John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being after 5 pm, pursuant to order, I now call Senator Gallacher to make his first speech. I ask honourable senators that the usual courtesies be extended to him.

Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your re-election as President. I trust I will benefit from your wisdom and guidance as I learn the ropes in this place. To all new senators I extend my congratulations on your election. To the very capable parliamentary staff: I thank you for your welcome and guidance to date.

I fill a vacancy created by Annette Hurley's decision not to seek another term. Annette has set a high benchmark through her dedication and work ethic. Her contribu­tion to the Labor Party has been of the highest order, and the fact that I have inherited a fully functioning office with well-trained and capable staff is testament to Annette's demonstrated capacity for always doing the right thing, ensuring a smooth transition. As a new senator I greatly appreciate the fact that Nimfa Farrell, Peter Gonis, Matthew Marozzi and Dianna Zollo have chosen to continue their service. I look forward to continuing and upholding the high standard set by Annette and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

I was born in New Cumnock, Scotland, in 1954 and arrived in Australia in 1966. My father, like so many migrants, came to Australia seeking a better chance for himself and his family. Sadly, my mother and father are no longer with us and cannot be here today. However, I am certain they would be very proud. However, my Aunty Doris and Aunty Mattie put a little Scottish perspective on hearing the news with stern advice along the lines of, 'Don't get a big head,' and, 'Don't get too big for your boots'—advice I intend to heed.

Many people have been instrumental in my taking this place as a senator for South Australia—firstly, the Labor voters of South Australia. I am deeply humbled and honour­ed to be one of your representatives. I will strive to be true to the Labor values of a fair go and a better chance for all. It is my belief that the Labor Party is the only party that provides all Australians a greater share of the prosperity of this great nation. I truly hope I can repay the faith that you have placed in your party in electing me to this place.

My wife, Paola, has been a tower of strength. Her love and capacity for ensuring the important things in life—family, children and grandchildren—are front and centre have ensured that I have become a much better person, ensuring the humility and respect for others necessary to make an effective contribution. Our children, Caroline, Ian, Terry and Frank, are a source of immense pride and, along with Dave, Seonaid, Tammy and Sharon, hopefully the source of many more grandchildren to add to the ranks of Connor, Lachlan and Mia.

I firmly believe that all Australians want a better environment and a greater opportunity for those who come after them and I will endeavour to fulfil that obligation in my role here in the Senate.

To my brother Joe, a lifelong source of good advice and stability: I thank you for being here to share this occasion. A number of friends and family are here tonight proudly wearing medals pertaining to military service, without which our country would not be what it is today. I salute your past and continuing service. I well remember that vigorous debate on the TWU committee of management when the Howard govern­ment committed troops to Timor. The debate ended when it was realised that the govern­ment had the executive power to commit the troops and it was then the job of the TWU, in the words of WA secretary Jim McGiveron, to make sure the troops had everything necessary to ensure their comfort and success. We must never let our democratic right to argue for or against military involve­ment obscure the fact that an elected govern­ment has the authority to commit our armed forces to places of conflict. It is my belief that we must always resource and afford our complete respect to our people who bravely take up that challenge.

Many friends, present and absent, from all walks of life have wished me well. I salute you and assure you that your contribution to my development is greatly appreciated. John Camillo, AMWU; Deb Black, FSU; and Bob Donnelly, ETU: I thank you and your organisations for your friendship and support. To Peter Malinauskas of the SDA, a wise head on young shoulders, I say: to have so capably replaced former secretary Don Farrell in such a short time is a testament to your dedication and work ethic. I am privileged to have your friendship and your organisation's support.

To my good friend Don Farrell, who encouraged me to take up the role, I say: I will endeavour to reward your confidence and friendship. My friends at the TWU of Australia—Jim McGiveron, Tony Sheldon, Michael Maine, Wayne Forno, Wayne Mader, John Berger and Peter Biagini—and many rank-and-file members, delegates and executive members have all congratulated me on my elevation to this place. I thank them. I promise I will endeavour to uphold their ideals and aspirations for safe, secure and well-paid jobs.

To my successor at the TWU SA-NT branch, Ray Wyatt, and his team in South Australia and the Northern Territory I say that I am confident you will take our branch along the pathway to greater success. I cherish the loyalty and comradeship of existing and past office holders. The branch's success is evidence of the untiring efforts of those selfless characters who I have had the privilege of working with. Bryan McIntosh, Bob Whinnen and my great friend and confidante former president Doug Frusher are real standouts amongst many contributors in my 23 years at the TWU.

