Trish Crossin,
Senator for the Northern Territory
First Speech - 24/06/1998I am humble and proud to stand before you as the new Labor senator
representing the people of the Northern Territory. I regard it as a great honour
to be chosen by my party colleagues, and they can be assured that I will do my
utmost to represent all Territorians. I would like to begin by acknowledging the
Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners on whose land this Parliament House was
built. My life in the Northern Territory began at Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula
where I arrived in 1981 to teach. I would like to thank the Yolngu people in their
own language. Nhamirr bukmak? Manymak walnga nganapurr nhinan ngarra ga
gurrutumirr ngarrak, ngunhal Yirrkala wangangur. Yolngu walal ngarrak djaka, ga
gurrutu gathar ngarrak ga marnggikungal ngarran Yolngu Romgu. Buku--wekan mhuma,
wanga--watangun Yolngun, nhe ngarrak, djaka. Those words translated mean thank
you for welcoming my family and I, for allowing us to live on your land and for
the opportunity to understand your culture. I give a public undertaking to work
hard to represent them and to continue to respect and acknowledge their rights.
My presence in this chamber today would not have been possible without
encouragement and support of many people. It is an opportune time that I pay tribute
to and sincerely thank my husband, Mark, who has always given me advice and support
and whose political judgment I appreciate and value, and my four children--Paul,
Melinda, Amanda and little Kate. My appreciation and thanks goes also to my mother
and father, Clare and Albert Borlase, and my sister, Anne, and her husband, Peter
Stacey--all of whom have been supportive and tolerant of my ambitions. To my very
dear friends Sue Murphy, Graham and Gillian Mitchener and my colleagues, I have
always appreciated your guidance, assistance and encouragement. Growing
up in Kensington, Melbourne, instilled in me a strong sense of social justice
and fairness. I will always remember this rich, multicultural, working-class community
that now provides me with a sense of history and one of the reasons for my involvement
in the Labor movement today. I have been a member of the Labor Party for 17 years
and have been involved at every level of party politics from the local branch
to national conference. My involvement in a large number of community groups provides
me with an insight into understanding Territorians and their needs, and I promise
to energetically represent their interests during my time in the Senate. As I am constantly reminded, Bob Collins will be a challenging act to follow.
He is highly and widely recognised and regarded in the Territory as having been
an outstanding representative for all Territorians. He was renowned for his wit
and his wisdom. I am aware he was acknowledged by both his political friends and
foes as one of the most effective debaters in the Territory and federal parliaments.
Robert Lindsay Collins served as the Labor senator for the Northern Territory
for over 10 years and spent 10 years before that in the Northern Territory parliament
acting as opposition leader from 1981 to 1986. As you know, Bob made history when
he became the first Territorian to be appointed to the federal ministry and later
to federal cabinet. Bob's record of service as a minister of some six years is
a worthy legacy any politician would be proud to own, but to have made his contribution
as a cabinet minister and senator representing the Northern Territory makes his
achievements infinitely more impressive. I, too, am proud to be making a little
piece of history myself by becoming the Territory's first female member of federal
parliament. Women have and will continue to play an important role in
both the life and development of the Northern Territory. I would like to take
a few minutes to pay tribute to just a few of these. As some honourable senators
may be aware, Territory women, including Aboriginal women, were the first in Australia,
along with South Australian women, to win the vote and the right to stand for
parliament. The legislation was passed in the parliament of South Australia, which
then had responsibility for the Territory, in 1894 and was gazetted in 1895. Territory
women voted in their first election in 1896 and were the first women in Australia,
along with their South Australian sisters, to vote in the federal referendum on
federation in 1898. They voted overwhelmingly in favour of federation hoping it
would bring the Territory closer to self-government. It took a while for
women to get elected into parliament in the Territory. The first woman took her
seat in 1960, followed by such other prominent politicians as Dawn Lawrie, who
is currently the Territory's Anti-discrimination Commissioner, and Labor women
June D'Rozario and Pam O'Neill, who in 1981 became the first female deputy leader
from a major political party. We currently have a talented Territory Labor leader
in Maggie Hickey, who is the first female Leader of the Opposition in the NT.
