1998-11-103911REPS101998-11-10Miscellaneous1The House met at 10.30 a.m. pursuant to the proclamation of His Excellency the Governor-General.The Clerk read the proclamation.Miscellaneous1The Usher of the Black Rod, having been announced, was admitted, and delivered the message that the Deputy of the Governor-General for the opening of the parliament desired the attendance of honourable members in the Senate chamber.Honourable members attended accordingly, and having returned—Miscellaneous1The Deputy authorised by the Governor-General to administer the oath or affirmation entered the chamber.The Clerk read the authority authorising the Hon. Anthony Murray Gleeson AC, Chief Justice of Australia, to administer the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the Queen re quired by the Constitution to be taken or made by members of the House of Representatives.Miscellaneous1The Clerk laid on the table duly endorsed returns to the writs for the election of members of the House of Representatives held on 3 October 1998.Miscellaneous1The following honourable members made and subscribed the oath or affirmation of allegiance:Abbott, Anthony John, Warringah, New South WalesAdams, Dick Godfrey Harry, Lyons, TasmaniaAlbanese, Anthony Norman, Grayndler, New South WalesAnderson, John Duncan, Gwydir, New South WalesAndren, Peter James, Calare, New South WalesAndrew, John Neil, Wakefield, South AustraliaAndrews, Kevin James, Menzies, VictoriaAnthony, Lawrence James, Richmond, New South WalesBailey, Frances Esther, McEwen, VictoriaBaird, Bruce George, Cook, New South WalesBarresi, Phillip Anthony, Deakin, VictoriaBartlett, Kerry Joseph, Macquarie, New South WalesBeazley, Kim Christian, Brand, Western AustraliaBevis, Archibald Ronald, Brisbane, QueenslandBillson, Bruce Frederick, Dunkley, VictoriaBishop, Bronwyn Kathleen, Mackellar, New South WalesBishop, Julie Isabel, Curtin, Western AustraliaBrereton, Laurence John, Kingsford-Smith, New South WalesBrough, Malcolm Thomas, Longman, QueenslandBurke, Anna Elizabeth, Chisholm, VictoriaCadman, Alan Glyndwr, Mitchell, New South WalesCameron, Ross Alexander, Parramatta, New South WalesCausley, Ian Raymond, Page, New South WalesCharles, Robert Edwin, La Trobe, VictoriaCostello, Peter Howard, Higgins, VictoriaCox, David Alexander, Kingston, South AustraliaCrean, Simon Findlay, Hotham, VictoriaCrosio, Janice Ann, Prospect, New South WalesDanby, Michael, Melbourne Ports, VictoriaDowner, Alexander John G, Mayo, South AustraliaDraper, Patricia, Makin, South AustraliaEdwards, Graham John, Cowan, Western AustraliaEllis, Annette Louise, Canberra, Australian Capital TerritoryElson, Kay Selma, Forde, QueenslandEmerson, Craig Anthony, Rankin, QueenslandEntsch, Warren George, Leichhardt, QueenslandEvans, Gareth John, Holt, VictoriaEvans, Martyn John, Bonython, South AustraliaFahey, John Joseph, Macarthur, New South WalesFerguson, Laurie Donald Thomas, Reid , New South WalesFerguson, Martin John, Batman, VictoriaFischer, Timothy Andrew, Farrer, New South WalesFitzgibbon, Joel Andrew, Hunter, New South WalesForrest, John Alexander, Mallee, VictoriaGallus, Christine Ann, Hindmarsh, South AustraliaGambaro, Teresa, Petrie, QueenslandGash, Joanna, Gilmore, New South WalesGeorgiou, Petro, Kooyong, VictoriaGerick, Jane Frances, Canning, Western AustraliaGibbons, Steve, Bendigo, VictoriaGillard, Julia Eileen, Lalor, VictoriaGriffin, Alan Peter, Bruce, VictoriaHaase, Barry Wayne, Kalgoorlie, Western AustraliaHall, Jill Griffiths, Shortland, New South WalesHardgrave, Gary Douglas, Moreton, QueenslandHatton, Michael John, Blaxland, New South WalesHawker, David Peter Maxwell, Wannon, VictoriaHoare, Kelly Joy, Charlton, New South WalesHockey, Joseph Benedict, North Sydney, New South WalesHollis, Colin Patrick, Throsby, New South WalesHorne, Robert Hodges, Paterson, New South WalesHoward, John Winston, Bennelong, New South WalesHull, Kay Elizabeth, Riverina, New South WalesIrwin, Julia Claire, Fowler, New South WalesJenkins, Henry Alfred, Scullin, VictoriaJull, David Francis, Fadden, QueenslandKatter, Robert Carl Ballermine, Kennedy, QueenslandKelly, De-Anne Margaret, Dawson, QueenslandKelly, Jacqueline Marie, Lindsay, New South WalesKemp, David Alistair, Goldstein, VictoriaKernot, Cheryl, Dickson, QueenslandKerr, Duncan James Colquhoun, Denison, TasmaniaLatham, Mark William, Werriwa, New South WalesLawler, Anthony John, Parkes, New South WalesLawrence, Carmen Mary, Fremantle, Western AustraliaLee, Michael John, Dobell, New South WalesLieberman, Louis Stuart, Indi, VictoriaLindsay, Peter John, Herbert, QueenslandLivermore, Kirsten Fiona, Capricornia, QueenslandLloyd, James Eric, Robertson, New South WalesMacFarlane, Ian Elgin, Groom, QueenslandMacklin, Jennifer