Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise to speak today in the address-in-reply debate and it was with great pride that I watched the Governor-General outline the policies and priorities of the new coalition government. I look forward to working with my colleagues as we continue to deliver a stronger, more prosperous Australia. It is timely that we resume this debate today as the Governor-General carries out her final actions in that role. She has this morning laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and, as I speak, she is on her way to her Brisbane home. We wish her well.

Last night I had the privilege of attending the official farewell for the now Dame Quentin Bryce here in the Great Hall of Parliament House. Heads of missions, ambassadors, leaders of our defence forces, our country's leading legal identities, leaders of our nation's migrant communities and business leaders from around the country, to name but a few, were gathered there to recognise the contribution made by the Governor-General over the last six years. As Prime Minister Abbott said yesterday, Dame Quentin Bryce has served our country in an extraordinary and pre-eminent way and has been a very elegant and dignified Governor-General. I thank her for her unyielding service to our nation and wish her the very best in her future endeavours. I particularly pay tribute to Dame Quentin Bryce for carrying out her role as the first female Governor-General seamlessly, selflessly and with great honour.

On Friday we will be welcoming a new Governor-General, General Sir Peter Cosgrove. The term is still a bit new to me. I wish him well in his new role.

In contributing today to this address and in making the contribution I want to make I wish to take us back to last September, 2013, when we achieved a Liberal-National Party victory at the federal election. It was a positive result for all Australians who had become tired of the chaotic Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. Working with an Abbott-led Liberal- National Party government gives Australians an opportunity to get our nation going again, to allow business to flourish and to allow everyone across the country to reap the benefits of a stronger, more prosperous economy. The Liberal Party and the people of South Australia delivered a stinging blow, by taking the seat of Hindmarsh and significantly reducing Labor's margin in the seat of Wakefield and in other strongly held Labor seats.

It is notable and quite fitting that you are sitting in the chair, Mr Acting Deputy President Fawcett, because Wakefield was your former seat when you were in the other place. But now I am patron for that seat.

The campaign success resulted in a 7.13 per cent swing towards the Liberal Party. Unfortunately, it was not enough to wrest it from Labor's hands. However, it was a major revolt against the sitting member, Mr Nick Champion, who, despite writing to everybody in his electorate, telling a blatant mistruth about him having saved General Motors Holden until 2022, suffered a major backlash and will continue to serve his time in parliament on the opposition back bench. The member for Wakefield will now be a little-heard voice in that place. The member for Wakefield's comment about securing Holden until 2022 proved to be farcical when, on 11 December last year, Holden management announced they would close the Elizabeth factory by the end of 2017. What a cruel hoax the member for Wakefield's empty promise turned out to be. But I digress.

I congratulate all South Australian House of Representatives Liberal candidates on their honest and engaging campaigns throughout that period. I also congratulate my Liberal South Australian lower house colleagues who were successful in being re-elected and welcome Mr Matt Williams, our new federal member for Hindmarsh.

Congratulations also to my South Australian Senate colleagues who were re-elected and hearty congratulations to Senator Birmingham, who has subsequently been appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment. This is a well-deserved promotion for my colleague, who has done a lot of work around the Murray-Darling Basin through supporting regional communities and championing the environment and its economic balance. It is such an important issue, certainly in our home state of South Australia.

The challenges facing the South Australian community are significant but certainly not insurmountable. The Abbott coalition government is taking a strong, mature and informed approach, which is being welcomed in South Australia as a genuine opportunity to help get my home state and indeed our nation back in the realms of fiscal responsibility. We can only hope that the series of events which led to the Labor Party taking a minority government in South Australia this week will mean a change of tone from the premier towards his colleagues here in Canberra. Also, that we can actually get on and start ridding that state of the millstone which is the $14 billion worth of structural debt in the budget and the further $14 billion worth of unfunded liabilities, which also remain somewhat quiet in the Labor Party's plan for a bright and vibrant economic future for South Australia.

Because of 12 years of mismanagement by Labor in South Australia we now have the unenvied economic ranking of all mainland states in Australia. Whilst South Australians believe that the Liberals won 53 per cent of the vote, which is quite right, and received over 90,000 more votes, out of 1.142 million votes—a very high percentage indeed—the Liberal Party was unable to form government. But there were some fantastic success stories in that state election.

Mr Corey Wingard, who has been a very prominent part of the political scene over the last 18 months on the federal side of things, will now take up a role in state parliament. He won the seat of Mitchell in Adelaide's south, David Speirs won the neighbouring seat of Bright and Mr Vincent Tarzia won the seat of Hartley in Adelaide's east. I congratulate these men.

We also welcome to the parliament in South Australia, Mr Stephan Knoll of the Liberal Party, who took over the seat of Schubert from the long-serving Mr Ivan Venning. Troy Bell took out the seat of Mount Gambier and obviously won a prize for the Liberal Party there, because it had been in the hands of Independents for some time. Well done, Troy! We also see the addition of a great brain and also great wit in Andrew McLachlan joining the legislative council.

The now re-elected Premier of South Australia, Mr Weatherill, and indeed the member for Wakefield, Mr Champion, know how bad youth unemployment is in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. It has steadily grown since Mr Champion took over as the member, and it has now risen to be one of the highest rates in the country—it is pushing 45 per cent. After nearly 12 years and six years in government, respectively, they have no capacity to arrest this dysfunction.

Debate interrupted.