It is my desire that Maggie Hickey becomes the Territory's first Labor Chief Minister
or Premier. I intend to dedicate time as a member of parliament encouraging other
women to stand for political office. It is important that there are more women
directly involved in the decision making bodies of this country and that these
bodies truly reflect the gender profile of the electorate. The Northern
Territory is an electoral division with an area in excess of 1.3 million square
kilometres, with a coastline of some 6,200 kilometres. The electorate includes
the territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island. The main towns
include the city of Darwin, Alice Springs and a number of regional centres such
as Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, Jabiru and Yulara. The Territory is an
electorate that has often been referred to as the last frontier and, although
not the largest by area in Australia, it is geographically the most dispersed.
It is also home to a diverse range of geographical treasures such as Uluru and
Kakadu National Park, to name only a few. So it provides both unique challenges
and opportunities. The mining of uranium adjacent to Kakadu within the
Jabiluka lease has gained not only national but international attention during
the past two years. This lease is completely surrounded by the Kakadu park, which
is one of only 17 world heritage properties listed for both natural and cultural
values. It should also be noted that construction on this proposed mine has commenced,
despite the cultural heritage management plan not being completed and despite
this being one of the conditions laid down by the Commonwealth government. I support the efforts of Yvonne Margarula, who is ably supported by Jacqui Katona--two
fellow Territorians that I know dearly--in leading a delegation to Paris to seek
a recommendation from UNESCO's world heritage bureau that Kakadu be placed on
an in danger list. The Jabiluka project is rejected by the overwhelming majority
of Australians. More than 80 per cent of Australians do not want mining in national
parks and more than 60 per cent do not want uranium mines. A significant number
of Australians are saying that they have gone as far into the nuclear industry
as they want to go. I am also one of those Australians.
Geographical uniqueness
is not the only special feature of the Territory. The people of my electorate
form a rich tapestry of differing backgrounds and traditions. The cultural diversity
of the Northern Territory forms a most endearing and welcoming feature of life
in northern Australia. The Territory has its own special set of circumstances
and needs. Our population of under 200,000 is diverse and is spread across the
bush and regional and urban centres. Almost one-quarter of Territorians are indigenous
Australians. We enjoy a rich racial and ethnic mix of cultures from more than
50 countries. It is this aspect of the Territory to which I am pleased to have
exposed my children. It is this diverse range of cultures and experience which
families in the Territory value and celebrate. As a Territory senator, I will
continue to promote the benefits of a tolerant, multicultural Australia. I have entered parliament at a time when the political scene in this country is
undergoing significant historical change. Australia has established a proud international
reputation for its policies on indigenous people and migrants, a reputation of
which most Australians are proud and want their children to understand. We must
continue to strive for a country that is built upon the foundations of unity rather
than division, that promotes a community of inclusion and a lifestyle based on
the principles of racial equality and equal opportunity. The rights and
needs of indigenous Australians must be more seriously addressed by governments.
It took many years for any government of this country to recognise in law Aboriginal
rights to land, and the Howard government has failed to lead this country towards
a peaceful and productive reconciliation. In my first speech in this chamber I
would like to extend an apology to Aboriginal people, to those people whom I have
personally met and to the stolen generation, who have been the innocent victims
of many decades of poor and wrong public policy. I want to record my deep regret
for the injustices suffered by indigenous Australians as a result of European
settlement. In particular, I offer my personal apology for the hurt and harm caused
by the forced removal of children from their families and for the effect of government
policy on the human dignity and spirit of these indigenous Australians. I would also like to record my desire for reconciliation and for a better future
for all Australians. I make a commitment to a united Australia which respects
this land of ours, values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and provides
justice and equity for all. I believe that my diverse experiences have
led me here to represent the people of the Northern Territory. As a working mum
who still drops her two-year old daughter at child care every morning, I have
direct experience in the child-care industry. Since being appointed as a senator,
the single major issue over which I am stopped time and time again is that of
child care and its impact upon working families. I believe the provision of and
access to child care is at crisis level in this country. If we are to support
families and strengthen their role in the community, which we have done through
ratifying ILO convention 156, then we must more seriously address the crucial
role that child care plays in our society. More and more families rely upon either
one or both parents to work, and there is little recognition of the difficult
and challenging role of single parents, particularly women, who choose to juggle
a career and a family. Eight hundred million dollars worth of cuts in the last
two coalition budgets, par
ticularly to operating grants to community based
centres and outside school hours care programs, has seen the quality of child
care reduced, job losses in the sector and child care fees escalating beyond the
means of many working parents. In Darwin the community has been shocked
by the recent announcement of the imminent closure of four child-care centres.
