[Greens-Media] Tas Greens_New MP Cassy O'Connor's Inaugural Speech_C O'Connor MP

[greens at parliament.tas.gov.au]

INAUGURAL SPEECH DELIVERED BY NEW GREENS' MEMBER FOR DENISON, CASSY
O'CONNOR

Delivered at the Parliamentary Sitting held in the Royal Albert Hall,
Launceston 

Cassy O'Connor MP
Greens Member for Denison

Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Contact: State Parliamentary Offices of the Tasmanian Greens, (03) 6233
8300

www.tas.greens.org.au


Inaugural Speech

Mr Speaker, for many thousands of years before the European invasion,
the Palawa tribes - the Leterremairrener, Tyerrernotepanner and
Panninher People - lived and roamed across these lands we occupy today.
The Tamar Valley was their home.  

The original and traditional owners of this land hunted and gathered
along the banks of the South Esk and Tamar Rivers.   They danced and
sang their storyline at places like Cataract Gorge, Corra Linn and in
the hills around Launceston.  Their connection to the land was deep and
strong.  For the Aboriginal people of Tasmania, it remains so to this
day.

I wish to pay my deepest respect to those who have passed before us and
those descendents who are now the custodians of this land.  Also, to
express my sorrow for all that was taken from them and all the
indigenous peoples of Australia.  May these continue to be healing
times.

Mr Speaker, I thank all Members - my new colleagues - for their presence
in the Chamber to hear my inaugural speech.   I warmly return that
respect and extend it equally to members of the audience.  It's great to
see you here.  

To my family, dear friends and colleagues who have made the journey to
Launceston from as far away as Sydney and Queensland, thank you and
thank you again for coming.  You give me strength ... as do all my
friends and family who are here in my thoughts.

None give me more strength than my children - Lachlan, Conor, Mara and
Stella.  It is for you that I fight. It is for you, and for the future
of all Tasmania's young people, that I am proud to stand up as a member
of the Tasmanian Greens.  A Parliamentary Member at that!

Mr Speaker, there are words I have waited a long time to speak, before a
captive audience of powerful Tasmanians who are in a privileged position
to make change, for the better.  

All of us present today in the Chamber, I am certain love Tasmania and
care for its people.  That is surely why we have sought public office.
I do believe that Members elected to this place share more common ground
than is ever expressed in the political discourse.  It should be so, for
we are all, after all just human. 

Mr Speaker, perhaps that which sets us at odds comes down to differences
of philosophy, of how far we are prepared to look into the future, and
the extent to which we dare suggest, in today's political environment,
actions to address the future we anticipate. 

And, of course, Mr Speaker, it comes down to the value judgments we
apply to debate and decision.

All the better that this moment to speak has arrived in the beautiful
Tamar Valley, in this splendid meeting place, before the people of
Launceston and its surrounds.  

Mr Speaker, while I do believe Members have more in common than not - on
the subject of Gunns' pulp mill, Tasmanians well understand that the two
major parties and the Greens, are planets apart.

The Greens will never, ever support that mill nor anything like it.
Given the circumstances, I think it's worth reiterating the point, up
front ... How could I not?

Mr Speaker, if there is one book that lit the fuse on the global
environmental movement, it is Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.  So
meticulously researched, and published in 1962, the book laid bare the
unthinking chemical poisoning of humanity's life support systems, of its
water and soil, of songbirds, of wild and domestic beasts. 

Silent Spring was a catalyst for change.  It speaks to us still, to this
day. 

Forty-six years ago, Rachel Carson said:

"We must all have a great sense of responsibility and not let things
happen because everyone takes the comfortable view that someone else is
looking after it. Someone else isn't looking after it." 

Mr Speaker, I feel a profound sense of responsibility to this place, and
the trust that is vested in me, as a Member of Parliament.  

Trust that I will always have the best interests of the people we are
elected to serve, in my heart.   

