George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was an exciting period, Senator Minchin, the anti-Vietnam War movement. The moratorium is a day that I will never forget. It was one of the most exciting days for anyone who was involved in the labour movement—to see 100,000 people virtually fill Bourke Street in Melbourne. That is a memory that will stay with me for a very long period of time.

I was involved in issues like the abolition of the penal powers when Clarrie O’Shea was arrested. They were bad laws. They were defied, ultimately, and they were defeated. Ultimately, in a democracy that is what you do or you allow your democracy to degrade. I hope we do not have to face circumstances like that in the future, but we have also got to be prepared, if that occurs, to put up or shut up and take the fight on.

The election of the Whitlam government was obviously pretty exciting for Labor Party members in those days, after some 23 years of conservative rule, and I was pretty heavily involved in that process. In fact, I was a member of the Victorian central executive that Whitlam sacked in 1970. I got elected onto that executive at the same time as Bob Hawke. We both lasted three months. He went on to be Prime Minister and I finished up in the Senate, so we must have been doing something right during that period of time.

I remember that time because I topped the poll at the state conference for the election of members of the executive and I did it mainly because I moved a resolution defying the Crimes Act on conscription. That resulted in me getting the unanimous vote of the conference to go onto the executive. I still pull those tricks but I have not done any for quite some time. But it worked out to be very successful.

I was also pretty heavily involved in the negotiation of the accord during the eighties, and many of the issues that arose out of the accord process, particularly the introduction of universal superannuation. I was pleased to see that Bill Kelty, in the last honours list, got acknowledgement and recognition for the work that he did over that period. To a large degree, many of the issues that emerged out of that accord period that have been lasting reforms for workers and which workers have benefited from were driven by Bill, and it was Bill’s energy that ultimately carried them over the line.

I was involved in two rewrites of the arbitration act—one back in 1988 after the Hancock review and the other in 1993 that led to the introduction of collective bargaining—as a member of that committee. There are many other events and circumstances of that period which I recount and was fortunate enough to be involved in.

I was also pretty privileged over that period and served on many government committees. I was a member of the Economic Planning Advisory Council and the Australian Shipbuilding Board from 1975 to 1980. I was a member of the Shipbuilding Consultative Group from, I think, 1984 to 1988. I was deputy chair of the Australian Manufacturing Council. I was on the Telecommunications Industry Development Authority, along with Tony Staley, and that was a particularly rewarding period. It was after the deregulation of the telecommunications industry, and our role was to ensure that the local industry did not go down the gurgler, as it did in the seventies as, a result of that deregulation. I think we did a fairly substantial job of ensuring a healthy telecommunications industry has survived in this country.

I served on the National Industry Extension Service, which is now being reintroduced by the Rudd government under another name in the department of industry to provide resources to small businesses to assist them to adapt to new technologies, new methods of production. I was on the National Investment Council also during that period.

I have been lucky that I have been able to make a contribution not only in my chosen fields of endeavour within the trade union movement and in politics but also to the development of our community more broadly in those areas that I have outlined.

One thing I did was lead a sit-in in Old Parliament House back in 1976—the first and only time I think there has been a successful sit-in in Parliament House—of 2,000 shipyard workers, because the Fraser government were closing down the shipbuilding industry. There were two security guards. Of course, we were able to stay there for quite some time because two to 2,000 did not equate to even odds. But it was conducted with decorum. We made our point, and the protest finished. Sitting in King’s Hall in Old Parliament House in 1976, I never thought I would be sitting here in the Senate from 1998 through to 2008. It was probably the furthest thing from my mind in those days.

I have regarded it as a privilege to be able to play an active role in the political and industrial affairs of the nation and to give something back to the country that has given me so much. A prominent member on the other side, who happens to be in the chamber, once described me as one of the few remaining conviction politicians left in this place. That is a badge I wear with honour, Senator Brandis. I do not see how you can convince others to support your position if you are not convinced yourself that your position is the correct one. I have never shrunk in all my years in the labour movement from taking the opportunity to get up and argue my point of view and to fight for positions that I held dearly and believed in.

Having been so actively involved over such a long period of time, there is a temptation in these types of speeches to make comparisons between different eras. I have been fortunate to live through all of the modern eras of the labour movement: the Whitlam period, the Hawke period, the Keating period and the Rudd government. Whilst I am disturbed by the approach of the current government on a number of issues, not the least of which is industrial relations, you will excuse me if I keep my counsel to myself because I think the appropriate place to make those arguments is in the internal structures of the party, and there are ample opportunities provided within the Labor Party for one to argue one’s point of view on whatever issues one wants to argue.

In the period I have been here, there has been no joy being in opposition. There is no joy in opposition; it is only hard work for little result. But I have to say I am glad that, if I was going to serve a period in opposition, it was in the Australian Senate, because the Senate committee structure provides an opportunity for people to make a contribution to develop a policy agenda in a way in which, to my knowledge, no other parliament does.

I have served on a number of committees and have been involved in a number of committee reports, some of which are still gathering dust but some of which had an impact. I think the ability that those committees and that committee structure gives one to get out and mix with the general community and to meet people from all walks of life—whether it be looking at the status of teachers, which I did with Senator Allison and with Senator Stott Despoja, dealing with the issue of students and student unionism or looking at the issue of the skills divide—helps broaden our knowledge and experience of what is going on out there but helps also, I think, to take to the Australian community the fact that their politicians are concerned about the issues confronting them, are listening and are prepared to come down and listen to their arguments in whatever their particular field is. So, despite the fact that opposition is not a very good environment to be in, there is no doubt that the Senate structure goes a very long way to providing a bridge for those in opposition to be able to play a constructive role in the affairs of the parliament through those processes. I do hope that the current government, while enjoying the fruits of political victory, never lose sight of what it is like to be in opposition. That thought alone, Chris, should ensure that you keep firmly on the right track. I know that you will carry the message back into the cabinet room.