Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to make some remarks on behalf of the Gillard Labor government to the three retiring senators who have given their valedictory speeches today. Again it seems we have had some of the best speeches in this place delivered as farewell speeches, and we have had a bigger crowd both in the chamber and in the gallery than we ever have for our normal proceedings. So we must do this more often!

Steve Hutchins has had a great Labor career, and I congratulate him on it on behalf of all members of the Labor Party. I think Steve's speech today was an extraordinarily revealing, powerful, passionate and personal speech, and I was very moved by it. I know he spoke from the heart in a tremendous contribution. Steve started out as a forklift driver and ended up a senator and a senior party official. As I say, he has had a great Labor career. I know he has made a huge contribution to the Transport Workers Union and remains very much committed to the Transport Workers Union. He has made a tremendous contribution to New South Wales and the New South Wales Labor Party, and I think that with his remarks today he showed his continuing passion for the New South Wales Labor Party and its future. As always he was forthright and frank, and that is one of Steve's great attributes; you always knew where you stood. I think a few people today know where they stand, even if they may be standing in a rather uncom­fortable spot! It was also clear when he went through his family why he got preselected: there are a good couple of branches' worth in the family, and it is why the strong Catholics have always done well in the Labor Party!

Steve, as I say, gave a tremendous speech today, and I think that what struck me again was the compassion which he brings to the role. I looked at Steve's first speech, and he talked a lot about unemployment and his commitment to employment and oppor­tunities for working people. Today he spoke about poverty with a great deal of passion for those who need our assistance, and he also spoke about the number of Senate inquiries he was involved with, including his very moving recounting of the inquiry into the forgotten Australians and how that moved him. I think his contribution and that of the other senators is a great advertisement for the Senate. It is one of those inquiries where the Senate has been at its best and the senators were at their best.

From my own point of view, I saw Steve Hutchins at his best in the work he did on the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry into military justice, which Steve talked about today. Steve took over as chair of that committee, and his sensitivity, sense of justice and compassion, and the way he handled the families who were going through quite cathartic processes and deep distress, was fantastic. While the reforms we advocated following the report have passed, have been implemented and are very important, I think one of the great things about that inquiry was that families got a great deal of satisfaction and comfort from the fact that the Senate took the time to listen. The way Steve dealt with them, his role in the chair and the way he conducted that inquiry did him great credit. So, Steve, I acknowledge you made a fantastic contribution to the Senate committee system and to the Labor Party, and I thank you for that contribution to the cause of Labor.

Steve referred partly and quite quickly to his fight with cancer, and I think that probably allows me to pass a short comment, which is that sometimes as leader I did not know whether he was suffering or not. He never complained, he never sought dispensation and he never asked for any special treatment. In fact, a few times when I had heard he was not well and I asked him to take time off, he refused to take it off, which was a sign of his commitment and the fact that he battled through a really difficult period and great medical challenges with a stoicism that I know I could not have shown. I think many of his colleagues did not actually know what he was going through. It is a great credit to him that he was able to contribute so much in the Senate during periods when he was clearly doing it very tough.

Steve—Stephen Patrick Hutchins; I did not realise the Patrick was there till today—has made a huge contribution to our team in the Senate. He will be missed. But, as I say, he goes to a new stage of his life with a tremendous Labor record. I know he will continue to contribute to the Labor Party in his new state and his new life. All the best, Steve.

Can I also speak about Annette Hurley, who spoke today about her history as a senator and her engagement with the South Australian Labor Party. I was particularly impressed, Annette, when you spoke about how hard it was to get in. We are very glad you finally made it and it was a great benefit to the Labor Party. I think it reflects the fact that having a wider gene pool is a very good thing for the Labor Party. Your different experiences and the skills which you brought to both the South Australian and the federal parliament have been highly valued.

Annette talked about how she had been the member for Napier in Adelaide for eight years and had risen to the position of Deputy Leader of the Opposition in South Australia, where she had earned great deal of respect for her hard work and advocacy for the South Australian Labor Party. But she took the incredible decision to relinquish her safe seat and fight a very difficult seat for the Labor Party, a Liberal held seat, which she lost narrowly. As she pointed out today, if she had won she would have been Deputy Premier of South Australia, because they formed a minority government after the election, although the seat Annette ran for was considered to be the swing seat. It is a tremendous thing to be able to say that Annette made such a selfless act on behalf of the Labor Party and it is a tremendous compliment to her.

