Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prior to calling Senator Roberts to make his first speech, could I remind honourable senators that the senator should be heard in silence during his first speech.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, I am here to discuss with the chamber and the Australian people how we will rebuild our great nation. To the 600,000 people who voted for Pauline Hanson's One Nation I owe a particular debt of gratitude for the privilege of serving our state and country. I will honour all Australians by restoring our Constitution, restoring our national sovereignty and restoring freedom via this chamber and in my everyday life. All of us One Nation senators are going to say the things that need to be said and do the things that need to be done. We are not worried what the establishment says about us. We are not here for the establishment. We are here for everyday people and our nation.

My passion for politics and policy was unleashed during the grassroots uprising of the Australian people against the reviled and dishonest carbon tax—a new tax on carbon dioxide—based on a lie and founded on a dishonest agenda. I became a volunteer spokesman for the Galileo Movement, working with great Australians such as Jacques Laxale, Paul Evans, John Smeed, Case Smit, Viv Forbes, Judy Ryan, Anne Easby, Jennifer Marohasy, Ian Plimer, Leon Ashby, Joanne Nova, Jim Simpson, Mike Elliott, Michael Darby, Alan Jones, Grant Goldman, the late Professor Bob Carter, and many other scientists and grassroots activists, against the carbon dioxide tax and for restoring our nation's sovereignty.

As a result of climate policies, Queenslanders, everyday Australians, have lost jobs, paid higher taxes, wasted opportunities, lost businesses and frittered away scarce resources. Nowhere is this issue more important than in our resource-rich state of Queensland, which stands to lose the most out of all our states.

Does it not concern senators that the hyperbolic predictions from the hysterical likes of Tim Flannery, David Karoly and Ross Garnaut have not come to pass? Again and again and again, for nearly 30 years, climate activists have been warning us that we have just five years to act. Every time, nature has proven them wrong. Flannery beclowned himself by saying at the start of this century, 'Brisbane's dams will never be full again.' Aren't we all sick of it? Because the Australian public certainly is. John Cleese said recently:

I would like 2016 to be the year when people remembered that science is a method of investigation, and not a belief system.

But for too long blind faith, contrary to reality, has ruled.

My qualifications include an honours engineering degree covering atmospheric gases, including carbon dioxide, from the University of Queensland, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, famous for rigorous statistical analysis. In the real world, I obtained statutory qualifications covering atmospheric gases, with rigorous responsibilities for hundreds of people's lives. My studies reinforced the importance of on empirical facts—hard data and physical observations—that are essential and needed to prove cause and effect. My area of studies focused on earth sciences and geology.

Australians should be able to rely on the information from Australian government bodies and institutions, but we cannot. I have used freedom of information requests, correspondence and reports from the heads of the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology, the UN and universities to show there is no data proving that human use of hydrocarbon fuels affects climate—none.

We use Australia's resources—that is, gas, coal and oil—to produce energy. These resources contain hydrogen and carbon, which produce water and carbon dioxide. Both gases are essential for life on earth, and both are not pollutants. Yet the core climate claim is that carbon dioxide from our human activity will one day, some day, catastrophically warm our planet.

Like Socrates, I love asking questions to get to the truth. So I ask the question: over the last 130 years, what was the longest single temperature trend? Is not the inconvenient truth this—that from the 1930s to the 1970s, during the period of the greatest industrialisation in human history, when our carbon dioxide output increased dramatically, atmospheric temperatures cooledfor 40 years straight? Another inconvenient fact is that temperatures, statistically, have not been warming since 1995—21 years. Records show there have been warmer periods in Australia's history than the current decade. Temperatures are now cooler than 130 years ago. This is the reverse of what we are blatantly told by the Bureau of Meteorology, which has manipulated cooling trends into false warming trends.

Here are more undeniable facts proven by data: firstly, changes in the carbon dioxide level are a result of changes in temperature, not a cause. That is the reverse of what we have been told. Secondly, we do not and cannot affect the level of carbon dioxide in air. That too is the reverse of what we have been told. That means we cannot and do not affect global climate. Thirdly, warming is beneficial—after all, science classifies far warmer past periods as climate optimums. Again, that is the reverse of what we are told.

