Adjournment Debate

Valedictories

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:25): In order to allow the Hon. Gail Gago to say a few words, particularly as she has family and friends in the chamber, and particularly her husband, Peter, who I think has not seen her in this chamber in the 16 years she has been there, such busy lives that they lead, I seek leave to move a motion without notice to allow members to acknowledge the contribution of retiring members.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: I move:

That the contribution made by retiring members be acknowledged.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:26): I cannot begin to express what a great honour it has been to represent the people of South Australia in this place for the past 16 years and, like other honourable members, I take this responsibility very seriously and have carried out all duties to the very best of my ability. I am very proud to have served in both the Rann and Weatherill Labor governments, governments that have had the courage to stand up and unrelentingly fight for the best interests of South Australians.

They have led dynamic reforms across the state and have improved both our economic and social wellbeing. It has been a very exciting time of great change and development and I feel incredibly fortunate indeed to have had the opportunity to play a small part in this. The confidence and support of my caucus colleagues have provided me with the great privilege of serving as a minister of the Crown for 10 years across 16 different portfolios and as leader of the Legislative Council for three years, and, Kyam, mate, let me tell you, it is a job I do not miss! I just want to take this opportunity to commend you for the fabulous work you do as leader in this house.

In fact, I had to suffer the indignity of sitting on the opposition benches for only one sitting day and that was the historic day that Peter Lewis, after negotiating with both Labor and the Liberals, stood up in the other house in 2002 and indicated that he would support a Rann Labor minority government. The rest, as they say, is history. Unfortunately, that colourful era came to a final close earlier this year with the sad passing of Peter Lewis and my condolences go to his family and friends.

I can share with you now how completely overwhelming it is when you first become a minister—well, it certainly was for me at least. There is no beginner's guide, there is no user manual and I remember surviving my first week as minister. I had a wonderful PA at the time. Her name was Louisa, she was a small feisty woman with a wealth of experience and wisdom and tough as. I had made it to Friday, it was late, I was about to head home and I was feeling very pleased that I had made it intact through the first week.

I went to my PA's office to say goodnight and saw a number of cabin-sized pieces of wheelie luggage, so I said to her, 'Oh Louisa, you're going away for the weekend,' and she replied sternly, 'No, minister, and neither are you.' I was very dismayed to learn that they were all my bags of work for the weekend. Louisa gave me some very good advice over the years but probably that which stood me in greatest stead was when she handed me my ministerial credit card during my first week and stated firmly, 'and don't even think about using it.'

Values such as equity, fairness and inclusion have been pivotal to me throughout my working life as a clinical nurse, as a unionist and as a member of parliament. These values are the centrepiece of the Australian Labor Party, which in particular aims to improve the lives and protect the rights and conditions of working people. I am still to this day proud to call myself union and to have followed in the footsteps of my grandfather, Aldo Coppede, who was a boilermaker and a local shop steward in Mooroopna and who helped lead the first strike action ever in the Goulburn Valley.

Those years, almost a decade, working with the ANF (SA Branch), now known as the ANMF, were a wonderful experience which offered me a tremendous opportunity for personal development and which also prepared me and served me extremely well as a member of parliament. It is an amazing organisation, which does fabulous work looking after nurses professionally and industrially.

I read recently that the ANMF is now Australia's largest union and most rapidly growing. The ANMF is to be congratulated for its outstanding work and invaluable contribution to the health system. I am delighted to see Rob Bonner, a very longstanding friend of mine from the ANMF days, in the gallery today (not that I am permitted to mention who is in the gallery, and of course I would not).

I am very pleased to have been part of a government that has sought to create a democracy that is open, inclusive and encourages all South Australians to participate. A fundamental principle underpinning all my work has been to help those facing disadvantage by identifying the barriers that operate to exclude people from participation and access to opportunity. I have been a longstanding advocate and activist for gender equity. Work that I have been involved in has included improving women's economic status, increasing women's leadership and participation in decision-making and improving women's safety and wellbeing.

This has involved work on a number of initiatives to help reduce the gender pay gap, such as improving workplace flexible arrangements for public sector workers, increasing the number of women on government boards and committees, significant legislative input into the Rape and Sexual Offenders Bill, amendments to the EO bill and assisting with the drafting of the Interventions Order Bill.

