Hansard debates

Mr DRUM (Northern Victoria) — (By leave) I would like to thank all members of the house for their indulgence in allowing me to make a final and valedictory speech. After 14 years, it has been an amazing time in the Legislative Council. It has been a real honour to be in this place, but it has been an honour that I have not taken for granted. I am very thankful for the opportunities I have been given.

There really is something special about walking up the steps of this Parliament, especially when you know that you play a small role in the management of the Parliament. You are normally in a hurry to go somewhere, but every now and again you do get the opportunity to savour the moment and to realise the history associated with this place and the small role you play within it. These valedictory speeches give members on their way out a chance to reflect on their time in the Parliament and a chance to thank those who have enabled them to do the job that they have been sent here to do.

I must pass on to the chamber one of the first pieces of advice I received, actually before I got in here. On the day I announced I was going to run for North Western Province, I was getting some photos taken with the then Leader of The Nationals, Peter Ryan. He whispered out of the corner of his mouth to me, 'I want you to remember what it is right now that you think of politicians'. I said to him, 'Well, I can do that, but why would you want me to?'. He said, 'If you get in, and when you get in, you are going to meet a whole heap of hardworking, decent, fantastic politicians, and you're going to change your view. And whilst you'll change your view of what politicians are like, the people that you're representing will be stuck in the view that you currently have now'. It was great advice, because the people we bump into every day have a different view of the collective of politicians and of what we do. We know the work that goes on behind the scenes, we know the character of the people in here and we know that the vast majority of politicians are in here to try to do the very, very best they can for their people.

Another similar piece of advice came to me via the former Premier, Denis Napthine. At a coalition conference Denis Napthine — he was not Premier at the time — took the floor and in a surprising sort of speech said to the assembled coalition members, 'The work you do in your role as an MP is incredibly important. The role that you play in your community is incredibly important. As leaders in the community, what you have to understand is that you are an incredibly important person'. And after about 10 seconds he said, 'And if you believe that, you are in real trouble!'. Again, brilliant advice.

Those are two really strong pieces of advice from two very strong leaders. Both will be remembered for their outstanding leadership of their parties. Peter Ryan and Denis Napthine had their feet firmly on the ground, and they were under no illusions as to what is important in this role.

I consider myself very lucky to have fallen into the lap of the National Party. To have 14 years in this place with a team around you that only wants you to be the best you can be, to not have to give one skerrick of thought about someone trying to up-end you, to not have to worry about trying to win various contests within your own party — there is just full support every day of the week. There are differences of opinion within The Nationals, yes, but there is full support every day of the week so that we can all get about doing our job. The team has an amazing dynamic, and I have been very proud, again, to play a very small part in it.

This working dynamic of The Nationals did not happen by accident, and it does not endure through luck. It is a combination of strong leadership, smart leadership and inclusive leadership. Whilst we are only a small party, the fact that we are so tight, that we never leak and that we support each other gives each of us a fantastic feeling of camaraderie. Even today, Peter Walsh and Steph Ryan in the Legislative Assembly are continually pushing the concept that you are only in here to be the voice of your people. You have to understand that it is the people first, it is the party or the team second and then the individual comes a very, very distant third. It is a great dynamic within which to work, and I hope that it continues that way for many, many years.

Turning to the colleagues that I started with in the Legislative Council — firstly, Bill Baxter, who was here forever — Bill was possibly the smartest person I have ever met. He could recall anything that had happened, probably because he was in the Parliament when it did. But you could to see him scribble a few key points on the back of an envelope and then deliver a speech of 15 minutes as if he had rewritten it five times over. He was just a brilliant orator and someone who had an incredible intellect and ethics.

Barry Bishop was what I would call a politician who was of the people. He was again a great mentor.

Peter Hall had a distinguished career in this place and ended with up with a great career as a minister. There is a lot of chatter that goes on in the political debate around TAFE colleges, and Peter Hall played an important role in that. There is a lot of political debate about what happened in relation to contestability, and what happened in relation to so-called cuts and what happened to the TAFE system at the time. All I know is that when you go out into the sector and you talk to people who have been in the TAFE sector for six, seven, eight or nine years, Peter Hall is held in honoured esteem because they know of his thoroughness, they know what he did and they know what he was forced to do within that sector. I just want to put on the record that Peter Hall is a great man and will be well remembered by those who understand the system.

I also had four years working with David O'Brien. No two days were ever the same when you worked with David O'Brien. There was a bit going on there. That man will be a success; whatever he chooses to do, he will be a success.

The other aspect of the National Party that I have to mention is the practical jokes. They are numerous and many. You learn to never leave your mobile phone lying around, because someone like Tim Bull or Russell Northe will pick it up and send a message to somebody on your behalf, and you might not find out until that person sends you a message back. At best you get away with it being a little bit embarrassing; at worst it is totally inappropriate. But at least it keeps us all on our toes and it is incredibly funny. Then there are the concepts of going to conferences and not being able to find your car because it has just gone for a walk somewhere or having your clothes stolen and put in different rooms.

