|
Title |
Adjournment
|
|
House |
COUNCIL
|
|
Activity
|
Business
of The House |
|
Members |
BIRRELL
|
|
Date |
|
Hon. M. A. BIRRELL
- I thank the house and the Leader of the Government in particular for the
indulgence of being able to make a speech on this occasion.
It has been an honour to serve
as a member for
|
|
I entered this place at the age of
25 and spent the majority of the last 20 years as the leader in some capacity
in this place or on the front bench. I have certainly been proud to serve here
in the Victorian Parliament. All of us enjoy coming to work, which is the best
test of anything, but we have a higher duty and we enjoy being able to
contribute.
It has been an enormous
privilege to work with a number of people in this chamber from both sides of
politics. I think of working with truly great ministers like Rob Knowles,
Haddon Storey, Joan Kirner and Caroline
Hogg. You do not get better than those four. It was my privilege and good
fortune to meet them here and to regard them as friends. Even though there is a
political difference with two of them, there is always a sense of kindness and
generosity of spirit which indicates that you can make strong friends across
political boundaries and you can enjoy that relationship despite distinct
political differences.
I also learnt a great deal here,
because this is a place of extraordinarily robust debate. For good or bad, I
will never forget the debates I have had or witnessed with people like David
White, Jim Kennan, Bill Landeryou and a number of others. These were heady
times with the most aggressive of debaters where the parliamentary rules being
used to their maximum flexibility, but in the end I think the state is probably
better as a result of those debates rather than not.
David White was, in fact, the
Labor leader here for much of the early time when I was the Liberal leader, and
I found him a formidable opponent, but never so much that the cross-party
camaraderie was compromised. There is a friendship and goodwill that the public
does not understand between people who work in politics for some time and an
admiration for people who share some difficulties. I have enjoyed working in a
political environment where you can have an on-the-record and an off-the-record
relationship with people who are sometimes your opponents. That can take people
a time to understand, and sometimes you do not even say it, but I put on the
record here my admiration for the way that ministers who came in after the 1999
election had to deal with quite formidable obstacles in a foreign environment.
I quietly watched and saw them learning and growing, and I did it from a
perspective where there was no political advantage in my putting it on the
record and therefore I have delayed doing so, but as a former minister I know
just what they were going through.
To me, public life is very
important. I had the opportunity a few days ago at a function in Queen's Hall
to talk about public life, and I will not belabour it, but I believe it is a
noble pursuit. Even in these cynical and often insecure times you should come
into this place because you are idealistic or at least because you are
optimistic. There is a chance to do some good. Unfortunately my observation is
that while members of Parliament are well motivated and keen there is an
overall public view which is driven by superficiality, triviality, sarcasm and
a belief that everything in life is short term.
I believe that the level of
cynicism is now much higher than when I came into this place, and the
requirement to achieve everything within the 24-hour window of the electronic
media has brought us down to the lowest common denominator.
It used to be an aspiration of
backbenchers -- as I was in 1983 -- to get an article on a policy issue onto
the state political pages of the Age, the Sun or the Herald, or if you were
really trying, to get a feature piece or even just a vignette of an issue in
one of those newspapers or on the television. It was possible then, but those
days are gone. There are no state pages as a matter of course in our
newspapers, and television is dominated by the political news out of
I am also concerned about the
relative worth that ordinary citizens -- perhaps uninformed, but nevertheless
inevitably -- place on public life.
Relative worth can be measured
in many ways, not all of them financial, but it strikes me as curious that
today premiers and prime ministers are paid less than newsreaders; that the
people who make the news are paid less than the people who read the news; that
ministers are paid less than the public servants who advise them; and that
members of Parliament are paid less than Australian Football League
footballers. We are not alone; others are in the same boat. You can earn more
money running a fast-food outlet than you can working as a teacher in a state
school; judges find themselves being paid less than the barristers who constantly
appear before them; and the carers, the nurses and the community service teams
in our community, are grossly undervalued.
Worst of all is that the worth
of the volunteers, who are not paid at all, is devalued by being formally
ignored in the national balance sheets and the accounts and officials
statistics of the nation.
These are relativities that have
worsened demonstrably in the period of time I have been in Parliament, and they
should be a worry because we risk allowing our great institutions -- the
parliaments, the schools, the courts and more -- being run down in direct
proportion to the rise in cynicism and short-termism that now pervades public
debate. That does not help the institutions, and it does not help the very
people who are cynical. We can try to address it as much as we can through
substantive achievement, practical achievement and relevant local action plans,
but in particular we need to deal with the fact that the media has driven a
24-hour, short-term, cynical and often fashion-driven analysis of politics that
cuts at the core of what we stand for, regardless of our politics.
There are a number of motives
for political involvement. Mine were to be involved in policy development, and
then through that project implementation. I found that being a member for
To have had the chance in August
of 1991 to outline publicly a plan for revitalising
We have to get the cynics to
understand the rewards, the importance, the significance and the measure of
what elected representatives can do to improve their environment, and then
perhaps they will drop some of that cynicism.
Being able to make that speech
in 1991 allowed me to then implement a policy after 1992 for a range of
projects like the exhibition centre, the museum, the Regent Theatre and others.
For me, therefore, it was an opportunity of a lifetime as someone who could
enter young and then see my dreams come true. That should motivate anyone who
wants to get into Parliament.
Of course, it is a team effort
and nothing but that. In particular, I want to place on the record my admiration
for the career public servants who advised me, guided me and safeguarded me in
a highly professional manner. Those career public servants are the best
administrators I have seen -- better than anything in the private sector -- and
they deserve great respect.
To the specialists that we
brought in, to my parliamentary colleagues who tolerated my being obsessed with
some projects, it gave me a sense of opportunity and also provided the checks
and balances. Also, of course, I thank my personal staff: Yvonne Thompson, my
longest serving staff member, has worked with me for 191/2 years -- you do not
get more dedication than that; Kathy Buchanan has worked with me for 10 years,
ostensibly as my driver, but she is the best self-trained information technology
expert I have ever met.
At this time of reflection one
inevitably also recalls what has happened in the Parliament. I of course want
to recall the better times. Legislation is important, particularly pieces you
bring in, but perhaps the most important piece of legislation I worked on was a
Labor Party initiative, not my own. That was in the 1980s when there was an
early bipartisan opportunity to bring in what was, at its time, the world's
best health prevention initiative.
|
*** DAILY HANSARD *** PROOF VERSION ONLY *** DO NOT QUOTE *** |
The Tobacco Bill 1987 was a
marvellous opportunity to work together in an extremely difficult and
controversial environment to pass legislation that set the pace on reducing the
most preventable cause of death in our community. I thoroughly enjoyed that
time, even though it was character building and very risky. I was able to use
my position in this house in a way that I think was beneficial, and I was
pleased to be able to support what the Labor Party brought in at the time.
There are other examples of that sort, like the legislation involving alpine
parks and the National Parks (Amendment) Bill.
In the 1990s I drew particular
satisfaction from being able to introduce legislation like the shop trading
reforms, but also perhaps less publicised ones like the state's first coastal
legislation. I would hope for those people who want to enter Parliament to
introduce legislation of that bent that they can see that there are so many
opportunities.
They do have to get through a
few tests -- preselection, winning their seat and so on -- but it is worth it,
and it is a noble pursuit.
I have had the time of my life
here, and I have grown up in this place. I entered here at the age of 25 when I
was single. Since that time I have married, the best decision I ever made, and
there are Emma and Molly. That is what you look forward to, and for me, I am
looking forward to the time with them and the time to have another stage in a
career. Thank you very much.
Honourable members applauded.