It is the function of first speeches to outline key interests and policy drivers. There are no surprises here. I have three priority interests—the transport industry, road safety and superannuation. I have been involved in the transport industry all my life. In my humble opinion, there is no better place to work. There is no smoke and mirrors, just plain-talking, hardworking employees and employers alike in a tough, competitive industry which works harder than most people imagine and continues to work while most people are asleep. Along the way, I have been privileged to meet some icons of the transport industry—some well known and others not so well known. They all share common attributes—that is, a capacity for hard work and a selfless dedication to the task at hand. Employers and employee representatives in the transport industry share these attributes and have generally made the industry a very efficient machine, putting the goods in the right spot, on time and in full, ensuring the society we live in functions effectively.

Clearly the transport and distribution sector is a vital part of our economy, and it is facing massive growth and massive challenges. A recent study by the Victorian Transport Association indicated profitability and driver availability were the two most significant issues facing this sector of our economy. This is the age-old transport issue: how can an industry attract new skilled entrants when constrained by profitability? Combine this fact with regulatory authorities diligently working in states and territories across an industry which effectively has no boundaries and real challenges emerge.

The fact that only a third of the transport task is long distance does not diminish the importance of that component. Just-in-time or, more accurately, exactly-on-time delivery schedules increase the challenge. Local distribution tasks integrate with intercity and interstate operations, ensuring the necessities of life are in the nation's supermarkets and retail outlets.

Concentration of power in the freight owners creates an imbalance in negotiations which often impacts on profitability, cascading down into increased pressure on operators, with negative outcomes for the industry and the broader community.

Regulatory authorities are an important part of protecting our community. They need to be given the resources and the direction to actively pursue those disreputable operators not complying with the regulations and ensure a level playing field which will allow the reputable operators to gain a fair return on their investment.

The industry's contribution to carbon emissions is a significant challenge. The industry is responsible for about six per cent of our carbon emissions, and this is predicted to double over the next 20 years. Major industry groups believe they can reduce 20 per cent of these emissions through reduced fuel consumption initiatives which I believe government should support. Technology in engine design may also reduce carbon emissions. However, doing nothing is not an option, as passing on the increased costs imposed will have a significant impact on inflation, affecting every household and business in the community.

Professional drivers should be able to complete work without excessive fatigue, injury and death as a daily challenge. Clearly, safe systems of work are the responsibility of all participants in the transport chain. The impacts in human terms and economically of getting it wrong are enormous. To quote our Prime Minister at the ACTU congress in 2009:

We will make sure that payment methods and rates do not require drivers to speed or work excessive hours just to make ends meet.

Clearly the transport industry faces many challenges; however, it always has. Its entrepreneurial spirit is undiminished. Challenges will be met; transport workers and their employers will soldier on. It is unlikely that Australia will wake up one morning and find the necessities of life not in the nation's stores. However, a prudent approach would be to not take this for granted and to work towards increased stability in the sector by careful evaluation and action on the demonstrated needs of this sector. A lifetime on the road in my working life and capacity as a TWU official has made me aware of the ever-present dangers that each Australian faces every day when they drive their vehicle. I have a real passion for road safety. Our country's prosperity is reflected in our love affair with the motor vehicle. The freedom and mobility achieved by owning a car are tempered with the sickening human and economic cost of vehicle accidents. The various authorities charged with third-party insurance provision understand that death is relatively cheap when compared with the costs associated with serious and catastrophic injuries. The attendant economic costs are enormous, estimated to be $27 billion to the Australian economy. I have always believed that we should adopt the Swedish model of Vision Zero, which requires a move from traditional thinking. Vision Zero starts with this statement:

We are human and we make mistakes. Our bodies are subject to biomechanical tolerance limits and simply not designed to travel at high speed. Yet we do so anyway. An effective road safety system must always take human fallibility into account.

I am glad this Labor government is doing exactly that in the recently announced National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020. There is no city or town across our nation that will not benefit from this fundamental shift in our approach to road safety.

