Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to order, I now call Senator Whiteaker to make her first speech and ask senators that the usual courtesies be extended to her.

Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, President. Congratulations on your re-election. It's great to have a Western Australian woman in the chair. It is an honour to deliver my inaugural speech to this great chamber in this extraordinary building on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I acknowledge that this is their country. I also acknowledge the traditional custodians of the many First Nations lands across my home state of Western Australia. How lucky we are to live on the lands of our First Nations people, who so generously share it with us. It always was and always will be Aboriginal land. I congratulate my fellow new senators and thank everyone here for their welcomes. I especially want to thank the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Hon. Penny Wong, for warmly welcoming me to the team.

In many ways, my story is unremarkable, a story not dissimilar to the stories of many other young Australians: a girl who grew up in a regional town and then the outer suburbs, educated in public schools, the first in my family to go to university, an eldest daughter through and through, and now a working mum to an adorable and very charming toddler, sharing the parenting load with my husband. But I think in many ways that's what makes our democracy so remarkable—that the election of ordinary people to this place is possible.

When I reflect on what has brought me here, I can't help but feel that the story began before I was even born. My grandfather, William Brian Whiteaker, tells me he believes my interest in labour politics comes from his grandmother, Elizabeth Cunningham. At barely five foot, she was known as a pocket-sized dynamo. Elizabeth moved from Scotland to the town of Collie in south-west WA in 1928 with her husband and their daughter. For over 40 years, she worked tirelessly in social and community work for her town. She was vice-president of the Red Cross, a founding member of the Combined Mining Unions Scholarship Committee and the town's first-ever woman justice of the peace. She dedicated her life to helping those who needed it, running unemployment support services and soup kitchens and advocating for children and people with disability. She fought for many years to establish the Glenlee Occupation Centre, the first special needs education centre in the town. It wasn't an easy fight, and she came up against heavy opposition from the Department of Education. When the centre finally opened, the education minister at the time said of her, 'She's only a little woman, but she packs a powerful punch.'

She was also a devoted Labor Party member—vice-president and treasurer of the women's branch, secretary of the Labor Women's Organisation and a delegate to the district council. I grew up hearing stories of her from my granddad. I know he admired and loved her dearly. She went on to inspire many Labor and union activists in the generations of our family that followed, me especially. I hope I can bring just some of her tenacity to my time in this place. To be here is a privilege, one which, as my granddad reminds me often, my great-great-grandmother could only have dreamed of.

I spent much of my childhood in Kalgoorlie, on Wongatha country. It was idyllic in many ways. I spent much of it bossing around my three younger siblings. We'd often dig holes in the red dirt at the very back of our yard, hoping we might strike the gold that Kalgoorlie was so famous for—we never did. We rode our bikes up and down the cul-de-sac where we lived, explored the bush at the back of our street and spent endless summers in our neighbour's pool. I know now that life was not so easy for my parents. They never let us know this at the time, but my mum has since told me of times she would skip dinner so we could eat more. They worked hard and sacrificed a lot for us, and I'll always be grateful.

It was while living in Kalgoorlie that I first observed real inequality; it was right in front of me: classmates bouncing from foster home to foster home, kids coming to school without a lunch box, and friends not having a jumper to wear in the winter. I felt very deeply that this was unfair, and I often wondered what more could be done to give a helping hand to the people who needed it the most. It's these early observations that drew me to the great Australian Labor Party—the party dedicated to economic justice; the party that has fought for it and delivered it under successive Labor governments; the party that started Medicare so that it's your Medicare card, not your credit card, that determines the health care you receive; the party that built our social security system so that, when people can't work, they can get by; and the party that has invested in public education so that every kid can go to a great school, regardless of their circumstances.

When I was 10, my family took a road trip across the Nullarbor. I could talk for days about this trip. It's filled with some of my greatest childhood memories: my little brother carting around his toy whipper snipper everywhere we went, my sister and I forcing our grandparents to listen to Hi-5 in the car for hours on end and my very, very trendy bright-orange three-quarter zip-off pants. But there's one moment that feels especially relevant today. When we got here, to Canberra, I was desperate to visit Parliament House. None of my siblings were particularly interested, and so they stayed behind with our grandparents at the caravan park while Mum, Dad and I came here. I was awe-struck. I remember thinking to myself: 'This is the place where change can happen. The people in this building can make a difference.' I hope that I never lose that feeling, that I never stop being awe-struck by this building and that I always appreciate not only its beauty but the significance of the work that we do here and the potential of what we can achieve as representatives and as legislators.

