Valedictory Speech by the Honourable David Hawker MP
The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
The House of Representatives
8 February 2010
June 16, 2010
I rise tonight to give my Valedictory Speech as the Member for Wannon.
In doing so I would like to emphasise how fortunate I have been to be elected to represent the people of Wannon for 27 years and to have such wonderful support in that role; how privileged I have been to have played a number of roles in public life including that of Speaker of the Parliament; and thirdly to reflect on many changes that have occurred and changes that still need to occur.
27 years ago Australia was coming out of the grip of another shocking drought, we had just seen the horrendous Ash Wednesday fires with more than 50 lives lost, and on a more positive note, Australia II won the America’s Cup.
Little did I know that the next 13 years would be spent in Opposition. While the Hawke-Keating Governments followed the usual Labor pattern of running up massive public debt, their overspending pales into insignificance when compared to less than three years of the Rudd Government.
Having said that, the Hawke Government did implement the banking reforms proposed by the Campbell Committee. It also reduced tariffs and forced secondary industry to become internationally competitive. While the Hawke Government made many changes to the tax system this was only after considerable consultation, and notably supported by the Opposition. What a contrast to Labor’s blatant opposition to the GST reforms introduced by the Howard Government.
Compare this with the approach by the current Government attempting to ram down the throat of the mining industry a massive new tax. A tax that will do serious damage to future investment not just in mining but also to Australia across many sectors. No wonder the miners are in open revolt.
Mr Speaker, I was sworn in in 1983 by the then Speaker Dr Harry Jenkins, your father a man for whom I had great respect. It reminds me of the old French saying, “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”. (The more things change the more they stay the same.)
Back in those days backbenchers shared offices in the Old Parliament House, there were no faxes, no email, no internet and no mobile phones.
Not only were Members’ offices tiny, basic and without facilities, Ministers were located amongst backbenchers. This did have one advantage. Sometimes you would find yourself at the urinal at the same time as a Minister. Being unable to escape he had to listen to a backbencher plea for support for some constituent problem. While his eyes might glaze over usually a call came shortly from his secretary arranging an appointment the next morning!
Parliament moved in 1988 to occupy this wonderful building. While it certainly removed the overcrowding it has taken away much of the personal touch and Ministers can now hide behind a wall of minders in the Ministerial Wing.
Sadly security has also placed many barriers between Members and the public. Kings Hall in the Old Parliament often saw Ministers prepared to chat to visitors as they hurried from one side of the Parliament to the other. And the Non-Members Bar, once a favourite haunt in evenings and source of much information, has long closed in the new building.
Mr Speaker, with 27 years in Parliament I am able to lay claim to many achievements. While I can do this, it is for others to judge their worth.
I’ve mentioned the privilege of being elected Speaker in 2004 but I will indulge in passing on a few other highlights while in Parliament.
Nowadays the twice yearly hearings between the House Economics Committee and the Reserve Bank of Australia Governor are eagerly awaited by markets, by analysts and by the wider community. As the Committee Chairman who developed this process, to see the hearings continue is a satisfying testimony.
However, serious though the public hearings may be, sometimes there was a lighter side. Like the time the hearing went to Warrnambool (in Wannon) and the Governor with his suitably serious banker’s voice remarked to me that we continually reminded him of drought but driving into Warrnambool the grass was so high he couldn’t see any sheep.
The Economics Committee continued its tradition of undertaking valuable work during my time as the Chairman. Two reports I particularly wish to mention are the inquiries into regional banking, and into local government funding. Both had significant impact on public policy and from the former the regions have seen a major reversal for the better in banking services for country people.
Competition policy, tax office administration and financial regulation are a few of the other areas we studied and reported on to Parliament.
My initiative that led to introducing the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program has proved its value with the ongoing support of both MPs and the Chiefs of the Defence Forces. Members, Senators and the Chiefs have repeatedly spoken of the benefits of the program. Given Defence is a major issue for the nation, having a better understanding within the Parliament must help lead to better decisions.