Enormous effort is currently dedicated by all stakeholders in the provision of road safety. Many outcomes are heading in the right direction: improved roads, improved vehicle design, smart systems for avoiding crashes, rigorous enforcement and tremend­ous improvements in recovery and treatment at intensive care facilities of crash victims all play their part. However, I am certain that those dedicated people responsible for road trauma would prefer not to await with dread the next accident victims on any long weekend in Australia. Is it acceptable that our police, paramedics and firefighters are simply putting a body into a bag or cleaning up the blood left on our streets? Surely it would benefit all if they did not have to do such tasks. Sweden does it better with 4.3 deaths per 100,000. Australia, despite our geographical differences, can improve its 5.78 annual deaths per 100,000. Saving 1,291 lives and reducing 32,000 injuries across Australia is a challenge we should accept.

Finally, the toll amongst our youngest drivers is most severe. When our least experienced drivers make up far too signifi­cant a percentage of deaths and injuries then we are duty bound to advocate for change and integrate the failing human in design. It must be accepted that a great proportion of young drivers do not offend. It is the risk takers, the bulletproof few, that make up this disproportionate and dreadful statistic. The importation of vehicles into Australia with much lower safety features than Australian made cars, or the great majority of imported models, is a serious concern. These vehicles marketed on price alone will have a negative effect on any improvements in deaths and serious injury if they become popular amongst our most vulnerable road users.

As a TWU official with a long involve­ment in the improvements of workers' rights, I believe government must act in the interest of workers in retirement. Superannuation has been one of the great learning curves of my career. Along the way I have been privileged to work with many fine people. The TWU super fund and its board of industry representatives is a great organi­sation ably led by chairman David Galbally QC and CEO Bill McMillin. I am honoured by the presence of Bill McMillin and director Peter Garske here tonight. The challenges facing industry funds are numerous. I am grateful that the Labor government is introducing significant reforms such as MySuper and is moving to increase the superannuation guarantee contribution to 12 per cent. Low fees and no commissions are critical drivers of increasing member accounts. Members' interest in super accounts generally equates with increased balances, and often education is least evident at the most important times. Lack of education or even interest at the most important time—that is, when you are young—is commonplace. In order to take advantage of what Einstein referred to as the eighth wonder of the world, compound interest, young people need to be educated, preferably at school.

Our national superannuation savings pool of $1.36 trillion is the envy of the developed world. The fact that the Howard government dropped the ball and failed to deliver on improved legislated contributions was an important opportunity lost. The changing demographics of our nation and the fact that we are living longer and therefore need to fund a longer period of retirement present some real challenges. Increased migration boosting the workforce is one solution. Our children accepting a greater tax burden for the costs of providing for longer retirement is another. However, I believe we should educate and ensure people have the skills and the contributions necessary to fund a good retirement outcome, whilst ensuring the age pension remains as a vital safety net.

Members will always demand value for money, and it is my belief that this is best achieved by the industry fund not-for-profit model, with all profits back to member accounts. Trustee directors representing employer and employees and only acting in the best interest of members are a world-class model. The Australian superannuation industry has a remarkable record in achieving rationalisation of funds. Clearly the appropriate and prudent regulation of long-term investments on behalf of members needs to be stringent and the cost of complying has driven rationalisation. Various studies have shown that many funds have achieved brand status, with loyalty driven by industry participation and trust in the board representatives. The optimum number of funds and the optimum size should be left to the members, who will vote with their account should a fund lapse in standards. Enforcement of employer obligations is an industry concern. Whether it is an employer simply not honouring its obligations or going broke is an increasing concern. Little seems to be done to pursue those not meeting a legal obligation, and in my view this inequity needs to be addressed. For the nation to continue to build long-term national savings in a world awash with debt is too great an opportunity to be missed. All efforts should be made to increase our long-term savings, as clearly the power in the world rests with the lender not the borrower.

The main threat to super is the increasing level of uncertainty in members' minds in respect of share markets. Their interest increases with account balances and mem­bers make decisions, usually conservative decisions, which comfort them in uncertain times. However, this may not be in the best interests of their future retirement outcomes. After owning their home, superannuation is possibly the next biggest investment of workers. An increasing aversion to volatility could open up opportunity to invest in simple and clear products, providing capital for infrastructure. The things you drive on, work in or fly out of—you can see them and they cannot disappear in a global financial meltdown. They generally behave in a predictable way and should deliver a higher return than cash. An education campaign to increase members' awareness and under­standing may see growth in allocation to infrastructure as an investment for the long term. Simply switching between a balanced option, a growth option or a cash option as a result of the daily news is unlikely to secure the long-term result required for enough retirement income.

