Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I had intended to be generous of spirit tonight, which I will be in two or three minutes when I get onto what I really wanted to speak about in the adjournment debate. But I cannot let some of the comments of Senator Joyce go without a response. It would probably take longer than 10 minutes to respond to all of the nonsense we have just heard, but I will not delay the Senate tonight. I will make two points.

Firstly, Senator Joyce represents the greatest exponents of the ‘two-job mentality’ that we have ever seen. The Nationals are people who come to this parliament Monday to Friday, get paid by the taxpayers and then go back to their farms on the weekend. They spend most of their time—when they are not out on polling booths pinching how-to-votes—totting up how many subsidies and tax deductions they can claim from the government. So let us not hear any of this nonsense from Senator Joyce about Work Choices.

The second point is a serious point. Senator Joyce talked about people on this side of the Senate being from a union background. I say to Senator Joyce: we are proud of it, because we get to meet and talk to many more workers than you would dream of. Senator Joyce used the phrase ‘tyrannical, dictatorial power’ tonight to describe what might happen under a Labor government. I remind the senator that the groups who historically have stood up to dictatorial and tyrannical power in the world have been the churches and the unions.

Who was it in Poland that led the battle to bring down the Soviet Union? It was the Solidarity trade union movement and the Catholic Church. Senator Joyce proudly claims to be a believer, and I note that. It was not the capitalists and it was not the businesses. Who is standing up to the genocidal dictator in Zimbabwe at the moment? It is Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Zimbabwe trade union movement and also the leader of the political opposition.

So when you are going to attack the trade union movement and attack the Labor Party, understand this: there are many millions of people, not just in this country but around the world, who are decent people, who represent decent values, who are trade unionists and who stand up to dictators. Do not come into this place and traduce the reputation of fine Australians simply because they happen to be union officials who go on to take up political office. Senator Joyce wants to ban union leaders from being political representatives in this country. That is what he is on about. Yet you can stack the frontbench of this government with as many lawyers as you like.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order, Mr President: I never said that they should be banned.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing, Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not a point of order. What is your point of order?

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Misleading the Senate, because I never said that.

Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think we will have a look at the Hansard tomorrow. There is no point of order, really.

Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce did talk about how we were all going to be lackeys of these union leaders who were coming into this parliament. But that is not what I wanted to talk about tonight, Mr President. What I wanted to do, as I said, was be generous of spirit.

I want to recognise the contribution of people in this parliament, workers in this parliament, who ensure that we can do our job—that is, the staff of this parliament and particularly the staff of the Senate committees. We all rely upon them. We could not do our job without them. Those of us who serve as members of Senate committees—and I think all of us do except the ministers, who are prevented from doing that because of their ministerial responsibilities—know the contribution that the staff make. I have had the privilege over 13 years now in the Senate to have been an active member of many committees—standing committees, statutory committees and select committees. I know, as I think all senators know, the valuable contribution made by the staff of the secretariats of those committees.

Tonight I want to pay particular tribute to Mr Alistair Sands, the Secretary of the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee. Tonight is probably the only opportunity for me to do this because the Senate will adjourn on Thursday and not come back till the budget session in May. I understand Alistair finishes his employment with the Senate committee this week to go on to another important position within public administration. I have been privileged to have known Alistair, to have watched him work and seen his contribution over a number of years. I understand that he has been employed in the parliament since 1992, except for a short break in the late 1990s. I know there are many senators who will join with me, some of whom are in the chamber tonight, in paying tribute to him.

I have always found that Alistair was not only a hardworking, true professional and a thorough and courteous gentleman but, to use an old adage, the person who kept his head when all the senators about him were losing theirs. As we all know, there have been many occasions when in the heat of political battle Senate committees, particularly estimates committees, can get quite volatile. Alistair served not only as the Secretary of the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee, which I chaired, and now the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee, chaired until recently by Senator Mason and now by Senator Fifield, but also as the secretary of a number of select committees. One of those was what is known as the ‘children overboard’ committee, a highly contentious committee that certainly needed a cool head in the secretary’s position, given the politics and emotion associated with its inquiry.

I want to take this opportunity tonight to place on the record my personal thanks to Alistair for all his assistance, for his advice, for his courteous nature, for his friendship and also for the opportunity to have the occasional coffee at Aussie’s when we discussed the progress of our committee reports. The Finance and Public Administration Committee is a committee like all other committees, where the staff work long hours, often to impossible deadlines the Senate gives them—and that was shown recently when this committee delivered its report on the access card. They work late into the night and work on weekends, without any complaint and always in a professional manner. Alistair Sands will be missed by this parliament. I want to put on the record, and I am sure I speak for many other senators, that we wish him well in his new position.