George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The American poet Robert Frost was renowned for his work The Road Not Taken, which centres on a choice between two paths. 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood', it begins, with the poet noting that he could not travel both and be one traveller. So, despite eyeing off one path, he:

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

When I came to this place, someone told me about two paths that lay ahead: the path of the poodle and the path of the mongrel. They said that the poodles in politics do what they're told, get the accolades and end up sniffing the ministerial leather right up close. But nothing changes if it's left up to the poodles. That's where the mongrels come in. Political mongrels might be mangy; they might growl when they're grumpy, and they might soil the carpet every so often, but they bark when needed and aren't afraid to nip issues in the bud when needed as well. They keep the poodles in the ministerial leather that they're accustomed to but are pretty much put in the 'never to be promoted' column. It doesn't need to be said that I took the path of the political mongrel.

George Bernard Shaw's comparison of the reasonable man with the unreasonable man comes to mind when talking about political poodles and mongrels:

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

Political mongrels bring about change. Political mongrels get things done. For my electorate and my people I've proudly been a political mongrel. As a result we've seen some big things delivered for Dawson. The Mackay Ring Road, at nearly half a billion dollars, is the biggest public infrastructure project built in the Mackay region. We've also secured funding for stage 2 of that road, which is the Mackay port access road. Up in the Burdekin the Haughton River bridge has been fixed, and we're flood-proofing that section of the Bruce Highway, with half a billion dollars. Mackay's northern entrance is being upgraded right now, and the Walkerston bypass is about to get going to the west of Mackay. We've seen the Sandy Gully bridge upgraded on the Bruce Highway near Bowen, the upgrade of the southern approaches to Townsville, and overtaking lanes and pavement improvement between Kuttabul and Calen and also near Bloomsbury, between Proserpine and Bowen, just north of Brandon and near Alligator Creek. That's just a fraction of the $2.5 billion worth of projects that has been or is being spent on the Bruce Highway in Dawson.

We've also seen Urannah Dam funded and about to be constructed, and now Hells Gates Dam is also funded. Local roads and community facilities have also gotten a slice of the action. The new Proserpine entertainment centre has just been built. The Whitsunday Sports Park has been redeveloped and given a new clubhouse. There are new Shute Harbour facilities. We've got a headspace for Mackay and now one in Proserpine, too. There's the Mackay Aquatic and Recreation Centre, the redevelopment and extension of the CQ rescue helicopter service hangar and headquarters, the Great Barrier Reef cricket arena being built at Harrup Park Country Club, the Home Hill State High School's multipurpose hall, the new Burdekin basketball courts, and upgrades at Townsville's Brolga Park and at the Townsville Turf Club. I could go on and on listing numerous community groups, sporting clubs and schools that have received new facilities, upgrades and extensions, courtesy of funding that I fought for—not to mention outcomes for industry sectors like agriculture, mining and tourism—but I won't, because we'd be here all day and the parliament has other business to attend to.

But I will dwell for a moment on the bigger achievements that, while benefiting Dawson, are broader than just my electorate. The sugar industry code of conduct is a key example of this. When cane farmers came to me with serious complaints of foreign owned multinational monopoly milling companies trying to offer 'take it or leave it' contracts that cut farmers out of having a say in the pricing of their product, I knew something had to be done. I do not want to see farmers or anyone else in this country basically becoming serfs to a foreign landlord. So I fought, alongside others, for a sugar industry code of conduct which set out the rules for fair agreements between farmers and the monopoly millers and established an umpire—an arbitration system—for disputes around those agreements.

Likewise with insurance premiums in North Queensland going up year after year after year, in some cases by 1,000 per cent over a five-year period: I knew there had to be government intervention. That's why I fought hard to get a northern Australian reinsurance pool established to offset the rising re-insurance burden of cyclones and related flooding and, ultimately, substantially bringing down insurance costs for North Queenslanders.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the greatest achievements.

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Member for Kennedy. I've spoken a bit about the local deliverables in this regard. I led the charge on a 'Fix the Bruce' campaign in 2013, and it resulted in $10 billion being set aside by the then Abbott-Truss government for Bruce Highway projects.

Against the extreme green network, the Labor Party, GetUp, and many left-wing media outlets, I fought for the Adani Carmichael mine, now operating under the name of Bravus. We fought against desperate but well-funded attempts to stop that mine, attempts that falsely tried to tout different entities as potential victims of that mine: the Great Barrier Reef; the fishing industry; the local Indigenous people, who actually supported the mine; the black-throated finch; the ornamental snake; and the yakka skink. We were told that the mine wouldn't happen, that it was uneconomical, that it was going to be completely automated, and all the rest of it. Yet, last week, I travelled out to the mine site, where they're digging and exporting coal and employing miners, truck drivers and operators. The Great Barrier Reef is still here, as are the fish, the finches, the snakes and the skinks. And the local Indigenous community are getting jobs and contracts associated with the mine and the port.

I need to mention the royal commission into the banks. Award-winning reporter Sharri Markson wrote about the then Prime Minister:

… facing a backbench revolt led by Nationals MP George Christensen over the issue at a time when the Coalition's numbers in Parliament were down as a result of a dual citizenship crisis.

And veteran reporter Michelle Grattan noted:

… the Government was forced to drop its resistance when Nationals rebels threatened to revolt.

Take a bow, Queensland Nationals backbenchers Barry O'Sullivan, George Christensen and Llew O'Brien. You did everyone a service.

Because I had been approached by many small businesses, farmers and homeowners in my electorate who had been done over by banks and insurers, I knew that the royal commission into the financial services sector needed to happen. You only get a few shots at going against your own side on an issue like this, so I didn't want to waste my vote on a do-nothing motion but rather wait until a substantive bill came forward that could force the hand of the executive—and coming it was; former senator Barry O'Sullivan, former senator John 'Wacka' Williams, the member for Wide Bay, the member for Kennedy and myself were making sure of it. So they buckled, and the rest is history—or at least it should be.

Sadly, legacy issues remain for banking victims. I am still, even today, dealing with new victims of banking misconduct. The widespread misconduct of the banks meant that less than two per cent of submissions to the royal commission got to be heard. So the government announced that submitters could have their case heard by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, AFCA. But the problem was is that they will only hear cases from within the last six years. Many victims fall outside that time frame. The sad reality is that a bank can decide, still, that they don't want a customer on their books anymore and call the loan in, with no warning, despite the customer not missing a single repayment. Many customers in regional areas face this. When the CBA bought out Bankwest and when ANZ bought out Landmark, family businesses and family farms were destroyed overnight after surviving good times and bad times for decades and generations. There was no warning, just a message from the top to the business bankers: 'Raise their interest rates, call them in, do whatever you need to get them off the books.' Was this process criminal? Perhaps. We may yet find out. The banks shouldn't breathe the proverbial sigh of relief just yet. But is the practice still continuing? I've sadly got to say, yes, it is.