The phones in Parliament can also be transferred. Tim Bull realised this with me and David O'Brien at one stage. If you just swap the phones over and our respective wives ring, they are actually ringing the wrong bloke. David was always picking up the phone and could not work out why Ros was ringing him all the time, and I got sick of David's wife ringing me. Maybe we are not all that smart, but it took us a couple of weeks to work out what he had actually done.

Also, on your laptops you can pull the letters off and put them somewhere else. 'M' and 'N' are next to each other, and it can really do your head in when you think you are typing 'M' but it continually comes up as 'N' because someone has just switched it over. I hope things are different in my future and I do not have to face this constant attack of friends trying to get one up on me.

I also want to thank my staff. When I first came into Parliament I was very, very lucky to employ Linda Barrow. Linda had been recommended to me by the previous member. Linda is an incredibly smart woman with a great nature. People who ring the offices of politicians normally have a problem. Linda was amazing at the front of the office. She did an amazing job and is still with me today, 14 years later.

After the first four years we were all given an extra staffer, and I was lucky enough to employ Linda's husband, Wayne, a 30-year veteran journalist and chief of staff, who is brilliant with press releases and research. I have been very lucky to have this husband and wife team to help me do my job. I thank them very much, and I certainly wish them well, particularly with Linda's health. If she has great health, that is all we can ever hope for, so good luck for your futures.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my children. Those of us who have this balancing act between being the mum or dad that you want to be and being the representative that you have to be will know that that is very difficult, and I do not think any of us ever get it quite right. To Corey, Gabriel, Alyce and Luke, I am sorry that I have not been around enough and I am sorry that when I have been around I have been in a hurry. I do apologise, and also to Josh and Sally as well. I love the kids; I am lucky I have great kids.

To Ros, my partner for the last 10 years, thank you for always challenging me on most issues and supporting me on every issue. That is a great thing to have in a partner. I remember we had a regional sitting in Bendigo, and I said to Ros, 'We need to have the team at home', so we did. We transformed the lounge room into a dining room and a restaurant, and we got some friends in and we cooked up. I was thinking about it, doing this speech, and I was thinking it was just such a non-issue. We were always going to do it because that is what you do when your friends, associates and colleagues come onto your patch: you bring them round for food, wine and beers. That is what you do. It was a lovely night. It is indicative of how I would like to see those friendships endure into the future. While I am in the process of thanking people: thank you, Ros, for your support and for your love.

I want to also thank the staff. Andrew, Richard and their teams have done a fantastic job to keep this place in check. To the chamber staff — Greg, Michael, Nick, Chris, Peter, Philip, Patrick and anyone else I have missed — thank you very much for your friendship. We are always very busy; we always think we are important, but you are always there to help. I am very appreciative of the continued help that everybody gives the politicians around this place. From the kitchen staff to the library staff to the papers office, it is amazing how many people are here just to help us. Sometimes we take that help for granted, but I want to thank you all.

I also want to thank the maintenance staff, because every now and again we have had to ring them up and ask them to come in and rewire the speakers to the offices. Sometimes things get broken on a Wednesday night — just little things — that need some maintenance work as well.

One of the things I am not proud of is that out of my 14 years here we have spent 10 years in opposition. Everybody knows that opposition is a horrible place to be in. Your inability to do what you are sent here to do and your inability to do what you want to do for the people you represent is incredibly frustrating. Therefore, I suppose, when we are given that time in government the pressure is on all of us to achieve in that time — achieve for our people, achieve for all of the people — because it is so much harder to do it from opposition.

But in the four years that we were in government I was incredibly proud to play a part in designing and helping roll out the Regional Growth Fund with Peter Ryan, the former Leader of The Nationals. It was a tremendous investment, and I just loved every piece of that. I know the Regional Living Expo has gone by the wayside now, but again, travelling to Brisbane to check out how they were doing it and bringing the best parts of their expo back here, being able to roll that out and having it operate for three years and then watching it survive one more year after our time in government was a highlight.

I was also pleased to play a role locally with the Ulumbarra Theatre, which is a theatre in a former jail in Bendigo. It was a $30 million project, and we were able to get that funding.

Thanks to the work that David Davis did on the $630 million hospital for Bendigo, it is now a generational life-changing hospital. It is just a tremendous investment for that city, which we were able to drive as hard as we possibly could. Again, I am proud to have been able to play a part in that in the past.

I am also very proud of the four years in which I was able to chair a committee from opposition. Gayle Tierney, Ms Darveniza — who is no longer with us in this chamber — and I had some very feisty times, because they sometimes did not like the direction we were going in, which was totally understandable. However, we conducted some really good inquiries into what our cities are going to look like in the future, what our tourism sector looks like and also where regional disadvantage is at in relation to the rest of the state.

I think we can make a statement that still we have an enormous amount of disadvantage in the regions and we still have to acknowledge that with our education rates continuing to go the wrong way when compared to our city cousins, we have got a lot of work to do in this space. The overarching aspect is that it does cost more to deliver services in the regions compared to what it costs to deliver those services in cities, just because of the sheer tyranny of distance.

