HANSARD EXTRACT
Mr Speaker, it is an extraordinary
honour to be elected to the Australian Parliament.
It is a privilege to represent the
people of Werriwa – a community and an electorate
that my family and I have called home
for the last 25 years.
With this privilege comes a
responsibility that I do not take lightly.
As I rise for the first time in this
place, I would like to acknowledge the Tharawal and
Gangara people – the traditional
owners of the land on which the Federation seat of
Werriwa is situated.
Mr Speaker, elections are difficult
at the best of times but to contest a ballot in a byelection
adds yet another dimension - a
dimension of which the other 15 Members of
this place elected at by-elections
would be only too well aware. Victory in an election
requires the commitment of a great
number of people. Without attempting to name
every individual, there are some
people I must thank and acknowledge for their
significant contribution.
Firstly I wish to thank the tireless
campaigners who so selflessly gave up their time,
effort and energy. Of course I refer
particularly to the local branch members as well
as members of Young Labor. My
election win was theirs as well.
I would also like to thank Mark Arbib
and the officers of the New South Wales Branch
of the ALP for their confidence in me
– in particular Damian Kassabgi my Campaign
Director.
I also deeply appreciate the support,
kind words and sage advice of the Leader of
the Opposition and I am thrilled to
be joining his Parliamentary team.
Kim Beazley visited the electorate on
many occasions during the course of the
campaign and was equally at home
walking through shopping centres, dealing with
the inevitable media scrum or
standing with me on the hill at Campbelltown Stadium
watching the Wests Tigers play
against the Canberra Raiders.
Sadly the Tigers lost that particular
match but I can report that not only is this well
trained, well disciplined young side
doing better as the season progresses, yesterday
we settled the score by beating the
Canberra Raiders by 12 points.
I would also like to thank the many
Shadow Ministers and other Labor colleagues
who visited the electorate to lend
their support and help me.
I also want to thank my family.
My parents have always been there for
me. Sadly illness prevents them from being
here today but I know their thoughts
are with me. My father is a former New South
Wales police officer and in no small
way he has instilled in me my sense of values
and ethics. Values and ethics that
have stood me in good stead throughout my
working life and values and ethics
that I bring to this House.
I am also fortunate enough to have
the love and support of a close family.
Bernadette my wife, best friend and
chief supporter for more than 30 years, in fact
yesterday we celebrated our 29th
wedding anniversary; and my sons Nicholas and
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Jonathon, both local tradesmen; and
my daughter Elizabeth and her husband
Ashley. And as I am sure that it
would not have escaped the attention of anyone
during the course of the election
campaign, I am the extremely proud grandfather of
two fabulous grandchildren, Nathaniel
and Charlie. Without the support of my family,
I could not – and would not – have
stood in this election.
It would be remiss of me not to
mention John Ducker, a long time mentor who had a
significant influence on me. John
Ducker is a man who, in addition to his successes
in the corporate world, has remained
dedicated to his family, his Church and the
labour movement.
Mr Speaker, much was made in the
lead-up to the by-election, of my involvement in
trade unions. It is true. I have
spent many years representing working men and
women before their employer as well
as various State and Commonwealth Industrial
Tribunals. I do not, and will not,
shy away from my involvement with the union
movement.
I would like to think that, as a
union official, I also played a part in assisting
Australian industry improve its
efficiency and competitiveness while helping to deliver
job security along with better pay
and conditions for employees.
I fully supported the initiatives of
His Honour, Justice Barry Madden, to introduce in a
structured way, decentralisation in
terms of the industrial relations system while
maintaining authoritative oversight
by the Australian Industrial Relations
Commission. Justice Madden will be
remembered not only as a progressive force in
industrial reform but as someone
committed to the independence of the Industrial
Relations Commission.
It is my grave concern that this
Government’s industrial relations agenda will not only
achieve its intended goal of
weakening the trade union movement – but as someone
who has been involved with industrial
relations from all perspectives - I believe that it
will profoundly weaken the position
of individual workers in relation to their
employers.
Following my time with the union
movement, I have worked as an independent
mediator in specific disputes or
assisting in continuous improvement programs.
During the campaign, the media
focussed on my role with Sydney Airports
Corporation, probably not because of
my achievements, but more for the comments
of my former employer, Max
Moore-Wilton. While I was very grateful for his kind
words, they stand in stark contrast
to the comments made by the Member for
Lindsay - that I was just another
union hack. Comments like that say more about the
Government’s view of workers and
their representatives than any real knowledge of
me.
For my part, I will always be proud
of my involvement in the union movement.
In addition to Sydney Airport, I have
worked as an adviser to the Police Federation of
Australia representing both the
professional and industrial interests of Police. In this
capacity, I have enjoyed a close
working relationship with Honourable Members on
both sides of the House. For a period
of time I was also a member of the Northern
Territory Police Arbitral Tribunal. I
served under an oath of office and was required to
deliberate without fear or favour on
all matters coming before the Tribunal.