Up until very recently, the likes of Macquarie Bank would not acknowledge or accept that this had in fact happened to their business customers, like one of my constituents, a longstanding small-business woman with a very good reputation in her local area. Macquarie decided they wanted her off the books. As a result, she, like many others I know, faced bullying and intimidation from their local business banker. Interest rates were raised on the loan to tighten cash flow. They were pressured into signing blank discharge forms or agreeing to unfavourable terms as they were being threatened that this was the only way out. The harassment was constant and unrelenting and brought a strong woman, like my constituent, to consider ending her life. Would Macquarie acknowledge this behaviour? Not on your life. The harassment and lies were often face to face—or over the phone so that Macquarie were comfortable they could withstand a legal challenge.

When will the banks just do what is right? How many Australians have to have their lives destroyed just because a bank can get away with it. The harassment and unconscionable behaviour of the banks has to stop. The royal commission just ripped the bandaid off the wound that is our current banking system. We need to keep the pressure on the banks to ensure the protection of families, retirees, farmers and small businesses continues and goes further still. The government needs to strengthen the power of the watchdogs, ASIC and APRA. It needs to ensure that AFCA is truly independent and not just the rubber stamp of the banks that it currently is. The government also needs to establish the compensation scheme of last resort as soon as possible, and it needs to have broad coverage if it's going to have any effect—that is, it must cover all products and services that fall in AFCA's jurisdiction.

Many of you have asked why I am leaving. My answer is varied. Firstly, there's family. Some of you know that my wife, April, and I now have a beautiful 20-month-old daughter by the name of Margaret Anne. Full of beans, she is, and she wakes up mum every morning that I'm down here asking 'Daddy?' so April can videocall me to talk to her. I've become a forced fan of CoComelon, Super Simple Songs and Frozen, because of my little Graget, as she calls herself. What you might not know, though, are the circumstances of her birth.

In early 2020 April was overseas, staying with family, while I was off seeing Julian Assange in Belmarsh prison, in London, and busy with about four weeks of parliamentary sittings, a couple of weeks of internal electorate travel and parliamentary committee work. We were supposed to meet up again in April, and then the borders slammed shut. Like many others we became victims of pandemic policy, albeit policy that I supported at the time because it seemed like the commonsense thing to do. We thought the borders would only be shut a while, but it went on and on and on.

To cut a long story short, my daughter was born overseas in July 2020 without me there for it. Worse still, there were complications for my wife, who had to have a caesarean and then suffered severe internal bleeding. At about 4 am, the surgeon attending to my wife phoned me to say the situation was very serious, and, if there were things that I had to tell my wife, now was the time to do so. You don't get a clearer, more sobering message from a doctor than that. She was then rushed into emergency surgery. That morning I had to front a meeting of local farmers and then a press conference, all the while not knowing whether my wife was alive or not. Thankfully she was, and the surgeons there saved her life. On that note I am thankful to Senator Marise Payne for what she did to get info via our embassy to the hospital and vice versa. In the proceeding months, as April was recuperating, without me pulling rank—it would have been in the papers if I'd tried to do so—thankfully, we were reunited. So there's that.

Then—here comes the hard bit, guys—there's this place. I actually don't like coming to Canberra anymore. The parliamentary processes to me seem so stale and staged. Question time's a farce, where government backbenchers ask pointless questions written by someone else and opposition members ask pointless 'gotcha' questions that never get answers. And the public hate the vitriol and the behaviour displayed during question time. I'm guilty; I stand condemned for being part of that behaviour. The matter of public importance is nothing more than a sop to those who want to relive their high-school or university debating club years, and votes and proceedings could simply be dialled in; they're that predictable. We say something in favour of a government bill, the opposition say something against it and we all vote for it or against it, depending on what the party says. In the Labor Party you get expelled for doing anything else. On our side you just get ostracised.

What happened to individuality in this place? What happened to critical thinking? What happened to true representation? As a nation we bemoan the fact that most politicians are white-bread, cookie-cutter replicas of one another, but, on the other hand, we decry a spark of individuality as chaos, destabilisation and disunity—or at least the media does. We can't have it both ways. There needs to be greater room in this place for backbenchers to say what they really think, publicly, in this chamber, and to vote accordingly. The notion of party discipline needs to give way to representation, just like it does in many other legislatures around the world, otherwise we run the risk of Parliament House degenerating into a sheltered workshop for people who can't think for themselves. So there's that.

Then there's COVID. You've heard it before. We've blown up freedoms, bodily autonomy, medical privacy, human rights, community cohesion and many businesses and jobs, all for a virus with a 0.27 per cent infection fatality rate. It should never have happened, and yet some of it is still happening. We here could have and should have at least stopped the discrimination from happening by putting rules around access to the Australian Immunisation Register data—rules that said, 'You can't use that data for the purposes of terminating someone's employment or discriminating against them in supplying a service.' We didn't. It is not the only thing that I have disagreed with the government on. There is the net zero policy, which I vehemently disagree with on the basis that it is ultimately going to cost jobs—and probably jobs in my region.

There is a digital identity bill we are crafting that is being pushed by the elite globalist World Economic Forum. No-one has ever approached me as a member of parliament and said they want the nation to adopt a digital identity system. Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum has called for it but we don't answer to them. Our democracy is one that should be from the ground up, the people up, not from the globalists down. I am not sure whether I've departed from the values of my party in government or the other way around—perhaps it's a bit of both—so continuing on as the member for Dawson, for the LNP or otherwise, when my values more and more differed from the government I was part of, weighed heavily on me. I'm very fond of the reading the meditations—

I know you do, Member for Kennedy. I'm very fond of reading the meditations of the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius. He wrote:

At some point you have to recognise what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.

So I'm freeing myself, knowing this is no longer the world I belong to. But as I take my leave I want to share with my colleagues a list of things that matter to conservatives and patriots according to me—strap yourself in! Some of these may be unpopular, not in keeping with the times or the way of the world, but, to quote one of my favourite saints, Saint Athanasius, 'If the world is against the truth then I'm against the world.'

I begin with the most important matter of them all—life. The right to life is the most fundamental liberty of them all, and we should be acting to defend it. Freedom of speech is paramount for any democracy, including the speech we don't like. Efforts to ban free speech with political buzzwords like 'hate speech', 'vilification', 'disinformation' and 'misinformation' are harmful to democracy. Likewise, foreign owned big-tech oligarchies should not be allowed to censor political and philosophical discourse in this country. The legacy media is biased and has become a cheer squad for big government and wokeism. We should call it out, where it is privately owned, and never seek to have government interfere with it, but taxpayers should not be funding a biased fake news media outlet; the ABC must be reformed.