This was labelled a necessary business decision by the centre operators and is
a clear indication of how the coalition's policies are not working. These policies
are placing a burden on the nation's families, and there are major policy inconsistencies
in the government's approach to this. At a time when, in the labour market, the
government's policy direction is allegedly promoting flexibility of working hours,
the approach to child care is based in the 1960s, reflecting the work pattern
of that time and not what you would hope for or expect as we enter a new millennium.
These decisions do not reflect family friendly policies and are limiting the ability
of businesses, particularly in the Northern Territory where there is a shortage
of skilled labour, to attract and keep workers. I put on the record that
it is unfortunate that there are no child-care facilities in this building for
a politician like me. It may well be one of the reasons limiting the capacity
of women to enter this arena. I call on governments to recognise and fund child
care as the first stage of the lifelong education and learning process. It must
be classified as an essential service, part of the formal education system, and
must be substantially better funded than it currently is. It is time all levels
of government realised child care should be free and accessible to families in
this country. My involvement in the trade union movement as a union official
with the Australian Education Union and the National Tertiary Education Union
has shown me how vulnerable workers are in the security of their employment and
the lack of knowledge that individuals have about their working conditions and
rights. I do not intend to provide detailed comment on the recent waterfront dispute,
only to say that the trade union movement, along with the MUA, is here to stay.
As our history will prove, the trade union movement continues to improve wages
for all sectors of the work force and will ensure that there remains in our society
an organised industrial labour movement to defend and promote the interests of
Australian workers. The date 1 July is less than two weeks away, and this
is the day that the scales of industrial relations in this country will be tipped
in favour of the employer by the coalition government. Award conditions will be
stripped back to only 20 allowable matters whether or not there is agreement at
the workplace between employees and management to the contrary. Union members
will retain limited award protection during this period of insecurity. The impact
of the Workplace Relations Act will be felt by young people, rural and regional
workers and women in part-time and casual employment, all of whom are generally
underrepresented in unions and conscious of complying with the requirements of
their employer in order to keep their jobs. The Workplace Relations Act discourages
true workplace reform and regulates it in a punitive, limited manner. It fragments
the work force and further marginalises women and youth and those workers who
are engaged in fixed term or other forms of casual short-term employment. This
act i
s another slight by the coalition government on the ordinary workers
in Australia. During my term as a senator, I will actively support the
move towards Australia becoming a republic as well as moves by the Northern Territory
to become the seventh state of Australia. Territorians deserve to be granted statehood,
and to secure the full range of rights that other Australians already enjoy. Territorians
also deserve a modern constitution which provides us with a better, more democratic
system of government in our region. The Northern Territory Legislative
Assembly has adopted a bipartisan push for a grant of statehood by the centenary
of Federation in 2001. Not all Territorians agree on the detail which must be
attached to a grant of statehood. It is not the number of senators or the size
of the population that should be seen as possible barriers to statehood. The main
impediments are how and under what conditions do we move to statehood while ensuring
that specific recognition is afforded to indigenous Territorians within a contemporary
constitution. This issue should be decided by Territorians, not by the Northern
Territory parliament.
We should have a representative people's convention
and not the recent sham which was imposed upon Territorians without an opportunity
for all Territorians to determine the content of the territory's new constitution.
