Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity in the debate on the address-in-reply to the Governor-General’s speech on the legislative agenda for this term to highlight a unique part of Australian political history—in fact, the nexus of two very important events, one well known in Queensland and one completely unknown, I think, until my address today. Of course, with all fascinating stories about political history there is a plot, a character and a context. In this context, it is Cape York, one of the most remote parts of this country, a place of extraordinary natural beauty but also isolation, colourful characters and a fascinating potential for ecotourism and, in the areas around Cape Tribulation, the home of the Kuku Yalanji people. The context is that I was visiting a new establishment, the finest restaurant between Cairns and Hong Kong, some have argued—apologies to Port Douglas: Whet Restaurant, which is run by two young and extraordinary individuals, Michelle and Matt Wenden, at 1 Cape Tribulation Road, Cape Tribulation.

It was there that I had a chance meeting with Mr Patrick Shears, a man who many in Queensland will know was part of the foxtail palm controversy back in 1994. It was the topic of a Four Corners episode in April of that year. He was the lead character, an unwitting parks ranger for the Cape York region who stumbled upon four-wheel drives and armed individuals allegedly harvesting foxtail palm seeds worth between $5 and $6 each on the black market. Very cleverly, as a former Vietnam veteran, he waited until they were away from their cars and actually drove away with their four-wheel drives, leaving them completely stranded with their foxtail palms and no way of getting out. Later, when asked how exactly he stole their cars, he said, ‘The keys were in the ignition’—so little did they expect to find a Vietnam vet and barefooted park ranger who would manage to leave them completely stranded.

Of course, Pat’s fate from that event was sealed and the subject of a documentary. What is lesser known from that Cape Melville affair is that Pat Shears to this day remains in Cape Tribulation helping out tourists, offering hospitality and looking after stations and other areas when requested or required by locals who need a break in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Typically, when Mr Shears is there, he will say: ‘What else can I check out for you? What’s going on? Is there anything suspicious or unusual?’

Among his stories is that one of the caves has the remnants of Portuguese explorers from the 17th century, including body armour—remnants deep in a cave which have been found and to this date remain in a secret location known only to a few Indigenous elders. There is hope that this important part of Australian history can one day be revealed.

But the other fascinating part of history that I would like to elaborate upon today is known as Communist Cave. This is like some sort of mystery novel—a place out the back of Townsville, the other side of Hidden Valley. The story begins in 1939, when there was a non-aggression pact signed between then Nazi Germany and Russia. That neutrality treaty resulted in the federal minister for information in Australia in 1940 announcing a total ban on a range of communist publications—the Tribune, the Communist Review, the Militant and the Red Star, among others. On 5 June 1940, after the fall of Paris, the Communist Party of Australia was declared illegal under the National Security (Subversive Associations) Regulations. As a consequence of this, clandestine printing operations were set up all around Australia. One of these was outside Townsville—no easy matter to do in those days. Printing presses were large and cumbersome items and these were carried on donkey right up deep into ravines, with them often having to backtrack to conceal their location. Sure enough, in 1940 a printing press was in operation in Thunderbolt Creek, just to the west of Mount Zero Station. It was used to print communist propaganda that was distributed around Townsville and to the tin miners, who numbered many hundreds in those days. There was a community of 200 Communist Party members in Hidden Valley at the time. The newspaper was actually titled the Spark, and of course it was a two-hour horse ride to bring these hand-printed newsletter and newspapers back to Townsville and secretly distribute them.

History, as it often does, turned again and, with the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1941 and Stalin turning to the West for help, the relationship with the communists changed somewhat and the ban on the Australian Communist Party was lifted; hence all printing ceased. All that activity stopped for nearly nine years until again, under Prime Minister Menzies, the communist dissolution bill was introduced. Again the printing started and, once again, when the referendum was defeated, printing stopped again.

Far be it from me to suggest that Communist Cave could be a great place for the Labor Party to do some branch building. If you do go back there you will be greeted not so much by hospitality or even a printing press, which appears to have disappeared, but by a hammer and sickle painted on the roof of the cave, as well as beds, mattresses, personal possessions, lamps, cooking utensils and rusting cans and bottles. It really is a faded reminder of turbulent years past and of Australia’s just as turbulent relationship with the Communist Party. This cave was found by Mr Patrick Shears after the recommendations of locals. It probably would have remained nothing more than rumour had it not been for his extraordinary determination to locate it. He even had—which he had hoped to keep secret—the locations written out by hand, and I have that here. I will be giving that to the Australian Museum.

There is a lesson. We have some extraordinary Australians who are doing incredible things. Parts of history just like this—and there are rumours around Cape York of many other fabulous and fantastic things yet to be uncovered—deserve to be remembered, recalled and recorded, as should the great work of Patrick Shears in that part of the world.

Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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—

Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And you survived.

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

And I survived. The miraculous one I survived was the 1996 election. After seven elections, it is a humbling experience every time, I have to say. It does not matter how often you confront the people, it is a humbling experience to know that they place their trust in you to do the right thing and to represent them, and it is an enormous honour that we all have the privilege of shouldering here. I am sure none of us in this room at the moment forgets that. Sometimes you wonder when you see some of the goings-on in parliament, but the truth is that, for all of us, it is a great honour.

I want to thank my campaign team. For those of us who are incumbents, sitting members, I think first and foremost you should acknowledge your staff. For those of us who are incumbents, this is not an election campaign you conduct in the last three or four weeks; it is a three-year activity. The people are judging you on what you do every day. As federal members, we spend half of our lives in Canberra and another four or five weeks roaming the country with committees or as ministers or as shadow ministers, and we rely very heavily on our staff. I have been blessed with high-quality staff. Rod Kendall has been the glue that has held things together in my campaigns and in my office and is a good friend. Shirley Fallows has worked with me now for 17 years of the 18 years I have been a member of parliament. I also thank Lynda Fraser and Alison Donohue. I pay special thanks to my campaign director, Terry Evans, an old mate of mine from teaching days, who continues to give many, many hours of his free time to a cause that he believes in fervently, which is the Labor Party and the trade union movement. Whatever our politics, we are all blessed with individuals like Terry, without whom we would find it extraordinarily difficult to get elected in the first place. Above all, though, I want to thank my family. They end up suffering more than anybody else. It is always hard on the family, and if you have a partner and you have children then the partner has that added burden of trying to do all of the things that both parents would normally be doing in a conventional setting.

I do not know about anyone else, but when I am 1,000 kilometres away trying over the phone to discipline kids or get them to do homework I have found it a fairly daunting task. I owe my wife, Cathy, more than I can ever say or repay. She has put up with far more than I would have in her shoes. My three kids who are now adults and our young teenage son have had to deal with a lot of ups and downs in having a politician for a father. There are the good days when they think their dad is a good bloke and the other days when they want to have a go at him. It is not all jam and biscuits for them. We owe a great debt to our families, and I want to take this opportunity to thank my family in that context.

Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I heartily endorse the comments of the member for Brisbane. In many respects, parts of my speech follow his. I am sure Cathy is a saint, and you can tell her I said that.

It gives me a tremendous amount of gratification to stand in the chamber today, symbolically at the start of my sixth term—because we have been going for six months—and give this address-in-reply to the Governor General’s speech. Like those of many members, my electorate underwent a radical change of electoral boundaries in the recent redistribution in Queensland. Hinkler shed the industrial city of Gladstone and many of its outlying rural communities, and I was allocated the busy city of Hervey Bay to the south as well as the satellite townships to its west. This represented a 44 per cent change to my old electorate—that is almost a new electorate. Fortunately, I was under the same TV umbrella, so people knew who I was. That was to some extent helpful. But it was a big alteration to the electorate of Hinkler and probably the most significant since its inception in 1983-84.

I was sad to lose Gladstone. That might sound strange—I suppose the member for Brisbane would say it sounds a bit strange—and I am not afraid to say I was a little apprehensive when I first took on Gladstone. It had a reputation as a robust industrial town, but I found quite a different dynamic when I got there: well-trained young technocrats and highly focused process workers who were not going to be pushed around by union officials and shop stewards. They had minds of their own, as was demonstrated in one of the very early EBAs—I do not think we even called them that in those days—when they had a referendum in the plant and, as I remember it, the workers voted 83 per cent to 17 per cent in favour of going into the EBA. That was significant, and obviously they were thinking of their futures when they did that.

Most workers were prepared to give me a go, and local families appreciated the stability and security afforded by the coalition government. Over time, I built my vote in Gladstone to 48.6 per cent because the region was getting what it needed from the coalition government in infrastructure and social programs. The coalition funded the Port Access Road to the tune of $7½ million, Calliope River Road and Landing Road to $4.1 million, Callemondah Overpass to $3 million and Kirkwood Road to $12.7 million. The coalition recognised the special needs of young, working Gladstone families and invested $3 million in developing an early childhood project for Gladstone under the Communities for Children program. It was significant there because it is a young community and it is also a transient community. The coalition delivered economic security to all Gladstone families by investing in major industries and companies like Comalco. At one plant alone, even after the construction phase, 600 jobs were created.

These investments in turn created other jobs that kept the boom going in Gladstone, and it is still going today. As well as Gladstone and Calliope, the coastal communities of Agnes Water and the town of Seventeen Seventy, along with the hinterland towns of Miriam Vale and Rosedale, moved out of my electorate and into Flynn. Again the rapid population growth in these areas gave them special needs in terms of infrastructure and I was proud to have helped deliver millions for safer roads, mobile coverage for the region and a healthcare centre. They had absolutely no healthcare facilities there at all.

The environment is particularly important to local residents because of the region’s natural scenic beauty and emerging tourism industry, so various programs like Green Corps, Envirofund and Regional Partnerships were put to good use in maintaining the region’s pristine environment. The Hinkler electorate also lost the thriving rural towns of Monto, Eidsvold, Gayndah, Mundubbera, Mount Perry, Gin Gin, which also moved into the new seat of Flynn. These smaller centres were the true blue heartland of the old Hinkler—some would say true National Party country—relying primarily on agriculture and small business for the health of their local economies, with tourism becoming a more prominent feature. It was difficult to say goodbye to each of these communities and I urge the new member for Flynn to do everything in his power to keep delivering for them, because a small project in one of those towns has quite a significant effect on the whole community.

Turning from the old Hinkler to the new, the seat remains one of the most diverse electorates in the country, incorporating the sugar and small crop city of Bundaberg in the north, the growing city of Hervey Bay in the south—with its emerging tourist industry—and the coastal communities and rural centres in between, as well as Biggenden and Woocoo. Each community has its own distinct character. They have pressing needs and unique challenges—the City of Hervey Bay, particularly so.

