Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Many words have been spoken, and eloquent tributes paid to Kevin Rudd on this occasion of his retirement from parliament. Many—including the members for Lingiari and Hasluck, just now—have mentioned the transformative impact of the national apology to Indigenous Australians, the timely and effective response to the global financial crisis—as confirmed by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, among many others—and the ratification of the Kyoto protocol. Most have mentioned the successful advocacy for the G20 and our place as a nation in it—we are about to assume the G20 presidency for the next year—and for a seat on the UN Security Council at a time of dramatic events and upheavals in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The National Broadband Network, the paid parent leave scheme, the raising of the pension, the championing of organ donation, and the unprecedented investment in schools, local government, public transport and social housing infrastructure, are also achievements for which Kevin Rudd is receiving due recognition.

Less-well-known but important reforms of the Rudd Labor government include the removal of discrimination against same-sex couples in more than 80 Commonwealth laws, the legislation to prevent the re-introduction by the states of the death penalty, the endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its optional protocol, and the establishment, together with the Japanese government, of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd oversaw the Independent Review of Aid Effectiveness, leading to a more structured, effective, transparent and accountable foreign aid program, as confirmed by the OECD peer review into Australia's aid effectiveness earlier this year—a report which encourages Australia to communicate more widely the structures and achievement of our aid program for the benefit of other countries.

In recognition of the size and importance of the aid program, Kevin Rudd appointed the first Minister for International Development in 20 years—the previous such minister having been Gordon Bilney, during the Keating government. I am very grateful to Kevin Rudd for giving me the absolutely unexpected privilege and opportunity to serve in that role. It was, for me, given my background, expertise and interests, the perfect job. During that fleeting 2½ months I had the opportunity to work with an extraordinary agency, AusAID, that was full of people who only wanted to do good in the world. I had the opportunity to see first-hand in the Solomon Islands and in Timor Leste, some of the significant work being done by AusAID and by our NGO partners in the region, where our international aid program is making a genuine difference to lives and economies.

I feel personally wrenched by the present government's decision to abolish AusAID and roll it into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and I can only hope that the spirit of AusAID, which I was fortunate to be part of for a little while, lives on somehow in our ongoing commitment to combatting poverty and disadvantage wherever it exists—as an extension of our national ethos, first and foremost, as well as with reference to our broader national interest. It was somewhat fitting, therefore, that, as I was having a late dinner last Wednesday night to thank my former AusAID ministerial staff—late because of Kevin Rudd's surprise announcement of his retirement and the subsequent speeches—who should walk into the Jewel of India restaurant in Manuka and sit at the next table but Kevin Rudd and his son Marcus, with other Labor colleagues. Kevin came over to our table to say hello. Upon learning that some of the people were from the entity formerly known as AusAID he said, 'I'm sorry; I did my best.'

Indeed he did. The aid program increased under Labor by 80 per cent from 2007 and, as mentioned, became highly effective and transparent, as well as forging meaningful long-term partnerships with respected Australian NGOs. Kevin did not hesitate to agree to my proposal, as minister, that an ambassador for disability-inclusive development be appointed to advance Australia's efforts to advocate for the millions of people world-wide who suffer the most because they are not only living in extreme poverty but also living with a disability.

I want to recognise the achievements of Labor under Kevin's leadership in two further areas that are especially meaningful to me and the people I represent in Fremantle. The first is action on climate change, which Kevin championed as a key pillar, on Labor's return to government in 2007. At this point I think it is worth reflecting on the fact that life can take some strange twists and turns, and that sometimes it feels as though it is only a matter of sliding doors that separate alternative realities. That was certainly the case at the end of 2009, when, having painstakingly negotiated a bipartisan agreement on the carbon pollution reduction scheme, the leadership ructions of the Liberal Party saw the abandonment of that consensus.

Australian policy and political life might have been very different but for one vote in the coalition party room and the pride and political self-interest of five Green senators. I have not heard any expression of regret from the Greens for their colossal error in siding with the coalition to vote down the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. Nor am I likely to, but I think that, in their heart of hearts, they know—certainly with the benefit of hindsight—that they made a terrible mistake. This was a mistake that prevented all of us from moving quickly and comprehensively to an emissions trading scheme which, while by no means perfect, had the support of business, trade unions and the environment movement. It would have been bedded down by now and accepted by the community and it could have been strengthened and built upon without significant dissent. We would not, I think, have seen the rampant growth in climate change denial and the consequent confusion and apathy around climate change that now exists in many parts of the community. The deeply damaging decision by Kevin Rudd to defer the emissions trading scheme would not have occurred, and it is likely his prime ministership would have continued, with, of course, vastly different outcomes for the Labor government, the Labor Party and the nation. But that is life, and sometimes history turns on such fine points as the events of a single day or a handful of votes.

The other policy area in which Kevin did so much, driven by his own experience of social and economic fragility, was housing and homelessness. As Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health and Parliamentary Secretary for Homelessness and Social Housing, I saw some extraordinary outcomes from our $20 billion investment in social and affordable housing and in programs to prevent and end homelessness. Of course, this investment was only the beginning of what needs to occur to end homelessness and ensure sufficient affordable and social housing in the community, but we made a very good start that I hope can be built upon, together with the necessary commitment from the states and territories.

Kevin came to Fremantle to speak at the Gimme Shelter concert, an annual event in Freo to raise funds for and awareness of homelessness. He and John Butler shared the stage for a while, and I can tell you that, while John Butler, as a local barnstorming, guitar-playing, activist folk hero, received his customary adulation, the crowd around Kevin as he moved through the grounds of the Fremantle Arts Centre was no less supportive.

I do not want to enter into an appraisal of the leadership wars, as there are many others engaged in parsing every incident and betrayal. I believe that Julia Gillard did an extraordinary job as Prime Minister under very difficult circumstances, and there were incredible Labor achievements during her government that I will go into on another occasion. If I were to lay responsibility anywhere for the difficulties Labor finds itself in, much of it would be with the factional leaders—with the fact that power is wielded by so few, that it is frequently wielded for shallow or self-interested purposes and that the few are largely unaccountable, are never held responsible, for the exercise of power affecting so many, however badly it may turn out. Kevin Rudd's party reforms were a necessary beginning to what must come next: root-and-branch reform to properly democratise the Labor Party.

For all his acknowledged faults as a leader and as an individual—and who among us is free of fault?—we owe Kevin Rudd enormous thanks for his vision and for the achievements of the government he led, for they include significant and lasting changes for the benefit of many people and for the future of this nation. I wish Kevin and Therese and their family happiness as they go forward with their lives.

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