It is basic. The sun warms the earth's surface. The surface, by contact, warms the moving, circulating atmosphere. That means the atmosphere cools the surface. How then can the atmosphere warm it? It cannot. That is why their computer models are wrong. The UN's claim is absurd. Instead of science, activists invoke morality, imply natural weather events are unusual, appeal to authority and use name-calling, ridicule and emotion. They avoid discussing facts and rely on pictures of cute smiling dolphins. These are not evidence of human effect on climate.

If it is clear that climate change is a scam, and also our prosperity relies on the human endeavours of industry and production, then why is it that, in this great parliament, there are extremist advocates of an agenda to de-industrialise our nation? Let me make it clear: I will stand firm against any political organisation whose primary aim is to destroy our prosperity and sovereignty. Instead of no nation, we need one nation. How are we going to rebuild Australia and hold back any push to de-industrialise our nation? In touring Queensland and Australia with Senator Hanson, I saw firsthand the damage that fraudulent climate change science and policy is doing to communities and families. De-industrialisation is costing jobs, destroying families, bankrupting businesses and making our nation less competitive against other nations.

Queensland's most important industry is mining. I have run mines around the world. Mining is also vital to Australia. Coal has lifted the whole of humanity out of grinding poverty and propelled us to achievements never thought possible. The wealth created for every Australian has been considerable. While it may be easy to find some rock, or a dollar, to then turn that dollar into two dollars is a very intensive and challenging endeavour. Government policy has not always helped this process.

In all these matters I trust the human mind and heart to make intelligent conclusions. I have faith in people and in our ingenuity. We must encourage honest debate and restore free speech on these issues, because that respects and promotes human spirit. Humans care. Our future civilisation depends on protecting the natural environment, and the future of our natural environment depends on protecting civilisation.

Allow me to say unequivocally: we are taxed enough already. As my dear friend John MacRae publicly says, Australians pay more tax every year than could have ever been imagined by our forefathers crafting our Constitution. Consider this, honourable colleagues, from a chartered accountant who worked on the GST implementation for our Queensland state government: 50 per cent of the cost of a loaf of bread is made up of tax. That is effectively a tax rate of 100 per cent. Young Australians would be most alarmed to learn that almost 50 per cent of the price of a house is made up of various taxes and impositions. That doubles the price of a typical home loan.

Fuel is taxed at the astonishing rate of 230 per cent. We are a decentralised nation, and high energy bills compound the cost of everything. When we reduce the cost of energy, though, we increase productivity, which increases our prosperity. High energy costs really hurt the most vulnerable in our society, the lowest income earners. The renewable energy target and climate policies are highly regressive on the poor, and we will work hard to end such policies. After all, who would have ever thought that governments would create a tax on the very air we breathe, the carbon dioxide tax?

And who pays taxes? The former Deputy Commissioner of the Australian Taxation Office Jim Killaly said that 90 per cent of Australia's large companies are foreign owned and, since 1953, have paid little or no company tax. Former Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said that Australians pay 50 per cent of our income in taxes. The Australian Bureau of Statistics previously stated that Australians on an average income pay 68 per cent of their earnings to government, as taxes, rates, levies, charges, fees, special charges and other burdens. We work Monday to mid-morning Thursday for the government. The biggest purchase of our life is not our house; it is government.

For too long in Australia we have been strangling the goose that laid the golden egg. It must stop. Economics is about people. Australian economist, lawyer, writer and bush poet Banjo Paterson said in 1889:

It must always be remembered that we are dealing here with the simple question whether we can, by any means, be enabled to make a better living.

Australia's tax system quashes Banjo's vision. Instead of no nation, we must have one nation. When our Constitution devolves many powers and responsibilities to our states, why would a central government crave collecting so much tax? It is for nothing more than stealing control over our states and, in doing so, it creates a mammoth bureaucracy that duplicates responsibilities and doubles costs for taxpayers. The challenges of tax and productivity are important to Queenslanders, and I will seek to work in collaboration with the entire parliamentary community in pursuing comprehensive tax reform.

