Hansard debates

  Hon. A. P. OLEXANDER (Silvan) -- It is  a great honour to have the opportunity
of delivering my  first speech  in this  place. Firstly,  I would  like to thank
honourable  members for the kind advice and assistance they rendered me as a new
member in  my first  days and  weeks in  this place.  The assistance  was kindly
offered  and gratefully received. Standing  in this chamber  today  I am acutely
conscious of the traditions of the office that you uphold, Mr  Deputy President,
and of your formidable reputation for impartiality and fairness.

I am also conscious  of  the  trust  that so many have  placed  in  me  for  the
stewardship of  the  aspirations, needs and  interests of the  people  of Silvan
Province, a stewardship I hold jointly with Wendy Smith.
It  is  a privilege and  honour  to have been elected  by  the people of  Silvan
Province as one of their representatives in this place. Silvan is one of the new
provinces  in  Victoria,  having  been  created  after  the  redistribution   of
electorate boundaries in 1990 and 1991. In  many  ways  Silvan is an inspiringly
broad and diverse electorate.  Although  challenging in a representational sense
it also possesses a strong sense of community and local loyalty.
The province  covers 316 square kilometres and includes the Legislative Assembly
seats of Warrandyte, Mooroolbark, Bayswater and Monbulk.  Broadly  speaking,  it
encompasses those areas on  both  sides  of  the  Dandenong  Ranges  as  well as
beautiful Mount Dandenong.

Like  most  of  the  broader Victorian electorate, many of the people of  Silvan
Province live in suburban metropolitan dormitory suburbs and also dwell in small
provincial  townships and more remote places that are  most accurately described
as regional or rural. Within the boundaries of Silvan Province  live some of the
most environmentally  aware and sensitive communities in the state  ranging from
those  who value and wish to  protect the natural environs in which they live to
those who are  living independently sustainable alternative lifestyles and those
whose very commercial livelihood is derived from the land on which they live.
Silvan  Province  is fortunate  to  have some  small  but  vibrant multicultural
communities.  They have  enriched  us all.  They  include Australians of  Dutch,
German, Eastern European and Asian heritage, among many others.
Demographically, Silvan  has higher proportions of the very young, 5 to 25 years
of age and those in middle life, 35 to 55 years of age, than the state average.

This means that  the people of Silvan require more services geared towards youth
and the mature aged than many other electorates.
Economically the  people  of  Silvan are  noteworthy.  They  have risen  to  the
challenges presented over the past seven years of sound economic management in a
diverse  range  of  industry sectors. Clearly small business is almost a way  of
life in the  province. Silvan  boasts one  of the  largest and most robust small
business  sectors  in  the  nation.  That  has  occurred  in  tandem  with   the
establishment and  expansion of medium  and light industry  and  high technology
sunrise industries within the electorate.
Silvan's primary  industries  lead  the state  in  stone fruit  and  cut  flower
production.  There  is also a  healthy  viticulture  segment.  Silvan's  primary
producers are working diligently in preparation for greater export readiness and
expansion.

Again, the will to cooperate within the province has recently seen the advent of
potential-filled eco-lifestyle and recreational tourism segments.
Fortunately, the hallmark  of  such a diverse  community in Silvan Province  has
been mutual respect for difference and cooperation within  such diversity for at
least the last seven years.  It comes  as no surprise that unemployment rates in
Silvan, particularly  among  youth, are the  lowest  in Victoria  and  among the
lowest in Australia.
How appropriate  it was  that the people of Silvan Province chose as their first
representative  in this place someone of the calibre  of the Honourable Rosemary
Varty. She began her long and distinguished parliamentary  career  in  1985 in a
historic  by-election for the former seat of Nunawading  Province, a by-election
that arose after a tied vote in a general election.

Many honourable members will no doubt recall the democratic significance of that
campaign to the entire state, and the final result.
Demonstrating  incredible  courage,  determination and dignity in  the  face  of
enormous scrutiny and pressure, Rosemary appealed to the people of that province
not to forget the critical role of this chamber of Parliament and its legitimate
place in Victoria's democratic tradition of checks and balances. She went to the
people under the 

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slogan 'Your vote is your safeguard'. Her platform was to save this chamber from
abolition  and  to preserve  intact  a  vital  democratic  safeguard  within the
Victorian  political system. History  records the clear answer  of the people of
Nunawading and Victorian people to her call at that time. I am confident that if
called upon again their answer will not change.
Rosemary was a pioneer in many ways, not the  least of which was her election as
one of the first Liberal women to the  Victorian Parliament. She was one  of the
first to serve with the Kennett shadow cabinet and  ultimately  the  cabinet.  I
offer my heartfelt thanks for her guidance, encouragement and support since  her
retirement  and convey to  her the  gratitude of  the people  of Silvan  for her
steadfastness and her loyalty so often evident since 1992.
My involvement with the Liberal Party began when at 16 years of age I joined the
Nunawading branch of the Young Liberal movement.

My  family has always instilled in me the  importance  of  the  core  democratic
values and freedoms that are too often taken for granted.
My father came to this  country  in 1956 from Hungary where he and  most  of his
family  had fought  in  the  Hungarian  uprising  against  the  Soviet-dominated
totalitarian dictatorship. He fought bravely for human and democratic rights and
for the  concept  of  openness and self-determination for his people and for his
family. He holds those values sacred to this day.
My maternal grandparents and mother came  to Australia  in 1949  as part  of the
great postwar  immigration program from  Soviet-occupied and  dominated Ukraine.
During  the  1930s  both my grandparents played an active part in the  Ukrainian
democratic  youth movement. Under Stalin and subsequent  Soviet  dictators,  the
very lives of those involved in that democratically aligned organisation were at
great risk.