Finally, I will finish with the following quotation by Theodore Roosevelt, sent to me by my daughter Caroline:

Far and away the best prize life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

My daughter has captured in that quotation something that I have tried to do all my life, and I hope to continue that work in this place.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Before I call Senator Wright, I remind honourable senators that this is her first speech; therefore, I ask that the usual courtesies be extended to her.

Penny Wright (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a tremendous honour to stand here as a senator for my state of South Australia. I am also very proud to be repreenting the Australian Greens. As Greens we are guided in all we do by four clear principles: social justice, environmental sustainability, peace and participatory democracy.

I would first like to acknowledge that we are standing on the lands of the Ngunawal people and I pay my respects to their elders, past and living. Indeed, everywhere we stand in Australia we are standing on Aboriginal lands. Those of us who came later are privileged to share this ancient continent with the original Australians. It is just that we acknowledge their rightful place, their prior occupation over 60,000 years and their sovereignty, both in our Constitution and in our everyday lives.

I am conscious that I owe my presence here today to many people and I offer them my thanks for their generosity and commitment. They were Greens party members and supporters, and friends from my community. They volunteered thousands of hours to elect a second Greens senator for South Australia in the faith and hope that the greening of the Australian parliament will be a good thing for Australia and for the future. As well, over 100,000 South Australians voted for the Greens, some of them for the first time. I am mindful of the trust that resides in every vote.

There are a growing number of Australians who believe that we need to do things differently if we are to meet the challenges that this century brings us. They see the Greens as offering a courageous and creative vision for achieving this. I wish to thank my Greens colleagues in this parlia­ment and throughout Australia for their support and welcome. There are now many of us working to bring our values to the parliaments of Australia. I would particularly like to thank my colleague Senator Sarah Hanson-Young for her help and encourage­ment throughout the election campaign and since.

I was fortunate to have wise and loving parents. Above all things, they encouraged me to be true to myself. Neither of them is here today. My father, Hugh Wright, died 15 years ago after a full and energetic life. My dear mum, who is 89, is too frail to travel but is watching this on a computer in Adelaide. If people would allow me an indulgence, I would just like to say, 'Hello, Mum.' They are both here with me in spirit and live in the values they modelled to their children every day—kindness, fairness, honesty, humility and courage. I hope to bring those values to my work in this parliament.

I made my home in South Australia 20 years ago with my husband, Mark. We came for his work and the family-friendly scale of Adelaide. It has turned out to be a wonderful place to raise our three children, Felix, Eleanor and Mungo, in the foothills of Adelaide, amidst a strong, caring community where people look out for each other. I thank my kids and Mark for their unwavering support and love for me. The feeling is absolutely mutual. They are my rocks.

Throughout my life, I have been blessed by loyal friends. I cannot hope to name them all, but a few deserve a special mention because of their generous role over the last two years in helping me to reach this place. There were some unexpected challenges along the way after I was hit by a car last year and did most of my campaigning from a wheelchair. I place on record my particular thanks to Carla Humphries, Jo McIntyre, Liz Davies, Kathy Gadsden, Jennifer Bonham and Marian Browett. That is not to say that I have not had support and encouragement from many other people.

I was lucky to be born into a big, rambunctious family, No. 6 of seven children—and anyone who comes from a large family knows how important your number is! So I was introduced to politics at an early age. There was a span of 19 years between my eldest brother, Neil, and my youngest sister, Felicity—and Pam, Prue, Gavin and Ian were in between. Being one of the youngest, I grew up hearing passionate discussions around the dinner table, and my older siblings brought the world of ideas and current affairs into our home. In the 1970s, that included the Vietnam War, feminism and Aboriginal land rights. There was also a growing understanding that human population pressures and technologies were threatening the natural world.

As well as ideas, they brought their partners—from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, as it was then, Denmark and Taiwan—and then introduced me to the world. I visited Pam in Papua New Guinea, just before independence, and I have visited Flick in many places, including Cambodia and the Aboriginal townships of Yuendumu and Oenpelli. Flick cannot be here today—she is in Cambodia—but I send her my greetings.

These experiences have all made me what I am today. I am curious and passionately interested in the rich variety of cultures and viewpoints in Australia, and yet I also believe that the things we have in common are vastly greater than our differences. Being part of a big family means that I feel connected to many parts of Australia. I was an auntie at six and a great-aunt at 30, and I have many beloved nieces and nephews across the nation. Some of them are here to help me celebrate today.

