Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak about hope—which may sound a rather odd topic for an adjournment debate, but I think it actually flows, in a sense, quite seamlessly from Senator Bilyk's contribution, which was about hope and about setting the goal of a cancer-free world. The reason I want to talk about hope is that, notwithstanding our obviously good economic circumstances, particularly compared with those overseas, this does seem to be a time when so many Australians are despondent and cynical about politics, the parliamentary process, the negative 24-hour media cycle, the nay-sayers and the cutting down of tall poppies. It does seem to be a time when we should try to reaffirm the importance of putting hope back on the national agenda. I note that Tony Abbott talks about hope, reward and opportunity. It is a time when the Australian people lack confidence in their own economic circumstances as they deal with financial stresses resulting from cost-of-living pressures and job security concerns. It is a time, in other words, for hope to be restored.

In my maiden speech I talked about the overwhelming duty we have as politicians to be purveyors of hope. That is the business we are in. There is no greater motivator than the belief in a better tomorrow. As the 19th century American author Orison Swett Marden wrote:

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.

Let there be no doubt that hope is important to Australia. If we are to prosper in this century then our people must not only expect that their tomorrow will be better than their today but they must have confidence and the ability to shape their tomorrow as they have imagined it.

For a word that carries so much meaning, we as politicians must do more than simply utter the word. We must take action, lead by example and demonstrate that in this country tomorrow we will always have the potential to be better than today. As I have previously said, we must offer our fellow citizens the hope of a better life for them and for future generations, the hope that, free from material worries, they are able to pursue their highest aspirations. Making hope real and restoring belief within the community is not about politicians simply selecting policies from some catalogue and hoping that they strike a chord with the electorate. It is about developing and implementing polices that have a positive and substantive impact on the lives of our fellow Australians. It is about how we conduct the process of public debate and engage in a national conversation on the issues that matter.

The Australian public crave authenticity in their leaders. We must be true to ourselves, and Australians will respond. They may not always agree, and it is not a sure road to popularity. But the public respect the capacity to stand up for principles. It means that if we wish to pursue reform we must build a constituency for change—not reform by stealth, but standing in the marketplace of ideas and selling the case for change. It means managing expectations, acknowledging costs and explaining benefits when we are promoting change. Even when consensus is difficult to achieve, we must resist the temptation to pit one group of Australians against another. That is about how we conduct ourselves and how, if we improve the way we conduct ourselves, that in itself gives hope to our fellow citizens.

When it comes to hopelessness, or the lack of hope, I am particularly struck by the following statistic: in 2010 Australia had a higher rate of suicide than the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Greece. How can it be that Australians, who have more opportunities and are experiencing superior economic conditions, are choosing to take their lives at a higher rate than in comparable nations? This does not seem to make sense. Apart from anything else, we seem to be suffering from a deficit of hope. For those who decide to take their own lives they have made the calculation, whether consciously or subconsciously, that tomorrow and the days following will not be better than today.

As a senator I do not believe there is any one policy, motion or piece of legislation that I can introduce that is going to solve this conundrum. There is no easy fix for this alarming trend. Mental health is complex and still carries a stigma. But this pressing issue requires us to engage in a broad national conversation involving a broad coalition of Australians from all walks of life. I mention it because it is a particular aspect of this trend we seem to have in Australia of not having the hope that we should have, given our very good prospects in the years ahead.

To progress will require a realisation that within Australia there is a divide opening up between what you might describe as the cultural optimists and the cultural pessimists. Winston Churchill once famously said:

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

When I walk the streets of my home town in Sydney I encounter so many of my fellow Australians who are aspirational. They are looking to government to help them achieve their ideals rather than penalise or punish them for getting ahead.

As an economist I have some understanding of how markets work, why humans instinctively trade, why markets naturally form, how wealth is created, why poverty exists, how poor people can become rich and how rich people can become poor. In that regard, I think I understand the importance of political, economic and social freedom—and why freedom of the individual must be at the centre of the economy.

Kevin Rudd, in his maiden speech, and again during the global financial crisis, spoke of his aspiration of putting government at the centre of the economy. Our aspiration should be to put people, to put workers and entrepreneurs, at the centre of the economy. I understand that freedom carries responsibility, but it is also empowering; and that the role of government is to best equip individuals to succeed in this environment.

Too often under this government I think we have seen a dated and protectionist view of the role of government. Allegedly in the name of fairness the government has focused too often on protecting people from themselves through increased regulation and reliance on third parties such as trade unions to mediate the concerns of workers. Rather than being the purveyors of hope, the government conveys a pessimistic view of human nature. The government's message is that, without government interposing, someone is out to take advantage of you: the big miners, the big banks, unethical employers, senior executives, profiteers, shonky tradesmen—and the list goes on and on. If Australia is to succeed we must choose hope over fear and embrace a national agenda based on aspirations, a relentless optimism about our future, a global mindset and, most importantly, an outward looking and positive culture.

May I conclude by congratulating Karise Eden, who this evening won The Voice. Karise is from the Central Coast of New South Wales. She is the quintessential battler. She had a hard upbringing; she had a tough time at home and left home early. She did not know for a long time what she wanted to do, and she took whatever job came her way. But, as fate would have it, The Voice came along, she applied, she was accepted and now she has won—and this will probably change her life. This to me is a great example of hope in operation—of having a goal and going after it. She is a great inspiration, not only to the kids of the Central Coast, where youth unemployment is extremely high by Australian standards, but she is an inspiration and example to kids everywhere in Australia and all Australians. I congratulate her and I hope that, in the near future, there can be an opportunity to recognise her contribution in this place. Her contribution is important because it gives hope to other young people and it gives hope to all of us, that if we find the right key we can help anyone and everybody to have the right sort of future. And in the days and weeks ahead, I hope Karise can continue to evolve as a role model around Australia. I take the opportunity to congratulate The Voiceas a program, and David Gyngell, the CEO of Channel Nine, for putting it together, because I think it has been a wonderful opportunity to bring Australians together to promote some very talented people in our midst.