Joe Ludwig,
Senator for Queensland
First Speech - 10/8/1999I am proud to be standing here in the Senate today. However, I
do not stand here alone. Many people have worked with me and have supported me
in this achievement. I humbly thank them for the honour of representing Queensland
in the Senate. I can say at the outset that I am honoured to have this opportunity
to contribute to such a great democracy as ours. There are clearly some people
and organisations that deserve special thanks for their support: the Australian
Workers Union, ALP party units in Queensland, keen supporters, and in particular
my family and friends. I come from a long line of Australian
Workers Union members who have entered political life to further the interests
of labour. The Australian Workers Union is a proud union—Australian in the
true sense of the word. It is a generalist union that grew out of a number of
unions—bush unions and labourers unions amongst that number. It is a pragmatic
union, formed in Australia for Australian conditions. Its pragmatism in many ways
typifies my views on issues. The union's activities are directed
at positively influencing outcomes for workers in the areas of occupational health
and safety, workers compensation, training, superannuation, and wages and conditions.
But it is by no means limited to that. The union takes up the cause on behalf
of many workers who have been prejudiced in their employment. Much of the work
of this union is performed as part of its day-to-day activities. It is work that
is valuable and should not be dismissed easily by labels that detractors use to
describe unions in a critical light. I particularly thank the
many AWU members, job representatives and their organisers who spared their time
educating me about matters of importance in work and especially those who displayed
patience towards me in this pursuit. Time and time again, the importance of a
fair go all round, equity and loyalty was displayed to me by unionists in the
pursuit of just causes. However, today there are many competing
interests that pull at my shirt sleeve. I cannot in the time available deal adequately
with all of the interests that I wish to share with you. I can touch on some of
the more pressing issues and then only briefly. I would especially
like to extend many thanks to my wife, Leanne; our children, Kate and Anna; and
Luke, my nephew, for the wonderful gift of love they share with us. I would also
thank my sister Carmen for her encouraging words, as well as Bill and Joan, my
parents, who instilled a strong value system within me based on a country town's
viewpoint. Also Leanne's parents, Marg and the late Clem O'Keeffe, who both have
worked tirelessly at the auxiliary in the QEII hospital which is situated on the
south side of Brisbane. Both over many years have demonstrated a keen spirit in
supporting our public hospital system through their hard work and donations that
the auxiliary has made to that hospital. I also owe a debt
to the part-time Army. I spent many months, stretched over some 10 years, training
with many others on how to protect this country. I worked as a private soldier
and later graduated as an officer. It instilled in me a sense of pride to belong
to this country. Unfortunately, the pressures of work caused me to suspend what
I regarded as a second career. Although it is trite to say it, there I learnt
many skills that have stood me in good stead over the ensuing years. I appreciate
that association and do recommend it to those who are willing to strive. The
bush is a microcosm of many of those larger issues that face every Australian.
It faces these daily challenges that I will shortly speak about. The communities
in the bush have to address the limited access to information technology and bear
the costs of it where it is essential or simply do without it. Bush communities
also have to deal with vast distances. It does not end there.
The bush has to cope with the lack of opportunities for its youth. This is reflected
in few job opportunities, entertainment or educational facilities, health services
and numerous other benefits that starkly delineate the bush from the cities. However,
where governments can make a difference, such as in the provision of services,
this government is not. Its policies chip away at the cornerstone of bush communities.
