Hansard debates

Mr RAMSAY (Western Victoria) (17:34:43) — I was going to say it gives me great pleasure to make this contribution, but it does not. While it is bittersweet, nevertheless I have had an incredible eight-year ride.

On 21 December 2010 I rose for the first time in this house. It was a very proud moment for myself and my family. On that occasion I spoke of many things — I mused on my past and my hopes for the future. On reflection, it remains contemporary and many of its themes remain undiluted in their need.

In December 2010 I spoke of the need for decentralisation. We are in a state of population growth. It is demanding of us a response for the present and for the future generations. In 1972 the Minister for State Development and Decentralisation, the Honourable Murray Byrne, recognised the need to spotlight our regions and make them beacons of potential. He called for infrastructure, better communications, investment by private and public means, support for the tourism industry and recognition of towns big and small. He saw potential. He saw what skilled labour in the right locations can achieve. He saw what good roads and freight services could achieve. He saw that every part of Victoria had something to give Victoria. And all that remains today, but perhaps more intensely so. If we are to manage and mould our state into a better place, then it will take all of us to make that happen and the best of us to make it happen.

Eight years ago I stood here and wondered what the future in this house would bring. I was given much advice. Among it were clear suggestions that I would not be making friends but political acquaintances or even enemies in this place. I am happy to say that advice was wrong. This place has enabled friendships to foster, some obvious and some unexpected, but all of them a wonderful reflection of what this place can achieve when we focus on what binds us rather than what separates us. These friendships extend across party lines, and I am very sure they will extend into the future. That is what real friendships do.

Eight years ago the weather also was up to different tricks. Today we talk about drought and what we can do to help farmers and regional communities survive a dry that is threatening to damage pastures, stock and hope, but in 2010 it was the rain that was doing the damage — too much of it. Floods were ravaging our paddocks, waterways, homes and services. I recall that the first of many, many road trips was to Horsham and Nhill, where I was unexpectedly grateful for the physical preparation that years of farming and shearing shed antics provided. Filling sandbags to stop rising waters was not what I thought my initial political efforts would involve.

Beside me, with fewer shearing seasons behind him, was my Nationals colleague at the time and then fellow member for Western Victoria Region, David O'Brien. His legal background perhaps did not prepare him quite so well for the sandbagging journeys, but we worked very closely together to help save towns like Horsham. Despite the hardship and the weary bodies, it remains an enduring memory of community, of mateship and of real action in times of need. Those floods could not have come at a better time for a new member of Parliament. If I needed a symbol of what hope in adversity and strength in adversity can achieve, then those floods stood tall as a potent bastion.

Eight years ago my office was based in Warrnambool. It then moved to Ballarat, firstly in temporary lodgings and then to the location now ably inhabited by my very good friend and colleague Joshua Morris. Ballarat introduced me to some wonderful people and a history so firmly entrenched in this nation's global birth. It was born of gold, and today it remains golden for reasons other than that crafted from the ground. It represents all of the opportunity and potential this state and this nation so desperately needed to capture, massage and forge into this young millennium.

Like Ballarat, Geelong also holds a powerful key to our future. My office there provides a pivotal location for a growing population along our beautiful and developing coastline. This is a region so extraordinary in its natural landscape and its raw beauty that it captures a universal audience with its call to the wild. The potential of this region is boundless. To have represented it is a really great honour and so humbling, but I have learnt that if politics is about anything, it is about people.

To this end, I thank this institution for the work it achieves via its many committees. I am grateful to have played a role in the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee, which I chaired; the Standing Committee on Economy and Infrastructure; the Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Committee; the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Committee; and the Fire Services Bill Select Committee. Each of these has taught me much.

I have become of the view that the parliamentary committees provide for this house — and by extension our state — some of the best work and scholarship the Parliament can offer. The committees bring us the people, wherever they may be, and they educate us. They teach us about regional Victoria — about what is really happening in remote and often distressed parts of the state which otherwise may not be given their due attention.

I would like to draw focus to one committee in particular whose work I am especially proud of. As chair of the Law Reform, Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee I led our team through an inquiry into the supply and use of methamphetamine in Victoria. It was often emotionally brutal. The scourge of this drug is simply frightening. Its impact on the lives of the takers is destructive. To those hapless and innocent witnesses of that destruction — mothers, fathers, siblings, friends — the toll is intensely heavy, sad and frightening, and in some cases the damage is irreversible, the innocence lost, lives lost. Yet this committee bore testament to the extraordinary work of those looking to overcome this methamphetamine nightmare in our hospitals and recovery facilities.

The committee was able to identify improved security and emergency design in hospitals and prevention possibilities, harm reduction possibilities and rehabilitation possibilities, and also mechanisms to try and remove and reduce the menace of methamphetamine in our society. There remains much to do in this space, in particular crime prevention through environmental design.

The continual emergence of new and obscenely dangerous drugs onto our streets will ensure that this Parliament has an enduring role in overcoming the drug problem in our society. Despite all odds, I believe we can make change — as we have done with reducing the rates of smoking and deaths on our roads from accidents. It was very satisfying to have Ken Lay as chairman of the National Ice Taskforce acknowledge the work and worth of the report and the committee as being a central part of the national response to this drug.

I also take the opportunity to thank Kim Wells and his work with the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Committee. The committee did substantial work and only in the last two weeks delivered a very important report to the Parliament. The experiences gained on this committee will stay with me forever. The relationships that were developed with committee members were genuine, and I thank the members of the committee for this. The body of this work under Kim Wells's leadership was exceptional. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Sandy Cooke, the executive officer of the joint parliamentary committee. I have worked with Sandy throughout my eight years, and I thank her for her professionalism and genuine leadership of the committee members. Her guidance and consideration have enabled our best to be achieved. She is rightly held in high esteem.