People should not be forced into any medical procedure under threat of losing their jobs, losing payments or any other form of restriction, coercion or duress. As I said, our federal government should have acted on this. We should never sacrifice people's livelihoods, people's jobs, people's businesses and farms, our regions or our nation on the altar of the political religion that is man-made climate change. Net zero emissions will mean net zero jobs. The World Economic Forum, the United Nations and other globalist bodies should not dictate to Australia what laws we have. Democracy in this country is from the bottom up, not the top down.

Australian citizens should not be locked up in foreign jail cells for breaking politically motivated laws in other countries that they didn't even set foot in, no matter how powerful that country is. We should pull out all stops to bring home Australians who are political prisoners, like Julian Assange and Cheng Lei. We should ban communist China, its state owned enterprises and state linked enterprises from owning anything of strategic value in this country. That includes ports, farms, agribusiness, power and water utilities, the telecommunication sector, the resources sector, and defence and defence-related industries.

We need a strong Defence Force and we should support our veterans who have served this nation. We should make it a national policy to maintain and even subsidise a strong and resilient manufacturing sector and farming sector so that we are self-sufficient and economically sovereign.

We should let kids be kids and not push woke trends and ideologies on them. Parents who undertake their own child care should be compensated to the same extent as those who use childcare services. Parental alienation is a form of child abuse; it should be outlawed. Every child deserves a relationship with their mother and father, and the family law system should recognise this. Domestic violence is reprehensible, but masculinity is not toxic and most men are not violent.

We don't need to be welcomed to our own country and we should maintain a system whereby public services are not provided according to your race. Taxation is theft. The more money we allow working Australians to keep in their pockets, the better. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, corporate Australia has gone woke, if you hadn't noticed it. By and large, they are no friend of conservatives and we owe them no favours.

If my list of political ponderables seems dangerous to you, beware: I'm about to go through a list of thank yous, which is always rife with danger due to the risk of leaving people out. If I leave people out, I am very, very sorry.

Firstly, thank you to my wife, April; my baby daughter, Margaret; my dad and my late mother; my sister, Kathleen; and brother, Antony; all of my wider supportive relatives in the Mackay region; my cousin Peter Christensen; and relatives elsewhere who have had my back; and to close friends AJ Stehbens; Matt and Larissa Loveday and their children, James and Ashalea; Matt and Casey Fitzpatrick and their lovely family.

To my good friend who is not here, Senator Matt Canavan, for all the support he's given me through our journey together. To the Deputy Prime Minister, a good mate even before I came to this place. To the member for Wide Bay, who has become a very good mate. To the member for Hinkler, who has certainly helped me out a fair bit in my electorate and who has been a bit of a sounding board. To the member for Wright—where are you, Member for Wright? Good on you! Buchho, you'll always be a mate. To the Minister for Regional Health, who has delivered over and over again for us and is always a good sounding board. To the member for Riverina: we spent so much time together on those benches over there, causing trouble. Despite all the water that's gone under the bridge, I consider you a very good friend. To Senator McMahon and Senator McDonald—good friends all. To the member for Leichhardt, who fought hard on that insurance issue. To the member for Capricornia and the member for Herbert; as neighbours we've assisted each other on various different issues. To the Minister for Home Affairs—he's back in his office doing hard work—who has also been a good bloke to talk to. To Senator McKenzie for all of her support. I should name the Assistant Treasurer as well for getting that insurance thing across the line.

To Senator Rennick and Senator Antic, who have been buddies in fighting against the vaccine mandates. I also want to thank the member for Hughes, the member for Clark, the member for Mayo, the member for Kennedy, Senator Hanson and Senator Roberts. Some of you might think it's a bit weird to thank people in other parties, from the Nationals to, particularly, these independents we worry about or the minor parties we worry about. But I've always got on well with all of them. As Bob says—this is my homage to you, Bob; I do a good impression—'May a thousand blossoms bloom!'

To state MPs Dale Last, Amanda Camm, Steve Andrew and Shane Knuth: thank you. I want to acknowledge Tony Abbott, Warren Truss, De-Anne Kelly, the late Roger Kelly, Ray and Mavis Braithwaite, Ron Boswell, former senator Nigel Scullion, Barry O'Sullivan, Peta Credlin, Rosemary and Ray Menkens, Ian Macfarlane, Peter Slipper, Ewan Jones, Cory Bernardi, John 'Wacka' Williams, Ian and Lesley Macdonald, Peter Lindsay, Ted Malone and Karen. A shout-out to former senator Bob Brown for his contribution at the last federal election!

They say in this job you are only as good as your staff, and I have some bloody good staff who have had to put up with a lot. So thank you to you to Shelley Argent, Megan Kerr, Dave Westman, Lauren Ballard, Bec Reid and Alissia Carroll, who were with me to the very end. Also thanks to Lynnis Bonanno, Dennis O'Riely, James Moyes, Belinda Niemann, Brett Leach, Shannon Mapley, Sue Breen, Wendy Cumming, Danielle Neilson, Nicole Batzloff, Ross Waraker, Dianne Hatfield, Cody Vella, Damian Tessman, Tamara Candy, Dominic McCarthy, Jess Dawes, Kathleen Agnew, Margie McLean, Mary Conelius, Matt Derlagen, Max Tomlinson, Rae Lloyd-Jones and Rebecca Chandler. Your work has been very much appreciated.

Dawn Klibbe, her son and my late friend Martin Klibbe, Dawn's daughters Alana and Anita; Jolyon and Enid Forsyth; Paul and Leanne Fordyce; Michael Jones; Geoff Baguley; Ken and Joyce Kelly; Doug and Kaye Petersen; Chris Bonnano; Graeme Cumming; Simon Vigiliante; Jennifer Azzopardi; Geoff Cox; Dave Cox; Sophie and Lawson Camm; Shane Newell; Ari Oliver; Andrew Cripps; Stan and Merewyn Wright; Jewell and late Jim Gist; Joe Moore; Laurie Nielsen; Bob Smith; Robyn Halls; Colin Hoffmeier; Col Glover; Laurie Pinder; Joe and Jan Scibberas; Pam and Mike Farrell; Judy Davies; Richard Bonato; Jack McLean; Ian and Rhonda Braithwaite; Peg and her daughter, Melinda Holborn; John Goldston; Charlie and Jacqui Camilleri; Dr Paul Joice and his wife, Leni; Gaye Gillies and her late husband; John, Ken and Joyce Kelly; Jason and Tracie Newitt; Tony Perna and his late wife, Josie; Allan and Ethel Millington; Peter Ware and Trish Mahlberg, who are pilots of mine; Bob and Helen Baker; Tony Large; Bruce and Halina Hedditch from the Bowen pub, the Larrikin; Ian Shield; Bob Smith; Bob Harris; John and Kylie Smith and daughter Natalie; Frosty and Heather McLean; Bill and Margaret McLean; Les and Nadine Durnsford; Bob Morton; Barney Mezies; Tom and Jan Callow; Neville and Elvie Dickinsen; Brian and Len Martin; Ciara Ross; John and Bev Honeycombe; Pam and Neil Pratt; Peter and Lorraine Henderson; Don and Liz Hick; Mitch Clarke; Peter Hall and the Hall family; Gary Spence; Larry Anthony; Ben Hindmarsh; Jeff McCormack; Lincoln Folo; Paul Darrouzet; Alan Gascoyne; Terry Dennis; Gina Rinehart; and all the Liberal-National Party and Team Dawson members and supporters along the way. That wasn't the full membership list, by the way, but I want to thank each and every one of them and all of the others that I have failed to mention. I'm sorry if I have failed to mention them. They've been a great help, and I will always be thankful for them.