A generation ago, Hervey Bay was a group of small coastal communities with a total population of about 7,000 or 8,000. It was a little bit like the Gold Coast. In the past 30 years, those villages have grown together and today the city has a population of upwards of 50,000 people, many of them young families and, at the other end, many retirees. Its natural growth pattern, a long and narrow corridor hugging the coastline, has created unique transport problems. It is a bit like the Gold Coast except that it goes east-west, and that means you have these long thin corridors. I think the urbanised part is about 14 to 15 kilometres wide, which means you have long thin corridors, and we do not have enough of them. There is an urgent need for big-ticket road projects to ease traffic congestion and cut down on travelling time from one end of the town to the other. And there is an equivalent need for social and civic infrastructure. Because the town has expanded so quickly, councils have not been able to keep up with the demands of infrastructure, and there is a need for government intervention.

The coalition recognised and responded to that clear need, pledging $9.3 million for three separate road projects: $5.6 million to realign Urraween Road, $2.8 million to complete River Heads Road and $900,000 to complete Old Toogoom Road. These were three of the arterial roads I was describing before. I cannot say how disappointed I was that the Labor candidate neglected to commit to these urgent projects. These projects are vital for the future development of the Hervey Bay region, given the increasing popularity of the area with families, retirees and tourists.

The city also badly needs a new community centre. It does not have anything like a community centre. It has a neighbourhood centre, which was a home that was donated some 20 or more years ago and its capacity to provide services such as limited hours of childcare, counselling, youth mentoring programs and quasi-medical activities is being outstripped by the area’s growth rate. The coalition was prepared to back the construction of a new centre with $1½ million of a $5 million anticipated outlay. Again, the Labor government has left this project high and dry.

I cannot say what a huge disappointment this is for the families of Hervey Bay. I promise you, I will keep fighting for this funding even from the opposition benches. It really has to be done. To leave 30 community groups and quasi-medical organisations without a home is unacceptable.

The people of Hervey Bay gave me their strong endorsement on 24 November 2007 and for that I thank them profusely. Hinkler resisted Queensland’s ALP swing of 8.5 per cent, especially Wide Bay, but my margin was stripped to 1.7 per cent. Hinkler has always been a tough seat, although I did not expect it would be quite so tough in the recent election. In three close elections, my margins have been as little as 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, and on one occasion was less than 0.1 per cent. Other than the Keating election, 1996, I have never had the luxury of a ‘safe’ seat. Hinkler has always come down to the wire. This was perhaps the sweetest victory of all—to paraphrase Paul Keating.

Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Georgiou interjecting

Paul Neville (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. Many people played a role in helping me to hold Hinkler. First and foremost was my wife Margaret, who has been my strongest supporter throughout my political career. She is politically alert. She listens to things, to radio bulletins, she types letters and doorknocks with me. She is a very keen political observer. My campaign director, Rod Wilson, has now seen me through six elections and his guidance and counsel have always been the mainstay of our Hinkler campaigns. He worked closely with my deputy campaign directors, Dick Bitcon, Alf Bonanno and Lin Powell, who were dedicated in their duties in the three areas of the electorate, and also Betty Reddacliffe, who was a wonderful campaign treasurer. She watched every cent and the campaign came in on the positive side. I have—as the member for Brisbane said of his staff—been singularly blessed with excellent and experienced staff. Led by Lesley Smith, my staff of Heather Hawkins, Leanne Ruge, Kate Barwick, Rosina Johnson and Janelle Geddes worked tirelessly on the campaign, doing everything behind the scenes to make sure we got the right result on the day. As the member for Brisbane said, it is really a three-year campaign.

Sadly, both Lesley and Leanne have left my employ—Lesley because of the new government staffing outcomes which have deprived the National Party of a whip’s clerk, and Leanne because, due to the redistribution, I am not entitled to a second office in the new seat. Lesley has been my office manager and sounding board ever since I first won the seat in 1993. She is a lady of great humour, great patience and great skill. I cannot speak highly enough of her contribution to my political and constituent successes. Our entire office misses her greatly.

The same can be said of Leanne Ruge, who single-handedly ran my Gladstone office and gave quality contact to the entire Gladstone region. There are many other people to thank—too numerous to mention by name. I thank each and every one of those who assisted me, especially those who spent countless hours putting up the corflutes when they were knocked over, and the like, planning functions and especially manning the polling booths. ‘Team Hinkler’ put in a tireless effort for the months before the campaign proper commenced and continued to work nonstop up to the victory.

I must admit that my Labor opponent’s campaign never recovered from an early gaffe in Hervey Bay, calling the Australian-resident mother of a British soldier serving in Afghanistan a ‘Pommy warmonger’. That was an unforgivable statement that quite understandably upset Rosemary Arthurs and her husband Tom. I do not care what your view is on these particular issues or policies; there is never any excuse for name-calling or personal insult, much less to those whose children serve our country or its allies.

I would like now to talk about what lies ahead for the people of Hinkler. Last night’s budget was a huge disappointment for my electorate. Not one significant road project received funding and no helping hand was extended to local communities. Surf clubs will receive a water tank while the partly completed Elliot Heads Surf Life Saving Club, which needs more money for completion, rusts away. In fact, much-needed funding for two community building projects under Regional Partnerships is at risk. Bear in mind that both the projects I am about to talk about are not flash in the pan ones that were confected for the election campaign; they are longstanding campaigns that have been well assessed but have been under a cloud of indecision for some time.

The first Bundaberg project in the firing line is the expansion of the excellent Austchilli operation. This is the biggest chilli operation in Australia both in terms of fresh product and processed product. It is a tribute to the hard work of David de Paoli, his general manager, Ian Gaffel, and their staff. Austchilli was to receive $650,000 to help stage 2 of its development of an innovative food processing activity. This was a high-pressure sterilising method. What it does is add considerable shelf life to products. That particular process would have been the first in Australia. It was the first time that the technology was available to us and it would have opened up opportunities for small crop growers, technical service providers, job seekers and so on. In fact, it would have created 26 full-time equivalent jobs in the Bundaberg area.

A full six months after the funding had been approved, Austchilli’s hopes sank—they sank last night in fact—when it appeared that this was one of the projects to be axed. Uncertainty has caused the company to shed six staff positions and it has missed out on lucrative contracts, including one which would have seen the company provide avocado product to all the restaurants in the Subway chain.

A more insidious effect, which has just been brought to my attention, is the fact that Australia now will have to import this avocado product from Mexico. Interestingly, Queensland’s Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, a Labor minister I might add, implored her federal colleague to resolve the situation in Austchilli’s favour. In a letter, state minister Desley Boyle says, ‘This project has significant commercial outcomes for the region, both for domestic retail and food service growth and the export advantages this project would have for the region. I am keen to have this matter resolved as quickly as possible.’

The second Bundaberg based project is different in nature but no less important. The Lake Ellen heritage hub is a playground, bicycle safety training course, bicycle skills course and a heritage hub. It brings the community together in a multitude of playground and learning experiences. It celebrates multicultural diversity in Bundaberg and is quite significant to the sugar industry. It had a grant of $236,500 approved under Regional Partnerships program to help purchase playground equipment but has been left in limbo again because of last night’s decision. In fact, it has the Commonwealth’s badging on the fence—actually on the fence. So the Commonwealth does not mind taking credit for it, but is not going to come up with the dough.

Bundaberg City Council committed $150,000 for the project, the Queensland government $215,000 and local community organisations $125,000. But the Commonwealth’s component—as I said, $236,500—is up in the air. The biggest concern for the local community is that the playground equipment has already been purchased and most of it installed. What happens now if the approved Commonwealth funding—I use ‘approved’ in inverted commas—disappears? The project has already received strong corporate in-kind support and the local community will now be put in a position where the same benefactors may have to pick up some of the government’s slack. There is an enormous amount of anxiety about these two projects in the Bundaberg area. The local media has rallied to the cause and many families are pinning their hopes on the new Labor government living up to its mantra about caring for working families.

Not so long ago, on 16 November last year, the then Labor spokesman for regional services, Simon Crean, said on the 2 pm news on radio 4BC: ‘If they’—meaning the Regional Partnerships projects—‘have merit, if they have been approved, we will tick them off.’ Six months on, for heaven’s sake, when will the government confirm its promises? We already know of one project in Hervey Bay which has been axed—the fishermen’s hall of fame, which would have incorporated the Fraser Coast heritage centre and the Hervey Bay Experience. The centre would have been an iconic attraction for the Fraser Coast and its environment, with links to migrating whales, Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Strait. It is ironic that the state Labor government has forced the Traveston dam on these people while the federal Labor government has taken an iconic attraction away. These are important projects to the people in my community and I implore the government to reconsider its position.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been said by those in the know that if you change the government you change the country. I think the events of the last few months show that to be an incontrovertible fact. Since the people of Australia entrusted Kevin Rudd and his team with government, totemic changes have taken place, not least in this place.

From the first essential step on the road to recovering Australia’s environmental credibility—ratification of the Kyoto protocol—to the apology to the stolen generations, the first 100 days of this government, chalked up during the previous sitting period, were remarkably significant. We have just had the budget announcements, including two matters that are very dear to my heart and very dear to my electorate: the increase to the childcare tax rebate and the 38 childcare centres that are to be built with federal government support. These measures address the rational economic need to get highly skilled women back into the workforce and the needs of children and families in our area. These are two wonderful developments as far as the people of Melbourne Ports are concerned. It is wonderful to show that with a democratic system we can change the country when we change the government.

It is now up to us on this side of the House to implement the policies we fought so long and hard for—to simply be in the position to give effect to policies for ordinary Australians which were emphatically endorsed on 24 November. I want to thank all of the people who worked on my campaign in Melbourne Ports: my campaign director, Garth Head; the campaign office manager, Rami Stiglic; my staff—Tony Williams, Tonya Stevens, Sima Kotliar, Donna Walsh, Andrew Porter, Desmond Ko, Constantina Dertimanis, Jonathan Curtis, Sylvia Freeman, Morry Ross—and all of the other wonderful people who helped me achieve a seven per cent margin, which is the highest margin Melbourne Ports has had for the Labor Party since it was redistributed on the current boundaries in 1990. Given the fact that Melbourne Ports is now one of the wealthiest by per capita income seats in the country, that is a remarkable demographic and psephological achievement.

Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It must be the member.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Whatever it is, I am pleased. As you know, Madam Deputy Speaker, this job has its ups and downs. We are all privileged to represent the areas we know and love. It warms my heart to see new colleagues from far and wide sitting in this chamber with me, including the member for Dobell, who has returned to this place. I am particularly honoured to be joined by the new members for Eden-Monaro, Corio, Maribyrnong and Isaacs. Equally, I welcome other new members to this place, and I welcome the return of my good friend Senator Jacinta Collins to the Senate yesterday and the imminent addition of my longstanding friend David Feeney, who won the third place in the Victorian Senate vote.

