[Greens-Media] Senator Siewert's Inaugural Speech

[Chris Twomey (Sen R. Siewert)]

Senator Rachel Siewert
Australian Greens Senator for WA
  <http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au>

Wednesday, 20 July 2005
	
Inaugural speech 

I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of this
country, the Ngunnawal people, and by showing my respect for the
first peoples of this land.

It always was and always will be Aboriginal land, and it is incumbent
on us who have been chosen to represent this nation that we take
responsibility for past wrongs and seek to redress current injustices.

I am not afraid to say 'sorry' to our Indigenous peoples, and I look
forward to the day when we will acknowledge their voices and do them
justice by enabling their true representation in the governance of
this nation.

It is to our shame that we are the only developed nation which has
failed to achieve this, and that the plight of our Indigenous peoples
continues to worsen.

I stand here as the fourth in a line of determined Green women from
the West to take on the Senate and progress the Green vision.

It is my great pleasure to acknowledge the presence of Dee Margetts
in the public gallery - thanks for your support Dee.

At the heart of our values is a vision of community.

- A community that extends beyond the borders of our
  neighbourhood, suburb or state.

- A community in which people care about each other and the
  future of our planet, and act carefully and responsibly to
  ensure its ongoing success.

- A community that embraces diversity, and understands that
  people living creative fulfilling lives are more innovative
  and productive and will make a greater contribution to society.

I am deeply concerned about the direction this nation is heading.

The nation's current policies are based in a naive and outdated belief
that "the market will deliver", and embody greed and selfishness and
an attitude of everyone for themselves.

This has lead to increasing influence of the business sector on
government, at the expense of the wider community.

It is becoming abundantly clear that the pervading culture of greed and
selfishness is not delivering - as even the 'successful' individuals
are finding that wealth accumulation alone does not bring happiness.

Recent surveys of public wellbeing show that our improved standards
of living in Australia have not made us any happier.

Despite most of us having more than we've ever had, we are less happy
and more stressed.

We are learning that having more stuff doesn't lead to being more
happy.

The current approach is unjust and unfair.

It degrades our environment, and leads to unhappy, fearful, unhealthy
communities.

It weakens democracy in this country, and puts key elements of civil
society at risk.

Participation in political processes and policy development is a key
part of a healthy democracy - and in Australia we have a large number
and wide variety of community groups and non-government organisations
who make an invaluable contribution to this process.

Having worked for a community organisation for many years I know the
important role the sector plays in advocacy and community development
in providing information to Government, the Opposition and minor
parties, to business and the broader community, and in providing
access to community members who find it difficult to engage the
political system and have their say.

Community organisations commit hundreds of thousands of hours of
voluntary time each year to making our nation stronger and fairer.

In many cases they are the institutional memory of Government, and
they hold Government accountable.

Consistently their involvement improves policy and leads to better
outcomes.

They don't have vested interests, other than the good of the community
they represent or issue they are working on.

I am deeply concerned by the manner in which over the last decade
the role of non-profit community organisations as community advocates
has been undermined and attacked.

Their funding has been reduced or taken away completely - as evidenced
in the recent slashing and in some cases complete removal of funding
from the Conservation Councils around Australia.

We have recently seen attempts to used tied funding in an effort to
restrict groups from speaking out and we've seen a failed attempt to
remove tax deductibility status from groups involved in advocacy or
political lobbying.

This is a blatant attack on advocacy.

In my eyes this type of action undermines the consultative process
and weakens the effectiveness and legitimacy of our governance.

Ironically, at the same time the legitimacy of these not-for-profit
organisations has been under attack, we have seen a rise of the
influence of the corporate sector on government.

Community organisations are accused of failing to be representative
enough - ignoring the fact they are voluntary organisations accountable
to a broad voting membership who are there at their own volition and
can opt out at anytime.

The same criticisms are never levelled at big business lobbyists -
who are accountable only to the interests of their shareholders and
the market forces.

At the same time that government has been undermining community
organisations they have been increasing the demands on the community
sector - by cutting government services and outsourcing welfare
services - and expecting volunteers to pick up the slack.

So on the one hand it is thought OK for the community sector to care
for the disadvantaged and the environment - but it is not acceptable
for them to try to actually improve their circumstances.

A healthy democracy requires open communication channels between
government and both the community and corporate sectors, and it is
crucial that there are mechanisms in place to maintain this balance.

Otherwise those concerned, caring people who work hard behind the
scenes looking out for the disadvantaged, caring for the poor and
sick, preserving our environment and our way of life will lose the
capacity or volition to help, and we will all be worse off.