Shortly after that trip we left Kalgoorlie and moved to Perth's southern suburbs in the City of Rockingham. My high-school experience was a little unusual. Comet Bay College was a brand-new school, and I was part of the first 300-odd student cohort. We never had students older than us. It was there that my love of politics really blossomed. One of my teachers, Mrs MacPherson, saw my interest and turned it into something real. She introduced me to my then local member of parliament and now minister in the Western Australian government, the Hon. Paul Papalia. To Paul: thank you for giving me my first real glimpse into the Labor Party.

My time at Comet Bay is filled with brilliant memories, and I'm so proud to have been its first head girl and the first in line to graduate from the school in 2010. It felt like an obvious choice to go on to study law at the University of Western Australia, so I was thrilled when I was accepted. But, to be honest, I struggled at university. I was the only student from my school to go to UWA. I had few friends. The trip in, each day, was long—three buses and a train. I had gone from being a big fish in a small pond to being a tiny fish in a giant pond. I ended up horribly depressed and I dropped out. It was then that I applied for the Labour Movement Internship run out of the office of former senator and then leader of the government the Hon. Chris Evans. From the very first day, I knew I had found my home in the labour movement. To Chris: thank you for taking a chance on me all those years ago, for welcoming me as one of the 'Chris Evans kids' and for setting me on this path.

Shortly after, I found my political family in the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union when Steve McCartney offered me the job of my dreams. He took a chance on me, a very young and very inexperienced but very keen campaigner with a passion for justice and a fire in the belly. Steve, you have backed me in every day since then, and without you I would not be here. Thank you.

It's safe to say that my time as an organiser at the AMWU was a steep learning curve. Organising in new shops is hard, and it was slow progress. But it taught me how to be an advocate, how to organise and the power of collective action. It opened my eyes to some of the, frankly, quite evil stuff that goes on in small workshops to vulnerable workers with no union representation. I worked with migrant women, highly educated and exceptionally talented, working in labs where their skills weren't recognised, their contribution was undervalued and they were often bullied relentlessly by their male bosses. On one of my first days on the job, I sat with two women in the lunch room. They told me they both had master's degrees. One of them had a PhD. They were doing highly technical scientific work but were on terribly low wages. Together, we fought for their first ever union agreement and got them on the path to have their skills recognised at work. It showed me the power in that quiet, hard work of union advocacy, the type that doesn't often grab the media's or the public's attention but that happens in workplaces right across the country every day. That element of union work is so often overlooked. But, really, it's where most of the change happens—slowly, quietly, bit by bit. It's this approach to achieving change that I hope to bring here in this place.

The AMWU believes that unionism is not just about representing members in their workplaces, although they do that very well, but for making a difference in the community, standing up for those most marginalised and being a part of the political conversation. The WA branch lives these values every day through their charity, community and party work. It's a union that has led the way on progressive social change and a union bold on economic policy. It's these values, this agenda, that I will fight for every day in this place.

My union has long been campaigning to restore Australia's manufacturing industry. I'm so proud that the Albanese government has a bold plan on manufacturing, a commitment to a future made in Australia. Ships, solar panels, batteries, wind turbines—we can make it all here and more. I believe our country is better when government comes to the table and invests in the industries we need and doesn't just leave it to chance. It's better for workers, it's better for communities and it's better for business.

I was elected assistant secretary of WA Labor in 2018 and then state secretary in 2022. I am proud to have been the first woman to serve as State Secretary of WA Labor, joining only a small number of women party officials ever to be elected around the country, a club that includes my dear friends Jules Campbell, the new member for Morton, and Kate Flanders. It's perhaps not a coincidence that Queenslanders and the Western Australians lead the way. You have both been an important support to me. Thank you.

The Labor Party has given me so much, every opportunity, more than I will ever be able to repay. To the members and volunteers of the WA branch, with whom I've had the pleasure of working alongside and winning alongside for many years: you make winning elections possible. Thank you.

To the unions affiliated with WA Labor: thank you for your support of me, both as state secretary and now. Our party is built on the foundations of union members, and I will always be a champion for your members in this place.

We've had a period of unprecedented success at WA Labor—the two largest majorities of any state government in WA history and the largest ever WA Labor contingent to the federal ALP caucus, a record we set in 2022 and then broke again in May. These were, of course, extremely proud moments. It was particularly special to work alongside Premier Roger Cook, who gave me my first ever relief electorate officer job in his office, and see Western Australians give him the credit he deserves for his leadership.

