Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Wouldn’t it be good if that happened all the time! It is indeed a challenge for me to do justice to almost 15 years in this place in just over 15 minutes. But I suppose I cannot complain about the constraint, given the opportunities I have had over those years to burden our long-suffering Hansard reporters with just under 250 speeches and 40 questions without notice, which I suppose is something I can claim a little pride in. I have to admit, though, that there are probably a lot of people with a higher record than mine—but I have left that to others to prove!

I would like to reflect on these 15 years and, in doing so, I would like to thank a few people. The first thankyou, of course, is to the people of my electorate of Canberra. It is such a special place and it is easy to love every part of it. In this ancestral land of the Ngunawal people, from the Gordon Valley, under the eaves of the snow capped Brindabellas—and they have been of late—to the rural areas to the south, through the picturesque Tuggeranong and Woden valleys and Weston Creek, right into the old heart of the city and the inner south, it is a very beautiful place of idyllic family living, a free and relaxed city, confident in itself and proud of its place at the heart of the democracy of the nation. But it is the double-sided nature of Canberra, the city and the seat of government, which makes it a special place, and this is a subject that I would like to come back to a little later. I thank my fellow Canberrans for the trust they have placed in me. I can genuinely say that representing them in this place has been pretty special.

I want to thank the people of the ACT Labor Party. Of course, Bill Hayden famously said, ‘Hell hath no fury compared to the ACT ALP.’ The real quote, of course, is: ‘Hell hath no fury compared to a woman scorned.’ Well, I am glad to say that neither quote described my experience. In fact, on both counts, the contrary is very much the case. The ACT branch is a wonderfully loyal and talented part of the ALP that makes a major contribution to the federal party in so many different ways. It has been a great honour to be their choice to represent the people of Canberra and I thank them for their support.

I have been fortunate to enjoy wonderful support from so many gifted and generous individuals over my career. Sadly, I cannot and will not try to list all of them here, so I want to thank all of my supporters, both inside and outside the party, who have done so much to help me over my 15 years as the member for Canberra and, originally, the member for Namadgi. I want to issue a special thanks to the members of Centre Coalition, my own party grouping; to the trade unions in the ACT, whose support I have always valued; and most especially, of course, to my own staff through all of the years who have worked so tirelessly and effectively for me on both the bright and the darker days.

I want to thank the member for Fraser and Senator Kate Lundy. Bob and Kate and I have formed what I would call an effective triumvirate in this territory, and I am happy to think we have grown to four recently with Mike Kelly in Eden-Monaro not that far away. I want to thank the previous long-serving member for Canberra, Ros Kelly, for her encouragement and her strong mentoring role. I also need and want to recall the contribution of Terry Connolly, a close friend and former Attorney-General in the ACT who, sadly, passed away three years ago.

I came to this place at an immense time of change in Australia. A long period of Labor government had come to a stark end and a new period of uncertainty was emerging in Australian political life. I want to remind the House of the shock the people of Canberra had to face through significant Public Service cutbacks at the time which caused considerable pain for many of my constituents and saw this community plunge into a recession. It was indeed a very challenging time. I also recall the manner in which a former member for Oxley announced the arrival of the One Nation Party on the national scene.

But Labor’s response to this time of uncertainty was defined by the tremendous campaign waged by federal Labor under Kim Beazley in 1998, when we actually won the popular vote. Difficult times followed, with the tough debate on the GST legislation and the stressful period of East Timorese independence, but Labor remained a strong and effective opposition and our electoral prospects looked positive in 2001. Then came the flow of asylum seekers, and the infamous Tampa incident on that fateful dawn of 24 August 2001. Then there was the ‘children overboard’ affair—in my view, one of the darkest days of government in Australia, eventually leading later to the tragic so-called ‘Pacific solution’ to deal with the issue of asylum seekers. As I reflect on this period and the long cold years of opposition that followed it, I cannot but conclude that Australia seemed to retreat in on itself a little. The great compassionate element to the Australian personality, which I cherish and see as crucial to the national personality, seemed to grow just a little dimmer over those years.

Although overall these were very tough times for those on this side, there were some extremely rewarding things occurring for me. I was given the opportunity to come to the shadow ministry, with responsibility at different times for family and community services, ageing, seniors and disabilities. I am very grateful for the confidence my colleagues placed in me to hold those important roles. I had the opportunity to push the social justice concerns which I am passionate about and, I believe, position the ALP fairly well in policy terms.

I would like to leave a message here today. I think Australia is still coming to terms with the issue of disability. There is a need for an increased consciousness in the nation of the enormous challenges that those with disabilities face and the incredible strains placed on those that care for them. There is no doubt that, over time, decisions have been taken to help improve opportunities and life participation for those living with disability. However, they need more support from us, the Australian community, and we need to work more closely with them to deal with the immense practical day-to-day challenges that they face. I do not in any way wish to diminish the gains made and the work that has been done. But there is a need for a change in national consciousness and I hope that I, along with colleagues, have played some small part in assisting this.

A courageous policy response is also called for. We do need to think seriously about a national disability insurance scheme, federally funded as Medicare is. Such a scheme would be a significant change, but it has to be placed firmly on the debate for social policy reform in this country. We now await the Productivity Commission inquiry, which is due to report in July 2011.

I want to make a few other points which I think are really important. I do not think there is a political cookie cutter that you can use to cut out the shape of the perfect politician. If so, it certainly wasn’t used on me! But my point is that there is no one profile for success in this place. I entered this parliament slightly further along the age scale than many—well, not many, but some—and without the perceived advantage of a tertiary education. I carry these two elements with a certain sense of pride and I encourage others out there to consider what they might do. Also, I loved very much being on Labor’s front bench but I also loved the work that I have done as a normal parliamentarian. I reckon there is a bit of a mentality around that unless you have got to sit up the front then you have not really made it.

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