Mike Kelly, the new member for Eden-Monaro, is a former head of army legal and a full colonel and holds a PhD in international law. As he has already demonstrated, he will be an adornment to this place as parliamentary secretary to the honourable member for Hunter. Richard Marles, the former assistant secretary of the ACTU—an institution that has campaigned tirelessly against laws that until so recently those opposite seemed to be doing an hourly volte-face on—is as bright and decent a person as you will meet and the people of Geelong are very lucky to have him as their representative. I am sure he will go on to great things in this place.

Bill Shorten, the President of the Victorian Branch of the ALP and formerly state and national secretary of this country’s oldest union, the AWU, is known by many not just for his years of standing up for workers all over Australia but particularly for his role and that of his union amidst the Beaconsfield mining disaster. Bill’s incredible role during that disaster was a surprise to some people. It was no surprise to me as someone who has known him since he was at university. He is currently in the role of Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services and I am sure that great future roles await him.

Mark Dreyfus not only is a brilliant Queen’s Counsel but a more capable person I do not think you could meet, particularly to chair the House Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. He will also have an extremely bright future in this place.

Senator Jacinta Collins, who served in the Senate from 1995 to 2005, has returned once more to ably serve the people of Victoria. Jacinta is the former national industrial officer of the union whose members I proudly serve, the great Shop, Distributive and Allied Employee’s Union, or SDA for short, and was most recently in her Senate term the shadow minister for children and youth.

David Feeney, the Assistant National Secretary of the ALP and former Victorian state secretary, enters the Senate on 1 July also as a senator for Victoria. David is a tremendously talented individual and will no doubt contribute to debate in the other place with his trademark wit and encyclopaedic knowledge. Like all of those I have mentioned, David is a measure of the wealth of talent we have in the Labor Party, not least in Victoria. We were blessed at the election with a wonderful team of people contesting seats in both the House and the Senate.

Just as this house is enriched by the addition of such talented and passionate parliamentarians, it is poorer for the loss of my good friend the member for Swan, Kim Wilkie. A tireless servant of the people of Swan, Kim could be seen most mornings here after a bike ride effortlessly carting his bike around the corridors of this house. He was one of the finest and hardest working individuals I have known in this place and he served with distinction on parliamentary committees, including the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. I wish him well for the future. It is the nature of politics, particularly with respect to legislative elections, that someone wins them and unfortunately someone does not. Many good people from all sides of politics are no longer in this place or will soon leave. I thank them, whatever their affiliation, for their contributions to this great institution and service to this country.

On an unambiguously happy note, I have recently notched up my own special achievement, which coincidentally took place in the first 100 days of the government. I married my partner of more than a decade, the delightful Amanda Mendes Da Costa, several hundred metres from where I stand, on Sunday, 24 February. This gave Amanda and me the tremendous joy of not just formally recognising our union but doing so in a traditional Jewish ceremony in the hallowed halls of our parliament. This happy event served as a powerful reminder, if I ever needed one, that this nation has given me and my forebears so much. Think of the immeasurably stark contrast between a state that actively persecutes you because of your family and because of who you are and what you believe in, and a state that welcomes and encourages diversity, a state whose parliament you proudly serve and where the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, colleagues, friends and family can celebrate your union and identity in parliament. This is one of the many reasons why I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I will never be short of reasons why I am proud to be an Australian.

I was first elected to this place a decade ago. The expression is, ‘Time flies when you are having fun.’ I can only say that I have relished the challenges and opportunities of representing such a diverse, rewarding and engaging electorate over this period. In my maiden speech, I spoke of Melbourne Ports being an electorate where some people struggled to find their next meal while others almost next door struggled to make their next million. It remains much the same today, with probably even stronger contrasts.

I, for one, welcomed the Prime Minister’s injunction, incumbent upon Labor MPs upon the election of this government, that they should visit the less fortunate in their communities, particularly homeless centres. Around the corner from my office, in Grey Street, is the Sacred Heart Mission, an organisation that I have had a great deal of involvement with during my time as the member for Melbourne Ports. The mission and its saintly staff—I would describe them that way—tirelessly cater for an ever-increasing number of needy locals while a street away you will find cavernous, beautiful Victorian mansions reflective of this disparity. The mission itself caters, on Boxing Day, for some 600 people in their dining room so that people who are in less fortunate circumstances eat something healthy—in fact, have something to eat at all—on that day.

Most of us have thankfully moved on from the old era of class warfare; however, I firmly believe that we should not allow entire sections of the community to fall by the wayside in a time of ever-increasing, visible prosperity. We should not punish those amongst us who have been blessed with opportunity and those of us who have worked hard to attain a lifestyle of our choosing. We should, however, ensure that this remains an egalitarian society—a land of opportunity whose shores have become renowned for that egalitarianism. I commend the Prime Minister for his timely focus on this issue, after many years of coalition indifference.

It is not always the case that there are opportunities in our society, with a growing gap between rich and poor. Housing affordability is a growing concern to millions of Australians, whether they are in a nuclear family or not. Anyone who is working hard to pay off their own home and own their slice of the increasingly expensive Australian dream knows full well that the ‘she’ll be right’ mentality of the Howard government—they were the greatest friends of inflation, as the Treasurer said today—which derided inflation and the growing pressure on interest rates as a mere fantasy, affects most of us in one way or another. Most of us in this place—indeed, many people of the average age of most parliamentarians—have been hit less hard than some. But all of us know someone who has been affected by the dramatic increases in the average price of houses, not to mention the Peter Pan-like Never-Never Land low interest rate promises of the former Prime Minister. I do not need to be told of the political value of flying the flag on this issue; I have two children who will be faced with this issue in the not-too-distant future, as will countless young Australians. Many of the things that we do in this place have little impact on the world at large, but thankfully many do. I hope in this 42nd Parliament we will be able to do our best to improve the affordability of housing. I am confident that the first budget of the Rudd government brought down yesterday will help achieve that aim.

To be able to continue in government in this role of advancing the interests of all your constituents is of particular satisfaction, especially for those of us who have only known opposition during our elected lives. In the long years of opposition we adhered to the core values of our party and protected the interests of working families, something we will strive to do in government. The coalition, by contrast, seem determined to eat their young and their middle-aged. If the member for Wentworth succeeds in his preparation of his Nelson hors d’oeuvres—accompanied by a fine glass of Henschke, no doubt—it will be a doubly auspicious 2008. Let them continue to abandon their policies that they claim to be essential to this nation. Not only did they spend hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on their own misguided social experiments, they disowned a core belief the moment it was tested, re-embraced it and then disowned it once more.

One wonders what other conservative fixtures will become non-core—not least the Leader of the Opposition, particularly after the member for Wentworth recently repeatedly ruled out ruling out a leadership challenge—quite a mouthful! While those opposite continue to bicker, and the figures who used to ridicule the Labor Party for its own soul searching at times treat the parliament with contempt, it is time that we wondered about the future of the member for Higgins. It is a shame that his genuine desire to lead did not lead him, first, to have the guts to challenge for the leadership of his own party, then face an election and put his cards on the table—something both the member for Bennelong and the member for Griffith had the character and determination to do. Instead, as he and his colleagues busy themselves with anything from reading job ads to playing golf, we will get on with the business of delivering better and greater opportunities for ordinary Australians.

On the issue of the most expensive and short-lived social experiment in the history of the Commonwealth, the Frankenstein-like Work Choices legislation: anecdotes about this legislation are too familiar for any fan of Yes, Prime Minister to make use of. We could do a lot of point-scoring on this issue but, despite the views of the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition, I am sure the plans for such legislation will not rise from the dead. Those opposite failed in their scare campaign targeting unions and many of my parliamentary colleagues as something akin to ‘Reds under the beds’. It is very funny to think of Richard Marles and Bill Shorten in that context.

The Liberal Party spent obscene amounts of this nation’s treasure on advertising, pushed by their national secretariat and road-tested by Crosby Textor. They did this, in itself a repugnant thing. The money that all of us gave to government as part of the social contract to which we all subscribe they spent on flogging a dead horse—plainly scandalous. The Work Choices legislation tore fairness and flexibility from workers, ensured bargaining power was not remotely even but was vested predominantly in employers and, strangely for an item on a Tory to-do list, created an army of bureaucrats, agencies and regulators. This was the towering Everest of legislative farce. Had it been more farcical, it would have deserved a place in Monty Python’s repertoire alongside the dead parrot sketch. As we move forward with fairness and consign AWAs to the dustbin of history, we take great satisfaction knowing that ordinary people will be all the more secure in planning their working futures.

One of the enduring challenges of this country and indeed of all countries in the years ahead is the threat of climate change. In his first official act as Prime Minister, the member for Griffith demonstrated the commitment of this government to take decisive action and show leadership in combating climate change. Ratification of the Kyoto protocol was an essential first step in bringing Australia into line with the scientific consensus, as well as that of the broader international community, that this is something that needs to be seriously combated. Australia may well have been meeting its Kyoto commitments, but these were uniquely generous targets negotiated by the previous government as a kind of sovereign equivalent of a get-out-of-jail card—apologies to Parker Brothers, Madam Deputy Speaker, but that is the way it was. Yes, we got a good deal, but at what price? We obtained a short-term benefit by squandering the opportunity to use our resources and our good offices to deal with this problem at the earliest opportunity, making it all the harder for our children to tackle the problem. There must be no more environmental window-dressing in place of real action to tackle climate change.

I have no doubt that it will be difficult for us to do our part—this time, to genuinely carry our weight in reducing emissions. President Kennedy said, speaking of the space program, ‘We do these things not because they are easy; we do these things because they are hard.’ Essentially, things which are easy to do would have been done, and many things which are tough are all the more worth while for being so. There would be no debate if there had always been a broad consensus in the political and diplomatic arenas on the clear problems in this area and a clear solution.

This has also forced Australia to show leadership in this area. Australia enjoys close ties with nations which, like the Howard government, eschewed the Kyoto framework, as well as with developing countries who understandably have qualms over the impact that dramatic cuts in emissions would have on their expanding, energy-hungry economies. The former have concerns over the cost of emission cuts and insist that the latter, not least in consideration of the current size of emissions and projected increases thereof, should not be exempt. The latter type of countries maintain, understandably, that it is unfair that they should forgo the essential elixirs of the Industrial Revolution and fossil fuels, and they look askance at agreements that do not include several of the world’s richest and most polluting countries. This is understandable but, at the same time, is a potential catch 22 that affects us all.

