Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

I'm grateful for the opportunity to make some remarks at the beginning of this parliament and congratulate everyone for being re-elected to their positions. It is a great honour to be a representative of the people of New South Wales. It is perhaps a term that is used too often, but it is a great honour. It is perhaps the greatest honour you could have in a professional capacity, and I wanted to thank the people of New South Wales for having me again. Of course I want to also thank my party, the Liberal Party, for putting up with me again. I'm sure I have at times tested the patience of certain members, but I am grateful that the members of my party decided that I was worth another go.

In these last six years, a lot has happened, and I think it's a healthy thing to consider whether or not you have, in fact, done your best—whether you have made the type of policy contribution that you could make. Most of us will spend a relatively small portion of our lives in this endeavour. I think it is a healthy thing for people to consider whether they are always doing everything they can do to, in our case, not only hold the government to account but to come up with creative and collaborative ideas where the taxpayer can get the best possible value. I would say to you, Deputy President, that the best work of the Senate happens in the committees. I think most senators would agree with that. A lot of the work that we undertake here in this chamber is sometimes embarrassing, and I think we do revert to a form of political war too often. But it is genuinely an opportunity to collaborate, and I regret very much that the public don't see the collegial nature of a lot of the Senate's best work through its committees. I think that is a great shame.

I want to take the opportunity to thank the good people of my state for having me again and to acknowledge, in the spirit of humility and, perhaps, embarrassment, that this was a very disappointing result for my party. Some good personal friends have been lost from this place, including Jenny Ware, Bridget Archer, James Stevens, Keith Wolahan and others. I will miss them very much over these next three years. I want to recommit myself to do the best I can. My leader, Sussan Ley, has given me a great opportunity to work on productivity, deregulation, housing and homelessness, and I will do that with vigour. But I will also do what I promised I would do at the commencement of my term six years ago when given an opportunity to talk about the broader agenda in a first speech.

At the time, I referred to former president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt, who famously said after a significant coal strike in 1902 that he was not going to intervene to support the workers or the capitalists but to support the people as a representative of the people. He later told a friend—and I have to say that I do like this quote:

Now, I believe in rich people who act squarely, and in labor unions which are managed with wisdom and justice; but when either employee or employer, laboring man or capitalist, goes wrong, I have to cinch him, and that is all there is to it.

I like that quote because I think it's important that we don't get bogged into our trenches too often and that we're able to see the bigger picture here. I think what Roosevelt was getting at was that we all are stewards of the public interest.

In this particular endeavour here in the Senate, what is going to be the best policy prescription is what is going to be debated a lot across this chamber over the next three years. Everything is polluted with vested interests. That is the reality. Particularly as the state gets bigger and bigger and there is a blurring of the line between what is the real private economy and what is the subsidised economy, the non-market economy, we've got to be very clear about what it is that we're trying to achieve here in this country. I would say to you that we're all here to support the people. We're all here to support enterprise. I'm sure we're all here to support individuals and small businesses. I'm sure we all agree with that. We want to support good unions. Senator Sheldon spent a large part of his professional career in a union, and I know that he would have done that with a pure heart. There are a lot of good unions, a lot of good people in the trade unions, but we want to get the best outcome for people.

This scourge of vested interests, which is always going to be part of a political system like ours, needs to be properly understood for what it is, because of the nature of the debates we're going to have about the NDIS, health care, superannuation and child care. There are many laudable objectives, and it's very important that we have a country which supports people that need government support. It's very important for our cohesion and it's important for our sense of who we are. But it is important that we are aware of the risks to the taxpayer. What I hope for this parliament is that we're able to have a more nuanced, sophisticated debate about the role of the state in our country and that we all strive to protect people who are vulnerable and need assistance. I think it is disappointing that we in my party didn't have a homelessness policy at the last election. That is a matter of embarrassment and regret, but it's not a mistake we'll make again.

In closing, I say again that we will be looking for opportunities—and I will be—to work with everyone in this Senate. The government is the government, and there is a conflict inherent in the Senate that members of the Senate are also members of the government; I respect and understand that, and there are provisions for that. But the crossbench at large and the opposition—which is officially us, the Liberal-National coalition—have a very important constitutional role here to hold the government to account, to make sure they can be the best government they can be and to make sure they are administering programs properly and spending taxpayer funds wisely.

Once again, I'm very grateful to do this job. I'm not sure how long I'll be doing it for, but certainly I look forward to serving out these six years. I will do my absolute best for the people who have given me this job, and I hope not to let people down too many times.