In my view the purpose of great institutions such as this parliament, and broadly politics, is to protect life, protect property and protect freedom. Government has, sadly, transitioned, though, into a beast that only wishes to control people's lives. And it has very curious bedfellows. As my good colleague Senator Rod Culleton has so ably shown, big government in partnership with big banks is a disaster for ordinary Australians. One of the greatest threats to our liberty and life as we know it is the international banking sector. As American President Andrew Jackson once said:

It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.

Worldwide, privately owned central banks have greed as their creed and cannot be trusted to work in a country's best interests. A royal commission into the banking sector and currency is just one tool needed to expose what the big international banks are doing to trash our country. In 1889, Banjo Paterson identified the core problem very simply when he referred to international banking as: 'The trusts and monopolies whereby labourers are robbed.' Australia, again, needs a people's bank, like the Labor Prime Minister Andrew Fisher's Commonwealth Bank, started in 1912. A people's bank is an established policy of our party—a people's bank that focuses on building infrastructure and securing capital for Australia's needs. This people's bank will boost productivity and shield the country from the manipulation of our economy so often exerted by the tight-knit international banking sector.

Unlocking the potential of northern Australia and regional Queensland is a most pressing issue facing our state and the broader Australian community. A people's bank would open new opportunities to make these areas the driver of our economy, with better infrastructure bringing investment and capital to the regions. We need to encourage business to move their operations north and focus on our huge potential. Instead of no nation, we must have one nation.

We recently received an excellent presentation from the immigration minister Peter Dutton's team. Their core policies are protecting our borders, saving thousands of boat people's lives and enabling thousands of genuine humanitarian refugees, thanks to Senator Hanson's courageous policies 20 years ago. Australians everywhere have told me and my colleagues, including Senator Burston, how important it is that our nation's values and culture are protected. People allowed into our country, Australia, must live by our laws.

Growing up, my parents taught me to respect all cultures and religions. I lived with people of all faiths—Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Christians. Australia has developed a society where people of all faiths are free to get along. In particular, we must maintain our well-developed standards on the treatment of women and girls, and children in general, and the equal advancement of people from all ancestries and all colours of skin. We should welcome anyone of any background who wants to live in peace. But for those who do not plan to integrate into our culture and laws, we need to protect our borders and keep them out. My hope is that we will have a fairer immigration system—a system that stringently tests individuals in their commitment to Australian values. At the moment, we test people wishing to take citizenship on Don Bradman's batting average. So, I ask the question: why don't we test people more properly before they come to Australia on upholding our great nation and our laws?

Australia's values and way of life are also at risk from insidious institutions such as the unelected swill that is the United Nations. The people of the United Kingdom recently spoke, and I have great admiration for the way they broke free of that socialist, monolithic monster, the European Union. The EU is a template for total socialist domination of Europe through unelected bodies, such as the IMF, forcing their frightening agenda on the people. It is also the UN's template, and Australia must leave the UN. We need an Aus-exit.

Thanks to many researchers, like my colleague Graham Williamson and Graham Strachan, people are waking to the UN destroying our national sovereignty through implementation of the UN's 1975 Lima declaration and 1992 Rio declaration for 21st century global governance, often known as Agenda 21—more recently as Agenda 2030. It was signed quietly by the then government and sneakily implemented by ministers of every government since under the guise of biodiversity to steal property rights, sustainability to pass regulations controlling people and climate change to push foreign control using unlawful agreements like the Paris sham.

Let me say: the people of Australia are desperate to regain our sovereignty. We need to rebuild our nation. Australians have had enough of foreign control, enough of tax and enough theft of our prosperity and future. Australia is on a precipice. We can fall off the edge if we continue to become an unproductive nation which hinders enterprise through high taxes and allows gross abuses of power, such as taxing the air we breathe. We once thought we were a poor nation when we were actually rich. Sadly, we now think we are a rich nation, yet we are becoming poor. Instead of no nation, we must have one nation.