Agreement must be reached and soon. It is simply not feasible to continue along an exponentially increasing emissions path. Whatever gratitude we have to the inventor of the internal combustion engine, we cannot continue down this path. There needs to be a balance struck between the environment and economic enfranchisement of the billions of the world’s poor. If you live in the Ganges Delta and have been lifted out of poverty, no amount of money is going to be of any use to you if you and several millions of your neighbours find yourselves up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Climate change and the issues that surround it are the most common issues that my constituents express concerns over. I receive emails and letters on a daily basis demonstrating the degree of concern within the community. I have spoken on this issue of climate change repeatedly during my parliamentary career, including before it was fashionable to do so. If I am ever fashionable, it is usually fashionably late. We will continue to show leadership at home on this issue and we will continue to work at building a consensus abroad. Again in my view it is a no-brainer. We can stick our heads in the sand, hope the issue will go away and pretend it will not affect us. We will probably be long gone by the time the 2050 emission targets are realised, but my children will be around, as will many of our younger constituents and the children and grandchildren of others. We have no choice other than to confront this issue head on if we want our country and our planet to remain as livable as we would have them be. It is a moral, political and economic imperative and one the Australian Labor Party is fully seized of.

I commend this government to the House and I am especially proud of some of the challenges that I outlined at the beginning of my remarks that were outlined in the budget, particularly as they affect the good citizens of Melbourne Ports.

Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This gives me an opportunity in this free-ranging debate to reflect on the good fortune I have had to be appointed by the Prime Minister to the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs. In our long period of opposition, the former Howard government did not follow the practice of its predecessor of having a designated minister or parliamentary secretary responsible for Pacific island relationships. In that, they cut themselves aside from the practice that had been put into place when Gareth Evans was foreign minister and who worked with his counterpart, the minister for Pacific island affairs, Gordon Bilney. As events happen and coincidence permits, I have just come from a discussion with Gordon Bilney, who is attending the parliament as one of the former members returning to take part in the ceremonial events that are occurring this evening.

But it did give me an opportunity to reflect on the 11 years where we rather lost track of our best interests in terms of our relationships with the Pacific. Indeed, by the time the Rudd government took office, we had difficult relationships not only with Fiji, where that is quite understandable, given that there has been a coup and Fiji is governed by an interim regime with a military characteristic, which we are seeking to encourage in its commitment to return to civilian rule by March 2009. I think all members of the House and the parliament as a whole and the community would wish well all those of goodwill who would come together towards that objective and to assist in facilitating the good health of the people of Fiji under a form of government that can be sustained, that removes itself from the cycle of coups that has benighted that country and where we can resume the full measure of goodwill and enthusiasm in terms of our relationship that many Australians would undoubtedly wish to see. Many Australians have good experiences of travelling to Fiji, they have experienced the hospitality of the Fijian people and they would share the concern and regret of the Australian government that, as matters currently stand, it is difficult for us to return to circumstances where the people of Fiji could have the same changed opportunities that will flow to the rest of the Pacific as a result of the approach of the Rudd government, so exemplified by the Port Moresby Declaration announced early in the term of this government by the Prime Minister.

Not only were our relationships with Fiji difficult when we came to government but also we had very strained relationships with the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and a number of other Pacific island neighbours. It was obvious that quite a deal of work needed to be undertaken to reconcile our strategic interests, and our regional interests as a good neighbour, with our election commitment to improve Australia’s standing and to increase our commitment to good governance across the whole of the Pacific. A very good start could be made because of two circumstances: firstly, the early initiative of our Prime Minister to take aside Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare on the edge of the Bali negotiations on climate change and to re-establish respectful and serious discussion with Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare about the need to restore effective relationships between our two countries; and, secondly, a change of government in the Solomon Islands, which we responded to very promptly when the new Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands visited Australia, determined to turn a new leaf in that relationship and make a fresh start.

Those events were followed by a visit to Papua New Guinea by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He took the occasion to announce—with the full agreement and, I think, enthusiastic support of the government of Papua New Guinea—our new approach to the Pacific, which is exemplified in the partnership arrangements that we are proposing to enter into. For those who are interested in more detail, the announcement and the terms of the Port Moresby Declaration are publicly available, and they are a very useful summary of the way in which the new government intends to approach its relationships with the Pacific.

Those initiatives, and the visit of the Prime Minister to the Solomon Islands following them, have been complemented by visits by my colleague the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, in travels with me throughout the region and to a number of Pacific island countries and, of course, by the very important delegations which have been led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, most significantly, led two Australian delegations: one to a meeting of Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers in Auckland about Fiji and one to the groundbreaking Madang ministerial forum, where Australian and Papua New Guinean ministers sat down together to re-establish what had been effectively a broken relationship after a long period of difficulty.

This budget, which was announced just yesterday, gives us the opportunity to consolidate the steps forward that have been made. There is no doubt that, right throughout the Pacific, people are really reflecting on the changed approach of Australia. They are seeing Australia in a different light. They have welcomed the initiative of the Prime Minister in the Port Moresby Declaration, and we are already moving to serious discussions and negotiations on the first of what we hope will be partnership agreements with each of the Pacific island countries, beginning with two: Papua New Guinea and Samoa. Of course, simple resources do not permit parallel negotiations with each of the Pacific island countries at the same time, but we would like to move as promptly as possible to complete a schedule of negotiations across the whole of the Pacific, because what we would wish to do is to engage with our Pacific neighbours in a respectful dialogue which enables them and us to identify issues of common interest, to work through any areas where we have difficulty and then to agree to a framework which has mutual responsibilities and obligations—where we will provide substantially increased funding over the course of the coming years—and to support initiatives that are agreed by the countries that we are entering into partnership relationships with.

The aim of the exercise, of course, is to move closer to the Millennium Development Goals that all countries have signed up to and, where countries have the capacity to achieve those goals or to exceed them, to move them further in directions that enhance their development opportunities. But, as most members of this House would know, many countries of the Pacific have been falling behind rather than going ahead in their attempts to achieve the MDGs and there is a lot of work to be done. It is no easy thing to suggest that we will be able to reach the MDGs in the time frames required, but we will certainly be doing all we can to move as effectively as we can towards that objective.

The budget this year lays the foundation for implementing the government’s long-term commitments to increase Australia’s official development assistance to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015-16. Australia will provide an estimated $3.7 billion in ODA in 2008-09, increasing our ratio from 0.30 per cent in 2007-08 to 0.32 per cent in 2008-09. We expect to increase Australia’s ODA levels equivalent to 0.35 per cent of GNI in 2009-10, 0.37 per cent of GNI in 2010-11 and 0.38 per cent of GNI in 2011-12—and, of course, on to the 0.5 target that we have set.

These figures represent very substantial increases in our opportunity to provide practical assistance. If we look just at the budget in PNG and the Pacific, the 2008-09 budget substantially increases funding as a first step in implementing the new partnerships for development, which I have referred to. Estimated Australian official development assistance to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific will total just under $1 billion in 2008-09, an increase of $123.4 million or 14 per cent over the 2007-08 expected outcome. That will enable increased assistance with key development challenges in the region, including basic health, education and improved governance.

I will return to three specific measures that are focused on Papua New Guinea and the Pacific but mention before I do so three other funding areas that will be increased in our overseas direct assistance which will also have direct consequences in benefits to the Pacific. There is a program designed to address clean water and sanitation. This program is not unique to the Pacific but of course can be drawn down within the Pacific. It will include an urban water and sanitation component, a rural water and sanitation component and a water security component which will extend successful partnerships in Asia and the Pacific region to better protect and manage freshwater resources. It is a crucial issue and it links of course to the climate change issue that the member for Melbourne Ports mentioned. We are acutely aware of the concerns in our region about the impacts that it will face as a result of the most recent projections of sea level change and ocean acidification and the consequences that may flow from that.

There is also a broader program to fight avoidable blindness in the region. Australia of course, through the work and leadership of Fred Hollows, has a properly deserved reputation as being willing to give generous support for dealing with avoidable blindness. In line with its pre-election commitments, the government will be investing $45 million over two years to eliminate avoidable blindness in the region.

The third area that I might mention by way of general commitments is adaptation to climate change. We will be investing $150 million over three years, with $35 million in 2008-09, to meet the high-priority climate adaptation needs of vulnerable countries in our region.

So these are very big initiatives, with substantial dollars behind them, which can link into the discussions we are having on partnerships. They will certainly be extremely welcome.

I will turn briefly to three areas specific to the Pacific region that all of my colleagues, from the Prime Minister to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, have been extremely concerned about. There will be an infrastructure facility fund. A new Pacific regional infrastructure facility will invest $127 million over four years, with $5.5 million in 2008-09, which will enable improvements in basic infrastructure services in the Pacific. The facility is intended to provide performance-linked support for basic infrastructure services in Pacific island countries, in combination with multilateral development banks and potentially other donor partners.

We are aware from our discussions at Madang that countries of the region identify infrastructure weaknesses as one of the key areas that they wish to put on the table as part of any partnership agreement. Of course, the elements that each country might advance for our consideration under a partnership arrangement will differ from country to country. One of the clear indications we have given in negotiations and discussions with the region is that we are not seeking to impose a one-size-fits-all partnership. The nature of a partnership means dialogue; it means listening to and respecting the views of the country when we are discussing their future with them and it means shaping our partnerships to respect, deal with and integrate the aspirations of those countries. But it does seem very clear, at least in the case of Papua New Guinea—and I would be very surprised if it were not the case in many of the other Pacific islands; certainly, it is true for the Solomon Islands and a number of other Pacific countries, from the preliminary discussions that I have had with them—that infrastructure is seen as one of the keys to economic development. That infrastructure fund and its capacity to integrate other donors and multilateral lending institutions seems to be a very important initiative which could build very strong outcomes.

Secondly, in relation to specific commitments, I might mention the Pacific public sector capacity program. There will be $107 million invested as part of a four-year initiative, Investing in Pacific Public Sector Capacity, with $6 million in 2008-09 to strengthen public sector administration in the Pacific. That will address a key impediment to poverty reduction by helping to improve service delivery and enable growth. The Australian government have become very aware that we need to have partners with an effective capacity to deliver—that means effective governance—and that improving public sector performance will require long-term coordinated responses to tackle institutional causes of poor performance while also providing immediate assistance to improve individual and institutional capacity in priority areas.