There are a number of other committees I have been privileged to Chair but one I want to mention specially is the Government’s Firearms Consultative Committee. Following the dreadful shooting tragedy in Port Arthur in 1996, the Prime Minister John Howard asked me to Chair this at a particularly difficult time for the hundreds of thousands of responsible shooters in our community. Laws were tightened and since then the shooting associations have greatly strengthened their membership and have played a very responsible role in teaching and promoting safe, responsible use of firearms.
I was honoured to be made a Patron of Field & Game Australia and a Life Member of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, the two biggest national associations.
I note the sport of shooting in Australia continues to have strong support and considerable effort is made by many to promote the safe and responsible use of firearms, particularly amongst juniors.
Mr Speaker, locally in Wannon since 1983 we have seen many improvements in many ways, in many parts of the electorate.
To detail them would take far too long but a few of particular importance were:
- the new Australian Technical College in Hamilton and Warrnambool, a marvellous innovation to give secondary students the start to a full trades career. Regrettably the College is now being downgraded by Labor;
- the all weather athletics track at Brauer College in Warrnambool, giving young athletes in the region the chance to run on an Olympic standard track; and
- the new medical school at Deakin University which includes Warrnambool Campus, thereby training future doctors in the country to go on to practise in the country.
Funds for a number of road projects have helped improve transport links. The multi-million dollar upgrade of the Eurambeen to Streatham Road commenced three years ago to handle the transporting of the rapidly increasing local grain harvest.
I was delighted to be able to facilitate federal funding for Gum San Museum in Ararat. Ararat’s unique heritage as Australia’s only city founded by Chinese migrants is properly recorded at Gum San.
Equally important, the future of our region looks particularly bright with $8.7 billion of new investment expected in the next five years.
Having said that Wannon is proud of its great agricultural industries which generate billions of dollars for the region.
However, with global hunger for the first time leading to more than one billion people undernourished, increasing food production should be a far higher priority in Australia.
Yet astonishingly the Federal Government continues to reduce spending in agricultural R&D under the guise of drought-induced lower production. If this short sighted policy is allowed to continue any pretence of wanting to meet the Millennium Goals will be seen as very hollow.
Mr Speaker while I am indeed fortunate to be one of only 1064 Australians to have been elected to the House of Representatives since Federation, to be chosen as the 25th person to be Speaker of the House of Representatives was an absolute privilege.
Through this I came to see first hand the extraordinary professionalism of so many people who work tirelessly here in Parliament House. Led by the Clerks and the Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, nearly 1000 people keep this building operating with hardly a complaint. I can’t speak highly enough of their dedication. In particular may I single out the two Clerks I worked with. Like their predecessors, Ian Harris and now Bernie Wright continue a tradition that has served our Parliament remarkably well.
However, this brings me to a matter that I feel very strongly about – the funding of Parliament. To provide an effective balance to the Executive (dominated of course by Cabinet), Parliament must be adequately funded.
To give just one comparison to show what I mean, since 2001 the Treasury budget has increased by over 100% to $146m while the House of Representatives’ budget increased by just 11% to $22m, little more than half the government’s advertising proposed for the new mining tax. Similar figures are there for the rest of Parliament. In other words in real terms the budget to run Parliament has been cut while Ministerial staff have grown, departmental budgets have blossomed and the number and complexity of bills Parliament has to debate each year continues to rise.
By any measure this balance between Parliament and the Cabinet as shown by resourcing is tilting unhealthily towards the Cabinet of the day.
Proper accountability and scrutiny of Government by Parliament is a fundamental strength of Parliamentary democracy.
It is my considered view after having worked closely with the officers of the Parliament that the method of funding needs a major revamp.
While the officers work tirelessly to minimise the impact of continuing budget cuts the fact is it is inevitable the support for Parliament to function fully is now threatened.
As I am not seeking re-election my views I trust can be seen as objective and free of any vested interest.
Fortunately there are some excellent examples amongst other Commonwealth Parliaments where the funding is determined independently from Cabinet. Canada and New Zealand spring to mind. With proper checks and balances, accountability and transparency, such models not only ensure the financial independence of the Parliament but maintain a healthy balance between Parliament and the Cabinet.