The current Chief Minister's agenda is to be condemned as undemocratic and counterproductive.
I call for the democratic process to be reinstalled. I believe that a
new constitution for the Northern Territory should be a document of significance,
a document which enjoys the overwhelming support of the people of the Northern
Territory. It should secure rights and entitlements for Territorians and ensure
those rights cannot be taken away on the whim of the politicians of the day, and,
above all, it should provide a system of government which is both democratic and
openly accountable to the people. Before statehood can be achieved, I also believe
the territory government should come under scrutiny. With no freedom of information
legislation, the territory government has remained unaccountable since self-government.
In mentioning the accountability of governments, let us look at the record
of the coalition government and its handling of regional Australia, particularly
in my electorate of the Northern Territory. The economy of the territory and the
importance of business and its reliance on regional development is crucial. The
Northern Territory looks to the Commonwealth to provide it with most of its revenue.
The manufacturing base of the territory is small, and the tourism industry continues
to grow, along with the mining, fishing, horticultural, pastoral and cattle industries--but
it is difficult, and it has not been made any easier with the policies of the
Howard government. One of the first acts of this coalition government
was to cut $250 million in regional projects as well as cutting general purpose
funding to the Northern Territory by $12 million. In the Territory we have experienced
massive cuts to the Public Service, which means not only jobs are taken out of
the region but also vital services are removed. Offices that have closed in the
Northern Territory include Darwin's office of the Department of Transport and
Regional Development, AusAID--the Australian Agency for International Development--Radio
Australia, the Office of Northern Development, and the Department of Finance's
regional office. Let me make a comment about a number of these decisions.
The Office of Northern Development was absolutely crucial in getting major development
projects such as the MacArthur River mine and the Mount Todd mine off the ground.
Cox's Peninsula transmitter station has closed down and may, quite possibly, now
be sold for scrap metal. We heard how Australians in Jakarta during the recent
trouble in Indonesia had trouble contacting the Australian Embassy for advice--for
such purposes alone an effective Radio Australia is important. The Howard government
has reduced funding to Batchelor College by six per cent, which has meant a cut
of $334,000 and 20 places in 1998. Similarly, the Northern Territory University
has suffered cuts under the Howard government as part of the massive reduction
in funding in tertiary education. This has resulted in $1.72 million and 115 places
this year. These policies ignore the role of institutions in regional
Australia and make no allowance for their remoteness. We have witnessed the closure
of a number of departments at the NT University and subsequent job losses: a situation
which cannot and must not continue. The town of Katherine is still waiting
for its Medicare office and the Central Australian Family Resource Centre in Alice
Springs has had their funding program abolished. There is a lot of pain
and most of it is being felt in regional Australia. The current government
has no commitment to maintaining, let alone improving the services and lifestyle
of regional Territorians. Their policies seek to widen the already existing gap
between urban and regional Australia. In concluding, Madame President,
how could I not make a comment about the Prime Minister's statement yesterday
on the railway. Territorians must be saying to themselves to day "not
another announcement about the railway". This has been done time and time again.
This is clearly a government who is seeking to regain the vote in Queensland
and has little concern for Territorians. With two conflicting projects
now on the drawing board, or should I say in the toy train box, neither proposal
will benefit and will only seek to undermine investor confidence and the capacity
to finally get the Alice Springs to Darwin railway up and running. The
Northern Territory will miss out again under this government. Just like
the promise of this government to `never, ever' introduce a GST, Territorians
could quite rightly be convinced that this announcement will ensure that there
will never, ever be a railway from Adelaide to Darwin as originally proposed.
Labor has committed $300 million dollars, three times the amount promised
by this government, to assisting the Alice Springs to Darwin railway.
This is the railway that Territorians want. It is the railway that will best deliver
a substantial infrastructure to all of the Territory, not just from Tennant Creek
to Darwin and the most direct link for businesses to the southern and eastern
seaboard. Madame President, my role as a senator is too ensure that Territory
issues are back on the agenda, that Territorians are not ignored and that all
Territorians will benefit from the policies of governments. 
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