Thursday, 20 September 2018

 Mr HOWARD (Buninyong) (12:49): In 1971 I was a year 10 student at Geelong High School. In those days schools brought in careers counsellors to talk to year 10 students about their potential futures so that they could plan their subjects ahead of years 11 and 12. When I was asked what career I was considering, I said I planned to become a leader in the government, whereupon they said to me, ‘You can’t tell us things like that. Politics is something you might be interested in, but you can’t plan your future around it’. I said I understood that, so I might study agriculture at university and possibly become a teacher.

Through my upbringing, though, I developed a strong desire to stand up for justice and to support people, particularly people who were not confident to stand up for themselves, and I believed that I could make a difference. This passion for wanting to make a difference came about through the mentors in my life, most prominently my parents and my grandparents. My grandfather was a Methodist minister, who gave me a strong sense of social justice, of compassion and of the importance of standing up and speaking out. My mother and father provided me with great inspiration. Although we lost mum about six years ago, my father, who just turned 92 last week, is in the gallery and I thank him for his very important support over the years.

By 1980 I had finished my agriculture degree and my teacher training and found myself teaching at Kaniva High School. The vision of going into politics still had not left me, and I knew that if I was going to progress as a potential Labor member of Parliament, Kaniva was not necessarily the place to be, because I did offer to hand out how-to-vote cards in Kaniva on election day and between the three of us we did a very good job. But that was it. In 1983 I moved on to Ballarat and that proved to be a great choice for me. I found myself enjoying teaching at Sacred Heart College, playing tennis with Eureka tennis club and becoming a member of Lydiard Street Uniting Church, Ballarat Light Opera Company and a number of other organisations, including the Labor Party.

In 1989 I was encouraged to stand for Ballaarat City Council in the coming elections. I decided that I would stand and, as twists of fate go, half an hour before nominations were due to close in Eureka ward nobody had nominated. I came in to nominate at that time, along with a Liberal-supported candidate. Fifteen minutes later a second Liberal-supported candidate came in to nominate, but she did not have cash and she did not have a bank cheque to pay her bond so she ran out of time to nominate before the closing of nominations. It became a two-horse race and that twist of fate saw me elected to the Ballaarat City Council and start my involvement in leadership.

Three years later I was re-elected to the City of Ballaarat Council, and the following year I was elected as mayor of the City of Ballaarat, in 1994. Nine months later, however, I was swept out of office by Jeff Kennett in the local government restructure of 1995. Oddly enough that was one of the few things I agreed with Jeff Kennett about because we did need local government rationalisation at that time. In that year I took the opportunity to take four months out of my teaching career and I travelled to India. I found myself working as a volunteer teacher for three months in a multinational community based on the teachings of a fellow called Sri Aurobindo, whose central philosophy was that we really live in one world and we should, as people of all nations, work together, sharing our knowledge and skills for the benefit of all. While I was there I reflected on whether I still wanted to pursue, when I came back to Australia, a life in politics or whether, knowing how fickle politics can be, I would rather go into the good life, enjoy my time on my farm in Waubra and take it easy in that sense.

But when I did come back to Australia, as you have guessed, I did decide I would continue. I stood again for the newly established City of Ballarat and was elected. At the end of that term, though, I decided it was time to turn my energy directly towards the Jeff Kennett government. In 1997 I left teaching, stood for preselection for the Ballarat East seat, which was then the state’s most marginal seat, as people might remember, held by Barry Traynor on a margin of just 27 votes. I was preselected, unopposed, as a Labor Party member not attached to any faction. It was a remarkably smooth preselection experience, so just imagine that!

An honourable member interjected.

Mr HOWARD: And your side, too. One of my first challenges after preselection was to choose a slogan for my campaign. It could not be ‘Give Geoff the Job’ because of course Jeff happened to be the opposing Premier. It could not be ‘It has to be Howard’ for other obvious reasons. We chose instead ‘Geoff Howard. Listens, Cares, Gets Things Done’.

I remember on election eve 1999 being anxious about whether I had made the right decision. I was confident that I would be elected the following day, but the prospect of being one of only a few new Labor MPs that would then come into Parliament as part of a Labor opposition against the Kennett government team was a concern. I thought I would be carved up when I first walked into Parliament and I asked myself, ‘What am I in for?’. But as we know, the 1999 election was a remarkable election when Labor won many more seats than we expected and, due to Peter McLellan’s death on election day, we had to wait a further month before we knew who was going to be in government. It was clearly an exciting surprise for me to find myself as part of the new Bracks Labor government; and it is a surprise to me that 19 years later I am still here and able to leave on my own terms. It has clearly been a great honour and a pleasure for me to be part of the Bracks, Brumby and now Andrews governments through 15 of my 19 years in this place.

I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank family members, electorate office staff, friends and supporters who have supported me through those many years. I want in particular to note Julieanne Giles, who has been an electorate officer since day one with me, so for 19 years. But I also want to acknowledge two other important people, the most important people in my life, my two children, Chris and Sarah, who have never known me not to be an MP.