Working alongside partner governments, the initiative will establish strong and enduring partnerships between Australia and the region, particularly between governments and tertiary institutions. It will also systematically address public workforce development needs across the region, providing workforce development assistance to address priority organisational and individual capacity needs, especially in leadership and core skills such as administrative competencies, planning, budgetary and financial management. It will provide support for the planning and implementation of public sector reforms. I very much welcome the commitment of the government of Papua New Guinea at Madang and under the re-badged Strong in Government program a commitment to working closely with the Australian government in some arrangements at the highest level where Australian assistance will continue to be provided in strengthening government institutions’ governance in PNG.

Finally, I mention the Pacific Land Mobilisation Program which would involve $54 million invested over four years with $6.5 million in the coming year to protect customary land rights, promote economic and social development, and reduce potential for instability from land related conflicts. Everybody knows land title issues are complex and we would hope to assist in finding some effective solution that allows economic development with the least detriment and disruption possible, and that program is designed in that regard. (Time expired)

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to finally be able to deliver the comments that I wanted to make on the address-in-reply to the Governor-General’s speech. The last time I stood in this Main Committee it was to provide my own comments on the extension of the apology to the stolen generations and so it seems quite a while since I gave consideration to the Governor-General’s speech. Reviewing the notes that I had prepared at the time, I must say that given last night’s budget it is probably even more pleasurable to deliver my local perspective on the election results in my seat and the expectations of the local community on the new government forming the 42nd Parliament.

In light of that, I would like to take the opportunity to place on the record my appreciation to the electors in the division of Cunningham for re-electing me to be their representative in this place for another three years. As members would appreciate, the Labor Party lost the seat of Cunningham in a by-election to the Greens and I took it very seriously that we had to rebuild faith with the local population. So, for me, being re-elected by them and with a significantly increased margin is a great privilege, and I appreciate the faith that they have exhibited in me to continue doing that job in this place.

It was very strong support across the Illawarra region. I and my colleague Jennie George had swings in double-digit figures on our primary votes and I think that it reflected the fact that we took a suite of policies to the election that people felt were addressing the issues that were a concern for them and their families. We very much appreciate that they are putting a lot of trust in us to deliver on those for them.

There is indeed no greater honour than to be able to represent your local community and region in this place. At the last election I made the observation—and I repeat it here—that it is quite astounding when you look at the number of people who seek to sit in this place as a representative of the community. I think that something like 10 for every one of us that get elected have actually stood at the election. I still get that little thrill of anticipation when I come back after an election and realise that I have been given that great responsibility and I think that we should never forget as we come into this place that it is not only an enormous privilege but an enormous responsibility.

I have listened to many of the first speeches that were delivered over the initial sitting weeks by colleagues on both our side of the House and on the opposition side. I would like to put on record my congratulations to all of the new members. I thought that their speeches were quite inspiring. They were extremely varied. These are people from a wide variety of walks of life and experiences with all sorts of local perspectives and challenges that they were here to take up. I thought it was a particularly impressive group of new people coming into the parliament and I am sure they will make outstanding contributions over future years. I look forward to working with all of them.

The Governor-General’s speech at the opening of the 42nd Parliament outlined the new agenda for Australia’s future, and that agenda has already seen the passage through this place of a more balanced and fair industrial relations bill. In addressing that bill when it was before the parliament, I said that Australians know the differences very clearly between the industrial relations policies of the former government and this Labor government. There was certainly no mistake in my electorate, in the Illawarra region, about what that choice was. People were very profoundly committed to putting the fairness back into the industrial relations system. I have no doubt—and I am sure many of my colleagues on this side of the House would agree—that that was one of the most significant factors for them in deciding how they were going to place their vote. Many people in areas like ours have large mortgages. We are a very popular, wonderful part of the world. If nobody has been there, I would encourage you to come down to the Illawarra. Despite recent media commentary, it is a beautiful and wonderful place to be. Many people who live in the area had certainly been struggling with increasing mortgage payments and costs of living and quite clearly they were very fearful that their capacity to earn income was going to be affected. Additional incomes like overtime and penalty rates in particular were very important to them. So they gave us a very strong message that that was an important part of their decision on how to vote at the election.

There was also no mistake that Labor offered a better way forward on education policy. It is an issue that is very close to my own heart, having spent three years teaching high school and seven years in TAFE. A digital revolution was needed in our secondary schools. I have two sons who went through high school carrying those ubiquitous backpacks full of massive textbooks. I was very conscious of the fact that that experience was unlikely to be repeated at any point in their future life, because so much of what we do in the work world is now computer based. To be carrying a textbook, for example, that was supposed to be the holder and font of all knowledge that they would need on science was just outdated and was no longer a relevant approach to their education and their future. So the promise to provide computers for secondary students from years 9 to 12 I think was a really important commitment. I know it has its challenges, as any significant change like this does, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is a critical part of revolutionising our secondary education.

We also place an emphasis on skills and training. Over recent weeks, the government have already encouraged Australia’s secondary schools to apply for funding to establish new trade training centres. I am pleased to see that, for example, those centres can also include multimedia type centres, because we have a growing industry in multimedia, web design, film animation and those areas. Many young people need technical skills in those areas as well. I think that is an excellent initiative.

Not taking the skills shortage issue seriously had obviously contributed to inflationary build-ups and particularly to capacity constraints. That was brought home to me by the local mining industry, where apprentices had not been put on for many years. Some of the senior tradespeople were saying to me, ‘Well, they’d better start putting them on soon because I’m about to retire. Who’s going to train them?’

The other area that was important to local people was infrastructure. The Rudd government’s commitment to establish Infrastructure Australia was very well received. I was a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services in the previous parliament, and we did a substantive report called The great freight task: is Australia’s transport network up to the challenge? Sadly, the answer was no. We identified that there needed to be significant investment in freight movement, particularly if we were going to have some of that massive growth in the task moved from roads to rail. Given the issues around port access and competing demands on roads—increasingly, for people in cars as opposed to trucks—the committee believed that there was a great need to move much more of the freight on to rail. So that was a really important report, and I think it made some significant points. But the consistent message from many of those key players was that they wanted to see an independent national infrastructure planning body. I think that the Infrastructure Australia proposal will meet with a great deal of support.

In my own area in particular, Port Kembla has been expanding from a small port mainly used by BlueScope Steel and coal users—and including a dedicated facility for grain users—into a transformed facility to unload vehicles. It is soon to have some cargo container capacity as well. That expansion was funded by the New South Wales government. Around $140 million was invested. Sadly, the previous federal government did not put a great deal of money into that port expansion or the feeder avenues into it, either road or rail.

I travelled with the chair of the transport committee at the time, Paul Neville, up to his electorate. I remember saying to him, ‘I am going to choke you,’ when he kept pointing out to me all the federally funded roads and loops and things that he had in his electorate. But in the spirit of bipartisanship I have to say that he certainly did not hesitate to recommend that the port of Port Kembla needed some investment as well. So I was very pleased last night that the budget confirmed the initial funding that this government has committed in order to get a rail link from the Maldon-Dombarton line underway again—to have a look at the feasibility study and get it moving. It is a really good initiative.

I am very pleased to acknowledge that, from the beginning of this month, we have had an operating Medicare licence for the MRI machine at Wollongong Hospital. It is something that I have been banging on about, as the member for Gilmore would know, for quite a while.

Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You got it through us.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will acknowledge that five minutes before the election was called the previous government did announce the allocation of a licence. It was achieved not so much from my own efforts but from the fact that there were 17,000 local people who had been lobbying and signing petitions to say that they thought that that service was critically important. The medical arguments for it outweighed any of the political posturing, as we knew they would eventually. It is a good initiative and I am pleased that it is now operating at the hospital.

The other big issue that is critically important to me and that I am focused on working on over the term of this government is youth unemployment. We get into a bit of a debate sometimes about the actual figures. As we know, with statistics people can argue one way or the other as to which ones should or should not be used. But there is no doubt that if you look at the highest youth unemployment areas they tend to be coastal areas. It is probably for a whole lot of reasons but particularly to do with teenagers finding it much more difficult to travel for work. In our area we have an unsustainably high teenage unemployment rate. There has been very good work done on that by a local task force. I understand that they are to put a report out very soon. That particular task force report is going to provide us with some solid, well-researched background on where we might make a significant difference on teenage unemployment over the next three years. I want to acknowledge the financial contribution of BlueScope Steel and the University of Wollongong in making that research possible. I think we will all find it very valuable in policy formation. I thank the House for the opportunity to reply to the address of the Governor-General.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I rise to reply to the address of the Governor-General, I would like to start by thanking the people of Ballarat for again re-electing me as their representative to this place. Ballarat is a large and diverse electorate. I am absolutely delighted to be elected to represent such a wonderful community. I really do want to thank the people of Ballarat for again putting their faith in me. Running a campaign in a regional electorate poses a number of challenges. I would also like to thank my campaign team, my staff, ALP members and the many supporters for their hard work during that period.

There were a number of important commitments and promises that the Rudd Labor government made to our electorate that are vital for our future economic and social growth. These have now been well and truly delivered in our first budget last night. During the campaign, we committed to fund Anthony’s Cutting under the AusLink 2 funding agreement. This is a significant road project which will cut transport times, ease infrastructure bottlenecks and, most importantly, greatly increase the safety of the many people who use this road. Upgrading that part of the highway will have tangible benefits for the region. These include a projected saving in transport costs of $186 million, increased tourist traffic estimated at up to $7.5 million annually and a reduction in the number of accidents, injuries and fatalities along this section of road. The state government have also in the recent state budget reiterated their financial commitment to the project. This comes on the back of our long-term support for the Deer Park bypass, a project which is well and truly ahead of schedule and is nearing completion. The funding for AusLink 2 is provided to commence in the 2009-10 year and I certainly look forward to seeing that in the budget next year.

Another important infrastructure project that we committed to was the goldfields superpipe which, in a responsible and sustainable way, will help to provide the Ballarat region with a steady and reliable source of water. The Rudd Labor government, prior to the budget, already provided the $90 million in funding to actually complete this very important project. Unfortunately, it was attacked during the election campaign by the former Liberal government, yet it is a very, very crucial step in ensuring the availability of water in my electorate—and I do not just mean continuing water supply or that we are topping up our water supply; our water supply is currently at around eight per cent. The availability of water in the entire goldfields region is extremely important.

I am pleased to report to the House that the laying of the actual pipeline has been completed—Senator Penny Wong came and laid the final pipe herself; it was her first time on a piece of heavy equipment, which was good fun—and that we are a long way towards the goal of water security in Ballarat, with the testing of the pumps about to get underway. Water really is the life blood of any community and, with our commitment to the goldfields superpipe, we have acted to secure the water supply for Ballarat.