Trust that I will conduct myself with integrity and selflessness; and
recognize my duty of care to every Tasmanian, and to the children of our
children, and theirs into the future. 

Trust too, I believe, that with my Green parliamentary colleagues, I
will be true to Tasmania, and respect those priceless wild qualities
that set it apart from any other place on Earth.   

Mr Speaker, we know some of these places as the South West wilderness,
the Blue Tier, the Weld and the Florentine, Cradle Mountain-Lake St
Clair National Park, the Tarkine, Bay of Fires, the Tasman Peninsula,
Bruny Island and, of course, dear to the heart of my local community the
sweeping sandflats of Ralphs Bay looking out to Mt Wellington ... at all
points of the compass, we are the Parliamentary caretakers of a
landscape unbelievably special.

We can breathe some of the cleanest air in the world at Marrawah.  There
are timeless forests on our doorstep and untamed rivers spilling
pristine waters into the sea. Our coastline is washed by seas that
reveal a stunning diversity of marine life.

Where else in the world, for example, would you find a creature as
peculiar and endearing as the Spotted Handfish?  Nowhere else...
Critically endangered, on the IUCN Red List, it lives only in the River
Derwent and its near waters.  If you go looking in the right places, the
Spotted Handfish can be found walking along the seabed of Ralphs Bay.

I have never been lucky, or brave enough to see one in-situ, but I am
very glad to know they are there, that they endure - despite the threats
posed by human impacts, and such absurdities as Walker Corporation's 500
home canal estate plan... the Sydney-based developer's stated intention
to destroy an internationally significant Conservation Area at Ralphs
Bay, on the River Derwent.

To destroy the Southern resting grounds of the tiny Red-Necked Stint,
that amazing bird which - I'm told by the Bay's champion, Priscilla Park
- weighs no more than a tablespoon full of flour.  They fly here for our
Summer, across ten thousand plus kilometres of land and sea from the
Arctic Circle, to flicker in their dozens like sparkling light on the
sandflats.  

Mr Speaker, it is this elemental Tasmania, and the wellbeing of its
people - for the two are inextricably tied - that the Greens will always
defend.  I am so deeply honoured to represent Denison for the Tasmanian
Greens, to walk the path pioneered by our past Leaders, Bob Brown,
Christine Milne and Peg Putt. 

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the presence in the
audience of our national climate change champion, Senator Christine
Milne, whose leadership continues to inspire.

Not all Tasmanians will admit it, of course, but we owe these Green
leaders and their Green colleagues in Parliament, a great debt:  For
standing shoulder to shoulder with their fellow concerned Australians,
for The Franklin, Wesley Vale, the Tamar Valley, for our wild forests
and coastline.  For tackling - head on - corporate greed and the abuse
of political power.

And, always, for defining and upholding the virtues of a natural brand
that now delivers billions of dollars into Tasmania's economy every
year.  

It is the Greens' unerring vision of a Tasmania - unspoiled yet
prosperous, an island where people and places are truly valued - that
inspired me to join the Party.  Now, that continuum towards a
sustainable future for Tasmania has a new Leader, with his own vast
stores of courage, intellect and sensibility.   

I have great faith, and justifiably so, in the Member for Franklin, our
Leader, Mr McKim.

_______________________________


Mr Speaker, as we confront the near overwhelming challenges of climate
change, the new generation of leadership across all three parties in
Tasmania has an unprecedented responsibility to work together and with
every member of this House.  

It is also, of course, a great opportunity to finally break free from
the shackles of Tasmania's political past, the jamming brake on its
future.  Just as we urgently need new governance structures to ensure
the highest standards of integrity in public office, we need a new
environmental ethic to be allowed to flower in this place and across the
island.

Mr Speaker, Members will not - of course - always agree, and nor should
we in a healthy, Westminster democracy but just imagine what could be
achieved if we could build on the three parties' combined strengths to
create a genuinely sustainable future.  