As Greens we want to see a healthy corporate sector that plays a
valuable role in our community, and call for the development of
policies that encourage corporate responsibility as a basis for
sustainable growth.

Now workers rights and conditions are under attack again.

The so-called Industrial Relations 'reform agenda' seeks to undermine
the award system, reduce workers wages, strip away workers conditions,
and attacks the right to collective bargaining.

It clearly aims to break unions and sells out working families.

These actions will not contribute to the nation's collective wellbeing,
instead they will further concentrate this nation's wealth in the
hands of a few.

These reforms are ideologically driven, and are an attack on human
rights of Australians.

The changes will hit hardest those least advantaged in our society -
young people, women, those in low paid work, casuals and temporary
workers.

This is neither fair nor just.

Taken with the new 'welfare to work' provisions - such as those that
are pushing single mothers back into the workplace - we have a recipe
for injustice.

For example, working mothers are more likely to be taking part-time
or casual positions where pay loadings are no longer guaranteed.

They are also more likely to need the sick and family leave provisions
that will be stripped away.

They will not be in position to bargain, and both they and their
children will ultimately lose out.

The Greens believe that workplace laws should be fair, protect all
workers from unjust treatment, promote industrial harmony, and enable
us to organise collectively to negotiate fair pay and conditions.

The proposed IR changes are not in the interest of working Australians,
families or small businesses.

They will not strengthen our economy or improve our way of life - in
fact they will undermine it - by lowering wages and stripping back
awards, rights and conditions... Conditions that we have fought so
hard for over the last century.

They are a none-too-subtle effort to destroy the Union movement and
make the already powerful in our society even more powerful.

As evidence of further injustice we need look no further than the
plight of the first people of this nation.

Just last month that well-known 'left-wing' think-tank the Productivity
Commission found in its 'Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage' report
that a large gulf remains between Aboriginal and other Australians,
and that on most of their key indicators things are clearly not
getting any better.

To quote its Chair, Gary Banks -

It is distressingly apparent that many years of policy effort have
not delivered desired outcomes; indeed in some important respects
the circumstances of Indigenous people appear to have deteriorated or
regressed. Worse than that, outcomes in the strategic areas identified
as critical to overcoming disadvantage in the long term remain well
short of what is needed.

Rather than addressing the causes of this disadvantage and seeking
to empower Aboriginal Australians to improve their standards of
living, our government has taken away any form of Indigenous elected
representation or control - and it has blamed them for the failure of
mainstream services to deliver outcomes to remote and urban indigenous
communities.

The proposed 'solution' to these problems, the further 'mainstreaming'
of services to Indigenous communities, ignores the wealth of data
and experience which clearly shows the difficulties that mainstream
agencies encounter - in reaching out to their Indigenous clients,
and in providing appropriate and accessible services.

It ignores the fact that two of the main areas of disadvantage are
health and education - areas where services were always provided by
mainstream departments (and not by the much-maligned ATSIC).

It also ignores the requirement for healing.

The Greens believe that true reconciliation is the first fundamental
step in this healing, and will not be able to make real progress in
addressing Indigenous disadvantage until we say we are sorry - until
we overturn the myth of Terra Nullius and acknowledge the original
owners of this land - until we deliver the treaty demanded by the
British crown all those years ago - and until we return to them the
means to sustain their communities through their relationship with
their mother land.

I met with representatives of the Aboriginal tent embassy earlier
this week - who came to me to express their concern that moves are
afoot to redevelop the embassy site.

They have been excluded from the so called 'community consultation'
process and are now fearful that they will soon face eviction.

This morning the Senate was given notice of a motion by my Green
colleague Senator Bob Brown dealing with the scourge of petrol sniffing
in Indigenous communities.

I would urge you all to support the introduction of a comprehensive
roll-out of non-sniffable Opal fuel throughout the Central Desert
Regions of Australia.

It is a small step to make in addressing the disadvantaged faced by
Aboriginal Australians, but this relatively small amount of money
could make a great deal of difference to the lives of those affected.

As Greens we support the vision of our Indigenous leaders and argue
that the answer lies in - strong communities with active cultures
that support safe and healthy family environments.

We recognise that the economic sustainability of Indigenous families
and communities is fundamental to their wellbeing.

Indigenous health and child development must be national priorities.

We need a national Indigenous health plan that delivers:-

1. Primary health care on the basis of need through Indigenous
   community controlled health services.

2. Comprehensive prevention and early intervention programs.

3. A significant increase in the health workforce including
   more places for Aboriginal health workers.

4. Significant improvements in the delivery of basic services
   to Indigenous communities, and

5. Recognition that the health of Indigenous families cannot
   be separated from the health of Indigenous communities and
   organizations.