As minister for the status of women, I had lead responsibility for ensuring that more women are able to make a contribution as leaders and key decision-makers in the South Australian community. One policy area from which I derived enormous satisfaction was working with the sector to help eliminate violence against women and children, recognising that violence against women occurs at the end of the spectrum that starts with gender inequality at the other end. We were able to introduce legislation and a raft of initiatives to assist women at all stages of this, including initiatives to address violence against women that have seen South Australia's efforts heralded by advocates such as Rosie Batty as 'determined and progressive'.

These initiatives included establishing a senior domestic violence research officer position in partnership with the Coroner's office to research and investigate open and closed deaths related to domestic violence, implementing the domestic violence serial offender database, assisting with the establishment of MAPS, establishing the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service, introducing White Ribbon accreditation across all government departments, completing the rollout of the Family Safety Framework to operate in all regions throughout South Australia, implementing a body image campaign targeting girls and young women, introducing 15 days' additional leave available to public servants who are experiencing domestic violence and being part of a group of ministers who initially developed the national plan to reduce violence against women and their children. I think that was initiated by the Hon. Tanya Plibersek, who is a fabulous woman and contributor.

As minister for mental health and substance abuse, I was pleased to have the opportunity to assist in the major reform of mental health policy to provide greater access to support services for those in need. We built new facilities and introduced new services in a complete overhaul of mental health services. Among the many outcomes that I am proud to have been part of was the successful community consultation process undertaken before building three new community-based mental health rehabilitation service centres.

Local residents initially petitioned against the building of one of these facilities, but through a process of doorknocking, day after day—I went out and hit the streets, holding public forums and engaging residents in conversations about their concerns—we successfully negotiated a plan that saw the implementation of three service centres with the general acceptance of the community.

I have to confess that I have also suffered failures. One, in particular, involved a Wollemi pine tree. Wollemi pines were only known through fossil records, until an Australian species was found in 1994. Its fossils have been dated to 200 million years ago. The pine is critically endangered and is legally protected. I was minister for environment at the time when, as part of a recovery plan, a tenderly nurtured small Wollemi pine was painstakingly cultivated in the botanic gardens.

I was asked to launch the opening of the tree to public access. After I had finished my official speech and duties, I could see one of the staff from the botanic gardens coming towards me with a small Wollemi pine in a pot. I muttered to myself, 'Please God, don't give that to me.' I have killed every plant that I have ever had responsibility for, and even my plastic cacti perished. But yes, they officially presented me with this precious plant and, yes, within a few weeks it was dead. I felt like I had murdered 200 million years of DNA.

Economic prosperity, which includes growing businesses and jobs, has been a priority of this Labor government to create a place where business and people thrive. I have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to contribute to this agenda. Through the Riverland Sustainable Futures Fund, established to assist the region to cope with the aftermath of the worst drought in our recorded history, we were able to help create new jobs and investment in the region. I was minister responsible for the establishment of Sino SA, which is the internationalisation strategy of Bio Innovation SA, established to assist South Australian businesses to export to China.

I very much enjoyed the opportunity to develop and implement an action plan to expand Adelaide's premium food and wine industry locally, interstate and overseas. This also included instigating the 'buy local' initiative, which supported our local food and beverage industries and local jobs. As minister for employment and higher education and skills, I implemented numerous initiatives that engaged vulnerable community members in meaningful training and employment. I was responsible for the introduction of major reforms to our training and employment policy, which included the development and implementation of WorkReady.

WorkReady was designed to ensure that public investment in training and employment was directed to strategic industry sectors that support economic transformation and produce jobs at the end—and, of course, pave the way for South Australia's economic future. I was responsible for metropolitan and regional employment projects that delivered many employment opportunities and services across this state, particularly targeting the disadvantaged. These projects helped people to get jobs or better prepare for work or further study.

I found the work that we did in consumer affairs to be extremely satisfying. I believe we were able to introduce a number of reforms and initiatives that protected the interests of everyday mum-and-dad consumers, often against unscrupulous people and often against the big end of town, who had what always seemed like unlimited resources for expert advice and endless legal litigation.

In relation to the environment, some of the programs that I remember well include increasing the container deposit legislation to 10 cents—the sky was going to fall down, but it did not; it just cleaned up our litter streams—being the first state to ban free single-use plastic bags and drafting and introducing marine parks framework legislation following extensive industry consultation. I remember that process well. We were on the road for months.