The Liberal Party's belief in individual freedom ... Labor's proud
history in Australia, of looking after people ... And the Greens deep
ecological empathy towards the web of life. 

One person can change the world for the better, but as Tasmanians we
need to stick together, look after each other and we need look after
Tasmania's ecosystems a whole lot better to prepare for global warming.

If we want to hand a resilient Tasmania on to our children, we have no
choice but to act, and without any further delay.   So much time has
been wasted.  We must be brave enough to commit to a Tasmania that leads
by example.  

We can do this by; setting far-sighted, mandatory, emission reduction
targets of 40% on 1990 levels by 2020 and 90% by 2050; by investing
heavily in renewables, public transport and sustainable fuel
alternatives; redesigning our buildings; and by providing
incentives to households and businesses to save energy and be part of
the climate change solution.    

We can transform our cities and towns into sustainable, highly liveable
urban       villages.

And, Mr Speaker, Members who take an interest in the most up to date
science on forests and climate change, would be aware that we could
slash our annual      emissions immediately, by millions of tonnes of
carbon.  We could do this by ending the obscenity of an industrial
forestry apparatus that is eating and poisoning our island's future.   

The Tasmanian people are all the poorer for Gunns' rapacious need to
clearfell and burn, chip and ship, Tasmania's wild forests.  All made
possible by thick-headed management from Forestry Tasmania and
successive Tasmanian Governments.

Climate change now makes such folly, all the more inexcusable.

Mr Speaker, so it is with our marine environment.  Already threatened by
overfishing, pollution, bad developments and marine pests, Tasmania's
coastal waters will need all the help governments, communities and
business can provide to make sure we build resilience into marine
ecosystems. 

The establishment of Marine Protected Areas that are more than 'paper
parks', is critical to this goal.  If the incredibly valuable ecosystems
of Tasmania's nine  bioregions are to have any chance of adapting to
warmer, more acidic ocean      waters - then we must protect them,
guarding their biodiversity and thence their ability to withstand the
coming impacts.

Mr Speaker, the science is in.  No-take MPAs protect marine environments
- and therefore the benefits they bring to our own health and wellbeing
in the form of   ecosystem services.  Fisheries, included.  

The Commonwealth understands the value of no-take MPAs.  The Federal
Environment Department's own website says, 

"The potential of no-take marine reserves to protect genetic quality is
great, considering the fact that fishing can remove most of the
population; and that densities of individuals, ages and sizes can be
much greater in no-take marine reserves than in fishing grounds."

The RPDC has consulted widely, with experts and scientists, and
recommended that some parts of the Bruny Bioregion exclude recreational
and commercial fishing.  

After coming under intense pressure from the Department of Premier and
Cabinet in particular, to slash its Draft Recommendations, in March this
year the Commission delivered its final report with a plea to government
to countenance no further watering down.  

Mr Speaker, I am aware that - since then - certain assurances have been
made to Tasmanian fishers, I urge the government to stick with the
science, look to the future rather than the next election, and at the
very least, accept the RPDC's minimalist final recommendations.  

Such a sensible change of position will only help Tasmania's marine
environment have some chance of adapting to the changes ahead.  It is
quite simply, the right thing to do.

The reality of climate change demands that we change.  From humanity,
nothing short of a triple bottom line transformation is required, and it
can be done. What is needed most, is leadership.  From government and
parliament, from business and community - leadership is needed.

_________________________________


Mr Speaker, my journey to Tasmania and here today, began in Queensland
where  I spent most of my childhood living on Stradbroke Island and in
Brisbane.  If there is one politician who might be credited with shaping
my young activist spirit, it is the late Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen - the
Sunshine State's Premier from 1968 to 1987.   

His Premiership inspired a generation of activists.  I have no choice
but to speak ill of the dead.  Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen was a rotten
Premier and an environmental vandal, in the first degree.