I am also very proud of the very short time that I had as a minister. I had 9 to 10 months in that role. I remember it very fondly. I remember that on the very first night I went out to the eastern suburbs with a couple of colleagues to talk to a forum if maybe 200 or 300 sportspeople from community sporting groups. They smacked me between the eyes with this problem that they had about facilities. They wanted new facilities and they had the capacity to build those facilities themselves; however, councils in the city did not like the concept of counting in-kind contributions, they just wanted the cash, so if all these sporting clubs wanted to contribute, they had to contribute with cash.

I remember going back to my staff the next day — I had Darren Harris, Emma Staples and Shannon Gill there — and I said, 'We've got to change this. We've got to assist these community groups that have the capacity and the will to build their own facilities at a high level and a high quality. We've got to be able to work in and give them some assistance as a government'. I am very proud of the fact that we did come up with a small granting scheme that did exactly that, and Local Facilities for Local Clubs was born. We ended up getting about 78 projects done. It was, in my opinion, just a really nice snapshot of life.

If you liken the sporting clubs to individuals, you have these sporting clubs with a vision of what they want to achieve, but they cannot do it on their own; they need a bit of help. Just like individuals, the clubs know where they want to go in life, but they need some help. And as a government, if you are able to give them that help, providing that they are prepared to roll up their sleeves and work, you end up with some brilliant outcomes. That is why I am so proud of that little granting scheme through which we were able to assist all those clubs that had this capacity to do the work themselves.

I also learnt so much in a short time working with the veterans fraternity. Two people really stood out in this regard: former Premier Ted Baillieu and the great work that he has done with the commemoration of World War I, and also Major General David McLachlan (Retired), the president of the RSL. What a great man he is, and again he is someone who was able to give tremendous leadership. Governments of both persuasions, both colours of politics, look to the RSL for leadership on all of these commemorative events, and Ted Baillieu also was able to provide great leadership.

I went back and had a look at my inaugural speech that I made 14 years ago. I made one point then, and I did not know whether or not I was on the money, but I think I probably am now. I made the point that no side of politics has the mortgage on common sense or intelligence or the blueprint as to how to run this state — but we both tend to think that we do. Fourteen years later I do not think much has changed in that regard. We can all have a big dose of humility at some stage. Again, what we have are differences of opinion; none of us are right, none of us are wrong. When we clash, we clash over opinion, and I think we would all do well to continue to understand that there is so much talent and objectivity on the other side of the chamber, but we just have differences of opinion.

I leave this place in search of further public service as I contest the federal seat of Murray. It is going to be very exciting, but it is also incredibly daunting. As we have seen in recent days, there are enormous challenges in that part of the state, with dairy issues and water issues heading the list of things that need to be fixed up.

I am very proud of the fact that I am a true coalitionist. While I love The Nationals party, and that comes through very clearly, I also believe that in conjunction with the Liberals we actually make a fantastic team. I am very honoured and very warmed by the support I have received from so many Liberals in this last month when it has become evident that I am going to be contesting a seat against them. That has been another humbling experience for me here.

President, I would just like to acknowledge another thing. Yesterday I was joking about you, but I think you truly are possibly the best President that this chamber has ever had.

An honourable member — Better with a wig.

Mr DRUM — You should put the wig back on.

Mrs Peulich — He's got one on.

Mr DRUM — That is possibly the funniest interjection you have ever made, Inga.

President, thank you. It is no secret that you and I have tended to clash more often than not, but that is a good thing also. It has been great to be able to come into this place knowing that the sessional orders and the way we go about our business are in solid and reliable hands. That is something that will leave this place in a better state than the way you found it, and I congratulate you for that.

To all members, I want to thank you for your friendship, and that goes across the entire chamber. I feel very honoured that it is so easy to stop and chat.

To all of my Labor opponents, we are tremendously warm when we need to be, away from Parliament, so I thank you all.

To the Greens, again we are politically miles apart, but it is amazing the amount of times that Greg and I are completely united on various issues. And again, with the team, Greg, you have done very, very well.

To the crossbench, again welcome. You have a lot of work to do in those small micro-parties, but it is good to see you all batting well above your average with your numbers. So congratulations to all of you.

This is the second time I have had a high-profile job, and it is great to be able to leave this one on my own terms. But there are many, many people that have helped me have this time here. I want to thank them all, and I really look forward to catching up with everybody that has helped me and has contested the parliament of ideas against me. That is great, and we will catch up in the future, I assure you. But again I just want to thank everybody for their support and their friendship. Whatever happens in a month's time will happen, and we will deal with it then. I want to finish off by again thanking my National Party colleagues. They are a special brand of people. I love them dearly, and I wish them all the best for the future. Thank you.

Honourable members applauded.

The PRESIDENT — Order! Not a bad speech, Mr Drum, but I was surprised you did not end it with a point of order. Can I also just indicate that if Murray does not work out, the Gold Coast is not a bad place to live.

An honourable member interjected.

The PRESIDENT — Well, Freo could be available again. What goes around comes around.