Without clear support from government, these communities are in danger of fading. There
is work that needs to be done to promote meaningful solutions to address the problems
that confront the bush communities. I wish to personally contribute to that through
my work as a Queensland senator. National competition policy
is one area where government can pause and consider what the public benefit test
is really about. We should not pursue unbridled competition where cooperation
will win the day. I admire local government for their ability
to work hard at addressing community concerns. To this end, I look forward to
working with local government in the pursuit of community goals. In addition,
as a Queensland senator, I look forward to working with the state Beattie government
not only on issues that touch upon state-federal interactions but also on issues
that arise and need attention in respect of Queensland as a whole, irrespective
of jurisdiction. I look forward to working with the Hon. Kim Beazley, the Leader
of the Opposition, and with Senator the Hon. John Faulkner in the pursuit of Labor
goals. I also look forward to working with the House of Representatives on programs
and at working hard to ensure that the role and function of the Senate are maintained,
especially its multiple functions, including those as a house of review and as
a check on government. In a rapidly changing society that is
nearing the close of a century, it is no longer sufficient to approach the new
millennium with the boundless opportunism that may have been characterised in
the close of the last century. I believe that we should reflect and spare a thought
for the issues that we as a nation had hoped to address in the 100 years following
the turn of the last century. Many still remain unresolved. Some of those issues
are, however, a recurrent theme: unemployment, the state of the economy, immigration,
unfair tax regimes, and a lack of education and training opportunities. Put
in this context, four things come to mind in promoting the type of society that
government can focus its attention on in the new millennium: improving education
and training, reinvigorating our health care system, supporting just social policies,
and promoting an equitable market system. It is not limited to this, but it provides
a schema to work with, as these areas are about people. The
underlying notion in providing these services is fairness. Government should not
be about deserting the field and hoping that a self-regulatory regime will fill
the void. It can play an active role in shaping these things. It
is about recognising the importance of supporting a system of vocational training
which complements industry skills and that is focused on competency based outcomes
which are portable, nationally accredited and able to be introduced through agreed
structures. It is also about promoting strategies that encourage education both
in early childhood and in later years. Without this attention, the future work
force will be ill-equipped to deal with the changing nature of the employment
market. Having spent considerable time pursuing part-time studies
in order to improve my own education, I can say with some experience that resources
aimed at equipping our youth with the skills and abilities plus the motivation
to continue with education is worth a great deal to Australia. Yet I despair at
this government's treatment of this area. A new tax will not address the lack
of government interest. I can say with some understanding that it is hard to play
catch-up football in education. There is the dire need to commit
resources to health care. There is a need to recognise that strategies designed
to encourage people into private insurance will not universally work. Health care
is not a privilege; it is a beneficial right of Australian people. It is not something
that should be traded in the marketplace for other services. However,
health care will not be fixed overnight. In the community in which I live, local
hospitals are forever reordering themselves, re-prioritising their work and looking
for efficiencies at every corner because of growing demand and diminishing resources.
Without the dedicated work of long-term employees, the system would not nearly
be as effective as it is. But it cannot do it alone; it needs our help. Short-term
fixes, such as the contracting out of work forces to save money, are not a solution
to their need. Providing rebates is only one side of the equation. It seems to
be a very simplistic solution for what is a complex matter. The
health care system should not be abandoned or allowed to wither under the burdens
placed upon it. Quality health care for all Australians is a must. That is the
goal. The challenge is to put in place strategies to achieve and maintain it.
Strategies that stretch into industrial relations, appropriate funding and quality
management are some areas that can be examined. I urge government to not abandon
this area or its related areas of aged care, nursing homes and such like. It
is vital that social justice be addressed. It too, like many of the recurrent
themes contained in this speech, has fairness at its core. When government is
considering economic matters and financial issues, it is also important to devise
strategies to improve opportunities for women, to show compassion for people with
disabilities, to help improve the quality of life of communities where inequality
abounds, to be strident when dealing with racial injustice and to be open about
native title. Only Labor has these issues as its core ideals. Competition
in the marketplace needs to be balanced against public interest. Fundamentally,
the promotion of the wellbeing of people must be our goal. Energies directed at
the demand side of the equation also need to be pursued. Governments can and must
play a role in job creation and in the equitable distribution of the nation's
income within a framework of consultation. Our youth should have meaningful opportunities
now and into the future. As a nation, if we do not link this area with the other
three areas that I have mentioned, we miss a golden opportunity take the high
wage, high skill road. These four posts are not the only issues
that need to be addressed. Think of it as a house on stumps. It is necessary that
the four corners are balanced and that none achieves ascendancy over another.
Without this balance, it is too easy to rely on one to solve all the other issues.