To industry and community stalwarts Paul Schembri, Kerry Latter, Alan Parker, Max and Margaret Menzel, Sharon Smallwood, Annie Judd, Toni Randall, Dr Peter Ridd, David Caracciolo, Greg Chappell, Keith Payne VC and wife Flo, Peter Shaw and Jason Sharam, Christine Keys and the Freedom Australia Mackay team, Margaret Shaw, Berenice and Peter Wright, Ian Rowan, Mike and Pam Farrell, Vic and Evelyn Vassallo, Dale Smith, Bruce Smith and the wider Smith family, Bil Brewer and Col Mang: thank you very much for all your support.

To dearly departed supporters, and the families of those supporters, the late Jeff Walker, the late Jim Wort, the late Professor Bob Carter, the late Ursula Murray, the late Bill and Eileen Deicke and the late Jack Long: thank you. To Teeshan Johnson, David Goodwin, David Pellowe, Warwick Marsh, Kurt Mahlberg, Dan Flynn and Wendy Francis: thank you. To my local mayors Greg Williamson, Lynn McLaughlin, Jenny Hill and Andrew Wilcox, and all the mayors past and councillors past and present: thank you for your support. And for spiritual support along the way I want to particularly thank Reverend John McKim, Father Richard Martin, Father Mark Withoos, Father Bill Myer, Bishop Keith Joseph, Bishop John Ford, Bishop Ian Woodman, Bishop David Chislett and our unsung parliamentary chaplains Reverend Eric Burton, Reverend Peter Rose, Gordon Matton-Johnson and Lynn Thow.

That point brings me to the one I want to thank the most: my God. A lot of people have verballed me about my faith. It's there and it's strong. But I acknowledge, always, that I have not lived up to its standards, and that is the point of Christianity. None of us can live up to the standard set by the perfect man, Jesus Christ. We can aim to and we can aspire to. When we fall, we seek forgiveness, we get up and we get on with it. I'm not a saint—far from it. I'm a miserable sinner. The prayer I have prayed the most, apart from the Lord's Prayer, is what's called the Prayer of the Heart or the Jesus Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Despite being a miserable sinner, I give all of the glory of the past 11-plus years of federal parliamentary work, the six-plus years of local government work, totalling less than a month shy of 18 years of service in elected office, to my Lord God and saviour Jesus Christ. In doing so I'm reminded of the verse from St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians that has been emblazoned on the bronze paperweight that has sat on my desk in my Parliament House office. 'Stand firm', it says, in bold letters, and underneath: 'Be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.' From knowing this, I know the path that I've taken, the path of the mongrel, has been worth it.

Robert Frost finished his poem The Road Not Taken with these words, with which I finish my parliamentary contribution:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. Take care, and God bless.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—While people are congratulating the member for Dawson: there it is, colleagues. Lying somewhere at either end of Saint Augustine and Franz Kafka is the member for Dawson. For some people you can read about their careers in politics between full throttle and take-off as you leave Canberra. For some you'll have to wait till you get to Sydney. For George you could go to London, read the three books and still not quite understand it nor believe it. But his efficacy in this place is remarkable and without compare. He'll be a huge loss to the democracy of our nation and in his service to the people of Dawson.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources and Water) | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Brother George, the political poodle, the political mongrel. Those of us from Queensland know you're neither. You're a North Queenslander. We get it. We absolutely get it. In terms of your fight for Adani, to give you some comfort: as the Ukrainian people fight for freedom, coal from Australia will be heading that way to power their factories, homes and heating and to help them with the fight. In the future, if that demand continues, the most likely place that can increase production is the Bravus mine in Central Queensland. So, George, congratulations, mate. We will miss you dearly. Don't be a stranger. Congratulations on a wonderful parliamentary career, and God's blessings to you as well.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to deliver my valedictory speech to this House, and to those from the other place who are in the chamber: thank you for attending; I appreciate it.

This is something I thought I would never be doing, but then again I never thought I would do a first speech. In early 2010 the former member for Leichhardt, Jim Turnour, or 'Scooter' as he was known, told me, 'Ironsie, you're a nice bloke, but you're a oncer'—a little bit of irony there. Anyway, my speech today is for the good people of Swan, my family and the future generations of the Irons family to read in years to come. So, to the audience, please indulge me.

I'm following up from the member for Dawson, and he said a lot of things I probably would have said. But my speech is going to be a lot more vanilla than yours, George. I won't be talking about any achievements because I've been talking about infrastructure achievements in my 14½ years in parliament forever and a day, so I haven't got enough time to talk about them again. Today's just going to be about my time here.

Being a member of parliament was never a career option for me, even though I had a deep interest in politics. That interest developed over many years growing up in the Irons family, with dinnertime debates on everything—including politics. As most people know, I came from a family of 10 in Victoria and was born 'Stephen James Dix', spent three years in an orphanage and then was fostered by the Irons family. I'd just like to talk quickly about why they fostered me. They wanted to adopt someone, but they chose to foster me because I was the oldest child in the orphanage and was due to go to a boys home. The reason they fostered me was that they wanted to thank the country that adopted them. They had migrated from South Africa in 1959, and that was a way of them saying thank you to Australia for adopting them.

I moved to WA in 1981 for 12 months and have been there ever since. It's still like being on a holiday. I have been representing the people of the federal seat of Swan for five terms, since the 2007 election. Everyone in this place knows Swan is a marginal seat, and I'm sure those on the other side of the chamber think it should be in their stable of WA seats. But I've been very pleased to disappoint you for five terms and hope I've given the people of Swan enough reason to continue voting for the Liberals and candidate Kristy McSweeney, because, through the coalition government only, over $2 billion of infrastructure funding has been delivered to Swan while I've been in parliament.