What Sir Joh and his coterie of crooks did to Queensland can never be
reversed.  They gave new meaning to the words, crass and corrupt, in the
rush to dig it up, chop it down, ship it off, to exploit a rare beauty
by lying, cheating and stealing.   

The White Shoe Brigade thrived in Joh's Queensland.  They built edifices
of concrete, steel and glass .... obliterated mangroves - the fish
nurseries and water filters of the coast - for yet another resort or
ugly boxes on wholly unnatural gridded canals full of stagnant water.  

They wanted to build a bridge from the Gold Coast to my beloved
Stradbroke Island.  The Premier wanted it too.  He just loved the idea
of pushing Surfers Paradise through to Point Lookout along a ribbon of
concrete!   

My family and I stood among the locals, and marched from the Pub - of
course - to Pt Lookout.  The great poet Oodgeroo Noonuccal stood
overlooking Frenchman's Beach and spoke of country and of battle.  The
bridge never was built ....  

Having bludgeoned the principles of the Westminster System and
Separation of Powers to his purpose, having distorted the vote through a
pernicious Gerrymander, Sir Joh - all powerful - saw to the relentless
persecution of those brave citizens - like Fraser Island
conservationist, John Sinclair - who tried to stem the feeding frenzy.

Well, history tells its truth.  The Courier Mail newspaper's Phil
Dickie, was one of a brave few journalists - including my father Shane
O'Connor - who, in their reporting or commentary, revealed some of the
slime beneath the surface of sunny Queensland.

In 1987, ABC legend, Chris Masters, finally busted it all open - before
a national audience - on Four Corners in his masterpiece of
investigative journalism, The Moonlight State.   It presented
irrefutable evidence of systemic corruption in the police force,
judiciary and the Bjelke Petersen Government.

With the Premier - very serendipitously out of the State - his deputy
Bill Gunn ordered a Commission of Inquiry.  It proved to be a very brave
move that purged Bjelke Petersen's Queensland of some of its baddest
apples.

As the most outrageous tales of official corruption were exposed by
Commissioner Tony Fitzgerald QC, the National Party, thinking it might
save itself, deposed Joh as Premier on the 26th of November of 1987.
But, he refused to go ... such was the arrogance of the man.  

After spending his last days holed up on the top floor of the Executive
Building, Bjelke Petersen finally resigned in complete disgrace on
December the first, twenty-one years ago.  And Queensland was reborn.

The Fitzgerald Inquiry ended 32 years of National Party Government in
Queensland.  
                                                                     
Mr Speaker, I believe Queenslanders, indeed all Australians who believe
in transparency and decency in government, owe Tony Fitzgerald QC an
enormous debt of gratitude.  His Inquiry transformed Queensland.  

If Tony Fitzgerald could be persuaded to take it on, I can think of no
better person to help restore faith in Tasmania's governance structures
in light of recent, and recently past, events.

Queensland now has what are regarded as some of the strongest
anti-corruption and ethical governance structures in the country, and it
is served by a far more decent administration.

______________________  


But for me - at the age of twenty - the damage had already been done,
and I was ready to leave Queensland.  I arrived in Tasmania on
Valentine's Day 1989 - to find a place where nature still ruled, and I
fell instantly in love. 

After a meandering journey through journalism, politics and motherhood,
my path was set in March 2004 when our most recent past Premier of
Tasmania, Mr Lennon, threw the government's support behind Walker
Corporation's plan for Ralphs Bay. 

Mr Speaker, Members will be aware by now that I am not going to let this
subject rest! I hope there is some understanding that Ralphs Bay brought
me to this place, and I owe it to my fellow Ralphies - on behalf of
Ralphs Bay and our community - to say it like it is.

In March 2004, I did see red.  The nightmare had followed me south, and
it was still so tacky and wrong.  Six weeks later, Graham
(whatever-it-takes) Richardson arrived on the scene with Lang Walker,
straight off the corporate jet and up to the eleventh floor for a
meeting with the Premier.