People can be confident that I will advocate for them authentically from my heart, always in the national interest. I will show the highest ethical standards in my advocacy. My greatest passion is freeing people to reach their potential through strong leadership to be individuals able to pursue dreams and aspirations as citizens of the greatest nation on earth—the greatest nation on our precious, beautiful little planet. Together, we have a lot of work to do, Australia. I am humbled to be entrusted in doing this amazing work with the Australian people.

Finally, no one can show testimony to my belief in the enduring power of human nature more than the great Pauline Hanson. With the indulgence of this chamber and with the Senator's permission, I will refer to her as everyone knows—Pauline. Our Pauline, the people's politician—she is one of us, and we are just like her. She is a woman of great courage to whom I owe being able to stand here today. Pauline listens to understand and is honest, courageous and persistent. Twenty years ago, Pauline, the Establishment ridiculed you. At the same time they quietly started implementing some of your policies. Thank you for saying what you have said and for giving a voice to the forgotten people, and for showing that we really do matter. Thank you, Pauline.

I must thank the amazing James Ashby. As with Pauline, they threw everything at you, mate, and you stayed strong, true to our cause and kept your integrity. You are one of the most capable people I have ever met anywhere. Thank you, mate. You have a great team at One Nation behind you, Pauline, and I thank all of our campaign team and in particular Saraya Beric for your brave and loyal spirit. Thank you, Saraya.

I have been working voluntarily on these causes close to my heart for eight years to shed light on so many injustices. I could not have done this without the strength, the courage, the honesty, the tolerance, the sometimes overwhelming patience and certainly the care of the person I love most, my gorgeous wife, Christine. Together we are blessed with the love of our children, Shane and Kelsey, who have the  strength to challenge and who are always close to my heart. I love you both. My parents, who have passed on, instilled in me honesty and strength of character, and I honour them today.

Our nation, Australia, is at its very best when it is united—united as one nation. In the past, our nation faced and overcame great challenges. Now we face enormous challenges. So today I have shown those things important to me, to our great party—Pauline Hanson's One Nation—and to our magnificent state of Queensland. My role in this chamber will be to ask the questions that need to be asked and to do what needs to be done in finding solutions for all of us.

Mr President and senators, thank you.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sure there is no need to remind senators to listen to the next first speech in silence.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, their elders past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional owners of the lands of my home state, Queensland.

From November 2010 to January 2011, an unprecedented series of floods and cyclones hit my state. Thirty-six people lost their lives. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed. Seventy-eight per cent of our state was declared a disaster zone. As the Brisbane River broke its banks and silently inundated properties, I joined tens of thousands of other Queenslanders to clean up the carnage, in what became known as the mud army. Unlikely partnerships were formed. I worked with the evangelical church in my then electorate, which previously I had known as the source of my local political foes. I helped strangers and friends I had not seen in years. But I was not special. Tens of thousands of Queenslanders did the very same thing. It was expected that you would help. Amid all the heartbreak, we stuck together to rebuild communities in what was the largest piece of collective action I have ever been involved in.

As our then Premier, Anna Bligh, said at the time:

We are Queenslanders; we're the people that they breed tough north of the border. We're the ones that they knock down and we get up again.

And get up again we did. But that summer changed Queensland and changed Queenslanders, including me, forever. For me, the memory of that collective action will shape how I approach every day of my job as a senator.

It is an honour to give this, my first speech, as one of two new Labor senators for Queensland. In the words of our great poet Judith Wright, Queensland is 'my blood's country'. My father's family hail from North Queensland and my mother's from the Darling Downs.

Growing up in Brisbane, it was fashionable in some circles to see Queensland and Queenslanders as backward. At times, our state governments entrenched this image as they set new benchmarks for political and cultural repression. But this view was always deeply misplaced. It ignored Queensland's business achievements, our scientific innovation, our cultural contributions, our spectacular biodiversity, not to mention our sporting triumphs! Even in politics, Queensland has often led. We elected the world's first Labor government in 1899 and abolished the death penalty more than 50 years before most other Australian states. Just last year, the Palaszczuk government became the first in Australia to have a majority female cabinet. Today's Queensland is forward-looking, with so much to offer our country and the world. I look forward to being an ambassador for today's modern Queensland.