In the area of community infrastructure, we committed to a number of important projects. We committed $400,000 to the Bacchus Marsh Community Learning Centre, which will include within it a state-of-the-art library, an IT lounge and a community meeting place. The centre will give the Bacchus Marsh community better access to information and digital technology, and it will become a hub for community activity within Bacchus Marsh.

Also in the area of adult education, we committed $200,000 to the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre, which provides fantastic courses for adults in areas like computers, languages and cooking. The funding will go towards a much needed expansion and modernisation of the centre. Trentham Neighbourhood Centre and places like this are important and often overlooked aspects of the education system which will drive the essential acquisition of new skills by our local communities. As well as these important roles, the learning centre in Bacchus Marsh and the Trentham Neighbourhood Centre will become hubs for community activity in Bacchus Marsh and Trentham, allowing people from all around the community to come together not just to learn but to meet and to socialise.

Also in Bacchus Marsh, we committed the $500,000 needed to maintain the Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour, an important project honouring the sacrifice and service of the community’s First World War soldiers. The avenue, if anyone has not seen it, is one of the finest and most magnificent elm tree lined avenues in the world, and it is a unique and important part of the town of Bacchus Marsh. The avenue is one of Bacchus Marsh’s most recognisable attractions, but it has been under pressure recently due to the ageing of the trees and obviously also because of the drought. We have acted to ensure that the avenue is maintained and will be restored to its magnificent best.

The Rudd Labor government also has made the commitment to funding the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital, an important cog in the regional healthcare strategy and one in which I am very proud to be involved. Our government is committed to properly funding our hospitals and ending the blame game between the states and Commonwealth and improving healthcare delivery to rural and regional Australians. The $2 million we have provided will go towards providing much needed improvements to its facilities and to upgrade the facilities and the standard of care.

The government has also committed $1 million for the establishment of a GP superclinic in the township of Ballan, which will form a significant plank in the healthcare plan for the region. This funding is on top of the $400,000 regional medical infrastructure fund previously committed. Regional health care is a challenging policy area, and it requires a multifaceted approach. Distance, isolation and population dictate that a single hospital, however well resourced, is not enough to service a rural district. There needs to be a concerted effort from government to provide the full range, particularly of allied health services, that rural and regional areas require. The Rudd government has recognised this. Through initiatives such as the funding of the Ballan GP superclinic, we are acting to make sure that the people of rural and regional Australia have a good standard of health care, comparable to that received in the cities. They expect nothing more, and they deserve nothing less.

The Creswick visitor interpretive centre is an innovative initiative which we are also contributing $450,000 towards. Creswick is becoming more of a tourist attraction, with the advent of people moving to areas like Creswick for the lifestyle and its natural beauty. Just recently, we have had the opening of the Forest Resort, which is a five-star convention centre, hotel and resort in the township of Creswick. With new businesses such as these opening up, all from private investment, places like Creswick are becoming major tourist attractions in my district, and there is a need to focus and guide this tourist activity. Tourism is a very important part of the economy, and this information centre will help to facilitate expanded tourism in Creswick. Also, the facility will make sure that other businesses are getting a share of that tourism dollar.

We also committed $1.5 million towards the Ballarat Aquatic Centre. Health and physical fitness have become pressing concerns for both adults and children. Facilities like the aquatic centre are important places where the community can exercise in a safe, clean and well-managed environment. Exercise is not only a personal issue; it is a major public health imperative. We need to help build a society that places exercise and physical activity at the forefront of our health regime. The funding will expand a much-utilised facility in Ballarat and provide greater opportunities for participation in physical activity, particularly amongst our older residents.

We have also committed $100,000 to Ballarat Group Training, an important organisation addressing the skills shortages which have affected Ballarat as they have many other regions. Ballarat Group Training are providing a much needed space and forum for apprentices in Ballarat to come together and advise government and industry on issues specifically affecting them.

We have also delivered $300,000 to the Ballarat business incubator, an organisation that will help small businesses in Ballarat grow and prosper. Small business is really the lifeblood of a town such as Ballarat, and this funding will go a long way to making sure that small to medium enterprises, particularly those newly starting up in Ballarat, will have the help and the support they need to be established and to thrive.

There is a common thread that runs throughout all of these election commitments. These election commitments are all targeted at boosting the economic and social activity of our region, whether it be supporting tourism, securing our water supply, ensuring our freight and commuter task has access to improved infrastructure or increasing participation in physical activity. They are all about regional economic and social development. These are projects which have been supported by the people of our district, championed by them, and I am proud to be part of a government that is actively delivering on them. These projects are about improving the life of regional communities—

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear!

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

something that my colleague well and truly supports. The Rudd Labor government has come to office with a strong understanding of the pressure that working families and those on low incomes are under. There are significant pressures facing Australian families today, and the Rudd Labor government takes the task of relieving these pressures very seriously.

In opposition, I chaired a task force which examined the challenges and problems of families in Australia. It was called Family Watch. In the process of producing the report, we spoke to over 5,000 families from all across the country. We heard numerous accounts of how Australian families were not always seeing the prosperity the Howard government claimed. We heard that inflation and interest rates were biting hard on working families and about concerns about housing affordability and the cost of providing health and particularly dental care for their children. We heard how the general rises in prices of things like petrol and groceries were squeezing the household budget more and more every month.

When we handed down that report, it was widely publicised. I was really interested at the time to hear the Howard government’s reaction. We did not hold hearings. Basically, I took the members of the committee into shopping centres right the way around the country and we conducted surveys. I thought the Howard government may actually be interested in what the 5,000 families from across mostly outer metropolitan and regional areas had to say. But the Howard government’s response to the Family Watch report and the concerns that were expressed in it was for John Howard to say in parliament—and the quote has now become famous:

Working families in Australia have never been better off.

We were all pretty amazed at that statement, particularly those who participated in the Family Watch task force. The Leader of the Opposition’s concern for working families is, in my view, an absolute farce. When these issues were raised with them in government, they just brushed them off. Now that they have been voted out, they realise that they actually misread what was happening to families and they are now trying to play political catch-up.

The Rudd Labor government is not playing catch-up; it is actually out there, delivering for working families. I was very pleased to hear in the budget last night of part of the $55 billion Working Families Support Package, a very, very important commitment to honouring our promise to help families through these difficult times. One of the first measures introduced in the budget last night was the $47 billion in tax cuts. These tax cuts are aimed squarely at low- and middle-income earners, people who may be struggling to balance the family budget. These are the people who need the help that these tax cuts provide to manage their growing grocery, petrol and mortgage bills. Child care is another large cost for families, and I am very pleased to support the government’s increase in the childcare rebate from 30 to 50 per cent. I understand how important affordable child care is to ensuring that the workplace retains some of its most valued members. Increasing workplace participation is good policy for the economy and it is also good for working families. Child care plays a very important role in ensuring that working parents can continue to be engaged in paid employment.

The economy is also facing a skills crisis. Many of those skills can be found amongst those parents who are currently not able to participate in the workforce because of the lack of availability of and a lack of access to child care. By providing more affordable child care, the Rudd Labor government has given parents back the choice to re-enter the workforce when they want to, on their terms—a real choice, not one that is imposed upon them. Another cost that families were concerned about when we went and spoke to them in the supermarkets and shopping centres around the country was the cost of education. I am very pleased to be part of a government which takes seriously the challenge of education in a digital world. For this reason, I am glad to support the new education tax refund, which will allow parents to recoup some of the inevitable costs of educating a child for today’s world. Education today requires great knowledge of computers, and children who do not have access to these resources lag badly behind their counterparts who do. Access to information and communications technology must become a fundamental right for every Australian student and, with the education tax refund as well as the National Secondary School Computer Fund, the Rudd government is moving to make that right a reality.

Some of the more pressing concerns that families had also, as I found when I toured around the country with Family Watch, were the prices of groceries and petrol, and the Rudd government are acting here as well. We have given powers to the ACCC to enforce the Trade Practices Act, and the ACCC is monitoring grocery prices to ensure that they are as fair and as competitive as possible. We have also introduced, which was funded in the budget last night, the National FuelWatch Scheme, which will help consumers find the best price for petrol, enhancing competitiveness and providing the best information for consumers on which to base their decisions when purchasing petrol. These actions will help to alleviate some of the cost-of-living pressures. We are tackling housing affordability as well. The First Home Saver Account is a key initiative that will help first home buyers save more effectively and work towards that all-important deposit for a new home. We are also working to ease the crisis in rental accommodation by encouraging the building of 50,000 rental properties. These are real initiatives to help families who are suffering housing stress—and I absolutely encourage any property developers who are looking at developing new housing estates to look very seriously at the programs that the Rudd government has put in place to ensure that new developments actually incorporate affordable housing within their parameters.

The dream of owning your own home should not be unattainable. Young people leaving school and entering the workforce should be able to see a clear pathway to financial security. We must strive to create a society that opens up the path to owning a home, a society where, with hard work, anybody can own their own home. That, unfortunately, is not the case today. There are serious pockets of disadvantage and even some middle-class people cannot aspire to home ownership in some of our capital cities. We must build a society where anybody can afford a home.

In a broader sense than those specific initiatives, working families also need a return to fiscal responsibility. They need a return to responsible government which will manage the fiscal policy of the government to help maximise downward pressure on inflation and maximise downward pressure on interest rates, and that is what we delivered in the budget last night. I am very proud to be part of a Labor government that will act to protect working families in these tough economic times and that will make sure that families in Australia have the best possible chance to raise their children in a prosperous and fair society. That is the Labor way, and we saw that in the budget last night. I would again like to thank the people of Ballarat, who have given me the honour of representing them here in this place in the 42nd Parliament. Thank you.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure to take this opportunity to speak in the address-in-reply debate and to thank the people of Lyons for re-electing me for the sixth time and again putting their trust in me. It is always an honour and a humbling feeling when you are re-elected. I feel that they have renewed my contract again and I am very grateful to be here and to be a part of a government. I started my political career here as part of the Keating government and I am pleased to be back now. There is a great deal that I want to do and that I was able to get pledged from the party during the last election campaign. I look forward to that. I will address some of those things later in this address.

We needed a fresh start, and the Labor government with Kevin Rudd at the helm will give us the opportunity to build back Australia’s reputation as a lucky and also a tolerant country. The opening of parliament this time actually meant something. I am pleased that we are at last recognising the rightful place of the Indigenous people of Australia.

It is not going to be easy, with the economies around us suffering pretty turbulent times at this period in history. We are looking at how we can ease the pressure on mortgages and on those people that are affected by rising bank interest rates. We are considering other models of housing tenures and housing design to deal with one of the big issues facing us at the moment. I believe there are many opportunities to refigure how we think about housing. We can certainly help people much more, and technology has helped us to some degree. We need to help our states in that task with innovation and ideas. I am sure we can do that.