I must say that I could not have won the seat of Swan without the support of the Liberal Party, who I was preselected by, and the hundreds of volunteers and supporters, who are too many to mention but they know who they are and they helped me win five elections.

I believe everyone has an expiry date, and my decision to retire was not taken lightly. I know it's the correct decision for me and my family, just like that little champion Ash Barty did last week—we knew when our time was up. Too many people hang on, and, as a dear friend and mentor of mine once told me, you don't say, 'I wish I'd spent more time in my office' on your headstone. Jeremy Buxton from the WA Liberal Party division contacted me shortly after I announced my retirement to give me his thoughts and some facts about Swan. Actually, when I saw Kim Beazley, another former member for Swan, on Australia Day, I suggested he and Jeremy should put their heads together and write a political history book on WA politics. I'm sure each topic would have a different version.

Jeremy told me the following interesting bits about Swan. I'll be the first member to retire from the seat of Swan since Federation. Two members have passed away in office; four members, one who I just mentioned, moved to safer seats; and the rest were defeated in elections. So, based on those facts, I'm probably the first-ever sitting member for Swan to deliver a valedictory speech. The other comment Jeremy made was, 'Political parties shouldn't expect marginal seat winners to hang around until they get defeated.' So I'm not.

I'd like to acknowledge that my wife, Cheryle; my son, Jarrad; my brother Robert; and my brother-in-law Robin are in the gallery today. Family is so important to me. To have them here today along with some of my friends and supporters is special now WA has sort of opened the borders. Jarrad was here for my first speech when he was just a lad of 15 years of age and sat with former member for Hasluck Stuart Henry and a few of my mates, who flew in from all over Australia. Stuart is here again today. It's fabulous to have you here, Jarrad, and I do apologise for all the years we missed. I do look forward to all the years we now have to catch up. Today also happens to be my foster father's date of birth. If he had been alive he'd have been 96 today.

For anyone who knows me, they'll know I have a love of music, and music has played a big part in my life and provided me with many hours of listening pleasure whilst flying across this great country to be here in parliament. So, in my speech, there'll be lines from songs of many bands and artists, and it will give some people a smile if they know them and something to do if they want to go through this speech and work out which ones are which songs.

I should have known right from the start—and that's one of those lines—in 2007 that this five-term journey I've been on would create great friendships, enduring friendships, happy times, times of achievement and excitement but also many testing and disappointing times. I'll try to focus on the good bits of my time in parliament, but if the bad bits are relevant I'll mention them and if the people don't like them they'll just have to get over it.

I arrived here in February 2008 after the 2007 election that saw 42 new members elected. This was a very foreign place to me as I'd not worked for a member of parliament, so I wasn't a staffer, and I'd only been active in party politics since 2004, and I'd visited Parliament House once and not during a sitting week. I had a lot to learn and there was no shortage of advice from wise members. Wilson Tuckey gave the new WA members some salient advice, and that was: 'You are now a VIP. Know it, but don't show it.' My friends Nola Marino and Luke Simpkins took that on board and were and have been humble members of this place, as I hope I have.

Christopher Pyne also gave me some advice and that was: 'Keep asking questions. Don't pretend you know what's going on when you don't.' The one question I forgot to ask was: what does it mean when the speaker stands in his chair? I quickly found out when Harry Jenkins stood to quieten down the chamber. Michael Keenan had asked Julia Gillard a question about guaranteeing jobs, and the noise that followed from both sides was like a football stadium. Harry stood up and I thought, 'What a perfect time to get my response in.' As the chamber fell silent I yelled out, 'Can you at least guarantee Kevin's job?' Harry tossed me straight out. He had no choice but Pyne did say the comment was worth getting tossed out for, and Don Randall added that I now had a badge of honour.

The Speaker mentioned, the next time he saw me, that he had to toss me and asked if I understood the reason why. I did, and only once more in my time in parliament have I been thrown out. A wise member said to me, 'Do you want to be known for getting thrown out in your parliamentary career or do you want to be known for other things?' so I made my mind up not to get thrown out again. I must admit, the expulsions did remind me of my time in school when I got removed from the classroom on numerous occasions. Actually, there are many things in this place that remind me of school rules!

I've just mentioned him but I'd like to acknowledge the former member for Swan and Canning, Don Randall, who left us too early in 2015. He was a rogue but also a fierce advocate for his electorate and his ideals. Don also said to me, after I won the seat of Swan in 2007: 'Steve, you're a good bloke. Just to let you know, at the next election, it's every man for himself, and leave my donors alone.' Don also carried the cardboard cut-out of Kevin Rudd into this chamber on a sitting Friday back in 2008 which caused an uproar and saw the beginning of the end of Friday sittings. What a disaster that was! I wonder which Labor strategy genius thought of that!

When I arrived in this place in 2008, even though I'd been through an induction program, I had no idea what was going on or what the processes of this place were. Fortunately I had some experienced staff working for me: Karen McGrath and the late Norm Haywood, who guided me through the initial stages of my parliamentary life. Without our staff, all of us in this place would have an extremely difficult life. To all my staff who have worked for me over my time in parliament: I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I'd particularly like to thank Jonathan Martin, who was with me for a decade. I felt like I lost an adopted son when he returned to the UK. I wish him well for his whole life. He was a great staffer, and he did all the worrying! I know other staff are listening in, like Amber Newton, Roman Gowor, Jennifer Cahill and Annette Livesey, who's in the gallery here today. I've appreciated all the contributions of all my past staff and my current staff, led by David Hobbs, who have been fabulous since the last election. Another staffer, not mine but who works in this building, is in the gallery, and when I describe her to my wife, Cheryle, it's as sister, aunty and mum all rolled into one, and that's Helen Lewis. Thanks for everything, Lewis.

The whip at the time when I came into parliament was Alex Somlyay and he put me on nine back bench committees, so I was a bit busy in my first term. Stuart Robert, who's sitting next me, actually nominated me as secretary for about four of them, so I was pretty busy. The following term I reduced that to three. I made sure I went to the formation meetings so that I didn't get nominated by another colleague to be secretary of a committee. They were the days of good starting times for sitting days. Monday was 12 am and Tuesday was 2 pm for question time. We'd usually go to Timmy's for lunch with the book burners club and come back in time for question time on Tuesdays. We did sit a bit later in those days, often until 10.30 at night or four in the morning. The first sitting day of parliament 2008 saw us sit late, and I thought I'd sit in the chamber until we closed to try and get an idea of how the place operates. It was there that one of our experienced colleagues warned Stuart Robert and I that if we kept interjecting one of our interjections would be taken as our first speech.