One of the most difficult and challenging pieces of legislation that I was involved in was the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017. I thank my colleagues for allowing me the freedom to follow this bill with my heart.

My time in this place has encompassed eight years of contrast. My first four years were in government, the latter in opposition. In these later years I am so disappointed to say that this Parliament has borne witness to an extraordinary period of unrest, ill-discipline and at times chaotic and disrespectful debate. These lamentable years should have delivered so much more, no more so than for the country regions of this state, and parochially, may I say, western Victoria. This house has borne leaders of repute, raised the flag to accountability and been a torch to the truth and a stage for democracy. I leave this place hoping that better will come and that we acquiesce to the highest ideals. I hope those to come in future parliaments look to our best for their guide and not to those who have absconded the lofty tenements of this place.

In my eight years representing the people of Western Victoria Region I have travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres and met thousands of wonderful people. Unlike Daniel, I cannot even begin to name even a few of them. With these people I have travelled through droughts, through floods and through fire. I have despaired, I have celebrated, I have reflected on war heroes. I have gone to bed exhausted and woken to the excitement and potential of every new day. I have run for farmer health and the health needs of our children, cycled for other causes in groups big and small and slept out for the needs of the homeless. I have walked busy city streets and alone in vast paddocks. I have spoken to large groups fighting for their cause. I have sat across kitchen tables listening to sole voices pleading to be heard. I have taken all of these encounters and experiences as a blessing and an honour.

For much of this I thank my family, those present and those past. To my father, who died of cancer when I was 17 — his passing reminds me of the need to care for each other, to remember the importance of family and, particularly for me, to keep men's health as a priority and not as a quiet project for the sidelines. Before my father, my great-great-grandfather, Reverend Andrew Ramsay, arrived from Scotland in January 1847 and settled in Melbourne, as so many did. In 1850, with three other ministers, he formed the Synod of the United Presbyterian Church of Victoria. He was the first minister at Port Phillip of the United Succession and helped build St Enoch's church on Collins Street. But it was my great-grandfather, Robert Ramsay, who sowed the family seeds in politics. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian Parliament in 1870. He served as Postmaster-General and Minister for Education, and for a short time in 1880 he also served as Chief Secretary. One of his most celebrated achievements was dispatching resources to capture the Ned Kelly bushranger gang.

My grandfather, Major Robert Ramsay, served in World War II before becoming active in local government, most notably as mayor of Colac shire over successive terms. He also served on the Graziers Federal Council of Australia from 1939 to 1942 and played an important role with Sir William Gunn in shaping the wool industry at that time. I would like to think he would be very proud of my efforts as president of the Victorian Farmers Federation prior to my time in this house and carrying the torch of agripolitics. I hope they all consider that their beliefs and values have carried on through my efforts representing the people of western Victoria. A love of country is what unites us.

I want to thank my family — my mother, Gillian, and my children, Nicola, Tiffany and Andrew, and I am pleased to say they are all here today; and my brother, Michael, and sister, Serena, who unfortunately could not be here, and their partners — for all their support, particularly during the dark times of separation and the pain and disillusionment of family law that cripples your self-worth.

I want to thank Marlene, who helped me as a new MP in Warrnambool; Marita, who has been with me for all of the eight years; Tracy, who was with me when I moved to Geelong and who has been a tower of strength through the hustle and bustle of political life in an electorate office; Kate, who is always on hand with the call to help; Suzie, who has recently come on board; Jamie, who lends a hand part-time; and of course Ian, Chris, Jono and Connor, who have travelled through the office over the years. I also wish to thank Ted Baillieu for giving me the position of chair of the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee and also Matthew Guy for his provision of the roles of shadow parliamentary secretary for rural and regional transport and later the shadow assistant Minister for Agriculture. I think, given the constraints of the coalition agreement, it is probably the best I could achieve.

I extend my thanks to the Chair of this house, Bruce Atkinson, who I believe has shown extraordinary fairness in his often difficult role. I thank him for his appointment of me as an Acting Chair for the last eight years. I have tried to apply those principles of fairness in my efforts in the chair and hope they have resembled his. May I also thank the red coats, catering staff, attendants, security and all staff of the house, who without fail have shown unfailing helpfulness and cheery disposition. But it is friendship in this place and family support that will give me strength to deal with the now and provide a constructive contribution to life after politics in another leadership role.

I move to a leader of particular note who has provided much inspiration to many in this state and nation over decades: I refer to Sir Robert Menzies, a much-loved Prime Minister and Liberal leader. In 1958, during the federal election of that year, he spoke to a gathering in Canterbury, where he said:

What Australians want is good and honest government, with administrators who pursue steadfast policies, encourage growth, foster individual enterprise, preserve freedom, and maintain Australia's place in the world. We have unquenchable pride in Australia and an unlimited faith in its future.

I hope in some small way that I have contributed to that good and honest government; I have certainly tried to adhere to those ideals. I most certainly concur with Sir Robert's belief in the unquenchable pride in our nation and faith in its future.

To another leader, an American this time, and that famous line from President John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech on 20 January 1961, when he challenged the American status quo:

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

That may have come from a nation far away, a time far removed, but it still resonates here today, it is as relevant for our nation today, it is as relevant for our state today. All of us have a role in making Victoria the best it can be, seeing each other as dignified human beings, each with the potential for fault and failure and each with the potential for greatness. Victoria deserves all our efforts. I hope mine in this house have made some contribution. I look forward to extending that elsewhere. The great constant is change, and we all have the duty to be ready for it.

I thank you, President, I thank all my colleagues from all sides of the benches, I thank the people of Western Victoria Region for the honour and privilege of representing them, and the Liberal Party for giving me the opportunity to be a member for Western Victoria Region. Thank you.

Honourable members applauded.