Annette, I know you have served the South Australian party as president and served on the national executive and made a huge contribution in the cause of Labor in South Australia. One of most remarkable things is that there are some very good numbers people on both sides in this parliament. I am not sure you are one of them—it has never been a particular focus of your activities—but you are the first one I have heard of who was actually elected to the frontbench before entering parliament. I think that is a remarkable tribute to your organisational abilities. As people might recall, we held open a frontbench position for Annette until she took up her position in the Senate and, as she said today, she did a fantastic job with a great deal of zeal in supporting a strong multicultural policy and racial tolerance in Australia at a very difficult time.

I have regarded Annette as a very solid and effective member of our Senate team. She has carried a huge workload as Chair of the Economics Legislation Committee. I know the number of bills they have had to deal with has been huge, and Annette has provided a huge contribution to the government through her work as chair of that committee. As I say, she has dealt with a huge workload, with very difficult issues, with sometimes some very difficult senators—ours and theirs—and has really made a contribution to the success of the government. She has always done it in a very modest, hardworking style but with a very steely resolve—not a woman to be trifled with! I have certainly appreciated the role Annette has played in this Labor government. We are going to miss her contribution. We wish her all the best in her new endeavours. I think she, too, has had a great Labor career and made a great contribution. We wish Annette a fantastic future.

Turning now to Steve Fielding, who also gave a very passionate and emotional speech, Steve got elected to the Senate in 2005 as a result of a very cunning Labor plan—and I do not think Alan Griffin MHR has been given the credit that he deserves for getting Steve Fielding elected to this parliament. Family First got slightly less than two per cent of the vote but Steve was elected as a result of a complicated preference arrange­ment, and Kim Carr was very keen for me to mention Alan Griffin's contribution—Alan, if you're listening? Putting that aside, I have always been one of those who have argued that Steve may have got up on a small primary vote but he got up in accordance with Australia's Constitution and deserved to be treated properly and respected as someone who had been elected by the people to serve in this place. And I know he has taken that responsibility very seriously.

He spoke of his family. I cannot imagine coming from a family of 16 kids; I don't know how you would manage to get feed in among that fight. But I know his own family has been very important to him and he always speaks fondly of his kids and their experiences. I know that is very special to him.

Steve has been viewed as being a conservative in this place and has sometimes been at the centre of controversy. That probably goes with the job of being a small party or an Independent in a finely balanced Senate. I think both sides of politics have been frustrated by him, particularly when he does not vote with us. As I say, that is a function of the role he plays in terms of the balances in the Senate, and Senator Xenophon can be pretty frustrating as well from our point of view for that same reason. I think Steve has been pretty hard to classify or put in a particular category because he has voted with both sides on different aspects. I think from our point of view we are most appreciative of the position he took in terms of industrial legislation in this parliament. His critique and opposition to Work Choices and his support for the Fair Work Act is something that the Labor Party and, I think, working people in Australia are very appreciative of.

I know in the last three years Steve has been in the position of contributing to the balance of power in the Senate. I think every senator in that position feels huge pressure in having to vote on every bill on every vote before the Senate. I know those of us who are part of parties appreciate that we can concentrate on various aspects of the parliamentary work but the minors and Independents have to be across it all. I know the pressures that places on people and the huge demand. Generally people who have been in that position, I have seen in this parliament, have aged very quickly as those pressures build.

In spite of all that Steve has maintained good relationships across the chamber. He referred to his admission about his learning difficulty a year or two ago. It was a tremendously brave act and I think all members of the parliament were appreciative that he took a very courageous step. As he pointed out I think it provided great leader­ship to people with learning disabilities to be able to confront and admit them and to be proud of the contribution they make. I think it was a great measure of leadership to be brave enough to make that public.

Steve also referred to his various sporting injuries. I do not know whether Senator Arbib and Senator Conroy have been hacking him in their regular soccer games but he forever seemed to have an injury. I am a rugby man and soccer seemed to me to always be a bit of a soft game so I could never quite understand how Senator Fielding was always hurt.