In my first speech I spoke about the death of seven-year-old Shellay Ward in Sydney, who had died from abuse and starvation, which segues me to the next part of my speech. Somewhere in early 2008 I received a phone call from a lady called Leonie Sheedy; I see a few smiles in the chamber because many of you have dealt with her. We all think she's batshit crazy, but I love her for what she's done and the energy and passion she has committed to helping people receive redress for sexual abuse in institutions across Australia. Anyway, her phone call put me on the path with Richard Marles and Jason Clare at the start of our parliamentary journeys, and we are still on it. Hello to Jason Clare, who's at home, sick in bed. I know Leonie is listening, and I wish her well, and I say hello to all Clannies around Australia. I became the unofficial spokesperson for the coalition on matters to deal with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia, and I thank all the ministers who have been involved with redress and helping the victims of abuse since that royal commission.

My involvement has been a personal one as well, as I spent time in an institution as a child, as did two of my biological siblings, who were abused, but both have passed away. The stories I have heard, the anger I have seen and the sadness and desperation of my fellow Australians has been traumatic to share. But I felt privileged to have been able to hear them and then comfort them with a hug, a touch or a kind word. The sharing of these stories meant they lived through the trauma again, and it meant a lot to me that they were prepared to share it with me. I believe them and their tragic stories.

One of my best experiences as a member of parliament was to engage a group of victims of abuse with the younger generation of victims who had experienced various types of abuse, ranging from domestic violence to drug and sexual abuse. They sat together for a couple of hours telling stories, and the companion for the young victims phoned me later to tell me that the young group had cried in the car all the way back home because they were so moved by the stories they had heard. It had been an emotional experience for them, and it had made them aware that abuse in Australia hadn't just happened to them; it had been generational. This is the type of thing MPs do which makes this job worthwhile. The work Leonie does will continue, and I was proud to secure funding for the Orphanage Museum, which is now being established in Geelong and which I am a committee member of.

Another area I quickly focused on when I got to parliament was getting as many industries involved in coming to Canberra as possible to engage with the processes of legislation that directly affected their industries. I was amazed at the lack of input to legislation by industry, as it was being done a lot of the time by people who had no experience in actually running a business in that industry. Some of those industries are in the gallery today, and I'll mention a few of them that have been as supportive of me as I have been supportive of them: AMCA, the Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors Association of Australia; the lighting industry; Australian Owned Contractors, who are here again pursuing the raising of their tier 2 status and tier 3 status to tier 1 status or to get tier 1 opportunities; Plumbing Products Industry Group, who are here as well and have been great supporters of mine, and they've got a lot of things that need to still be done, but I'm going to handball those things to other people or to the new member for Swan; and the training industry and particularly RTOs who I engaged with during my time as assistant minister.

Next, I'd like to thank all the employees in Parliament House for helping me make my five terms as easy and friendly as possible. To the clerks, the attendants, the committee staff, security, the cleaners, the Comcar drivers and booking staff, the maintenance people—Alan was great, and, Rick, you've got big shoes to fill—the Serjeant-at-Arms staff, the Speaker's panel staff and the whip and their staff: your efforts and assistance have always been appreciated, and your cheery 'good mornings' and quiet 'good nights' have always been respectful and welcome.

I'm not going to mention the GST, as everyone else has claimed it, but I know who did it. He's not here in the chamber, but we all know it was Scott Morrison, as the Treasurer and then Prime Minister, who sorted the GST out for Western Australia.

There are ministers I want to thank for the 14½ years of access I had to ministers to get funding, to get programs or to get infrastructure for Swan. To my mates: Nola; Scotty Buchholz, sitting in the chair there; Craig Laundy and Ian Macfarlane, who have both left; Alex Hawke; Ken Wyatt; Stuart Robert; and obviously the Prime Minister as well, Scott Morrison—I've enjoyed your friendship. And he's just walked in, right on cue! Your support and friendship and the advice you've given me over many years has been absolutely appreciated, and I thank you. And Prime Minister, I have to say it: you are not a bully. This man is not a bully, and anyone who calls him that has got it totally wrong. I spent five years flatting with him—and with Stuart Robert; now, Stuart might have been a bully! In the kitchen he was terrible! But seriously, they are both great guys. And PM, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you as a mate and a friend and to see what you've achieved since you've been in the parliament.

People ask me how I came to be in the Liberal Party. It's simple. It's the party that enables people to get ahead, and it's the party that wants everyone to get ahead and doesn't punish people for being successful. We don't always get it right, but that's what I and my colleagues are for: to help the public servants make it right. Compare that with the Labor Party—and I know their ideology, because I lived it when I was young. I'll give you an example. I worked for the gas and fuel in Victoria, on the roads. I worked out of the Vermont depot for the elite leakage survey department. We would get, say, 10 jobs given to us each day, and we would head out at about 7 am. Now, if we had jobs in a nice, quiet suburban street, we would put those to the back and head out to the main arteries to disrupt, particularly if they were in well-off areas like Toorak. The thought process amongst me and all my workers was, 'Well, if they are well-off enough to live here, let's teach them a lesson and we lowly workers can stuff up and disrupt their lives just as much as anyone else.' That is what I learned was the basis of Labor's ideology. It's simple: punish people for being successful, and disrupt their lives; drag them down, don't lift them up.

There are some further things I want to say, but I'm not going to. I'm just going to go on to other things, like dreams. Many of us here in this place have dreams, and dreams become reality. They might become reality in years and years to come, and I just want to talk about something I delivered to the energy minister the other day, and it's the idea of pressure and gravity energy. Just remember that: pressure and gravity energy. It might not happen now, but it's going to happen, I can tell you.

I'm going to finish off my speech with my family. Robin, my brother-in-law: it's great to have you here. Bobby, a brother I didn't grow up with but we're now best of mates: I wish I had grown up with you but I didn't, and it's great to have you here. Jarrad, my son—all those years we missed and the times we'll make up for it. I've still got a lower handicap than you at golf, so you've got something to aim for, mate! He did get in front of me for a short while, but I've been practising retirement, so my handicap's come down a bit further. To my beautiful wife, Cheryle: I spent 52 years looking for you. I don't think there's much more I can say. She's just fantastic. She finishes my life. She brightens up my life. Everyone knows Cheryle. You never wonder what Cheryle's thinking; she'll always tell you! It's made my last 10 years here so easy. And she's the best campaign manager I've ever had—seriously. She's got things done so well, and that's one of the reasons we won Swan the last three times. I did say to her, in 2011, when we got married, that I would only run once more, but it was a joey—and Cheryle knows what joeys are, so I won't go into that. But I've run three times more. The time has expired to get out of this place. I'm leaving it in good hands, and I hope to see my team back on the government benches after the next election. I think we've done a great job during the pandemic period. The economy's going strong. Unemployment's down. And, in Western Australia particularly, wages are going through the roof. So, there's no lowering of wages; they're actually going up. This government deserves to come back.