We are, of course, Australia's most decentralised state, and this brings unique challenges. Queenslanders' sheer distance from political decision-making can breed alienation from and distrust of politicians. This sense of feeling ignored even reaches our state's more populated south-east corner—places like the Gold Coast, where I intend to establish my office.

Queensland has been well served by outstanding Labor senators—most recently by Jan McLucas and Joe Ludwig, whose service and achievements I acknowledge. In particular, Jan was a true champion of our state's north, travelling vast distances to listen and to advocate. Both Jan and Joe are great examples for any new senator, and I hope to meet the standard they set. I am privileged to join three other Queensland Labor senators: Senator Moore, who I have known and respected since childhood; Senator Ketter, whose diligent committee work is well known; and my friend Senator Chisholm, who will soon deliver his own first speech. We will all work hard to ensure Queensland has a voice in this place.

As a new senator I come to this place with strong Labor values: a deep commitment to fairness, equality and justice. I come with a firm conviction that being elected to parliament offers an unrivalled opportunity to convert those values into tangible gains for those who need it most. Like all new senators, I also come to this place with personal and professional experiences which inform my values—as a father, a husband, a son, a brother and a mate, and with a career spent working to improve the lot of others.

As a result, this is not my first first speech to a parliament. In 2009, I stood before the Queensland state parliament as a newly elected member to begin what became a very short lived political career. In what proved to be spectacularly bad timing, I entered state parliament when the Labor tide was going out and went on to lose my seat—along with 43 of my colleagues—only three years later. It is reassuring that merely one term in this place will triple my time as an elected representative! That experience means that I will not take a moment I spend here for granted. I am incredibly fortunate to have been given a second chance in public life. In preparing this speech I re-read my first speech to the Queensland parliament, and what struck me most was the similarity between the themes in that speech seven years ago and the themes I am touching on today. At one level, I guess that demonstrates clarity of purpose, but it is also a useful reminder that the road of reform is long.

Occasions like this also offer an opportunity for reflection on what you stand for and why. I grew up in the southern suburbs of Brisbane in a loving home. Like most Australian families, we were not desperately poor and we certainly were not rich, but even that solid start in life was a distinct improvement on my parents' childhood. My dad, Neville, grew up around Mackay, leaving school at 14 to work on his family's dairy farm as a canecutter and in other hard physical jobs. My mum Kathy's family went wherever work was available for her father, from Brisbane to the Darling Downs. Sadly, unemployment—and the poverty that went with it—was a regular feature of family life.

Education was the essential ingredient in both Mum and Dad achieving a better standard of living than their parents. Both Mum and Dad completed university as adults, while working and raising two kids. Both gained teaching qualifications. Mum eventually became a school deputy principal and Dad finished his career doing something he truly enjoyed—as a bus driver for the local council. Fortunately, my brother, Glen, has upheld the family tradition by becoming a teacher and by marrying one as well. That is why a belief in the power of education is core to who I am. My parents' support for my own education is just one reason I owe them so much. While my father is unwell right now, I am so pleased that Mum and Glen can be with us today.

But my political awakening really happened around an old laminate-topped table in Toowoomba, on the Darling Downs. Each school holidays my family would travel up the range to visit my beloved great-aunt and great-uncles. They were big in personality and ideas. To me, they were giants who I adored, and the political education they gave me was priceless. My great-uncles remained, to their dying days, committed socialists. While they each left school at a young age, they were worldly men and fought hard to make a difference not just for themselves but for others as well.

I remember, aged around 14, asking Uncle Michael what annoyed him most. His doctrinaire response was this: 'The private ownership of the means of production.' I had no idea what he was talking about, but I knew it was pretty radical. While times have changed and their version of socialism did not lead to the utopia my great-uncles had hoped for, the hours spent dissecting current affairs around that kitchen table forever imprinted my values: fairness, equality and justice. By allowing an impressionable teenager to participate, they taught me the importance of inclusion. Their rejection of the mantras of the mainstream media of the time taught me to question the status quo. Their opposition to the authoritarian Bjelke-Petersen regime was pivotal to my studying law and, ultimately, to fighting for others' basic rights.

