Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The debate on the address-in-reply is normally one we have in the weeks immediately after the parliament opens. It seems somewhat strange to have the debate during the budget session, but I guess that is a product of the sitting pattern and the legislative program. I do want to go back to the first days of the parliament after the election, to the Governor-General’s speech and to the circumstances that we all observed and participated in in that first week. In doing so, I want to again comment upon the very worthwhile welcome to country that Indigenous Australians provided for the opening of the parliament and upon the historic day that followed, when the parliament and the nation said sorry to the Indigenous peoples of Australia. One of my constituents and an active person within the Aboriginal community and Reconciliation Australia, Jackie Huggins, was there that day. I am happy to say that, on my parliamentary office wall, in the entry, is a wonderful photo of Jackie and my wife, Cathy, and me celebrating the events of that day. I truly believe it was a significant moment in the history of our nation. I was surprised that evening when I watched the news to discover that so many people around the country had stopped what they were doing—whether it was at work or at school—and turned on the television set to listen to the debates here. In the weeks that followed, when we were back in our electorates, I was surprised at the number of people who had done just that and who spoke to me about it and at the number of schools who wanted to share their thoughts and their support and to be part of that sentiment. It was a historic event and a very important occasion for all of us.

The Governor-General’s address set out the broadbrush plans of the new Rudd Labor government. It is normal in these things to reflect on the events of the election, on what transpired and on the plans that the government and, I guess, the opposition may have for the years ahead. I have no doubt—thinking back over the last two or three years—that the issue more than any other that affected the people of Brisbane was their concern about their livelihoods, about their conditions of employment and about what Work Choices was doing to all of that. There was no doubt at all that, more than any other issue, that was in the minds of people. I have to say that that was not because in my electorate the trade unions conducted a high-profile campaign. They did not. I would have been more than happy for them to do so if they wished. It certainly was an issue that I campaigned on. It was something that touched virtually every family.

I will mention just two examples. I can remember conducting Saturday mobile offices, as we all do. We had a petition there against Work Choices. Most of us who have been in politics for a while have been out on the stump trying to get people to sign petitions for all manner of things. Usually you accost folk walking past and if you are lucky they are polite, but normally they do not want to stop. I had people literally queuing to sign this petition. I do not think I have ever before, in the years of my active political life, seen that sort of response.

The other example I want to mention was when I was conducting an activity focused on returned service men and women. I was welcoming people to a function and as a gentleman came through the door he sort of grabbed me and said, ‘What are you people doing to stop those terrible industrial relations laws? What are you doing about Work Choices?’ The gathering had absolutely nothing to do with Work Choices. This fellow chewed my ear for a while and I said, ‘Well, we’re actually trying to do what we can to get rid of the laws. They are going to be a big issue at the election.’ At the end of the night, he came up to me and apologised for abusing me and tackling me about it. He then said he was a serving naval officer. He said, ‘This doesn’t affect me, but I’m worried about my kids.’ That drove home very strongly to me just how deeply on the minds of ordinary Australian men and women the issues surrounding Work Choices had become. I am pleased that in the early days of this parliament the new government has already put in place legislation to remove some of the more offensive aspects of that legislation—or at least aspects which were offensive in my eyes and in the eyes of a goodly number of my constituents.

One of the issues that is growing in significance across the country and in my inner-city electorate—with a higher socioeconomic level than many others in the country—is that of climate change. Again unlike most occasions when there are elections, there were local community groups organising public meetings and organising meet-the-candidate days. They were not organised by me or my party apparatus; they were not organised by any of the candidates. They were organised by people who were concerned about climate change and wanted to take the opportunity of a federal election to ask all of those people standing to come along and say what they thought about it. Predictably, most of the crowd had a pretty clear view themselves of what they thought about it. I am not too sure that anyone changed their mind as a result of any of those gatherings. But it was an indication of a genuine concern in the minds of many.

There is no doubt that the question of climate change is one of the greatest challenges confronting not just our parliament but also parliaments of the world—and not just governments of the world but also industries and individuals. This is an issue that we need to take action on sooner rather than later. We have already wasted far too much time. This is not the occasion to have a debate about the ins and outs of climate change, but all of the serious projections indicate that, even if we were to do all of the things that scientists would want us to do tomorrow, we would still confront a worsening situation for somewhere between the next 30 and 50 years. That is a real worry. For many of us in this parliament, it probably will not worry us too much in 50 years time; but it will worry our children and it will worry our grandchildren, and that should worry us even more.

I was very pleased that the first formal act of the new government and of the Prime Minister after becoming Prime Minister was to ratify the Kyoto protocol. There is much that needs to be done. I would like to think on an issue like this, frankly, that we can work more closely together across the political divide. It is desirable that this issue be addressed in the broad interests of all of us. There are economic consequences; there are economic consequences of doing nothing. But we need to confront that issue head-on.

I do not think it was an accident that, when I look at the final results in the last election in the seat of Brisbane, the Labor Party primary vote went up about 2½ to three per cent. The only other party to really increase their vote were the Greens, who also went up by about 2½ per cent. I do not think that was an accident. I think that was very much the will of the people saying: ‘We are concerned about climate change. We actually do think that ratifying Kyoto is an important thing to do and we want our government to take a lead on this not just here at home but around the world.’ I have certainly listened to that concern of the people of Brisbane. Indeed, I have campaigned on it quite extensively for some years.