Aboriginal Australians learned the lesson of this harsh land with
its ancient soils and variable climate...

Their message for us is this - By looking after the land, our mother,
we look after ourselves.

It is a family relationship in which we look after each other and are
taken care of through our own caring, - getting back all the more in
our giving.

To put this in terms of the triple-bottomline, ecological
sustainability is the foundation on which a sustainable society rests
- and a healthy economy, the balance of exchange between each other
through the land, is the means to this end.

Throughout my adult life I have had a commitment to the sustainable use
of our natural resources, and have been working closely with concerned
farmers to address the sustainability of farming in the WA wheat belt.

This commitment comes from my experience in studying Agricultural
Science at University, working as a Research Officer in salinity and
soil conservation in Jerramungup, and two decades working with the
natural resource management community of Western Australia.

As a result I am determined to ensure our rural communities can
continue to survive and thrive.

Unfortunately, Australia's prosperity has come at enormous expense
to the environment.

We have severely degraded our natural resources - our rivers, soils,
biodiversity, wetlands, estuaries and coastal waters.

They are all suffering - in WA alone nearly 2 million hectares of
agricultural land has been lost to salinity, with predictions that
up to 6 million will be affected.

This represents one third of our agricultural land, and in addition
450 endemic plant species, and over 900 regionally significant species
are also under threat of extinction due to salinity.

European settlers did not understand the complexity and fragility
of the Australian landscape when, with best intentions, they put in
place unsustainable European farming systems that ultimately degraded
the landscape.

Government policies aimed at developing rural industries and exports
strongly encouraged land clearing and advocated ill-suited farming
systems.

The result is landscape fragmentation, loss of biodiversity,
environmental weeds, salinity, and degraded rivers and wetlands.

Australia now faces a complex environmental crisis to which there
are no easy answers.

We don't have the excuse of ignorance any longer and we must take
action.

The necessary, integrated, long-term solutions require government,
agribusiness, land managers, farmers and the community to work
cooperatively at landscape-scale reconstruction to develop and
implement new agricultural industries that can be profitable and
sustainable in the long term.

As Greens we share the concerns of our farmers and rural communities
for the sustainability of their communities and their lands.

We have a vision of a new uniquely Australian agricultural landscape -
filled with deep rooted perennials, harmonious and teeming with life -
in which a profitable and sustainable agriculture sustains vibrant,
growing rural communities by mimicking the natural ecosystems we
once displaced.

In this landscape farmers and land managers can be proud custodians who
deliver clean air and healthy water to urban communities in addition
to food and fibre.

This requires long term commitment and strategies.

We need large, ongoing investment in this landscape reconstruction,
and acknowledgement that we need to do things differently.

Sustainable agriculture requires radical change to the way we manage
our landscape.

The Greens approach to all we do is based on four principles - social
justice, peace and nonviolence, participatory democracy and ecological
and economic sustainability.

We have a vision for society where we have peaceful and healthy
communities with a respect for one another.

- Where all community members have access to basic services
  such as health and education.
- Where your right to participate in civil society is
  unquestioned and your ability to do so is equal.
- Where not only do we have a responsibility for oneself but
  also for others.
- Where our opportunity to achieve fulfilment is met, and
- Where we have systems and laws that protect our rights and
  our environment.

We need to remember that we live in a community, not an economy - that
our economy is one means of sustaining that community - an important
part, definitely, and one we need to get right - but it is not the
be all and end all.

Ultimately what we all want is the opportunity to lead meaningful
and fulfilling lives.

If instead of striving to be richer we could strive to be more equal
- everyone's well being would improve, and we would have healthier
communities based on compassion, honesty, fairness, justice, respect,
and equality.

I've had great privilege in my career to work with the most amazing
people.

In closing, I would like to say thank you to all my friends and family,
my colleagues (Senators Brown, Nettle and Milne), and my team members
-Fluff, Scottie, Nic, Bec & Bridgett - who whom it is such a pleasure
to work.  Thank you for your tireless support.

I would particularly like to thank my family and parents Jack and
Paddy Gorst without whose love and support I wouldn't be here today.

And finally I would like to acknowledge that I come from the great
State of Western Australia - I am committed to representing and
progressing the interests of all West Australians and will strive to
work effectively on their behalf.

For more information or comment:

  Chris Twomey 0407 725 025 <senator.siewert at aph.gov.au>
  <http://www.rachelsiewert.org.au>