It is time to reflect on whether my time here has been worthwhile. I read over the first speech I made in this place recently, and among other things I talked of the importance of coming to this place with a dream of what we could do. I referred to Martin Luther King and of course his famous speech. I said that my dream was of a compassionate society in which people across all social sectors develop a greater understanding and appreciation of each other, and in which all community members feel included and valued. Sadly, I say I have not completed that dream. There is still work to be done there. But on the ground, however, as I have travelled around my electorate between Malmsbury and Lethbridge, between Bacchus Marsh and Linton, I am reminded of the many, many new facilities and upgrades which I have helped to advocate for. All 45 state schools across the former electorate of Ballarat East, now the Buninyong electorate, have been substantially upgraded. The new and upgraded preschools, childcare centres, fire stations, ambulance stations and police stations, substantial hospital upgrades and our train system are unrecognisable from the neglected tracks, running sprinter trains and diesel-drawn carriages and lines closed beyond Ballarat that we inherited. There is complete change there.

There are upgraded roads, noting the additional passing loops on the Ballarat-Geelong Road, which has just been completed, with improved pedestrian crossings at Ballan, Buninyong and Napoleons; and improved tourism infrastructure, sporting facilities, community halls, men’s sheds and so much more.

Achievements also include important environmental gains, with the creation of Woowookarung Regional Park this term, and earlier on, the protection of Wombat Forest and the creation of the Hepburn community wind farm.

Clearly much has changed across the Ballarat East and Buninyong electorates over my 19 years, and it would not have been done without the support and foresight of Steve Bracks, John Brumby and Daniel Andrews leading great Labor governments, with approachable and supportive ministers who understood the need to get on with the job of listening and acting.

On a broader level, in my roles as parliamentary secretary and parliamentary committee chair, I have been able to contribute to policy development in areas ranging from Landcare support to support for organic agriculture and alternative energy projects to drug law reform, with the establishment of the medically supervised injecting centre in Richmond being another highlight. While I have influenced many of these projects and have appreciated the support of Labor governments, I have also enjoyed working with so many passionate and enthusiastic individuals out in my electorate and elsewhere to achieve these visible outcomes.

However, I reckon my greatest satisfaction has come from the many individuals I have assisted — with housing, with health problems, with schooling and parenting issues — sometimes council-related matters, sometimes issues we have not really been able to influence in a major way. But I have enjoyed taking the time with these constituents. I have listened to them and have advocated on their behalf, or sometimes I have just listened to them and advised them. It is always a pleasure for me when I am travelling around my electorate, possibly shopping at the supermarket or doing something else around the electorate, to have people periodically coming up to me, approaching me warmly, to remind me that they came to see me one time and then thank me for my help. There is nothing more satisfying than that.

For me a key part of the role of political representation is about leadership, and leadership to me involves keeping your feet on the ground, listening to people but not reacting always to the noisy voices or to the advice of pollsters. We know that our community is looking for their elected representatives to show leadership, but unfortunately many times we know that they do not believe that we are. Our role has to be about acting always in the public interest, being honest with the public and being prepared to take the time to explain why our plans for action are in the public interest. Too often oppositions particularly can attempt to win government through political opportunism at the expense of leadership. I have to add that I believe that Tony Abbott brought this political opportunism to maybe the lowest standard. As a result of that, we saw the loss of the price on carbon, among other things. And on that subject I have to say I was shocked when in Queens Hall recently a school boy visiting with his school group passed me as he was with his group, looked at me and excitedly told the boy next to him, ‘That’s Tony Abbott’. How hurtful was that!

In this state I am particularly concerned about the politics of law and order, where tabloid media and some politicians have promoted the sensational and have attempted to focus on crimes committed by individuals from particular cultural groups to present crime as a simple issue, focusing on penal outcomes. The reality of course is that in order to improve our community’s sense of safety we need to be honest in presenting facts and recognise that the best outcomes come from addressing causation.

I believe that a good government should aim to develop a healthy connected society, promoting cohesion not division. We still see too many people becoming disconnected from the community around them — young people and adults falling through the cracks, where they cannot fit in at school, cannot move onto employment and need support to address their challenges. These challenges may include mental health and drug and alcohol problems, and of course may lead to crime. But I believe that while Labor governments have been more aware of this and are focused on addressing support for people in need, we know that still more needs to be done. The alternatives only see more lives wasted and more crime as a result, as people lose connection with a healthy society.

Good leadership will focus on issues such as this, identifying how we can make our communities better while delivering the infrastructure and human services which can support us to a better future. This includes taking on board the advice of scientists and recognising that we need to act to protect our environment. That especially includes taking action to slow climate change. Again we need to be honest with the public and acknowledge the potentially devastating effects that climate change will bring if we do not take real action to provide a better future for the generations to come. It is only through good leadership at all levels that we can overcome the worst that global warming will otherwise bring.

For the years to come I will remain passionate in my community about many issues, including the need to develop a comprehensive system of supporting young people through to seeing positive futures. I will also continue to advocate for the environment. I look forward to continuing to engage with people in a more relaxed way though than I have over recent years and to becoming more involved in community life. After chairing the parliamentary inquiry into drug law reform, I have been invited back to the Rainbow Serpent Festival next year and I look forward to that. I also look forward to spending more time with my children, and supporting them more through their secondary school years.

In stepping aside I am confident that Labor has found a great replacement in Michaela Settle as candidate for Buninyong. I will continue to support Michaela to become the member for Buninyong, who I know is going to be a great member. I will continue to want to see the Andrews Labor government supported and returned because I think it can be a great government in another term. While being the representative in the great seat of Buninyong has been great for me, I am sure I will find plenty of things to do to enjoy life in the future.

I wish you all well in the future, especially those who are re-elected into the new Parliament. May your efforts make the lives of those you represent better. The future of this state clearly depends upon the actions of those who remain here.

Honourable members applauded.

Sitting suspended 1.05 p.m. until 2.06 p.m.