The third issue which is particularly important to me, and I know to many people in Brisbane, is the educational opportunities that are made available for people in the electorate of Brisbane and across the country. Education and health care are two of the policy areas that first caused me to get involved in politics at all. I do think it is incumbent on the government to ensure that all people in this country have access to high-quality education so that they can reach their full potential irrespective of where they might live or how big their parents’ bank account is. We failed, I think, in the last decade to properly address that, and it was a concern that people raised with me in local schools. Labor’s commitment, which we saw pursued in the budget just last night, to invest heavily in trades training facilities in all secondary schools across Australia was warmly received. The commitment to provide funds to ensure that all year 9, 10, 11 and 12 students are able to get access to computers was also warmly received in the electorate. Before the election I had schools contacting me about it; I can tell you that since the election I have had plenty of schools asking me to come along and talk to them about what they presently have available, what they currently do and what they hope this new Labor government program may be able to provide for them in their community. It is an exciting opportunity.

Over the years, Commonwealth governments on both sides, Labor and Liberal, have instituted major investments in our schools. Indeed, those Commonwealth injections have been critical at different points in our history. It was Commonwealth funds that established the science laboratories in most secondary schools in this country. It was a Commonwealth investment in libraries that saw many secondary schools get decent library and resource centres. I think these projects that Labor is embarking upon now will in time be seen in the same light. They will be a new plateau from which I hope all secondary schools will benefit.

Health care is important in every election. In an electorate like Brisbane, which is going through a major rejuvenation—the demographics of inner-city suburbs not just in Brisbane but in other capital cities are changing—you have the full range of healthcare requirements. So you have those people like my parents’ generation who built their homes after World War II in the late forties and brought their children up and now need specialist care as aged citizens. Overwhelmingly they want to stay in the home they built, where they raised their family. They need support and assistance to do that. They need the health care and the opportunity to get ready access to doctors and medical procedures. But, as that generation moves on, I am now seeing those old schools, like the school I attended as a young lad in my electorate, now growing again as young families move into that suburb. They have a different set of health needs, but all of them are important.

Health care is not cheap; we all know that—it is an expensive business—but it is one of the most vital services we have, if not the most vital. The old story that, if you do not have good health, the rest does not matter is only too true. I think our commitment to end the blame game and to substantially increase the funding of public health and hospitals will be well received by the people. It was certainly an issue in the minds of those in Brisbane during the last election.

I want to make special mention in the health debate of one subgroup: diabetes sufferers and, in particular, type 1 diabetes sufferers. I have made quite a number of speeches in this parliament about type 1 diabetes. Most of us were involved when the children suffering from type 1 diabetes came to the House. I do not know about any other member, but, as I have said on a few occasions, the most powerful lobbying I have ever had to endure was those young kids telling me their story.

One of those young kids who came to see me about 10 years ago is now a young man, Gareth Eldershaw. I am very pleased to say we have kept in regular contact. Just the other day he wrote to me. He is now a youth ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and he wrote:

May is a special month for JDRF as we try to make the community more aware of Type 1. As you know the jelly baby is a sort of motto that represents a vital aid to help us recover from a “hypo” when our glucose levels are too low. There’s a little blue guy in the envelope that I’d like to give you and ask you to wear in May and especially on Budget night.

I can tell Gareth that I am wearing his little blue guy on my lapel, as I did last night during the budget. Gareth went on:

We talked about the grant to fund the reimbursement of insulin pumps for kids under the age of 18. 3000 pumps for all these kids (over a 5-year period) would cost $35m. It’s a lot of money I know, but you know how much it will save the government in the future? Of course it will make life a bit more bearable (and safe too) if kids can use insulin pumps.

I was very pleased to have been able to ring Gareth up today and say that in last night’s budget we made a step in that direction. I do not pretend that we have gone as far as we need to. I want to see the opportunity to benefit from an insulin pump—and not everybody with diabetes is suited to an insulin pump—be made available to all. But I do applaud the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, for her efforts in recent times in ensuring that the budget includes a provision that will see about 700 young Australians gain access to an insulin pump. I look forward to continuing to work inside government now rather than from the opposition benches to try to have that program extended.

The other issue that I want to mention is broadband. When I have raised this in the past, people have said: ‘Hang on, you’ve got the inner city electorate in Brisbane—10 or 12 kilometres from the GPO is about the boundary of your electorate. What’s the problem?’ Even in inner city Brisbane there are pockets where broadband is not available, and that is a foolish and unacceptable position for a country to place itself in in the 21st century. I will continue to pursue the rollout of broadband particularly to suburbs in my electorate like Upper Kedron and Ferny Grove on a regular basis. Ensuring that high-quality, ultra-fast broadband is available for all Australians is something that we need to pursue as a major investment in the future of our people and the industries of the future. This is not just some social welfare activity, this is the income-generating tool of the future and the present, and we are behind many other countries that we would compare ourselves with in the OECD. It is time we caught up.

In the couple of minutes remaining to me, I want to make a few comments and thank yous. This is actually—I had to sit down and count it up—the seventh election that I have contested for the federal seat of Brisbane on behalf of the Labor Party and it is for all of us—

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