Anyway, one of the things I want to say is: no more pager, no more bells. I'm going to finish by mixing a couple of lines from an Eagles song and the song about the yellow brick road: they may lose and we may win, but I will never be here again, because my future lies beyond the yellow brick road. Thank you.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Road Safety and Freight Transport) | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—As the members rightly pay their affirmations to the member for Swan, it is said in this place: if you want to truly understand someone, you need not trawl through the many books of Hansard to understand them; you need only read two documents—their maiden speech and their valedictory speech. In this House this week, we have heard some amazing speeches.

Member for Flynn, Ken O'Dowd: as you say farewell to this parliament, to you and Shirley I give Christine's and my deepest regard. We will see you at the track on regular occasions. To my good, good friend George Christensen, the member for Dawson—the love that he has for April and the life and happiness that young Margaret has brought into his world: Georgie, when we are in Mackay we will come and see you; we will come and stay with you. Our paths are not disconnected because you leave this place. To my dearest and closest friend in the parliament, the member for Swan: before coming to this place, he was a professional athlete. He played professional AFL football. The competitive edge that he had on the paddock he has brought into this place, and it has served him well. In addition to that, the salt-of-the-earth granular authenticity of his character comes from his trade as an electrician. He has always been a grounded soul, and the choice that he has made for his life partner, in the way of Cheryle, and the commitment that he has to Jarrad—we will never be strangers in Western Australia and your home will always be part of our agenda, if not purely for your risotto!

Thank you to those members that have made a contribution. I'm fortunate to have been here, for the three members I've spoken to, to watch their maiden speech and their valedictory. To the member for Swan: you are my brother; I love you.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the House for the opportunity and the indulgence to make some valedictory remarks. There can be few greater privileges for an Australian than to serve in the Commonwealth parliament. To have represented the people of Menzies for the past three decades is an enormous honour, and I thank each and every one of them for that privilege. I've only been able to serve the Australian people because of the loyalty, support and commitment of my wife, Margie, and our children, Emily, James, Stuart, Catherine and Benjamin. My service here has only been possible because of Margie's sacrifice in particular, especially giving up her own career.

I can't name all the people who've supported me over the past 30 years, but I'll briefly mention a few. First, there are my Liberal Party members, especially my loyal and dedicated electorate chairs, including Neil Guppy, Tom Sweeney, Hal Grix, Michael Gartland, Philip Radcliff, Andrew Asten and the indomitable Sandra Mercer Moore, who represented the very best of the values that I've sought to uphold. And there are the members of the Menzies 200 Club, chaired most recently by Bernie Capicchiano and Anthony Fernandes, without whom I would not have had the resources to campaign in each of those elections.

Secondly, there are my electorate staff, of which there have been too many to name. I will mention two long-serving members, Jackie Toop and Rebecca Poole; my current and recent staff, Cristy Elliott, Sarah Moate, Russell Hannan, Ahmed Hrustic and Nathan Porter; and my many ministerial staff, particularly my chiefs of staff, Robert Reid, Felicity Dargan, Andrew Blyth, Michael Toby, Brendan Darcy, Kevin Donnelly, Nick Demiris and Matthew Fox.

Thirdly, there are the many public servants with whom I worked, particularly departmental secretaries Jane Halton, Peter Boxall, Andrew Metcalfe, Finn Pratt and Dennis Richardson, and CDF Mark Binskin.

Fourthly, there are my colleagues of three decades, particularly Prime Ministers Howard and Abbott, in whose cabinets I had the privilege to serve, and all my Victorian Liberal colleagues. In this context, I wish my colleagues in the Liberal and National parties every success in the forthcoming election. I hope you're all sitting on this side of the House after that event.

I also thank our numerous friends for their ongoing support, particularly those with which we were involved in marriage education, and my cycling companions, especially Bill Scott in Melbourne and Stephen Hodge here in Canberra. I express my gratitude to the members of this parliament with whom I have worked, including on significant issues in the past two parliamentary terms such as the Magnitsky legislation in the foreign affairs human rights committee—I also acknowledge in that regard the late Senator Kimberley Kitching and, of course, my good friend and colleague Chris Hayes, who's sitting on the front bench on the opposition side—and members of the other two committees I have chaired, seeking to improve the operation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and to streamline and reduce costs and delays in the family law system.

My parents weren't wealthy. They worked hard all their lives. When my father died my then 50-year-old mother took over the family trucking business, rising at 3 am and 4 am to transport stock to market until she was in her mid-60s. My parents gave my brothers and me two things more important than any material possessions, namely a good education and the encouragement to achieve our goals. This, I believe, is the great Australian dream—to hand on to the next generation an even better nation than the one which we've inherited. I've always believed that a successful society is a compact across generations. We prosper because of the wise choices, the sacrifices and the hard work of previous generations, and, in turn, it's our duty to use our industry and judgement to ensure the best for future generations of Australians.

Three decades ago I gave up a career in law to pursue a vocation. A career is about the individual; a vocation is about a cause, and my cause has been the peace, the welfare and the happiness of the people of Australia. As I said when I first spoke in this place over 30 years ago, internally my theme is justice. I declare my political creed here and now. It is that the essential end of government is not power or glory but the good life for ordinary men and women. The ordinary man, as I know him, asks for a happy life, not a complaining one; for a full life, not an idle one.

I came here three decades ago to make a difference. It was a concern that government was not acknowledging and responding adequately to the needs of families, particularly those with children, that motivated me to stand for election in the first place and is what drove my policy interests for the first decade. The work that I and others did, especially through the then Lyons Forum, culminated in the Howard government's national family strategy, including raising tax-free thresholds for families with children and subsequently the introduction of family tax credits.

I also somewhat unexpectedly found myself introducing a bill to overturn the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws, which were implacably opposed by the Indigenous community in the Territory and many others. I'm proud that it's referred to as the Andrews bill, but its success as only the 14th private member's bill to pass this parliament was the product of many contributions, including a then yet to be elected member of this place, Tony Burke. I should note that, when I expressed doubts about proposing the bill in a telephone call to Margie, she responded, 'Well, if you don't do that, you might as well come home and be a decent husband and father.'

When John Howard appointed me as minister for ageing in 2001 aged care was in the media for all the wrong reasons, including allegations of residents being given kerosene baths. The Prime Minister's wishes were clear: take aged care out of the media. I recently found my instructions to the department, which included getting more allocated beds operational, easing the burden of documentation on nursing staff, implementing a pricing review and expanding community care. I also established a national advisory council on ageing, chaired by my former mentor Sir James Gobbo, to help address the challenges of an ageing population, including the retention of older people in the workforce. That's a challenge which is ongoing.

