Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the minister. We are getting on with the job of addressing each of the issues upon which the election turned. We promised we would abolish the carbon tax. We have introduced and passed legislation in this place to do just that. It now behoves the opposition to pass that legislation to abolish the carbon tax if they genuinely believe in reducing the cost of living for Australian families and businesses. If they genuinely want to relieve the pressure on Australian families—and energy prices have such an impact on the prices people pay in the supermarket or at the petrol bowser—and the cost to business of doing business, the opposition would pass the carbon tax repeal legislation that sits in the Senate, especially given that there was no doubt at all before the election that we would abolish the carbon tax should we be elected. From December 2009 when the coalition adopted a position on the emissions trading scheme right through to the previous government's broken promise on the carbon tax to today we have been consistent about having a direct action approach to climate change rather than a taxation and regulatory approach to climate change. So there is no doubt that, if the Labor Party were being faithful to the mandate of the Australian people at the election, they would pass the carbon tax abolition bills. The same pertains to the mining tax. Again we promised to repeal this tax and a bill sits in the Senate waiting for the Labor Party to respect the mandate of the Australian people. So we are getting on with the job of keeping our election promises of abolishing the carbon tax and abolishing the mining tax.

We have spectacularly succeeded in keeping our election promise in relation to people smugglers. We said we would reinstitute the policies of the Howard government that protected our borders and stop the people smugglers' trade in its tracks. I think we are up to almost 90 days where there has been no successful arrival of an unauthorised boat carrying unauthorised passengers. That is a remarkable achievement. Full credit goes to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, who has brought together under Operation Sovereign Borders the manifestation of our election commitment to stop the boats and to break the people smugglers' business model.

It is remarkable inasmuch as many people said it could not be done. The now opposition when in government said it was impossible to stop the boats and protect our borders. In the period from August 2008 to the time when they lost office 50,000 unauthorised arrivals came. It was a manifest failure of policy. They said it could not be any different to that. Many of their supporters, friends in the press gallery and the general commentariat agreed that it could not be done, yet within seven months the minister for immigration, because of a courageous and steadfast approach to this issue, has done exactly what we said we would do before the election—and that is get control of our refugee program into Australia and get control of our humanitarian program so that people waiting around the world who have applied through the correct processes, whether it is the Karen in Thailand or the Sudanese in Kenya, would not be pushed aside by those who can pay people smugglers. It is a great achievement and it is a manifestation of us keeping our election promises.

We said we would move the industrial relations regulatory framework back to the sensible centre. I was in the House last month introducing bills that did just that—the Fair Work Amendment Bill. We have done so through trying to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, a royal commission into union corruption and the Registered Organisations Commission, which will stop dodgy union officials from ripping off hardworking union members. Most of these measures are being opposed by the opposition in the Senate, but I am hopeful that, if the Labor Party has not yet come to its senses, the new Senate in July this year will pass much of this legislation and start the process of reducing the tax burden, reducing the regulatory burden and moving the IR debate back to the sensible centre.

We have also started the process of better budgetary management, ending the waste and mismanagement under the Labor era. We are trying to stop the unnecessary spending in certain areas that has been damaging our budget bottom line, leading us to borrow more and more from overseas—in fact, if no further action is taken to rein in debt there will be $667 billion of government debt—and of course we are trying to address Labor's $127 billion of deficits they accumulated over the period they were in office.

In the budget in May, we will lay down the markers that are necessary to recalibrate the financial management of the Commonwealth government. It is a massive budget, and has an enormous impact on the Australian economy. Unless it is managed prudently, and dare I say it parsimoniously, then we will only continue to see the profligate spending, the ballooning of spending that occurred under Labor for six years. That has left our country in not as good an economic position as we left it in 2007, when against our wishes the keys to the Treasury were handed over to the then Labor opposition.

In my own electorate of Sturt, we made a number of promises before the election, which we intend to keep. One of the promises that I made was that I would do everything I could to keep the Italian Consulate in my electorate of Sturt, in Adelaide. We waged quite a public campaign collecting signatures on the traditional petition and writing to and lobbying the Italian government in Rome. Also, we worked with the local state members of parliament. These are John Gardner, the member for Morialta, in my electorate, who was recently re-elected on Saturday with an increased majority; and Vincent Tarzia who was the then Liberal candidate for Hartley, in my electorate. I am happy to say that on Saturday he was elected to the seat of Hartley with a very substantial swing. Along with John Gardner, he and I worked tirelessly to ensure the Italian Consulate remained open in Adelaide. I am happy to say that after the federal election but before the state election, the Italian government announced that they would be maintaining the Italian Consulate. This means the thousands of my Italian constituents will be able to continue to access the Consulate's electoral and notary services, registrar services, issuing of passports and dealing with social security issues between Italy and Australia.