Earlier this year I moved a Private Member’s motion, seconded by the Deputy Speaker, the Member for Chisholm, proposing just such a model for the House of Representatives.
The challenge now is for both sides of the House to agree to this long overdue reform.
Mr Speaker, I turn now to another challenge facing Members and the community. It is always hard for all MPs to hold the respect of the community. Some may say it is harder today than in the past. But the future of our whole democracy depends on public confidence in our system of government. After all it was less than 70 years ago at a time of dire peril for much of the world that there were only 12 countries with democratically elected governments. Today more than 140 countries can claim some form of elections for their Parliaments.
Since the Second World War, democracy has underpinned the remarkable progress made in so many ways in so much of the world.
But the advent of 24 hour news services, internet blogs, twitter and text have multiplied the demand for and sources of political comment.
There is a danger with the proliferation of views and news that the public lose interest or become sidetracked from the importance of Parliament and its role in our nation’s future.
Australia can boast the fourth longest continuing democracy in the world. The challenge today is to encourage healthy scepticism rather than corrosive cynicism towards our elected representatives. Sometimes this can be a very big challenge such as the recent vehement debate between the Government and the mining industry. While it may not be all out war I am reminded of the old adage, “The first casualty when war comes is truth”.
When hearing the PM and the Treasurer it’s hard not to believe the first casualty has fallen. Such a public brawl is hardly helping the local standing of our elected MPs but in this case it can go international.
A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal gave a scathing assessment of Labor’s new mining tax saying, “..the larger issue at stake (is) does Australia, a developing nation that has embraced liberal economic policies for three decades, want to philosophically go the way of free market Hong Kong or socialist France?”
Not withstanding this particular issue the value of public service remains as important as ever. To quote Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies: “To discourage ambition, to envy success, to have achieved superiority, to distrust independent thought, to sneer at and impute false motives to public service - these are the maladies of modern democracy, and of Australian democracy in particular. Yet ambition, effort, thinking, and readiness to serve are not only the design and objectives of self-government but are the essential conditions of its success.”
Mr Speaker, all members of Parliament rely on loyal support from many hardworking party members, friends and family.
I have been indeed fortunate. My wife Penny and our four children have always been fully supportive and there to keep a welcome home.
My office staff from the time of first being elected have done an outstanding job and have rightly earned an enviable reputation within the electorate for providing great service. I must single out one for special mention, Megan Campbell, who has been with me more than 20 years. There’s no other way to put it but to say she does an outstanding job.
Without the ongoing support of so many in the Liberal Party I could not have got to here. Marilyn Lyons who was either Electorate Chairman or Secretary for almost 27 years was an incredible support. Teamed with Bayse Thomas ,who ran my campaigns in recent years, they made a formidable team. Jim Dwyer who was Electorate Chairman for nine years is another absolute stalwart.
But of course there are hundreds of others and I say to all, my heartfelt thanks.
The seat of Wannon has the remarkable record of having had just two members, both from the Liberal Party, since 1955. With the federal election only a few months away it is my fervent hope that the outstanding candidate we have in Dan Tehan will continue to prove that the Liberal Party can best serve Wannon.
In my maiden speech in 1983 I concluded by saying, “…the long term goals, the goals that the people of Wannon and the people of Australia should expect of governments are to have the opportunities and the freedom of choice to better their own future. It is the role of government to provide the sound basis on which to build, the most important ingredient of which is a sound financial base.”
Sadly the current government is doing its best to undermine that base, so much so that Australians are rapidly concluding it is only by returning a Liberal National Coalition Government can we regain our confidence to truly better our own future.
May I conclude by saying again it is a privilege to be elected to serve one’s community. To have been elected 10 times is indeed a rare privilege.
I will leave this place with many fond memories, a few scars and many good friends but confident our Parliament will continue to play a central role in the future of our great nation.
The Honourable David Hawker MP has been a great supporter of the SSAA and SSAA National wishes him well in his endeavours.
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