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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-03-29 Daily Xml
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OLDER SOUTH AUSTRALIANS, RESPECT

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:12): I want to talk today about the value of experience and older Australians, some of whom are now retired, who have made our state great and what it is today. Their hard work and fine example are a constant source of inspiration to me and no doubt many others in this place and the wider community. As we have seen in the recent ANZAC debate, we ignore their views and wisdom at our peril.

I had cause to particularly reflect on the contribution of rank and file members of the ALP at a recent function, where many wonderful people were attending a testimonial dinner earlier this month. When I saw them assembled, each enjoying the others' company, I marvelled at the years of experience, activism and commitment to Labor principles and thought about how their work is valued and how it will be respected by those who follow.

These were people who had put their homes on the line in disputes, fought hard on the shop floor to ensure working people had a fair go and handed out messages at factory gates, rain or shine, because their message was not the one chosen by media outlets for wider publication. They were people who had worked in local action groups when specific issues were just too important to let go.

It is getting harder to engage people at this level. Even while I was campaigning to oppose charges for parking at public hospitals, people who loudly opposed the measure felt there was nothing they could do. Luckily for the majority, the minority did manage to see changes made to the policy, but it does take effort to bring about change. Perhaps that is why Muriel Matters and her work with suffrage activists has so caught my attention.

Sadly, one of the people at the function passed away not long after. Her funeral also saw a gathering of stalwarts. Margaret Roberts had spent her life working for the ALP. She had strong and strongly held beliefs and was not afraid to speak her mind, often in intimidating forums. She was a person who did not shirk from dissent—something I and many think is a healthy part of our democracy, but now, sadly, often casts anyone with a differing view as argumentative, not a team player and, at its worst interpretation, disloyal.

Times have changed and the political landscape I knew when I first joined up is much different today. Robust debate, a feature at conference or council meetings at state or national level, only happens rarely. Most positions are reached in advance, perhaps this is to save time. How the two party—or now multiparty system—and factional allegiances within those party systems, which once served us so well or at least functionally, have changed and now everything is different. Could this be put down to the use of direct mail, phone polling and all the modern tools that now go along with campaigning?

Wild swings—perhaps not normally as wild as those we witnessed at the recent Queensland election—are becoming the norm. To echo a very famous catchcry: why is this so? Modern technology has delivered so many—perhaps too many—mediums for a message to be delivered, and has created technological communities that have devalued the communities we live in. You can speak to people across the world but you do not speak to anyone across the street.

People are constantly bombarded with information, and I know many people I speak to just do not want to absorb anything anymore. This, of course, works against people working in public life. These days electors do not always want messages from MPs, and focus groups and polling have taken over. But back to the volatility of elections. Why have voters and voting patterns changed so much? Why are governments working to get their legislative programs through hostile upper houses? Is it because messages about policies are not explained well enough?

Are election cycles contributing to the difficulties in implementing long-term policies, or is it that voters are suspicious of people in politics? Our behaviour is watched closely. We need to be a model workplace (if that is the word we can use for parliament) and be careful of the words we use and the messages we send. Positive campaigns and promotion of discussion of well-devised policies remain the cornerstones of good communication.

Respectful discussion in all forums will lift debates and behaviour. We need to use humour rather than invective to be an example for the community. Whether upholding the presumption of innocence or ensuring that bullying is not tolerated in any form, we must be the example and benchmark. We must restore the public's faith in us and our democratic system. Politics is not about branding, it is about ideology. Substance counts and the electorate is discerning. They value simple explanations and information if or when things do not go as planned.

And so as we strive to represent our communities to the best of our ability let us be the best we can be. I once mused out loud at a function attended by General Peter Cosgrove (who was on active duty at the time) why MPs were not also held in high esteem. People fell about me laughing, and it occurred to me that if we had been soap powder we would have done something to lift our standing in the community. With this change would come a new understanding and appreciation of the importance of our role, the working of our democracy and the value of the vote. Let the change start today.

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