But those great-uncles also taught me other great values which I think are particularly important right now: the value of community, a concern for others and something bigger than just yourself; and the value of collective action, like that displayed by the 'mud army' in the Queensland floods. To me, this is what defines Labor. We are the party of the people, of standing together and of standing up for each other. We support individual freedom but believe this should not be at the expense of others, because a society where individuals act without regard for others is no society at all. In Labor, we understand that we grow best when we grow together, and this understanding has never been more important. Inequality is becoming more entrenched; power is becoming more concentrated; and people are anxious about their jobs, their family's safety and their future.

In this place, we will make choices about how we deal with these challenges. When we do this, I will always be for moving together. Unfortunately, not all political voices share this view; instead, we see Australians divided into 'lifters' and 'leaners', the 'taxed' and 'taxed-nots'. Even worse, extreme voices have re-emerged which actively fan the flames of prejudice and division. Rather than building bridges, they build walls.

These views are actually out of step with Australian values. Our nation has always solved its big challenges by pulling together. Facing potential invasion of World War II, Australians showed unity of purpose on the battlefield and on the home front. As our economy was modernised in the 1980s, business, governments and unions came together to restructure our economy in a way that sought find a place for all. That is why I am confident that today's attempts to divide us will fail because it is not what Australia is about.

This shift towards division is disguised as a rally cry for the poor, the disenfranchised and the fearful. But those left out do not want division either; they want to belong. I know these people; they are my family. They are the farmers and manufacturing workers I have represented as a lawyer. They are the people I doorknocked during the campaign. Not one of them tells me that their burning issue is to abolish the Family Court, that climate change is a UN sponsored conspiracy or that they obsess over Halal certification of food. They tell me they want a plan for the jobs of the future, not conspiracies and beat ups.

These people do feel uneasy about changes they see around them. These changes and the resulting disillusionment with mainstream politics have never been greater. But we do not calm this unease and we do not solve the real problems these people face by dividing our community and breaking down the trust we have in each other. Instead, we need to reach out to understand and to bring people together. And it is only by working together that we will solve the big challenges that face our nation today—challenges like providing economic security, ensuring quality public services and building international cooperation.

Right now, Queensland's economy is in transition after the mining boom. High unemployment is hurting too many, especially in regional Queensland. I met a young man in Rockhampton last month, who had completed several training courses, had applied for over 100 jobs and had travelled as far as Sydney in search of work. He had slept in his car so he could pay for food but still he kept at it, searching for a job, any job to no avail. He was visibly relieved to have finally found work pumping fuel at a local petrol station but his point was simple: it should not be this hard. This kid is not a 'leaner' but we are failing him and thousands more like him.

Even those in work find themselves with wages barely rising, with increasingly precarious employment and with being subjected to tricky new employment arrangements that leave them more exposed. And of course sitting above all of this is ever-present technological change, which threatens to redefine and disrupt the very nature of work. Some say the solution is a race to the bottom—to individualise the workplace, to remove penalty rates, to make it easier for employers to hire and fire. The better way—the Australian way—is to create work together, like the partnership between business, unions and government that opened up our economy in the 1980s. Like the Queensland government's Smart State strategy, which I helped design, and which brought business, schools, training providers and universities together to create new jobs and modernise existing ones. There is a role for government in the economy, and it is not to sit back and hope that prosperity will just trickle down.

Having a job is the greatest engine to lift and keep people out of poverty. But it alone cannot meet every human need. Nourishing our minds and maintaining our physical wellbeing are also vital if we are to fully participate in our community. That is why well-funded and quality public services, like education and health care, are so important, especially in a decentralised state like Queensland.

Ensuring that all Australian kids, whoever they are, have the same educational opportunity, with a needs based funding system, is the biggest thing we can do to help them achieve their dreams. These types of reforms also have a huge payoff to the nation, with a skilled workforce lifting our productivity and our shared wealth. But the benefits of strong public services like this and universal public health care—something endorsed by Australians at the recent election—are not measured in dollars. By contributing to these services together and using them together, we all buy into our community. As President Obama said, in his second inaugural address:

The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us.

