a great deal of time for the dedication of Senator Brown and a great deal of time for the dedication of all Greens senators. I know how much work you put in and I know the effort you make, particularly Senator Siewert, whom I have worked with closely on Indigenous issues and in the community affairs committee.

I say to my staff, who are in the chamber now: I am so lucky to have had such a wonderful stuff. The hardest thing about leaving and the thing that made me most emotional was having to tell my staff that I was leaving. I say to them that I know they will all go on to bigger and better things because they are one of the most talented groups of people I have worked with. Thank you for the work you have put in. Thank you for the time you have put in and the countless hours. I think staff are sometimes undervalued. That is something I never did and I hope no senator will ever take their staff for granted. I thank my chief of staff Alison Hill, my former chief of staff Bridget Whelan, Sharon Carney, Leo Damis, Katie Ford, David Latham, Audrey Maag, Josh McIntosh, Anda Mednis, Clare Nairn, Sean Sammon, David Sykes, Bryce Wilson, Peter Bentley, Andrew Downes, Glenn McCrea, Julie Sibraa, Elena Forato, Kerrie Hall and Frank Lowah. I also thank all the departments I have worked with. People forget the great work of all the departments and the Public Service and their dedication. I have already put on record those names, but I really do appreciate the support I have received from the Australian Public Service. Their dedication should never be undervalued or underestimated in this place.

I have worked with some amazing stakeholders: Andrew Forrest; John Coates, who is my good friend, and the team of the AOC; Greg Hartung from the Australian Paralympic Committee; Malcolm Speed; and all the other CEOs and sporting administrators. To the AIS and the Australian Sports Commission: there is no better sporting group or body in the world than the AIS and ASC, and we are world renowned for those organisations.

To my friends and stakeholders—in the homelessness area, Tony Nicholson and Narelle Clay; in the Indigenous area, Andrew Penfold and Natalie Walker; the team at AIMSC, Michael McLeod and Smiley Johnstone; Leah Armstrong from Reconciliation Australia; Danny Lester and Dick Estens from the AES; and Jack Manning Bancroft—thank you all for your honest advice and for working with me on policies that help Australians. A special thankyou to my very good friend, Warwick Smith, for being the chair of the Australian Sports Commission. He has been an outstanding chair of that commission and has done a huge amount in governance and turning that institution around. When we get a very, very good result in London, a lot of the credit can go to Warwick.

While I have been the Manager of Government Business in the Senate for a short time, I am eternally grateful for the skilful assistance of the Clerk Rosemary Laing and the staff of the Senate, Maureen, Angie and Josh, in particular. They are an invaluable resource for the chamber. I also thank, of course, all the staff of the Senate and all the staff of the parliament, particularly my friends from Security who I regularly catch up with and talk to.

My thanks also go to the Senate PLO, John Paraskevopoulos. His assistance in getting government legislation through the chamber has been appreciated. I thank my colleague Senator Evans for all his great advice and wisdom. I thank the whip Senator McEwen and her staff for keeping the government on track in this place. To my own parliamentary colleagues, thank you for your friendship and for working with me first as a senator and then as a minister. I have many friends on this side and you will always be my friends, in particular to Senator Sterle, my alter ego Senator Conroy and of course Senator Kate Lundy; thank you for your deep friendship. Of course, Senator Thistlethwaite I have worked with in the past.

Finally, and most importantly, my thanks goes to my family—to my wife, Kelli, to my daughters, Alexandra and Charlotte—for their love, for their support, for their patience when I am away from home, and for their patience when I am at home. I said in my first speech:

If you asked me what would be the guiding principles for my time in this chamber, the answer is simple. As a senator, my children and the welfare of all our children would be my compass.

I can say today with confidence that I have fulfilled that commitment. Thank you.