But it's not just the election wins that I'm proud of. We grew our women's membership from 36 per cent to 45 per cent in my time at party office, the highest of any ALP branch in the country. It didn't happen by chance; we knew that our membership must better reflect the community, and we worked for it. Supporting women in their political activism and getting more women elected to parliament were driving forces behind my work as a party official and will continue to be driving forces here. In my time at WA Labor, we saw our state and federal caucuses grow to and exceed 50 per cent women. We elected the 100th woman to the WA state parliament, my friend the member for Hillarys, Caitlin Collins, and then quite a few more after that. There's always room for more, and I am honoured to join the brilliant group of Labor women parliamentarians, which is ever growing right across the country. It's particularly special to be a part of this Labor Senate team, made up of some 56 per cent women.

There are so many people who helped me in my time as state secretary and have provided support and advice, but I especially want to thank a few: Paul Erickson, Jen Light, Bill Johnston, Member for Perth Patrick Gorman, WA government minister the Hon. Amber-Jade Sanderson, Mark Reed, Luke Clarke, Darren Moss, David Talbot, Rosa Sottile, Ben Hubbard, Michael Cooney, James Booth, Rebecca Tomkinson, Faz Pollard, Stephen Moir, Kevin Brown, John Pirie and Masoud Abshar. Thank you, all.

I worked alongside so many wonderful team members at party office over the years. Thank you to all of you for your dedication to our great party. I especially want to thank Tim Picton, Henny Smith, David Cann, Tom Beyer, now member for Rockingham Magenta Marshall, Laura Rowe, Mark Fahey, Ebony Short, Ally White, Dani Simatos, Shaq Stirling, Danijela Pusaric, Julie Bogle and Lisa Tibbs. You are all brilliant, hardworking and endlessly loyal. And I give an especially big thankyou to the three now former party office stars that have taken the leap and joined me on this next adventure: Brock Oswald, Shudia Forgol and Lexie Moore. I'm very lucky to have you on my team. To Lauren Cayoun—the now Hon. Lauren Cayoun MLC—thank you for being there every day on the wild ride that is being a party official. I wish Mark Reed and Adelaide Kidson all the best as they take on the leadership of the mighty WA branch.

I live now in Beeliar, in the City of Cockburn, with my husband, David, who also happens to be the local state member of parliament, and our son, William. Beeliar is a Noongar word meaning 'river' or 'water running through'. It's an apt description of our part of the world, surrounded by lakes, wetlands and a stunning coastline. It's a place we are lucky to call home.

It's also home to the world-class defence and industrial hub on the Henderson strip, a place that has an important role to play in the future of our country and a place at the centre of the Albanese government's agenda. This focus brings so much opportunity right on our doorstep—the opportunity to be at the heart of our nation's strategic defence future and to support security and stability in our region. The Albanese government sees this potential and is investing in it. There will be billions of dollars invested into the precinct and thousands of jobs created over the next decade. With those opportunities, of course, come challenges—critical infrastructure, skills, housing and accommodating the defence and non-defence industries on the strip—but these are challenges we are well equipped to tackle, and I look forward to being a part of that work in my time here. I know that, under the leadership of our prime minister and deputy prime minister, Labor will continue its legacy as the true party of Australia's national defence.

Of course, it's not just defence where Western Australia pulls its weight. In two other ways, we well and truly bat above average: the strength of our economy and the beauty of our natural environment. For a long time, the WA economy has powered the nation. It is strong and it is resilient. In the years ahead, WA's role in the national economy will become even more important. WA is rich in the resources that are crucial to keeping the national economy strong and to decarbonising not just our country but our region. This is an opportunity we must take with both hands, but it can't come at the expense of the stunning natural environment WA is also famous for, an environment which belongs to an ancient culture and which is worthy of protecting, an environment which relies on our moving to a cleaner economy in the years to come.

There is a third area in which we are above average, but this one is in the worst of ways. WA is home to some of the most disadvantaged people in our country. Poverty in Western Australia is rising. Almost 400,000 Western Australians, including over 90,000 children, live in poverty right now. This is most acutely felt in much of regional and remote WA and in Aboriginal communities, some of the most disadvantaged places in our country, where too many families can't meet their basic needs, where health and mental health outcomes are poor and where economic opportunity is limited. The contrast is stark in parts like the Pilbara, where the mining and resources industry booms but where socioeconomic scores are significantly lower than the rest of the nation, and in the Kimberley, where our environment is at its most spectacular but where health outcomes are some of the poorest in the country.

