Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I associate myself with the remarks by the member for Blair and commend him for his kind words about the late Wayne Goss. I would like to follow suit. Wayne Goss's historic contribution to Queensland basically included restoring respectability to Queensland, crushing corruption and introducing fair electoral reforms—basically 'one vote, one value' in a state that had had a gerrymandered system for years and years. Wayne Goss was the man who ended 32 years of conservative government ruling Queensland and ushered in Tony Fitzgerald's corruption-busting reforms in 1989.

Wayne grew up in Inala, a working-class suburb right on the edge of my electorate of Moreton. He worked as a solicitor and with the Aboriginal Legal Service before setting up his own practice. After the dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975, Wayne joined the Australian Labor Party. It is sad for the Labor Party that we have been acknowledging the death of both of these Labor legends in the last few weeks.

Wayne Goss entered state politics as the member for Salisbury in 1983 and was later elected as the member for Logan before taking over as the Leader of the Opposition in March 1988. The suburb of Salisbury falls right in the centre of my electorate of Moreton, on the south side of Brisbane. Wayne also lived for a long time in Sunnybank Hills, a suburb I also know very well, on the southern end of my electorate. The former Premier's close connection with the south side community and its people is both heart-warming and inspiring.

In preparing this speech, I consulted with Matt Foley, who was the Attorney-General in the second Goss government and he told me many amusing tales—some of which I cannot repeat. I know that Wayne Goss was a true Labor believer. He both personified Labor values and worked incredibly hard to make sure that all Queenslanders could get the benefits of Labor policies. He served as Premier between December 1989 and February 1996.

While many aspects of Wayne's past have been touched on, I want to particularly focus on his first term, when he was both the Premier and the Minister for the Arts. It is his role as arts minister that I wish to dwell on, because I do not think it has been particularly acknowledged. As a lawyer, as a leader and as a Premier he was a standout person, but his role in the arts in Queensland was symbolic of that change in attitudes in my state, from a time of ignorance and not respecting achievements through to now celebrating Queensland's role in the arts community. I say this as both a writer and a lover of music and the arts. I remember seeing Wayne often at the Queensland Theatre Company. Back before I had children, when I could go to the theatre, and before I was a politician, my wife and I used to go, and we would often see Wayne and Roisin at shows and at other arts events. After leaving the position of Premier of Queensland, Wayne was chair of the Queensland Art Gallery Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2008.

Wayne increased Queensland's reputation in the international arts community. Whilst Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide have been well respected for their contribution to the arts, I think people saw Brisbane as a bit of a backwater, but now, as we saw with the G20 and many of the programs instigated by Wayne Goss, Queensland is able to hold its head high. Queensland is the most decentralised state, so what did Wayne Goss do? He developed the Regional Arts Development Fund, a highly successful state and local government partnership. The state government would put in money if the local governments stumped up money, and they often went to private donors as well. It supported local artists and arts and cultural activities throughout Queensland. That was a great boon for the state.

Wayne was instrumental in attracting the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art to Brisbane and had the foresight to buy the land for GOMA. If you are in Brisbane, you must go to the Gallery of Modern Art at South Bank. Wayne Goss set aside the money to purchase that. It was quite visionary at the time. GOMA has been extremely successful and is, I would argue, what has made Brisbane a truly international city, as we saw recently at the G20. As Premier and also in his role with the arts, Wayne made a special point of reaching out to all people, not just those who could afford to go to the opera, the ballet or the Queensland Theatre Company. He took art to the people. You see it still in Brisbane. I know this, having young children. If you go to GOMA and the Art Gallery, you will see that they have a summer program, when it is hottest in Brisbane, to engage with young kids. You see people coming in from the burbs to engage with artists in lots of different programs. That was the Wayne Goss touch—the boy from Inala who had a global vision: that Brisbane has the right to stand up as a world city.

Wayne's work brought music festivals to life across the state. The old Warana, as I think it was called, has evolved into the Brisbane Festival. He had a passion for music and love for the arts. I think his favourite band was the Rolling Stones. He even said that his favourite song was Sympathy for the Devilone of my top songs as well, but it was quite controversial when he said it. He really understood music. He had a combination of political vision and a literary or artistic heart—a fantastic combination. So we saw a significant era of change within the Arts portfolio under Wayne Goss and his government. As touched on by the member for Oxley, there was the idea of bringing back peer review and openness in the funding department for arts. Instead of just fear and favour, he was saying, 'What are the benefits of the programs?'

I admire his political courage as well. In 1992, he went to the election with a jobs plan—because unemployment was a significant issue. We see it is an issue for this government now, with 70,000 more unemployed people under the Abbott government. Under the Goss government, unemployment was emerging as a problem, so Wayne Goss said in 1992, 'Vote for us and we will put a tax on you.' He went to the people saying he would put a tax on tobacco to fund the jobs plan. That is real courage: the understanding that, 'You need to vote for me, but there'll be something associated with that—it's being done for the best of intentions and for good reason.' Wayne Goss trusted the people and spoke honestly to them about what his intentions were. Surely the most valued currency in politics is trust. Wayne Goss certainly had that in spades. People understood what the state would need to contribute to enable the introduction of a scheme that would secure jobs for many Queenslanders. He argued that case before the election and then, on election day, he was returned. He had great respect for the Queensland people. He was open about his beliefs, and this honesty created great respect for him in return.

In those six short years, the Goss government took a raft of actions to advance the civil liberties of Queenslanders, and I will just go through some of these. He appointed Queensland's first female judge and the first female Labor minister in cabinet. He reformed the electoral system and public administration to ensure each vote across the state was fair and of equal value. He introduced freedom of information legislation. He introduced whistleblower protection. He decriminalised homosexuality, although there is still a bit of work to be done in terms of the age of consent for male homosexuals.

He provided for judicial review of administrative decisions. He implemented the Fitzgerald recommendations for overhauling a formerly corrupt police force. He upheld children's rights by enabling the custody of exnuptial children to be considered in the Family Court along with children born in wedlock through a referral of legislative power to the Commonwealth. He legislated to grant land rights for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders well before the High Court's Mabo decision and subsequent native title laws. He outlawed discrimination on a wide range of grounds: sex, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, breastfeeding, age, race, impairment, religion—note that religion is not something that you can act on in the Commonwealth parliament—political belief or activity, trade union activity and lawful sexual activity. He enhanced the rights of the elderly and infirm by introducing laws to establish an enduring power of attorney. He legislated for principles of juvenile justice allowing detention of juveniles in custody only as a last resort. That is especially important in a state that puts children—17-year-olds—into adult prisons.

Wayne Goss was a great Australian, and he was a truly great Labor man. He created a climate of free speech that flourished across Queensland. He was an Inala kid with a world story. There is no doubt he modernised Queensland and his passing is a great loss. Vale, Wayne Goss.

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