Mr Speaker, in four long years, the Premier did not agree to meet any
member of his electorate, the local community of Ralphs Bay, not once,
despite repeated requests from our group and others concerned with
protecting the Bay.

But, unlike the Queensland of my childhood, this time a community's
visceral determination to protect their coastline would not be denied.
And, this time, we were not politically alone.  At our side, those
Honourable Members from State and Federal Parliaments - and their hard
working staff - who are prepared to stand up for community and
conservation 

>From Day One, my new Green colleagues the Member for Franklin, Mr McKim
and the Tasmanian Greens, who have never let the Ralphs Bay community
down. Never. 

Equally, Senators Bob Brown and Christine Milne who have taken up the
cause of the shorebirds and the Spotted Handfish in Canberra, and in
Christine's case, internationally through the World Conservation Union;


My dear friend and former employer, the Federal Member for Denison, Mr
Duncan Kerr SC, whose patience, wisdom and practical support cannot be
overstated.  It says so much about the thoroughly decent person he is.


Again on behalf of Save Ralphs Bay Inc., I would like to thank the
forthright and fearless, retired Franklin MHR, Mr Harry Quick, who also
gave generously of time and resources; 

The former Liberal Senator and Senate President, Paul Calvert, who
supported the community in response to his small 'c' conservatism - that
which shuns undue excess - aided just a little, by the passionate
feelings of his wife and daughter.

Mr Speaker, while I am on the subject of the Liberals, I would like to
acknowledge the personal support the Honourable Member for Franklin, Mr
Hodgman, extended to Save Ralphs Bay.    

I appreciate it became harder to hold the line, within the Liberal Party
and its extended influences, but the Opposition Leader did try and
succeeded for a time ... before the 2006 State Election.

In my heart, I do not believe the Liberal Member for Franklin wants to
see Ralphs Bay destroyed by Walker Corporation.  

Save Ralphs Bay is also deeply grateful to the Independent Member for
Elwick, the very Honourable Terry Martin, who rightly identified the
Ralphs Bay issue as a matter of ethics, and said so.  

And who, along with the Member for Pembroke Ms Ritchie, and the Member
for Rumney, Ms Thorp, bucked the Premier and the party line, to work
with the overwhelming majority of Upper House Members to prevent the
very worst excesses of that odious abuse of legislative power - the
Ralphs Bay Conservation Area, so-called Clarification Bill 2006.

Mr Speaker, I remind Honourable Members that the 'Clarification' ...
Bill, was in fact an attempt by the Lennon Government - at the
developer's clear behest - to shrink the Ralphs Bay Conservation Area to
a tenth of its size.  

Working with the Environmental Defenders' Office, and our team of
lawyers, Save Ralphs Bay's Jane MacDonald worked day and night to prove
the Bill went against standard surveying practice.  It was a legal lie.

And, Mr Speaker, only four members of this House voted against the Bill.
Only the Greens in this place identified the sham that it was.

In the course of its investigations, I trust that the RPDC will see
sense, knock off the Walker Corporation Project of State Significance
because it is unsustainable and undesirable by every measure, and
ultimately restore and increase the Conservation Area as it has been
empowered to do.

___________________
 

So, Mr Speaker, I understand what it's like to have my home threatened,
my community tilted into stress and upheaval, our lives effectively put
on hold.  I empathise deeply with the people of the Tamar Valley who do
not want the Gunns' mill.

What was spun, at great public expense, as the World's Greenest Pulp
Mill has been exposed as a potential contaminant to the air we breathe
today, a guzzler of the northern community's water, a plunderer of our
old forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning Bass Strait.  

More log trucks on our roads, more carbon into the atmosphere and
habitat vanishing for such iconic species as the Tasmanian Devil, the
giant freshwater crayfish, and the awe-inspiring Tasmanian Wedge-Tailed
Eagle.