I am particularly honoured to have
served on the Tribunal with Her Honour, Pat
Leary, President of the Tasmanian
Industrial Relations Commission and former
Deputy President of the Australian
Industrial Relations Commission. Pat is a truly
remarkable woman and a great
Australian.
In addition to these activities, I
have dealt with disputes in regional health facilities in
NSW, assisted a major printing
company to establish a series of enterprise
arrangements and performed similar
activities on behalf of aircraft engineering, food
processing, power generation and
sustainable energy companies as well as being
an adviser to the CEO and Board of
the NRMA.
Throughout my career, I have found
negotiation is a key factor when representing
the interests of others, whether they
are employees, businesses or communities.
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My time with the Australian Workers
Union showed me the benefits of negotiating
outcomes, rather than litigating
them. I can honestly say that I played my part in
moving the union from a courtroom
based, adversarial culture to something more in
tune with the modern enterprise
bargaining system.
I advocated and negotiated on behalf
of everyone from blue-collar workers in the
AWU to veterinary officers,
surveyors, architects, lawyers, and most other
professional and administrative
callings. And, now, I will be advocating and
negotiating for the people of
Werriwa.
Werriwa covers 168 square kilometers
of south-western Sydney with a population of
more than 145,000 in suburbs
stretching from Cecil Hills and Kemps Creek in the
north to Minto and Leumeah in the
south where Bernadette and I live.
Within these geographic boundaries,
residents fit into almost every cultural, ethnic
and religious demographic there is.
The last census found that a third of residents
were born overseas and more than
50,000 people spoke a first language other than
English. We have people from all
parts of Europe and Asia as well as from smaller
Pacific island nations like Fiji,
Tonga and Samoa. We also have a significant Koori
community.
This rich mixture combines to produce
a cultural diversity that lends depth and colour
to the south-west while reinforcing a
strong sense of local community.
Werriwa is full of young families.
This is understandable – because it is a great place
to raise a family. It is where
Bernadette and I raised our family and built our
community – quite literally at times.
I remember getting involved in various building
activities with other dads at my
kids’ school - digging drainage ditches and trenches
for footings, constructing formwork,
carting bricks and cement or whatever else the
then principal and part-time building
supervisor, Brother Mark required. As well as
being an interesting way to spend a
Saturday, it was surprising the number of lasting
friendships that were made following
these working bees which, after all, is
community building.
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Just as we did back then, young
families continue the same process now of building
and contributing to their community.
Whether it is the Islamic community of Green
Valley, the Bangladeshi community of
Minto, the Filipino community of
Campbelltown or the Fijian-Indian
community of Liverpool, they are all young
Australians working together for the
benefit of their families and their local
community.
My community building these days
might not result in splinters and blisters, but today
I remain as committed as ever to
community building in south western Sydney.
There are no pretensions in the
south-west. People do not indulge themselves and
everyone gets in and does their bit.
Today, just as it did 25 years ago, starting a
family goes hand in hand with the
added responsibilities of either home ownership
and mortgage repayments or paying
rent. I know the pressures this can place on
families and I know that Australian
families are doing it tough. Bernadette and I know
what it is like to struggle to meet
the repayments, let alone afford the little extras like
shoes, clothes and school fees. After
all, $6 doesn’t stretch all that far.
The important thing to realise is
that Werriwa is about families working hard to
provide a future for their children.
But they cannot do it alone. They need jobs,
education, infrastructure, and
community safety.
One in four workers in Werriwa are
engaged in part-time work, and 75% of the
residents of Liverpool and
Campbelltown have a weekly income lower than the
national average. Youth unemployment
is unacceptably high, with almost one
quarter of all full time job seekers
under the age of 20 out of work.
You do not need to go much beyond the
Police, welfare groups or drug referral
agencies to hear the true cost to the
community of high youth unemployment. The
combination of suburbs with a
substantial number of people receiving some form of
income support, high youth
unemployment and a slowing economy means that my
constituents will be among the first
to suffer from this Government’s cuts to benefits
and services.
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The fact is that families in south
western Sydney are caught in the crossfire of
increased casualisation of their jobs
on one hand and increased costs of living on the
other. There is reduced job security
and increased financial instability. What these
families need are real jobs -
permanent employment to sustain their families and
service their mortgages.
What they want are real opportunities
for their kids. They want their kids to have
access to tertiary education, whether
it is a university degree or a trade qualification
through TAFE. They know how important
education is to getting ahead and they
know how important it is for their
children’s future. But tying education funding to the
Government’s industrial relations
agenda and continuing to erode standards will not
help local kids or their families.
And in a rapidly growing region they
need infrastructure investment that will keep
pace with community growth. Since
July 2002, more than $1.5 billion has been
approved for investment in new
dwellings and non residential construction in the
Liverpool and Campbelltown. Recently,
approvals have been given for an additional
12,000 dwellings in Edmondson Park,
Glenfield and south Hoxton. This strong
growth will continue over the coming
decades with up to 100,000 new dwellings to
be constructed in the south west
corridor over the next 20 years.