The big issue of climate change is one that we need to deal with, and that is firmly on the agenda. There was an exciting development the other day in my electorate with drying coal—not that I have that much coal in my electorate. There is a small coalmine with about 100 employees, the only coalmine in Tasmania.

At the Beaconsfield goldmine, which is also in my electorate and which people will remember from the tragedy we had and the long rescue of two miners, there is a shaft being used for a technique to dry Victorian brown coal, which is a very damp coal. They believe that they can take 30 to 40 per cent of the moisture out of that, which changes the whole emission trading argument and helps in that area enormously. I understand that the Victorian coal is very similar to the coal in India, so there are opportunities to use this technology and in exporting coal from Victoria, which I think has never happened before. So those opportunities exist, along with lots more on climate change. I am looking forward to the debate on the forest industry, which I believe will come into its own in that regard.

Dealing with the ever-increasing petrol prices is difficult, but we now have the Petrol Commissioner on the deck and I understand that the price watch will be in place towards the end of this year.

Health is another area that desperately needs an overhaul. There is a perception that we are tied to old ways of dealing with sickness, but I believe that new technologies can take us in new directions. We need to take some responsibility for our own health and we need to make sure that that message goes out. We need to sell prevention and wellness, and we need to put some money into that area. We saw the minister answering questions today about binge drinking, how that is a health issue and how we need to make changes in taxes in that area. I feel technology means that we should have people’s medical histories on a memory stick that we carry around our neck or on our car keys. The fact that we have not solved that one is a bit of an indictment of the industry and the professions involved. If somebody gets taken into hospital and there is no access to the history from the GP’s computer, it is really a problem that all the tests and scans have to be done straightaway again rather than use electronic records. We are a long way behind where we should be in that sort of thinking.

We are moving that way and we need to move away from the simplistic stuff of going to the doctor and getting a handful of pills, and we need to get away from some of the queues in our hospitals. We have to be brave enough to do that and we have to be brave enough to take on something new and something different. There are many choices these days and we have to open our minds, make some choices and opt for directions about the future. I think we are going to do that and some of us will endeavour to help push in that direction.

In the past few years we have dedicated time to finding some of the answers on drought and helping develop better and more sustainable water systems. I have done some work on our committees, and it has been pretty frustrating effort in some regards. I would like to pay tribute to Professor Peter Cullen, a founding member of the Wentworth group. Peter came to the parliament on many occasions and I met him at committee hearings when he gave evidence to us and also during meetings on water in different parts of the country. As we all do, with people moving around this country at airports, we would exchange half an hour of discussion about relevant topics, especially water. I believe Peter understood the land in Australia very well and he knew and was concerned for farming communities. He knew that their concerns did not have to be in conflict with ecological concerns.

I was very sorry to hear that he passed away recently. He will be sorely missed in the debates and discussions, as will his input. Despite his science background, he had the knack of being able to get his message across very simply and succinctly to people with non-science backgrounds. I think he understood the relationships between the land and water—that is, water storage and the problems of preserving water and recycling water—and how to come up with new ideas to help our very dry continent, especially in times of drought. He also believed in keeping farming communities sustainable in Australia by working hard to find new ways and new directions. I send my condolences to his family. He will be remembered very fondly by all of us here in parliament who knew him.

My agenda in Tasmania will include some of these water issues, such as trying to ensure that our water is used efficiently and sensibly and also that many of the small towns in my electorate finally receive good supplies of drinking water. In this day and age, access to drinking water should be a priority, and I believe that the state government in Tasmania is now moving towards providing that. To have a well-managed supply, it recently set up through legislation three bodies to take control of water and sewerage in our regions. That will of course also help people to develop skills and keep skilled people in the water industry, and possibly we have been lacking the level of professionalism and skills to keep up that infrastructure. Of course, the people making decisions to spend money on infrastructure in local government areas want to make sure that infrastructure can meet the current needs and the future needs of those areas. In my electorate, where we have finally got private investment, we do not have the infrastructure and that delays things by two or three years, which means that you could possibly lose some of that tourism investment money that comes along.

We need to ensure that irrigation and water management in other areas is affordable and sustainable so that we can be more innovative in land management and farming production. In the area in which I grew up, the Cressy area, we hope to run a pipeline from Poatina as far as Oaklands. This, I am sure, is going to open up the area to much more production and more opportunities. With the pressure on the Murray-Darling region, which produces over 55 per cent of the fruit and vegetables of Australia, I think other areas of Australia have a great opportunity to take over some of that role, because I do not believe that that region will be able to continue to do what it has done in the past. And the state government is on board with that. We have about $240 million from the state and federal governments to put in this infrastructure, which will give us great opportunities.

Another pledge from the Hobart region, coming out into the electorate of Lyons—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

As I was saying, there will be great opportunities in my electorate if we can get right some of the water and irrigation programs and make sure we use water and land in a very sustainable way. I pointed out some grey water initiatives coming out of the bottom end of my electorate from the city of Clarence, which is part of the city of Greater Hobart, and from the Coal River Valley, where we have grey water going to seed production and irrigation dripped onto the stone fruit orchards. That is a great way of utilising that grey water, and it is a more productive use of it than if it were put into the Derwent River. But using water better means that we have to look at farming practices in a whole new way. We have to help farmers who want to make the changes and want to continue on the land with research and funding so that we can continue to provide the food and fibre for our country.

Australia has always been innovative, and we have some of the best farmers in the world. But, when one gets hit by the sorts of cyclical changes that prevent people from carrying out their traditional land use, we need to help them change and go in different directions. A lot of them want to do that and they need help to do it. We have to look for solutions and new ways to solve these old problems. There are a lot of opportunities. A lot of people have done some work, and I am sure we in the good electorate of Lyons are going to do more. It will be a part of our role in government to make sure that these people have the tools and the resources to make those changes. I am sure the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Minister Burke, is going to assist and lead us in that way.

I think Jeff Kennett had the right approach—and it is not often that I would quote him or agree with him. I see him occasionally in Tasmania now that he is President of the Hawthorn Football Club, and they play a lot of their AFL games in Launceston. In commenting on Ticki Fullerton’s book Watershed, on the politics in the history of water and what we should really be concentrating on, he said:

It’s not just about making sure you have water flows down rivers that have to be changed. It’s all embracing. It’s about rainfall, it’s about collection, its about storage, it’s about distribution, it’s about pricing, it’s about recycling, it’s about avoiding waste, evaporation, seepage. It’s about money, capital investment. But as much as about capital investments, it’s about people’s understanding to better utilize what we’ve already got.

I cannot think of a better way of putting it. We have to take on board that there is not just one simple answer—there is not a silver bullet that can solve all these problems. There are a lot of fundamental changes to our land use and our water practices that we have to get into.

I would also like to thank a lot of people involved in my campaign who helped me enormously: my campaign manager, Peter Kearney, and his wife Di; my good friend Tom Greenwood, who came down from Queensland for the duration of the campaign and whose only thanks was to get a speeding ticket; John Pym from Sydney, who became quite an expert at reading the betting tips—and, of course, I was always in front on the bookies so I knew I was okay. There is no better reader of the numbers than the bookmakers. I want to thank Richard Bolst and his wife, Sheryl, for putting up with some very difficult requests at times; Jock Chalmers for continuing to renew my image in the advertising stakes and working through all those issues; and my staff, who had to get on with all the other work while I was out shaking hands—in the north, Ian Gabites, Eve Lewis and Leeann Loosmore and, in the south, Deb Carnes, Jess Dallas and Lauren Browning. All of them kept the office functioning as the constituents’ queries continued. Those queries did not go away just because there was an election. People still needed to be dealt with. Without these friends and work colleagues life would be very much harder.

To my stepson J.J., John James, who was not around to drive me around this election, as he was in other parts of the world: I missed you, mate. To my partner, Dee, who I could not operate without: thank you very much. To my daughter, Kellie: thank you for your support and love. My grand-daughter Esther, who had not long had a birthday, was able to turn ‘Happy Birthday’ into ‘happy election day’. That was by waving a Kevin 07 flag most of the night. That was a lovely occasion. I congratulate my new parliamentary colleagues, and I wish them all the best: Julie Collins and Jodie Campbell and Catryna Bilyk in the Senate. Of course, my good friend Sid Sidebottom is back where he belongs, in the seat of Braddon. I am sure that they will be here for the long haul.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is indeed a privilege and a relief to finally be given the opportunity to give my speech in the address-in -reply debate. I want to begin by thanking the people of Calwell for their generous support and endorsement in last year’s federal election. It is, in fact, a very great honour to be re-elected as the federal member for Calwell, and I want to note once again that it is a responsibility that I personally take very seriously. What makes this particular election all the more special is having the opportunity, under a Rudd Labor government, to represent, as always, the needs and the interests of Calwell.

Overall, Labor achieved a swing of 11.3 per cent in Calwell—more than double the national average. It is a result of which I am very proud and one that reflects just how strongly issues such as fair workplace laws, healthcare reforms, investment in education and more support for working families resonate in my electorate. Such a result would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of many individuals who selflessly volunteered their time and energy to my campaign. They are too numerous to name and, for fear of forgetting anybody, I simply want to record my sincere gratitude and thanks to all those people.

Labor has a long, strong and proud heritage, one that is firmly anchored in the history of working Australia and in the values of fairness, equality and social justice. As Labor continues to grow and evolve alongside the changing landscape of modern Australia, this heritage serves as a reference point against which to measure both specific policies and our country’s progress. It is a heritage that we on the Labor side must never forget.

In Calwell, the values of fairness, family and opportunity matter. They form the bedrock on which local demands and community expectations are built. For me, fairness, family and opportunity remain the key fundamentals when it comes to determining good policy in this place. They include an obligation to ensure fairness in the workplace, to ensure that basic services and essential infrastructure are able to meet local demand in my electorate of Calwell and to ensure that all Australians have access to opportunities.