This nightmare was foisted upon Tasmania by Paul Lennon and John Gay,
their efforts made easier by every Member in both Houses who last year
voted for the fast-track, Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007.

It's time to listen.  Tasmanians are adamant they do not want this pulp
mill, in poll after poll.   We have spoken in our thousands more than
once ... on the streets, and on the coast, and via every Tasmanian media
outlet, as well as nationally and internationally.   And, from across
Australia, online through Get Up - whose support has been critical to
the campaign.

Mr Speaker, a strong Alliance has formed.  Its membership includes
Tasmanians Against a Pulp Mill, the Wilderness Society, Get Up, Lawyers
for Forests and Students, the Greens and others, standing with the local
community, with motivated souls from all over Australia to defend
Tasmania's future.

We are saying to Gunns and its backers that this island belongs to us.

______________________________

 
So, Mr Speaker, I have contemplated thanking Mr Lennon, and maybe Sir
Joh's departed soul for giving me the fire and fury to challenge the
myopia of greed that threatens our communities and our planet, but, that
would be going too far.  And, in truth, the good fire, the passion comes
from my parents, Shane and Colleen, who are here today.  

Mum and Dad - Thank you for your love, the lessons you gave us about
fairness and respect.  Dad, for your brilliant mind and the power of
your stories, your sense of social responsibility and your bleeding
heart.  Mum, for all of the above, and for your unyielding strength and
kindness.  How hard you worked to raise us and what sacrifices you
willingly made.

My mother and father did not fail to teach me the meaning of
responsibility.

Responsibility runs deep.

As Parliamentarians and as decent citizens, we have a responsibility to
those Tasmanians who are disempowered by circumstance, by the frailties
of body or mind, by poverty and all its attendant stresses and social
harm, by disability - intellectual or physical, ....or, by the sad fact
that they were never taught how to read.  

What prospects are open to young Tasmanians leaving school with some of
the poorest literacy standards in the nation?  

Mr Speaker, I commend the government for making literacy a priority.  As
leading economists point out, lifting literacy and public education
standards generally, is the foundation of addressing social inequality.

As Tasmanians, we must also do more for children being abused and
neglected - right now - in their own homes, if they have one.  For the
children who end up on the streets and grow up too soon.  

And we can do more for our elderly citizens, too many lonely and poor,
strangers to their fragmented communities. For the grandparents
struggling to find the means to pay for their grandchildren's upbringing
... surely as a society we have more to give to these Tasmanians?

There are many, many good people working their guts out, plenty not paid
or underpaid, doing all they can to make life brighter for disadvantaged
Tasmanians across all the social support services.

Mr Speaker, since being elected a Tasmanian Greens' MP, I have immersed
myself as wholly as humanly possible - just as my predecessor, Peg Putt
did with great commitment - in the life of Denison.  

I have been working hard to get on top of my policy brief.  There is of
course, so much more to learn.  In politics, as in life, the learning
never stops.

I've been out to Chigwell Community House, and Mission Australia's
Chigwell House, to Anglicare, National Disability Services, to TasCoss,
Bowen Road Primary School, Lower Sandy Bay Infants School and Claremont
College.  I have been privileged to meet the most fantastic people.

I've visited the Brain Injury Association, the Council on The Ageing,
and more recently, listened to John Ward, with his wrenching stories of
grandparents raising grandchildren on the proverbial pittance.  

I have listened, also, to the stories of migrants who come here from
places like the Sudan and Sierra Leone seeking a life without
persecution.

I have met so many inspiring people, and my work is only just begun.
But Mr Speaker, I have been hearing a consistent, pressing theme.
Across the health and human services, and in public education, the
system is under enormous strain. 

The Greens believe if more money is needed to protect vulnerable
Tasmanians, priorities must be changed in order to provide it.  The
money, the resources, the right people paid appropriately, a strategy
that works ... these all must be found.  