A government's role must be to recognise this and intervene in a timely manner
to maintain such a balance. The Labor movement has always demonstrated an ability
to achieve a mix that realises this balance. It does not emphasise the market
nor push competition without policies on education and training. Advocates of
simple solutions are courting fanciful ideas. Those advocates should be viewed
with scepticism and treated with caution. The challenge is to apply a range of
innovative programs with compassion. It is not about appealing to good old-fashioned
remedies; it is about doing what we can and must do to ensure that fairness prevails. Having
served some 20 years in the Labor movement and more than 10 years in the union
movement, I can appreciate that real, lasting change for the better comes only
from Labor. One of my earliest political memories is the period from 1972 to 1975
when Labor made significant advances politically, economically and on the social
front. As a youth in Roma, a western Queensland country town, the benefits under
Labor were not lost on me. However, by 1975, the conservatives had gained power
again. It appeared as if Australia stood still once again. The
present government, not content to sit and do nothing, is pulling positive reform
down. Its view seems to be that it is better to disguise a wind back with the
word `reform'. This will lead us not forward but back to the unfinished business
of the Fraser years. The song of the conservatives remains the same. It is about
attacking the lot of working people. It is about reintroducing the graziers 1950s
dance hall, with the graziers in the middle of the floor and the outer area pegged
off for the local townsfolk. The years I spent in rural townships only make me
more determined to argue against this conservative government wont of shepherding
our society back to the 1970s and its sister dimension—the 1950s. The
Workplace Relations Act echoes the employers' rule—managerial prerogative.
The act is not progressive. It embodies a retrograde step for labour. It fails
to deliver a fair system of labour relations. It lacks good faith and speaks only
of unfairness, especially when negotiations with labour today require both skill
and tact. On the other hand, management seem to rely more and more on this prerogative.
Why? Because they are led astray by promises of an easy life with labour relations.
They hanker for the days when they had the whip hand. Those employers who use
the cloak of a closer working relationship with their employees without a third
party umpire remain exploitative. Workers need to be vigilant. The
act has swung the pendulum hard to the right; there is no doubt it will rebound.
The society that the Workplace Relations Act is predicated on is not a vision
that I share with this government. It smacks of the individual interests of the
employer with no concern for the working people of Australia. Increasing levels
of employees are experiencing unwanted stresses at the workplace. Employees with
dependants are finding it harder to balance life and work. Increasing job redundancies
are causing social injustices, and increasing contracting out of jobs by employers
is adding to the precariousness of employment. There is greater
stress on working people, and reduced satisfaction follows. It is a concern that
this government is not demonstrating how to lead by addressing these issues at
a national level and the issues of occupational health and safety, training, superannuation,
precarious employment and the protection of employees' entitlements. Instead,
its mantra is deregulation, or promoting unworkable fixes. Once again, the recurrent
theme of simple remedies for what are complex issues pops out of its mouth. These
issues instead require well-considered and integrated initiatives. The
market will not always provide the solution. A government must encourage, cajole
and, where necessary, lead change. However, this government is leading its agenda
through paid advertisements in the papers about freedom of association. But this
only highlights the divisiveness that this government wishes to impose on workers.
If it is so wedded to a competitive model, it should allow the Rand formula in
agreement making and provide a balance to the labour market. Why doesn't it protect
workers' superannuation by encouraging employers to pay or by providing a timely
manner to recover lost wages, conditions or superannuation? Instead, it seems
to pine for the McCarthy era. It seems very content to promote a divide between
those who have and those who need the education and training to help themselves. Labor
values a vibrant and diverse culture. Racial intolerance, espoused by One Nation,
is not healthy. Australia will succeed with policies directed at producing inclusiveness.
It is incumbent on each of us to ensure that we take what steps we can to ensure
our communities can feel safe from this menace. In conclusion,
I have touched on many subject areas that I see as needing scrutiny. I have tried
to reflect in this, my first speech, a sense of purpose and direction. I have
set out issues that I believe need to be addressed, debated or discussed with
solutions found, considered, tested and implemented. Consequently, it is intended
to be a speech which I can return to and re-examine. Hopefully, through Senate
work, I may humbly contribute positively in some small way to the advancement
of this terrific country. I do not wish to end on a sombre
note. We are at the last year in the last decade of the last century. A new millennium
is around the corner. The Senate is about change. May I share with you a short
acronym from the author Patricia Middlebrook, which is `AIM'. It stands for `abilities',
`interpersonal skills' and `motivation'. The Senate is a place where these qualities
can be developed and applied for the benefit of this country. 
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