State and local governments are doing
their best, but Canberra needs to do more.
Canberra’s refusal to fully fund new
Hume Highway on-off ramps at Ingleburn is a
prime example. The Commonwealth’s
decision forced Campbelltown City Council to
contribute $4 million to the cost of
the project – funding the shortfall with an extra
levy on local businesses. Small
businesses can do without further subsidising
Canberra. After all, they are already
burdened by substantial compliance costs as
they struggle through the maze of the
“simplified tax system”. They need to be able
to get on with the job of growing
their businesses and generating local employment
opportunities. It is my intention to
pay particular attention to concerns of local small
business owners and operators because
their sustained prosperity will create the
jobs sought by the young and the
unemployed.
8
For too long, policing has been seen
as simply as an issue for State Governments.
There is no doubt that local, state &
federal government policies all have an impact
on crime, and therefore, there is a
need for greater integration of policy responsibility
in respect to policing, law and order
and crime prevention. It is estimated that crime
costs our country $32 billion a year.
That’s bigger than the budgets of most State
Governments.
The people of Werriwa are concerned
about drugs. They are certainly concerned
about crime. But, as recent drug
busts have shown, criminals are not concerned
about State or national boundaries.
Crime undermines the security of Australia and
of Australians.
It is time Canberra took more
interest in, and provided more funding for local
initiatives aimed at helping
communities, in partnership with the Police, to combat
local crime.
The Werriwa by-election was a unique
opportunity for hardworking Australians to
take a second look at this
Government. It came after a surprise post-election rise in
interest rates. We have all heard the
usual hair-splitting and carefully chosen words
which have become the hallmark of
this Government, but the fact remains that
ordinary people in Western Sydney
thought that they had been given a guarantee
that interest rates would not rise.
It also came after the surprise
announcement to expand our troop commitment to
Iraq. By its standards, the
Government made a pretty clear commitment during the
election that Australia had already
made a significant contribution to Iraq.
And then, of course, after the
by-election we had the saga of the disappearing
Medicare safety net which was more
than just another broken iron-clad promise; it
went to the very heart of this
Government’s commitment and integrity.
It is not surprising just how quickly
the shine has come off this Government.
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In concluding, as Honourable Members
would appreciate, I am very conscious of the
distinguished roll-call of my
predecessors over the last half century. For nearly half of
that period, since 1952, the seat of
Werriwa was held by a giant of Labor history,
Gough Whitlam. During that period, Mr
Whitlam was able to reform and modernise
the Labor Party. In particular, he
had the genius of being the first major political
figure to comprehend the fundamental
changes in Australian society in the 50s and
60s.
He understood that a new political
focus on the educational, cultural, social and
infrastructure needs of the residents
of the expanding outer suburbs was
fundamental to improving the lot of
average Australians. I am very conscious that
communities like mine are the
beneficiaries of the Whitlam legacy.
Following Whitlam was John Kerin, a
mainstay of the Hawke and Keating
governments. He was a great
contributor to policy development. He was a core
member of the first Hawke Cabinet, a
group widely acknowledged as the most
talented executive in Australian
history. John Kerin served the people of Werriwa
with distinction and they are the
better for it.
Finally, I would like to reflect on
the contribution of my immediate predecessor Mark
Latham. Mark served as the Member for
Werriwa for almost eleven years. But there
is more to Mark Latham than just his
national profile. I remind my colleagues that it is
important not to lose sight of the
essence of Mark Latham. Mark built a political
career from a very fundamental
involvement in his local community.
My experience in the recent
by-election campaign gave me some new insights into
the nature of Mark’s involvement and
relationships with his people.
My family and I are long-term
residents of Werriwa. Bernadette and I have been
active in school parent
organisations, with sporting teams and various community
groups. Our children have grown up
and attended schools, TAFE and University of
Western Sydney. We have lived as
ordinary members of the community and, like
most in that category, ours has been
a relatively low profile. This meant that I had to
make a special effort to present
myself to the people of Werriwa.
During the campaign, I met with
community groups, spoke with rail commuters,
conducted street meetings and knocked
on thousands of doors. I spoke to as many
people as I possibly could.
In the course of this intensive
process of engagement with the community I
constantly encountered a universally
deep affection and concern for Mark Latham.
People spoke of him as a friend. They
did not see him just as a national leader, a
writer of political analysis or the
proponent of radical policies of change. They saw
him just as one of them – as a
“westie”.
They thought of him as a local lad,
who was raised in difficult circumstances,
attended local schools, went to
university and achieved distinction in his studies.
They were proud of him. They knew he
remained one of them.
Obviously, I expected a reaction like
this but I was surprised how universal it was.
People said these things time and
time again. It is obviously a bit trite to say ‘This is
what it’s all about’. But I have to
say that this experience has been a genuine
inspiration to me. As a local member,
I am honoured to replace Mark Latham and I
intend to serve with the same
commitment to my electorate as he did.
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