None of these three things—keeping our economy strong and resilient, protecting our natural environment and addressing disadvantage—are easy challenges to tackle, and they don't always fit neatly side by side, but we must prioritise all three. This is work the Albanese government is already doing—growing our economy by creating jobs, getting wages moving again and bringing inflation down; protecting our environment by enshrining emissions targets in law, making record investment in clean energy and soon establishing the first independent national environmental protection agency; and helping those doing it tough with cost-of-living relief and more free health care and just this week delivering a significant boost in funding to financial wellbeing and emergency relief services. Real opportunity no matter your postcode, better health care everywhere, better schools everywhere and good, well-paying jobs everywhere—I am optimistic about this future, and I will always fight for it. It's a future we can be proud to be a part of for the kids who are now riding their bikes up and down the cul-de-sac in Kalgoorlie and the kids finding their feet and persevering through hardship in the Pilbara or the Kimberley.

Finally, there are so many people who deserve thanks and to whom I owe a great deal. I'm sure one of the things we in this chamber have in common is that none of us got here on our own. Thank you to my predecessor, Louise Pratt. Louise gave her heart and soul to this place, and I thank her for supporting me for many years. Thank you to my dear friends who have made the long trip to be here today, who also happen to be AMWU comrades: Ashley Buck, Claire Comrie, Katrina Stratton and Stuart Aubrey. Thank you to my two new team members, Leandro Stewart-Usher and Tania McCartney. To Darcy Gunning, thank you for your support in getting me here. Sally Talbot, thank you for being a mentor and friend, for always taking my calls and for being a voice of sound advice and reason. Thank you to Jon for your delicious cooking and for always being an ear. To Senator Nita Green: to be here with one of my dearest friends feels almost too good to be true. Thank you for your wisdom and friendship. To the eldest daughters club, Amy and Steph, who have also made the long trip to be here today: your friendship means the world to me. To the glorious matriarchy, Bec, Amy, Laura, Alex, Steph, Abbey, Rex and Bek: in times when political advocacy and activism is hard, you make it bearable.

To my grandparents, Shirley and Brian, who I know wish could be here today but are watching from home: you are my biggest cheerleaders, and I love you. David and I very much rely on the support of our families—unfairly, we often worry—to do the work we have chosen to do. For us it really does take a village. Our son, William, is lucky to be surrounded by cousins who adore him and who he adores right back. Keighton, Alfie, Lily, Lana and Matteo, I love you all very much. To my mother-in-law, Cathie, and my sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth and Jonathon, thank you for your love and support. To my brothers, Thomas and Isaac, thank you for never letting me get too big for my boots and for always cheering me on. To my sister-in-law, Leah, thank you for joining our big crazy family. My sister Madeleine—I've always felt a little sad for women who don't have a sister—you've always been my best friend. Thank you for always being there for me. Dad, thank you for always believing in me and encouraging me to believe in myself. Mum, you sacrificed a lot for us, and still you will, and often do, drop anything for your kids and grandkids. None of us would be where we are without you. Thank you.

And, finally, to the two most important people in my life. My husband, David Scaife: today marks 13 years since our very first date, so happy anniversary! Early in our relationship, David wrote in a postcard to me from Hawaii, 'I think that at the end of every bad day there should be a Hawaiian rainbow.' That postcard still sits on my desk. David, you are my Hawaiian rainbow. On bad days and good days, knowing you're in my corner is everything. I'm proud of the life we have together, as crazy as two politicians in one household might be.

And to my son, my darling William: firstly, I'm very impressed you've sat through this whole speech. In an early draft of this speech, I wrote that I hope one day when you grow up you might come to understand that the reason your mum spent so much time on the other side of the country from you was to be a part of shaping a better future for you and other kids like you. But that's not really true, because you're one of the lucky ones. And so, instead, I hope one day when you grow up you might come to understand that the reason your mum spent so much time on the other side of the country from you was to be a voice for the kids who are not as lucky as you, for the families without the opportunities that our family has.

Your late grandfather, Roy Scaife, wore a little pin on his lapel every day. It was the light on the hill. Your dad now wears that pin, and I wear it on a pendant. It reminds us, as Ben Chifley said:

… it is the duty and the responsibility of the community, and particularly those more fortunately placed, to see that our less fortunate fellow-citizens are protected from those shafts of fate which leave them helpless and without hope.

That's why I'm here.