I remember also a significant increase in wilderness protection areas, managing our underground water supply through the severest drought our state ever experienced, planning and successfully receiving funding for the development of a sterile fruit-fly breeding facility and strengthening penalties, in relation to the prevention of cruelty to animals, for animal ill-treatment and organised animal fights.

Although my philosophy has always been that government should not unnecessarily infringe on people's rights or seek to take responsibility for those matters best left in the hands of the individual, nevertheless, looking back in preparation for this valedictory address, I did seem to impose a lot of bans over that 10 years. Some of these included that I banned smoking in cars with children; banned indoor smoking in clubs, pubs and the Casino; banned liquor products that appeal to minors, like alcoholic ice blocks and ice creams; implemented new hotel barring laws; banned plastic bags; banned easy to hide, short cattle prods—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: They were doing very cruel things with those, sir, very cruel things. I will not go into details; it is just too nasty! I also banned calf roping, I banned fruit-flavoured cigarettes, and that is only just to mention a few; that is really just the tip of the iceberg. I will leave it at that.

You will be relieved to know that I do not intend to address all 16 of my former portfolios but have briefly highlighted just a few areas that particularly stand out in my memory. However, none of these things could have been achieved without the support and assistance of many others, some of whom I wish to take an opportunity to acknowledge and thank today.

First, my family: to my mother Patricia and my late father Mijo, whose support, wisdom and encouragement have been fundamental to me. They instilled in me a set of values that have been my compass throughout my life's journey. That might seem very strange to many of you here who know me, given that my political activism began when I was about 10 years old, helping dad give out how-to-vote cards for the National Party in country Victoria. But that is a story for another day.

To my husband of 35 years Peter, the love of my life, for your unfailing support and belief in me. The cut and thrust of politics can be very tough at times, and whilst we as members of parliament tend to develop pretty thick hides, I think it is much harder on our partners and our family members, and it does take a toll.

To my sister Kaye and her husband Rob, I cannot tell you how much I value your love, friendship and your very wise counsel over the years—and no doubt that will continue.

To my friends, particularly Nick Bolkus and Mary Patetos, Jay Weatherill and Melissa Bailey, Patrick Conlon and Tania Drewer, Lois Boswell and Don Frater, Ann Barclay, Helen Shepherd, and Rhiannon Burner, we shared many good times, some bad; we had many laughs, some tears, and of course the occasional bottle—or two or three—of wine, often very good wine, too, I have to say, supplied by my very dear, devoted husband. Thank you for your trust, wisdom and support.

To my ministerial staff—and there are just too many over the 10 years to mention individually, and they all deserve to be mentioned individually—you were and continue to be extremely clever and capable people who always gave 110 per cent. You were a great team and achieved amazing things. You really did make a difference.

I would like to give special mention to two very special men, Steve Rollinson and Chris Dowling, who saw me at my very best and my very worst, who always got me to where I had to go exactly on time: thank you both for your sharp wit, good humour and unfailing loyalty. It is lovely to see them in the chamber today, too, though of course I would not refer to anyone in the chamber, because it would be most improper!

To the many public servants, for whom I have enormous respect, the amazing work that you do affects the quality of the lives of all South Australians in one form or another. You are the quiet achievers who publicly rarely receive the acknowledgement and thanks that you deserve. To my caucus colleagues—and a special mention must go to my factional caucus comrades. We never had the numbers but we punched well above our weight. Thank you all for your support.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: We continue the struggle. To the ALP head office officials and staff, who are always ready, willing and able, thank you. To parliamentary staff, you serve this place and its members with unfailing dedication, diligence and professionalism. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to give thanks and recognition to all of those I would like to. I have made many friends and met many wonderful people throughout my political career. You know who you are. Thank you to all of you. I also wish all members of parliament and future members of parliament all the very best in your pursuits.

At times, 16 years as a member of parliament seems like a very long time, but in fact it is only a small moment in the history of this place and the future of South Australia. Many challenges and opportunities lie ahead, and if I were to impart any advice, it would be to share with you the daily motto which helped motivate me to do and be my very best, and that is: Don't waste one minute of one day. There is a great deal to do to move our state forward and serve the people of South Australia. You do not have a moment to lose. Good luck.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. K.J. Maher.