When I was appointed to cabinet in 2003 as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, the Howard government was struggling to get its legislation through the Senate. The outcome of the 2004 election enabled us to pursue a more ambitious agenda, including the establishment of the Building and Construction Commission to deal with rogue elements in that industry, the passage of legislation to recognise the role of independent contractors, the simplification of awards and the passage of WorkChoices. It included one of the most significant developments in Australian workplace law—namely, the establishment of a single unified national workplace relations system. That reform alone resulted in very significant productivity gains and economic benefits for this nation that continue to this day.

As Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, I took the tough decision to reduce the intake of entrants from some places until those already here from those nations could be assisted better to settle and integrate into life in Australia. During that year, I also introduced the citizenship test and strengthened the character provisions in our immigration laws. I was mindful of Sir Robert Menzies's observation that opposition:

… must be regarded as a great, constructive period in the life of a party … not a period in the wilderness, but a period of preparation for the high responsibilities which you hope will come.

So my efforts were devoted to the Policy Development Committee after the 2007 election loss, and I served on and subsequently chaired that body.

The leadership events of 2009, albeit traumatic, were necessary for the coalition to return to government. Although, in another telephone call, when I told my wife, Margie, that I was offering myself as Leader of the Opposition, this time she told me, if I succeeded, not to bother coming home! Tony Abbott appointed me as shadow minister for family and community services, working on welfare and related policies, which I built on as Minister for Social Services in his government. The measures we introduced were significant, building on the report I commissioned Patrick McClure to undertake, which provided the foundation for the consolidation of many welfare payments and the establishment of an actuarial basis for further reform, as well as measures that resulted in a very significant number of people moving from the disability pension back into employment.

My final portfolio, Defence, was as unexpected as it was satisfying. In a relatively short period of time, we: implemented the First Principles Review to finally establish a single defence force structure in Australia; crafted and drafted the Defence white paper; authorised the replacement of the entire Australian naval fleet; negotiated increased rotations of US marines and Singaporean defence personnel in northern Australia; and held discussions with India, Japan and the US, which ultimately led to the revitalisation of the Quad, amongst a long list of initiatives.

There are other matters I could mention, but, as the philosopher wrote, 'The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on.' Instead, let me make a few final observations about the challenges our nation faces. There are two significant challenges, one domestic and one geopolitical. This parliament, I believe, has an ongoing and critical role to play in relation to both of these issues.

Firstly, the COVID pandemic has exposed many weaknesses in our system of government and highlighted fault lines that we have long ignored. Regardless of our views on the various responses to the pandemic, I suspect we can all agree that the federation has faced stresses that have revealed weaknesses in its structure.

I cannot imagine that the founders of the Commonwealth ever thought that their work was complete or that the only changes that would occur would be by judicial fiat or fiscal stealth yet that largely has been the history of the past century. 'A nation without the means of some change', observed Edmund Burke, 'is without the means of its own conservation'. I encourage all who sit in this parliament in the next session to begin the long conversation about the constitutional and other arrangements that will best ensure that we remain, in Parkes's famous phrase, 'one people with one destiny', and it should commence, in my view, with a thorough, transparent review of our response nationally to the pandemic to ensure that we are prepared fully for the next such event.

There's a related question of population, including immigration, about which we need an informed debate, not one dominated by cliches. Numerous industries need workers to survive and thrive, but critical infrastructure must also continue to be provided if we are to maintain our economic growth and standards of living. I commend to the next government the establishment of a national commission on population to provide ongoing advice to both the people and the parliament on the challenges we face and solutions for their resolution.

Secondly, there is the great geopolitical challenge that will shape our way of life, our peace and our security for decades, if not centuries, into the future. That challenge is the totalitarian Chinese communist regime. The primary responsibility of a national government is the security of the nation. The security of our region is in greater peril today than it has been for generations. Not since World War II, some 80 years ago, have we had to contemplate defending Australia but we do. That makes our response all the more urgent. We must stand economically, strategically and militarily with those nations and states, however imperfect, that seek to uphold the dignity and the freedom of the individual against totalitarian regimes that believe the individual should serve the state and is expendable.

Just as Australia has stepped up its engagement in the South Pacific, it must continue to engage throughout the whole of the Indo-Pacific, including, I believe, greater parliamentary engagement with members of legislatures in our own region. How many, I ask rhetorically, in this place could pick up the phone to a legislator in a parliament or congress in another Asian nation? Not many, I suspect, and that's a tragedy.

I've had the good fortune to have served much of my term during one of the great reforming eras of Australian politics. History will judge favourably the Hawke and Howard eras. As John Howard observed: politics is not a public relations exercise; it is fundamentally a contest of ideas about what best serves the national interest. It is the ability to evaluate competing visions of a common good that marks a truly great people. That, I believe, must always be the aspiration of those of us fortunate to engage in the formation of public policy. The greatest force in life, certainly in politics, is inertia. There's always a reason to do nothing but that's a betrayal of why we're elected. It is better, I believe, to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all.

Finally, may I say something about this House. In doing so, I thank all the men and women who serve the parliament, from the Clerk and the Sergeant and their staff through to the Library, the committee personnel, Hansard and Broadcasting, the transport office and Comcar, the catering staff, the attendants, the security officers, and those who maintain the building, provide services and clean our suites.

While this should be a place where ideas are contested and policies and programs scrutinised, it must also be a place that pursues national unity, and that quest starts with us all. In his inaugural address, an autographed copy of which I've had on the wall of my office for the past 30 years, John Fitzgerald Kennedy reminded us:

… civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

The blight of factionalism and identity politics, which infects many tiers of national and community life beyond politics, must be resisted.

If there has ever been a time for the political virtue of toleration, as espoused by John Locke and others, being in need of revival, it is now. If our political system is to thrive, it needs to find ways of traversing the new fault lines in the national polity, especially the growing chasm between the experiences and expectations of those who live in the inner suburbs of our capital cities; those who live in the middle and outer metropolitan areas, such as my electorate; and regional and rural Australia, where I was born and raised.

Robust debate should not detract from our essential task, which, I believe, is the peace, the welfare and the happiness of the people of Australia. To reference Shakespeare: my hour of strutting and fretting upon the stage has come to an end. It remains for me to bid farewell.

In 'The Municipal Gallery Revisited', one of his last poems, William Butler Yeats recounts a visit to an art gallery where the portraits of many of his friends were displayed. It reminds me a little of the Members' Hall. He began:

Around me the images of thirty years;

and, with a minor change, I adopt his final stanza:

You that would judge me do not judge alone

This book or that, come to this hallowed place

Where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon;

Australia's history in their lineaments trace;

Think where man's glory most begins and ends

And say my glory was I had such friends.

May God continue to vouchsafe the deliberations of this parliament. May God bless Australia.