The same goes for our public schools and in public housing.  Mr Speaker,
I gladly acknowledge that some of the policy resetting in the last State
Budget is heading in the right direction, but the question of priorities
remains relevant. 

It's gone now of course, but the $35 million spent on Elwick racecourse
would have taken considerable strain off Tasmanians waiting for public
housing, and those who sleep on the streets at night.  So too, the tens
of millions in public subsidies handed over to Gunns in the form of
roads and dirt cheap timber, to name just two.

________________________

 
Mr Speaker, if a government priority causes harm, if a law or policy
perpetuates social or environmental injustice..... if it is wrong, if it
isn't working, then the Parliament has a duty to fix it. 

And, if there is compelling cause for Parliament to say sorry, to play a
vital healing role towards righting the wrongs of the past, then we must
do so.

Mr Speaker, I believe government must recognise that, ultimately,
responsibility for the health and welfare of Tasmanians rests with it.
Parliament has a crucial role to play in keeping it to account.

Governments might successfully outsource service provision to
non-government organisations who may well do a better job, but a
democratically elected government cannot be allowed to outsource
responsibility for the exercise of its policy.

It was policies implemented by previous Tasmanian governments that
ensured the miserable incarceration of mentally ill, physically and
intellectually disabled children in Willow Court, also known as the
Royal Derwent, until the New Norfolk institution's closure in the year
2000.

What happened to these people, deinstitutionalised back into a poorly
prepared community?  We should know, but we don't.  As with former Wards
of the State harmed in care, it is our responsibility to find out.

There are Tasmanians alive today, Mr Speaker, still traumatized by their
experience as young people in that unhealthy environment, hidden away -
subject to deprivations, abuse, neglect, even shock treatment.  

We must acknowledge that this trauma extends to the parents of these
broken children who are now broken adults. 

They were told by the State that the best place for their handicapped
kids, was Willow Court.   They were told the care these children
received at Willow Court would be better than what could be provided at
home.
            
How wrong that advice was.

Mr Speaker, I fear the victims of this profound duty of care failure,
would be voiceless but for the dedicated work of Margaret Reynolds and
National Disability Services, Tasmania.

In a recent submission to government, Margaret Reynolds called for a
Parliamentary Apology to the victims of Willow Court, and for the
establishment of a Joint Select Committee Inquiry to determine their
current status and unmet needs.

The Joint Selection Committee investigation would also be asked to use
the recognition of this terrible period of institutionalization, to
develop policies which protect the human rights of all Tasmanians living
with disabilities. 

As a Parliament and on behalf of the people of Tasmania - we can work
together to right a terrible wrong.  We can apologise to the children
and teenagers who were systematically abused and neglected, their human
rights grossly breached at Willow Court.

We can and should also apologise, in the Parliament, to the families of
those Tasmanians who have suffered a painful lingering guilt as a result
of an appalling, dispassionate government policy.  

They have a right to acknowledgement, to be heard and to be compensated.

Mr Speaker, I believe these are necessary steps towards a more just,
socially inclusive Tasmania.  

I look forward to working with Members to achieve these outcomes.  

I also very much look forward to serving with great care and respect,
the people of Denison.

In closing, Mr Speaker, I have saved one of the very best people in my
life to last, my husband, Stephen Lees.

Father and landscape painter extraordinaire, it is Stephen who tends the
home fires so we are cosy at night, who cooks meals full of love, who
tries to clean the tide of chaos, juggling a gaggle of children and an
activist wife.  

My husband makes it possible.   And he continues to create - now a
little slower than he'd like - the most evocative paintings, for it is
Stephen whose joy and wonderment in the Tasmanian landscape, opened my
own eyes wider to its beauty.  

Mr Speaker, Tasmania's is a sacred beauty, and I will defend it with all
my heart and courage, as the Greens' Member for Denison.

Ends.


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