John Madigan (Victoria, Democratic Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I wish to confirm what I see are some of the challenges of the parliament and the country. These are issues that underpin the Australian way of life and present us as the parliament with a roadmap for the future. I wish to speak about the health of our families and our communities. I wish to speak about the strength of our manufacturing sector and how it is being undermined. I wish to speak about the crucial issue of jobs and justice and the challenges facing our farming and food processing sectors. I will speak about the sanctity of each human life, from conception to classroom, from factory floor to natural death. And I reaffirm my commitment to the people of Victoria, to the people who voted for me and the people who did not.

In my time here I have seen how easily distracted we can become. I have seen how easily the parliament focuses its attention on an issue, another issue and then another issue. The media then runs rampant with the issue of the day. And I see how the cut and thrust of political battle can divert our attention. But the fundamentals and challenges remain and we ignore those at our peril. I am proud to say that away from this place I spend as much time as I can on factory floors. I like mixing with the workers and the people who actually make things. I like to speak to farmers over their paddock fences. I like going to schools and church halls and I like attending community events. It enables me to take a pulse reading on what matters to real people.

Last week I was pleased to speak at the annual conference of the Australian Window Association. This is not a well-known sector of Australian manufacturing, but it is a vitally important employer of some 16,000 people. This sector is being crucified by the import of non-compliant building products. Four thousand glass installation businesses went to the wall in the years 2010 to 2012, and we are seeing a similar decimation across other aspects of the building and construction industry. There is a tsunami of cheap, non-compliant and substandard building products entering Australia. Only this week we saw reports of the need to replace dangerous and illegal electrical cables in new Australian homes. This will reportedly cost $80 million. Much of this cable was reportedly sold by Woolworths owned hardware stores. Business owners I spoke with at the AWA conference decried Australia's fundamentalist dedication to free trade. They were angry at the government's lack of effective enforcement procedures. They were angry at the official blind eye to an issue killing Australian business and with the potential to kill Australian homeowners.

The strength of our manufacturing sector is directly related to the strength of our jobs market. If someone has a job, they have a sense of self-worth. If someone has a job, he or she can provide for their family. If someone has a job, they can be active and responsible members of their community. I get laughed at from both sides of the Senate when I talk about this, but many Australians are discontent with their politicians and the government. Many Australians feel disconnected and unsupported. They do not feel listened to and feel they are on their own. What I hear when I am away from this place are stories of Australians getting screwed over by our system. I see Australian families torn apart in our courts. I see Australian families fleeced by barracuda lawyers and a Family Court straining under the load. I see rural communities split apart and not listened to, gamely trying to fight coal-seam gas and wind farm offences.

In many cases, Australian rural families feel isolated and unsupported in the face of big businesses—nearly all foreign owned and intent on raping our countryside. I see Australian farming families screwed by the big supermarket chains, battling for years under increasingly smaller returns. I see those same families driven to the wall, and sometimes suicide affects those families due to unscrupulous lending practices by major financial institutions. I see some of our finest agricultural land being snapped up by foreign interests at bargain basement prices, and then the foreign companies have the gall to boast that they can do it better by bringing in foreign workers and exporting some of our finest produce overseas.

Then there is the vital question of water. I abstained from the vote on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I believe it was a cruel and deliberate attempt to mislead farmers—a kick in the head for our rural communities. At the time, I called the so-called Murray-Darling Basin Plan a cancer amongst our farming communities, a con job on rural Australia. Water storage in the basin is currently at 66 per cent. I have had meetings with concerned constituents about incidental tributary run-off. I am alarmed that this is completely unaccounted for in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. These people say their land is being flooded. The viability of their crops and livestock is being threatened without compensation.

I see our housing markets running out of control with escalating prices. For many, the dream of owning their own home is now a fantasy unlikely to be fulfilled. I see again a government that is either inept or incapable of stopping the foreign buy-out of Australian residential real estate. Millions of Australians now seem condemned to an uncertain lifetime of being tenants.

I see a tax system that is prejudiced against Australian families in not recognising that our future lies with our children and in creating safe and supportive family environments. I see how the government's budget hits hardest those with the least. I have met countless constituents who have begged me to fight against the Medicare co-payment or at least to have it amended.

I have had numerous meetings with groups urging me to vote against the government's proposed Fair Work amendments. If these amendments are passed, Australia will become a low-wage no-benefit US style employment system. Can you imagine the fallout? The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer and the gap between the two will undoubtedly widen. Can you imagine the social impact if the government's social welfare changes are brought in. Can you begin to imagine the hardship if the proposed changes to the pension system are made law?