Before the election, on our rubric of the Safer Streets Safer Communities grants program we also promised that we would install CCTV cameras in the northern part of my electorate, at the Turramurra Recreation Centre in Highbury. This provides added security for about 2½ thousand people who use that centre weekly. It curbs graffiti, vandalism and break-ins that occur in the Turramurra Recreation Centre. That is a $69,000 commitment to CCTV cameras. I am pleased to say that we will be proceeding with that commitment. Also under the Safer Streets Safer Communities grants program, we intend to install improved lighting, particularly car park lighting, at the Balmoral Reserve in Dernancourt. This is also in the northern part of my electorate. Balmoral Reserve was upgraded by the Tea Tree Gully Council. I am pleased to say that we are going to contribute to that upgrading through better lighting and better safety and security for the good residents of Dernancourt.

Also before the election, I made a number of commitments to fund sporting and community operations. The most notable of those of course is the Campbelltown Leisure Centre, a 1970s leisure centre which has been in need of an upgrade for a very long time. I am pleased to say that the now Prime Minister came to my electorate before the election and recommitted to a $7½ million grant to the Campbelltown Leisure Centre. Maybe they can come up with a more modern name now that we are redoing the centre! This upgrade will have a very important impact on recreation, sports and activities in the north-eastern part of my electorate. It already provides for a large number of families and sporting organisations. These include the Norwood Flames Basketball Club, the Campbelltown Futsal Association, squash courts and older leisure organisations or groups. This will mean a massive increase in the number of people who will be able to use the Campbelltown Leisure Centre. From the existing 8,000 people a month who use this centre, upwards of 20,000 people a month will be able to use it. They are going to install a proper sized, eight-lane swimming pool and additional pools for teaching swimming and for toddlers. There will be an enhanced squash court, more basketball courts, futsal courts and an indoor soccer court. The ubiquitous cafe will be installed at the Campbelltown Leisure Centre, along with meeting rooms and administration areas. It will be a very big improvement on sporting facilities in the north-east. I am sure the many of the member for Makin's constituents will use the Campbelltown Leisure Centre, as will mine.

The state government has made a contribution as well. The majority of the money is coming from the federal government, and also the Campbelltown City Council is making a similar contribution. The whole package is about $20 million spent on sport and recreation in my electorate. I have worked very closely with the Campbelltown City Council over the previous few years to deliver that project. I single out Helen Nichols, because she is the Chair of the Campbelltown Leisure Centre Steering Committee. It has been one of the totemic issues in my electorate for many years. Over several elections, the previous federal Labor government refused to fund it, but I am happy to say that we will fund it. The money will flow very soon. The necessary documentation has been put in place, and hopefully that will be up and running in the next year or two.

Under the Community Development Grants Program, we promised that we would help the Burnside Hockey Club, which is in the southern part of my electorate, to build a new hockey pitch costing $400,000. They will also need to add to that amount of money. They will be seeking support from other organisations to do so. Right now, they are looking for the best site in Adelaide's eastern suburbs to build the hockey pitch. The Burnside Hockey Club is one of the biggest and best hockey clubs in South Australia. It has been in need of a permanent hockey pitch home for some time. Many of the families in my electorate are members of the Burnside Hockey Club. I am very glad to be able to take credit for securing that $400,000 for the Burnside Hockey Club. If they read this transcript of Hansard, I remind them that they have to have a new pitch site six months from now. They have been looking for a while. I hope the state government, whether it is Liberal or Labor, will assist them to find that hockey pitch. Any one of the non-government or government schools in my electorate who might have need for an injection of funds for the hockey pitch in their own schools—I am sure they will be able to come to some arrangement with the Burnside Hockey Club. I promised my colleagues that I would not speak for the full 20 minutes, so I will not do so. I should add in passing that I continue my campaign to bring the skull of Pemulwuy, the Aboriginal figure from history, the Aboriginal warrior from the early part of the colony in Sydney, from where you hail Madam Speaker, back to Australia from the Natural History Museum in Britain. It has been a much slower process than I anticipated. I note that His Royal Highness Prince William will be visiting Australia again soon. The last time he was here he went to Redfern and promised that he would help bring back the skull and the remains of Pemulwuy. I have continued that campaign. I hope that Prince William will continue to assist us to do so. The Natural History Museum in London say that they cannot identify the actual remains of Pemulwuy, but we have heard that song before and I think the answer with this campaign is to keep dripping away on the stone and eventually we will succeed.

Pemulwuy is a very important historical figure for Indigenous Australians because much of the story about Indigenous history, from the early part of the colonisation of Australia, was one of disease, very poor treatment and the sense that the Indigenous people were simply badly treated with no resistance. The story of Pemulwuy is one of resistance to the British colonisation. I think we have created the greatest country in the world but we should not bury our stories. The story of Pemulwuy is one that is more inspiring in many respects for young Indigenous Australians because it shows that they had figures of great general ship who succeeded in fighting what they regarded as an unwelcome incursion in Australia. That story is as interesting as all the other stories in our Indigenous past. I hope that we can bring Pemulwuy's remains back to Australia where they belong—they should never have been removed in the first place—and in doing so, perhaps, reinvigorate the interest in his story, which is written by a man called Eric Willmot, who was the Director-General of Education in South Australia and is now retired. I know that there are people who wish to create a movie about Pemulwuy, a digital story of Pemulwuy as part of the curriculum development of Indigenous history. I very much support those efforts and I look forward to continuing that campaign over this 44th Parliament.

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