My early years were spent in the country town of Red Cliffs, near Mildura, and I still identify to some extent as a country girl, although I moved to Melbourne when I was seven. I attended government schools, and I am grateful to many dedicated teachers who challenged me and encouraged me to learn and excel. There was one in particular who introduced her year 9 English class to debating and public speaking and probably had little idea what a monster she was creating!

Universal quality public education is crucial for a fair and thriving society, and I have witnessed the increasing sectarianism of schooling and the exodus of parents from the public system with regret. To change this trend, government schools must be properly funded and valued. In an increasingly divided community, where people's destinies are often determined by their postcodes, quality public education can be a unifying force. It fosters connection and under­standing by bringing together children who would otherwise always move in different orbits. For many children, it is the lifeline that will help them achieve their potential. I believe we are all impoverished when our public schools are starved of adequate funds. A fragmented society of have-lots and have-littles is not healthy for any of us, however privileged we are. In this parliament, I will work to promote and strengthen public education.

At Melbourne university I studied law and arts, and my course was set when I met Mark in a crowded lecture after I had been to an early but well-lubricated breakfast of calamari and claret. Since then, we have spent our life together, much of it on bikes, sharing many joint projects to make the world a better place. It has been a great journey. As a lawyer, I have mainly worked in the 'little' end of town, with people who find life challenging, including tenants, people on low incomes and people who live with mental illness. I have also taught public health and environmental law.

I learnt more than torts and taxation law while I was at uni. My most important lesson happened at the Franklin Dam blockade. In the fight to save the river from the same fate as Lake Pedder, I chose to be arrested, although I was jeopardising my future legal career. It was not just the beauty of the site or the spurious case for the proposed dam that drove me to take this step; it was also the cynical decision by the Tasmanian Premier to stop a peaceful protest by making it a crime to trespass on what had been public land. Down at the Franklin, I saw the strength that comes from people standing together for a shared belief in what is right. Each time I return to Strahan and see the beauty of the Gordon and Franklin rivers, which now draws people from all over the world, I am reminded of how right that action was and that we can all make a difference.

All around Australia, there are places that have been saved by persistent greenies, environmentalists who will not give up—and we all benefit. John Sinclair battled Joh Bjelke-Petersen in the 1970s to stop sandmining and forestry on Fraser Island. It is hard to imagine that anyone visiting that beautiful World Heritage listed island now would bemoan the decision to protect it. In South Australia, I am proud to say, after a long campaign by many, including the Greens and the Wilderness Society, the magnificent and archaeologically unique Arkaroola region will now be protected from mining. Again, I am sure that future gener­ations will give thanks for that decision.

This century brings some huge challenges. At one time, the earth seemed so vast it was inconceivable that we could ever reach its limits. But it is now clear that our planet is finite and that we are living beyond our means. Population growth from one billion to seven billion over 200 years, coupled with massive industrialisation, has led to overuse of the earth's resources and pollution. Those of us who read the science and will not turn away from the evidence, however tempting it is to do that at times, have been aware of the signs for years. We face increasing water scarcity, more extinctions happening now than in the last 65 million years, collapsing fish stocks and peak oil. These are all symptoms of a crisis that will not go away just because we ignore it.

Too often, governments do not respond to these signs and proceed as if the environment were some kind of optional extra which we can choose to factor in or negotiate away. Conventional economic theory reinforces this view. It was developed at a time when the environment was thought to be limitless, so it does not properly account for the real environmental costs of any particular activity. Because of this, we often have no indication of the threats to the very things that we rely on for life—clean air, clean water and the means of growing food—until they become so scarce that it is almost too late. The current fierce controversy over coal seam gas mining is a case in point. It threatens long-term food production and aquifers on some of the most productive farmland in Australia. We must not proceed full steam ahead without fully understanding what is at stake. In the 21st century there is a risk that we will see the Cree Indian prophecy applied on a global scale:

Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

We cannot negotiate with the environment when it comes to the Murray-Darling Basin either. It is agreed that the problems in the basin stem from decades of poor short-term decision making. Scientists predict that there will be 90 per cent less rainfall by the end of the century due to climate change. The science from the Wentworth group has been carefully developed and peer reviewed, and it tells us that 4,000 gigalitres is the minimum amount of water to be returned to the river for a healthy river system. If we do not heed the science, the Murray will die from the mouth up— first in South Australia but ultimately affecting every community along its length. Of course, we must help the communities in the basin to adapt to changed conditions—we must share that responsibility—but this is not a contest between the environment and people. The environmental constraints are not negotiable. If we end up with another politically driven short-term decision, the Murray's fate will be sealed. Here, as elsewhere, the science must prevail over the politics.