One of the key themes in the lead-up to last year’s federal election was federal Labor’s commitment to scrapping the Howard government’s extreme and unfair Work Choices laws and to restore fairness and balance in the Australian workplace. We have done this through the introduction of the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill 2008. It has seen an end to Australian workplace agreements. Australian workplace agreements, or AWAs, became shorthand for driving down wages and conditions and stripping back protections from Australian workers. This was an issue never far from the minds of many local residents in Calwell. In a climate where the cost of living continues to rise, protecting wages and job security is absolutely vital, especially when it comes to working parents for whom job security is a prerequisite to meeting their everyday financial commitments. Labor and a Rudd Labor government are committed to making sure that our workplace relations system never strays from the core ideal of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

Over the last decade, my electorate of Calwell, which is located in Melbourne’s north-west, has undergone many significant changes. An influx of young families moving to the area in search of more affordable housing and a more family friendly environment has seen strong growth in local residential development. At the same time, statistics for the area show that Calwell’s ageing population is also growing at an equally significant rate. These changes to Calwell’s core demographics pose a number of significant challenges, not least in the area of infrastructure and service delivery, which I would like to address. Strong population growth also means a corresponding demand for stronger business investment, industry growth and job creation.

Calwell has long been a centre for local manufacturing and industry and boasts a large pool of existing skilled workers employed in the manufacturing sector. This is a foundation on which we need to build to meet the difficulties Australian manufacturers face as a result of increased global competition. That combined with a decade of dwindling government interest and short-sighted industry policies has had a significant impact on my electorate. Many of our local industries are struggling to survive and local jobs continue to be lost as companies downsize their operations. Protecting and expanding local manufacturing is crucial to Calwell’s long-term future. One of our key priorities in government is and will be to turn around the lacklustre fortunes of manufacturing in Australia.

In today’s knowledge economy, the focus of our approach to industry policy in Australia needs to be on innovation and measures aimed at fostering a culture of innovation in Australia. We need to deepen Australia’s investment in research and development and we also need to do a lot more when it comes to identifying and cultivating new overseas markets and export opportunities for quality Australian made products.

What I would like to see in Calwell is local industry becoming a magnet for innovation, product development and the expansion of Australia’s technical and productive capabilities. Adding to my electorate’s competitive advantage is the close proximity of Melbourne Airport. In addition to being a major source of local employment, Melbourne Airport is a huge asset for local business and industry looking to interstate and overseas export markets to expand their operations. It is an asset that we need to promote and support in Calwell. Working towards a more integrated regional approach when it comes to enhancing the north’s social and economic potential, strengthening local employment opportunities for residents in Calwell to ensure that our local economy remains strong and vibrant and striving towards closer coordination between all levels of government and various stakeholders, such as local community groups and community service providers, industry associations, local businesses and local education and training institutions are all equally crucial.

There are many challenges. One of these particular to Melbourne’s northern and north-western regions is image. As a 2003 Northern Area Consultative Committee report titled Growing Melbourne’s north: developing an integrated economy identified, current misconceptions about Melbourne’s north-west often see us overlooked by the business community as a potential locus for investment. Changing the image of Melbourne’s northern and north-western regions to make them more attractive to business and investment is another crucial challenge that we need to meet on the road to securing our long-term economic growth. My federal and state colleagues in the region and I have an important role to play in this.

I want to now turn to some of the Rudd Labor government’s election commitments announced in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election—commitments that will have a positive impact, I am absolutely certain, on the lives of the people who live in my electorate. As highlighted by the Governor-General in his address to the opening of the parliament, the Rudd Labor government has identified education and the need to invest in education as a key national priority. Investing in education is both an investment in our children’s future and an investment in Australia’s future prosperity. At an individual level, education is one of the most important pathways through which Australians have an opportunity to start life on an equal footing and to strive for self-betterment. At the national level, investing in skills and education is about making sure that we are able to meet future challenges.

Federal Labor’s education revolution is premised on the belief that investing in education, skills and training—that is, investing in your own people—is the best way to lift Australia’s flagging productivity growth, strengthen Australia’s international competitiveness and secure Australia’s long-term economic future. In a global economy, where the competition for skills and expertise becomes fiercer by the day, lifting Australia’s education standards, skilling up tomorrow’s workforce and making sure that we hold on to our best and brightest are absolutely crucial. That is why this government, the Rudd Labor government, is committed to making sure that all four-year-olds have access to 15 hours of quality preschool early learning each week for a minimum of 40 weeks per year at no extra cost to their parents. Research tells us that those children who have access to some form of preschool learning are more likely to do better at school later on in life. Preschool is about building a strong foundation for success later on in life. This commitment includes, of course, funding an extra 1,500 new university places in early childhood education, scrapping TAFE fees for childcare diplomas and halving HECS repayments for early childhood graduates working in areas of need.

The Rudd Labor government has already moved quickly to implement one of its key election commitments, the National Secondary School Computer Fund, under which all secondary schools in my electorate can apply for up to $1 million in funding to buy new computers for students through years 9 to 12, as well as to upgrade the school’s information and communication technology. Of course, applications for the first round of funding under the program are now being accepted, with the second round soon to open in July this year. Over the next four years, this program will see significant infrastructure upgrades undertaken in every Australian government, independent and Catholic secondary school in my electorate. In an age where e-education has become all but indispensable and given the reality that not all parents can afford to buy their children a computer, this is an important initiative, one that promises to pay strong dividends in my electorate.

Equally important is the Rudd Labor government’s Trade Training Centres in Schools plan. This $2.5 billion commitment to build or upgrade trade training centres in Australian secondary schools is all about tackling Australia’s worsening skills crisis by providing local students with the skills they need to pursue a future career in the trades. It is also about encouraging students to stay in school longer by broadening the range of subjects available to them and by making school more relevant to students who otherwise would not see the relevance of schooling. In Calwell, this policy provides us with a unique opportunity to establish trade training centres in strategic locations across the electorate and to align these centres with the skills base sought by local industries in areas such as manufacturing, engineering, construction and the automotive sector.

Building stronger partnerships between local industries and our local schools, especially when it comes to making sure that students who undertake trade training courses are armed with the skills needed by local industries, is crucial to the long-term viability and success of trade training centres. The benefits of such an approach include boosting local employment opportunities for school leavers and making sure that local industries have access to the sort of skilled workforce that they need in order to grow and develop. The Trade Training Centres in Schools plan is in addition to the federal government’s plan to create an additional 450,000 training places over four years, including an extra 65,000 apprenticeships.

The Rudd Labor government has also put forward a number of higher education policies, including halving HECS fees and repayments to encourage more students to study maths and science, increasing the number of Commonwealth funded university places across a number of disciplines, scrapping full fee paying places at university and expanding the Commonwealth Scholarship program for both undergraduates and postgraduates. Investing in education is about investing in people—in human capital—and ensuring that the fundamentals of our economy are geared towards long-term growth and prosperity.

One of the most important priorities in my electorate of Calwell over the next three years concerns access to affordable services in areas such as health care, aged care and child care. Access to these and other essential services plays a defining role in shaping the quality of life a family enjoys. Ensuring access to affordable services and investing in essential infrastructure to meet the demands of a growing population is particularly important in Calwell. Significant pockets of my electorate remain mired in intergenerational poverty and disadvantage, whilst elsewhere rapid population growth has created a situation where demand continues to outstrip supply when it comes to the delivery of essential services. For example, access to affordable health care is an ongoing concern in my electorate. The rising cost of health care and basic medicines, coupled with a shortage of local GP services and a lack of adequate after-hours medical services are all areas in desperate need of serious attention.

For those on the ground, the road map for Calwell’s future is clear. Alongside healthcare reform, there is a need for more childcare centres so that working parents do not have to drive long distances in the morning to drop their children off before work, as well as youth services and youth venues to cater for our local youth who do not enjoy the mobility or ease of access to suitable venues and outlets that their counterparts living in the inner city do.

We also need to radically rethink Calwell’s future infrastructure needs, in line with recent residential development, changes in our population demographic and strong population growth, and this needs to include additional public transport, better roads, more sports facilities and a host of additional social and civic amenities and services. Rather than problems that can be fixed overnight, these are all long-term challenges that demand closer cooperation between federal, state and local governments as well as sustained community involvement. In relation to infrastructure, I strongly welcome the establishment of Infrastructure Australia, which is an independent Commonwealth statutory authority set up by the Rudd Labor government to develop a strategic blueprint for our nation’s infrastructure needs, as well as the advent of a major cities program that will focus on the infrastructure needs of Australia’s towns and cities. My electorate of Calwell is a testament to the reality that Australia’s infrastructure needs do not stop once the country becomes the city.

When it comes to basic services, there is a lot of work to do in this area, but as a start Calwell has already benefited from three new federal Labor government grants. In January, I was pleased to announce Commonwealth funding for a new headspace Communities of Youth Services hub to be established in Broadmeadows. Headspace is Australia’s national youth mental health foundation, funded by the Australian government to provide people aged between 12 and 25 with mental health support as well as help for drug and alcohol problems. The centre will offer a range of support and counselling services geared towards prevention and early intervention. This investment in new services is part of the Rudd Labor government’s focus on the importance of preventative and early intervention health care, and this new centre will play a significant role in lifting the quality of life of those young people that it helps in my electorate.

Calwell has also received federal government funding for a new family relationships centre to be established in Broadmeadows. Family plays an important role in the social fabric of Calwell’s local community. The new centre is designed to provide assistance and advice to local families in areas like strengthening family relationships and resolving relationship difficulties after separation, including mediation services and of course some three hours of free counselling.

These new initiatives will begin to fill the current gap in basic support services in Calwell, and their promise of significant personal, social and economic benefits helps contribute to the long-term wellbeing of our local community. In the lead-up to last year’s November election, I also announced that a Rudd Labor government would provide capital works funding to build two new childcare centres in Calwell. The first childcare centre will be located in Tullamarine, where childcare shortages under the previous government became particularly severe, and the second will be built in Craigieburn, where Calwell is experiencing one of its strongest population growths.

In another area to do with our ageing population, aged care, the Minister for Ageing has already announced substantial changes to current funding arrangements for the allocation of Australian government care subsidies. The aged-care funding instrument took effect on 20 March 2008, with more than $380 million in additional funding to be provided over the next four years. Changes are also being made to accommodation payments and income-tested care fees, with the amount the Australian government contributes in subsidies towards accommodation and care costs increasing. For the first time, self-funded retirees will be treated the same as pensioners with respect to their income and assets.

Since taking office, the federal government has also committed $34.2 million to Victoria to fund an additional 5,908 elective surgery procedures, in order to reduce elective surgery waiting times in the state of Victoria. We have also begun work on boosting the number of nurses in Australia’s health and aged-care system by more than 10,000 over the next five years through a combination of cash bonuses to encourage back into the profession nurses who have been out of the health workforce for more than a year and contributions to assist hospitals with the cost of retraining and reskilling these nurses.

The Rudd Labor government has started to introduce measures to help tackle today’s housing affordability, a huge problem in my electorate. It is a problem that I imagine would be right across the country, but, in particular, in my electorate, housing affordability is becoming more of an issue.

Debate (on motion by Mr Dreyfus) adjourned.