PARLIAMENTARY SERVICE

Ms BREUER (Giles) (15:33): Over the last few months I have been questioning what I am actually doing in this place. I have been here for 11 years and I look back on what I have achieved in that time—what have I actually been responsible for in my electorate. It was interesting to see the exit of the Hon. Rob Kerin and the Hon. Sandra Kanck, and I pay tribute to them both. They were good members and certainly worked very hard in their time here. The Hon. Rob Kerin was a very good local member as well as holding the position of premier and various portfolios.

It was interesting to see them go and I wonder what they think about their time here and how much they think they have achieved. I think about what the party structure actually allows you to do. It was very good when we were in opposition because it was free-for-all, you could say what you liked when you liked, and as a country member I found it was easy to monopolise the country airwaves and continually carp and criticise, as do the Independent members in this place. Of course, it is not as easy to do that now because I cannot criticise the government publicly.

We have what I see as a very wrong situation: the Hon. Nick Xenophon has gone to Canberra and is now able to hold the government there to ransom. The implications of the changes that he has imposed to the water bill will mean some very real problems, particularly for regional areas. It strikes me as shameful that somebody can be elected and hold a whole government to ransom when the majority of people in Australia have not voted for him.

I come back to the changes to my community that I have been able to initiate. I am a backbencher, I have always been a backbencher, and I have to say that I am very satisfied with my lot. I have such a huge electorate that I do not think that I would have time to be a minister, but I do get distressed and angry at the media and community perception of what backbenchers do. I was very upset recently at the recent attacks on my colleague the member for Morialta and those shameful allegations that were made about her. She has had no real means of rebutting them. People believe what they want to believe.

This is the sort of dirty politics that I hate, and it should not be part of our system. It has really distressed the member for Morialta and her family. It should not happen in this place. We have a job to do, and we should leave the personal out of that. I do not think that there is any occasion when it should be brought in. Politicians are human. We all have foibles—some good, some bad—but, basically, I believe that the majority of politicians in this place are decent people who have come here because they want to help their community.

I have seen many changes in the community of Whyalla over the past 11 years in this place. It has gone from an area of very high unemployment and uncertainty to what is now a relatively secure community, although the recent downturn in the world economy is a bit of a worry with the steel industry. However, we still feel quite comfortable that we are fine in Whyalla. We have come on. Our unemployment has gone from a very high rate down to a quarter of what it was five or six years ago.

We now have building going on everywhere in the town, and I thank the government for its intervention and its indenture act. There are now new proposals for a jetty and for desalination, and people know my beliefs and feelings on that. So, where does one sit with one's political party? I shake my head at many issues that my political party handles, and I fully support others. I am grateful for the things that it does, and I swear about lots of other things. However, I note that it is—warts and all—the ALP for me. I know we are doing good things; maybe we are not telling people enough.

This week, I had the community of Oak Valley in here. One of the things that I have been able to do for them over the past couple of years, against all odds, is support them, because they have had some troubles with management, etc. I was able to support them and stand up for them, and I think that is honestly what we really have to do for our constituents. We have to support our constituents and stand up for them.

Recently, there has been a lot of comment about the Labor Party and some ructions. I sometimes read the paper and think I do not know which state I am living in, because that is not the way that I see it. We have our foibles and our squabbles, as does any other political party or organisation, but we are still true believers. We stand together and we work together. So, it is interesting to think back at what I am doing here and what changes I have made and I think, really, all we can do as members of parliament is take small steps and fight for our local community. For me, it is issues such as education and health in my country community. It is really important for me to keep my principles and values and take those small steps—not to get into the backstabbing, the venom—and work hard for my community.

Time expired.