It takes courage to face up to these environmental challenges squarely without flinching, and it takes integrity to communicate them to an electorate that is not always willing to hear about them. Many people are understandably confused or fearful, especially at a time when simplistic slogans and frightening hyperbole are often substitutes for reasoned debate. But members of this parliament have no excuse for ignorance; we have access to the best information and advice available. We have been entrusted to be here. We have a duty to inform ourselves properly and then to make the best decisions in the long-term national interest on behalf of the people who voted us in. To me, that is the definition of leadership.

When it comes to climate change, we Australians are the highest carbon polluters per head on the planet. We often hear calls for responsibility over rights, so it is shameful that some political and business leaders are urging that we should shirk our fair share and dig our heels in until we are forced to act. This is especially so when our Pacific neighbours like Kiribati and Tuvalu face inundation. If we are unable to treat asylum seekers humanely, even at this point, how will we cope with the many climate refugees who will inevitably be forced to flee their homeland in the future? We have a moral duty to take responsibility for our role in their predicament.

Morality aside, it is only a matter of time before industries and nations must become low carbon. Australia can choose to meet this challenge by steadily moving away from fossil fuels and our traditional 'dig it up and sell it' culture to a cleaner economy based on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart technology and innovation or we can refuse to change as urged by some and end up like General Motors in the US. For years their competitors developed more efficient cars spurred by high fuel costs in the rest of the world. But General Motors functioned in a fool's paradise protected by low oil prices in the US. They kept making cars the same old way until the height of the global financial crisis, and it was only then that they were saved from bankruptcy by a bailout of taxpayers' money reportedly to the tune of $49 billion.

We now have a clean energy strategy for Australia, including a price on carbon. This will be a vital sign to the market that the cost of carbon pollution can no longer be ignored. I am immensely proud of the role the Greens have played in ensuring that climate change has been squarely on the agenda in this term of parliament. This is a commitment we made before the election and it is one we have honoured.

I want to see an inclusive Australia, where all people can participate fully and achieve their best. Most Australians like to think that we are an egalitarian nation, and I think it says something good about the national psyche that this is important to us. Sadly, though, on any clear-eyed view there is a growing gulf between those who are doing well and those who are not. In Australia today, an unemployed person with rent assistance gets $295 a week. At the same time, the average CEO of one of the top 50 companies gets $123,000 a week. In Australia today, it is estimated 105,000 people are homeless, many of them young. In Australia today, we lock up people, including children, who come here fleeing war and torture. The asylum they seek was a responsibility we took on in 1951 when we signed the United Nations refugee convention. Indeed, in Australia today we redraw the map to pretend that some parts of Australia are not really Australia at all. The legal term for this is excision. It sounds innocuous enough but it actually means notionally cutting away swathes of our territory. As a lawyer, I have been ashamed to see the legal contortions we have engaged in to avoid our international obligations. How have these things come to pass in the land of the 'fair go'? And why is it 'extreme' to name them and seek to change them? One way of promoting fairness is to keep our most important institutions in public hands so that they are available to everyone, irrespective of their income or status. Services such as good quality public transport, housing, health and education allow everyone to share the benefits of living in a community and having their basic needs met. In this parliament I will fight for those services.

At this point I should also mention public broadcasting. I fought passionately to save the ABC from funding cuts and attacks during the Howard years. While it is not necessarily essential for physical survival, I believe that an independent, quality public broadcaster—free from commercial influ­ence—is essential for the survival of our own quintessentially Australian culture and to provide the information which is the currency of democracy. I watch with concern as many of the qualities of the ABC we fought for in the 1990s are now under threat by decisions that are being made in 2011.

When I stand here to make my last speech I would like to think that I have contributed to making Australia a kinder, fairer place. If we practise kindness and fairness I believe that we can meet the challenges this century brings. If we act fairly we will balance Australia's interests with those of other nations, we will balance the interests of our species with the needs of other species—and by doing that we will actually enhance our own chance of survival—and we will balance the needs of today with the needs of tomorrow. That is what the Greens stand for. In all my decisions I am guided by the idea that we do not just inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. I hope they will look kindly on the decisions we make in this parliament.