Naturally, many of the greatest challenges our people face are not fenced in by national boundaries. There is no border that prevents the effects of climate change. A nation, acting alone, cannot make multinational corporations pay their fair share. The horror we feel on seeing human rights abuses is not diminished by them happening overseas. These challenges are international in nature as are their solutions. Australia is well placed to contribute, with a history of leading positive change in the world. And we live in the most dynamic region of the world, replete with opportunity.

International cooperation presents our best chance to solve another challenge that has faced our country for decades—our treatment of asylum seekers. I have a personal connection to this issue, having been the lawyer for an Australian-born baby, Ferouz. Ferouz is the son of two Rohingyan asylum seekers, who fled persecution in Myanmar before arriving in Australia by boat. Despite being born in Brisbane's Mater Hospital—the same hospital where I was born and my two children were born—Ferouz was deemed to have arrived in Australia by sea. This absurd conclusion rendered this Australian-born baby, only days old, subject to immediate transfer to detention in Nauru. After an intense legal, political and public campaign, we succeeded in forcing this government to back down. Ferouz, his family and over 100 other Australian-born babies of asylum seekers were not transferred to Nauru, were released from detention and were granted the right to apply for protection visas. Far from being a drain on Australian society, Ferouz and his family are now living fulfilling lives in Melbourne.

I am well aware that the asylum seeker debate is one of our most politically charged, but I think most Australians want to see us deal with this in a better way. Most Australians want us to be a country that faces up to this challenge, like we always do, instead of shying away from it. It is deeply unfortunate that this debate has been framed around a false choice: we can have deaths at sea or we must treat people inhumanely. No-one on any side of politics wants to see people die at sea and no-one feels good to see people treated so poorly and in indefinite detention. The truth is that there are other options. In particular, a long-term solution to this issue will require more than Australia acting alone. It will require genuine engagement with our regional neighbours like Indonesia and Malaysia. It will require a different tone in our dealings with those countries, one of respectful partnership rather than a one-sided list of demands. Through international cooperation and by working together, especially with our neighbours in Asia, we can solve so many of our nation's future challenges.

This mission will, of course, not be achieved by me alone or even by one political party or one government. It takes a large group, and it took a large group to get me here. Unfortunately, I do not have time to mention the many people who have assisted me to date, but I hope that you all know how grateful I am for your help.

It is impossible to imagine a society where wealth is shared and where everyone gets a fair go without an active union movement. I am proud to be a union member and particularly proud to be a member of United Voice. I know that I come to this place thanks to the support of thousands of Queensland workers who have banded together through their unions to put Labor representatives into this Senate. I thank those workers, without whom I would not be here. I pledge to work every day on your behalf. I also thank the many political comrades who have assisted me, including a number of people in this chamber and the other place, and the old friends from outside politics who have helped keep me reasonably grounded over all these years. It is a pleasure to have some of you in the gallery today.

Finally, to my closest friend, my wife, Cynthia, and to my inquisitive and energetic children, George and Abby: it is impossible to describe the love we share for each other or the gratitude I feel for you supporting me in this adventure. Having done this before, I well understand the sacrifices you will make as we take this step. When I am away you will never be far from my mind and when I am home I promise lots of backyard soccer, trampoline jumping and even more Ari jewellery.

It is the responsibility of every one of us here to speak the truth and to act in line with what we think it means to be Australian. For me, it is the combination of fairness, equality, justice and community. These things make us uniquely Australian. Our mission is to make these enduring values real in a way that works now for everyone in our nation. By banding together we grow together. That is the thing I was reminded of as I cleaned the mud with my evangelical neighbours after those devastating floods. That is what I want to help bring to this place and to my huge, sprawling, rugby-league-loving and diverse electorate of Queensland on every day that I am fortunate to be a senator. Australia is a remarkable country. We have achieved so much. Let us seize our nation's potential by working hard and by working together.