I am indebted to my family for instilling in me the great values and  ideals for
which  they fought and for which they risked and sacrificed a great deal. In the
Young  Liberal movement I  found  an organisation that  is  proudly and fiercely
committed to the freedoms and values that I hold dear.
I am proud  of the fact that I was elected  as the movement's state president in
1989-90  --  a time in my life I  remember  fondly. I pay tribute to the growing
number of former Young Liberal movement  presidents who  now sit in this and the
other  place:  the Leader of the Opposition in this place, the  Honourable  Mark
Birrell; the Honourable Bruce Atkinson; and the honourable members for Brighton,
Doncaster and Bennettswood in  the other place. It is  a great honour to  play a
small  part in  the continuance of a proud Young Liberal movement tradition -- a
tradition  that many other  former  Young Liberals who  serve in this Parliament
share with me.

I am justifiably  proud  to  be  a  Liberal and a  member  of  a  party  with  a
progressive  and  reformist  tradition. It is the party of the late  Sir  Robert
Menzies, who was an honourable member in this place at  an important time in his
life; and it is the party of the late Victorian Senator Allan Missen. The ideals
of both those great men convinced  me that in the Liberal cause I have  found my
true home. More than half a century ago Sir Robert Menzies said:
What we must  look  for,  and it is  a   matter of desperate importance  to  our
country, is a true revival of liberal thought which will work for social justice
and  security, for  national  power  and national  progress,  and  for the  full
development of the individual citizen, though not through the dull and deadening
process of socialism ...

The great vice of our democracy, a vice which  is exacting  a bitter retribution
from it  at  this moment, is that  for  a generation we  have  been busy getting
ourselves onto the list of beneficiaries and removing ourselves from the list of
contributors  as  if somewhere  there  was somebody else's  wealth  and somebody
else's effort on which we could thrive ...
To  discourage ambition,  to  envy success,  to  hate  achieved superiority,  to
distrust independent thought,  to sneer at  and  impute false motives  to public
service,  these  are the  maladies  of  modern democracy  --  and of  Australian
democracy in particular.
Only 15 years ago Allan Missen said:
Liberalism is a sound philosophy adaptable to modern problems ... it is a worthy
cause and a name with a proud message.

Those who shelter under it must accept its true  strictures.  Liberals  must  be
fearless  on human rights  issues,  here and  abroad,  and compassionate towards
those in need.
In  many ways  the sentiments  of those visionary men constantly remind me of my
personal responsibility to be a Liberal worthy of that name.
I  am proud of the reformist and visionary achievements  of  the  former  Bolte,
Hamer   and  Kennett  governments  in  this  great  state.  I  know  that  their
achievements --  economic, cultural, social  and  legal -- will  endure  as they
rightfully should. Governments  are a reflection of  their times only when  they
represent the aspirations of their communities. Similarly,  governments  of  the
day  come and go, but their legacies, the inheritances they leave behind, endure
if they have truly  represented the  aspirations of the people. Only then is any
reform 

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meaningful and lasting.  On that criterion,  none  of the former  governments  I
referred to would be found wanting.
It is important to me that  we  build on the legacy left us  by  those  historic
governments, and  in doing  so remain  faithful to  the vision of those who came
before us. I want us to build on our strong and externally focused economic base
to ensure that Victoria remains a heartland of small business, high-tech sunrise
industry, primary industries and tourism. In a rapidly changing global economy I
would like to ensure that our people  have the education, skills-based  training
and retraining and the business resources to enable  them to face this challenge
with confidence. I want us  to play  our part in further strengthening the great
achievements made in  Victoria in protecting and conserving our natural heritage
and environment in an economically sustainable way.

I  hope we continue to work towards equality before the  law for  all Victorians
regardless  of  economic  status, ethnic or national origin, gender,  sexuality,
marital status, religion,  political affiliation, age, disability or  geographic
location. I will work towards the ongoing task of strengthening protections from
prejudice and discrimination in employment and  superannuation,  and  to further
enhance equal  access to government and private sector services such as housing,
health, education and public transport.
I  will  press  for  urgent  research and intervention strategies in the area of
depression  and youth  suicide,  particularly  for  young  people  in rural  and
regional  areas of Victoria. Those issues are fundamental to me. I will work for
and passionately defend  what we have already achieved in those areas and strive
for  the things that remain to be done. I consider I bring to this chamber human
values, but they are also  political  values. In both cases they spring directly
from my fundamental Liberal philosophy.

In  conclusion, I thank some important people.  I  thank  my  partner  and  best
friend,  Neil Francis,  who has shown me the true meaning of commitment  in both
easy and difficult times. I also thank the Victorian Liberal Party for the faith
it demonstrated  in me  by giving  me the  opportunity to  stand as the  Liberal
candidate for Silvan Province on 18 September.
I particularly thank the magnificent army of Liberal volunteers and  workers who
gave  so willingly of their time, energy and commitment. They were the  backbone
of the local campaign in  the electorate. I thank the voters of Silvan Province.
I am honoured to be able to  serve them all -- including  those who did not vote
for  me -- as their  parliamentary representative. I promise  to work diligently
and to the best of  my ability on their behalf.  I hope during my time  in  this
place I will be able to demonstrate that  my contribution will form a small part
of a lasting legacy for the wellbeing  and prosperity  of Silvan Province and of
all Victorians.