I recognise the value of human dignity, the worth of each human life. In my own state I see he worst abortion laws in the Western world, with late-term abortions available and taking place at an alarming rate. These are government funded by our Medicare system. I despair for the babies who are murdered. I despair at the psychological and physical impact on women undergoing late-term abortions. I express my solidarity with women struggling with an unintended pregnancy or who have fallen victim to abortion. In short, I support the concept of the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. I oppose embryonic stem cell research. Human life, even in its more basic form, is something to be cherished and protected. I am aware of a growing campaign in support of euthanasia. But the care of our frail, elderly and dying is an intrinsic part of my ethos of respect for humanity in all its forms.

I will always support the concept of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Research shows that a traditional family is the most effective way to raise children. I remain committed to the family unit. Even in this time of diversity the traditional family is the best environment in which to raise children.

On July 16 this year I put on record that the practice of forced organ harvesting in countries including China should not be ignored under any circumstances. But of course if you mention China in this or the other place, people crumble and principles die. A utilitarian view of society—the relegation of some groups, no matter how small, to the category of collateral damage—is intrinsically horrific. What makes one life worth more than another? Their age? Their wealth? Their profession? Where they live? Who they vote for? Such an approach is anti-Australian and contrary to the long-held belief of a fair go for all.

I reconfirm my commitment to fighting for all Victorians. I will continue to oppose big business riding roughshod over our communities. I will continue to fight for workers, families, farmers and small business people. I will continue to fight for those with the least, those who are struggling.

Currently before the parliament is my Fair Trade (Workers' Rights) Bill. This bill seeks to ensure that those countries that wish to benefit from entering into a trade agreement with Australia include minimum standards about workers' rights in their domestic law. Australian employers pay superannuation. Australian businesses provide compulsory workers compensation insurance. They provide a safe workplace; they do not consume people to make a product. They pay a decent basic wage and they have thrust upon them a number of other expenses that make Australian workplaces generally great places to work. So why shouldn't companies exporting to Australia have to meet the same requirements? How can Australian companies compete with Asian sweatshops or any other sweatshops? It is about comparing apples with apples. The issue is about fair trade, not some hazy ill-defined concept of free trade that is currently killing Australian manufacturing and people's jobs.

My Fair Trade (Australian Standards) Bill 2013 is about increasing the standards of products sold on the Australian market in a fair and reasonable way. The bill will require Australia's trading partners to ensure that companies that export goods to Australia take responsibility for ensuring that their manufactured goods meet Australian standards prior to being sold on the Australian market. The requirement will require the minister to ensure that appropriate requirements are included in any trade agreement that Australia enters into with another country.

This bill was written to protect the Australian consumer from products which do not meet Australian standards and have been known to risk peoples' lives. In the media in recent months we have been inundated with examples of products being imported from overseas that do not meet Australian standards. Yet they are not covered under the ACCC's area of authority or anyone else's area of authority. This bill creates a holistic solution which will ensure responsibility and accountability so that standards are enforced across borders, with the assistance of foreign diplomatic assistance at the highest level.

My bill which seeks to abolish Medicare funding for abortions based on gender selection is still before the parliament. Such a practice is prevalent in some cultures, in particular where there is a cost burden associated with female children and where family size is forcibly restricted by a one-child policy. And this practice, contrary to what some people may think, goes on in Australia and not just amongst immigrant families. Every life is important; every life matters.

The Reserve Bank Amendment (Australian Reconstruction and Development Board) Bill 2013, which I cosponsored with Senator Xenophon, is another bill currently before the parliament. It aims to create a specific entity tasked with examining, reconstructing and improving the financial status of the Australian agricultural sector and its associated industries.

As such, the bill establishes an Australian Reconstruction and Development Board, under the Reserve Bank, with the task of forming and implementing rural reconstruction and development policy. Rural Australia is struggling under an insurmountable debt burden, characterised by low farm income and lending practices of financial institutions in deregulated financial markets.

The ARDB would include the ability to facilitate and, when necessary, manage rural adjustment and financial reconstruction activities. It would also be able to tailor funding and financial arrangements to meet identified needs of nationally important industries operating in particularly uncertain or risky environments. The ARDB would also play a vital role in researching and monitoring industries, to provide advance warning of emerging problems and to initiate reconstruction, development or other activities as deemed necessary. In short, the ARDB would be a shot in the arm for our struggling farm sector.

And, finally, the Flags Amendment Bill, which, again, I co-sponsored with Senator Xenophon, amends the National Flag Act 1953 to require that Australian flags flown, used or supplied by the Commonwealth be manufactured in Australia. Tokenism, some may say. Absolutely not, I say.

If the Australian government does not directly promote Australian manufacturing by procuring and using Australian-made products, what hope is there for our manufacturing sector? And what a slap in the face it is to all those Australian businesses when our own government buys goods overseas to the detriment of Australian businesses.

My promise to the people of Victoria is that I will continue to fight for justice and a fair go. I will continue to put people first. I will not rest until we have a more compassionate and a more just society.