Louise, Jagajaga, VictoriaMartin, Stephen Paul, Cunningham, New South WalesMay, Margaret Ann, McPherson, QueenslandMcArthur, Fergus Stewart, Corangamite, VictoriaMcClelland, Robert Bruce, Barton, New South WalesMcFarlane, Jann Sonya, Stirling, Western AustraliaMcGauran, Peter John, Gippsland, VictoriaMcLeay, Leo Boyce, Watson, New South WalesMcMullan, Robert Francis, Fraser, Australian Capital TerritoryMelham, Daryl, Banks, New South WalesMoore, John Colinton, Ryan, QueenslandMossfield, Frank William, Greenway, New South WalesMoylan, Judith Eleanor, Pearce, Western AustraliaMurphy, John Paul, Lowe, New South WalesNairn, Gary Roy, Eden-Monaro, New South WalesNehl, Garry Barr, Cowper, New South WalesNelson, Brendan John, Bradfield, New South WalesNeville, Paul Christopher, Hinkler, QueenslandNugent, Peter Edward, Aston, VictoriaO'Byrne, Michelle Anne, Bass, TasmaniaO'Connor, Gavan Michael, Corio, VictoriaO'Keefe, Neil Patrick, Burke, VictoriaPlibersek, Tanya Joan, Sydney, New South WalesPrice, Leo Roger Spurway, Chifley, New South WalesProsser, Geoffrey Daniel, Forrest, Western AustraliaPyne, Christopher Maurice, Sturt, South AustraliaQuick, Harry Vernon, Franklin, TasmaniaReith, Peter Keaston, Flinders, VictoriaRipoll, Bernard Fernando, Oxley, QueenslandRonaldson, Michael John Clyde, Ballarat, VictoriaRoxon, Nicola, Gellibrand, VictoriaRudd, Kevin Michael, Griffith, QueenslandRuddock, Philip Maxwell, Berowra, New South WalesSawford, Rodney Weston, Port Adelaide, South AustraliaSchultz, Albert John, Hume, New South WalesSciacca, Con, Bowman, QueenslandSecker, Patrick Damien, Barker, South AustraliaSercombe, Robert Charles Grant, Maribyrnong, VictoriaSidebottom, Peter Sid, Braddon, TasmaniaSlipper, Peter Neil, Fisher, QueenslandSmith, Stephen Francis, Perth, Western AustraliaSnowdon, Warren Edward, Northern Territory, Northern TerritorySomlyay, Alexander Michael, Fairfax, QueenslandSouthcott, Andrew John, Boothby, South AustraliaSt Clair, Stuart Roy, New England, New South WalesStone, Sharman Nancy, Murray, VictoriaSullivan, Kathryn Jean Martin, Moncrieff, QueenslandSwan, Wayne Maxwell, Lilley, QueenslandTanner, Lindsay James, Melbourne, VictoriaTheophanous, Andrew Charles, Calwell, VictoriaThompson, Cameron Paul, Blair, QueenslandThomson, Andrew Peter, Wentworth, New South WalesThomson, Kelvin John, Wills, VictoriaTruss, Warren Errol, Wide Bay, QueenslandTuckey, Charles Wilson, O'Connor, Western AustraliaVaile, Mark Anthony James, Lyne, New South WalesVale, Danna Sue, Hughes, New South WalesWakelin, Barry Hugh, Grey, South AustraliaWasher, Malcolm James, Moore, Western AustraliaWilkie, Kimberley William, Swan, Western AustraliaWilliams, Daryl Robert, Tangney, Western AustraliaWilton, Gregory Stuart, Isaacs, VictoriaWooldridge, Michael Richard Lewis, Casey, VictoriaWorth, Patricia Mary, Adelaide, South AustraliaZahra, Christian John, McMillan, VictoriaMiscellaneous4410001CLERK ASSISTANTThe Clerk—Honourable members, the next business is the election of a Speaker.4McArthur, Stewart, MPMr McARTHURVH4CorangamiteLP10—It is with great pleasure that I propose to the House for its Speaker the honourable member for Wakefield, Mr Andrew. I move:That the honourable member for Wakefield do take the chair of this House as Speaker.10001CLERKThe Clerk—Is the motion seconded?NV5FORRESTMr Forrest—It gives me great pleasure to second the motion moved by the member for Corangamite that the member for Wakefield be the Speaker of this House.10001CLERKThe Clerk—Does the honourable member for Wakefield accept the nomination?HE4ANDREWMr Andrew—Mr Clerk, I accept the nomination.10001CLERKThe Clerk—Is there any further proposal? There being no further proposal, the time for proposals has expired. I declare that the honourable member proposed, Mr Andrew, has been elected as Speaker.UNKNOWNHonourable membersHonourable members—Hear, hear!4Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER (Hon. Neil Andrew)10000PON/A10—I wish to express my grateful thanks for the high honour the House has been pleased to confer upon me.Mr Speaker having seated himself in the chair—11:22:004Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—Mr Speaker, can I, on behalf of the government—and I know that I will speak perhaps on this one occasion on behalf of the entire House—extend very warm congratulations to you. The House has made an excellent choice. You are a person who is widely regarded in this House. You are regarded as a person of deep commitment to your electorate, a person who deals honestly and candidly with people. You bring to the office of Speaker a long parliamentary history, having entered the parliament in the 1983 election as the member for Wakefield. You have previously served as Chief Government Whip and in a variety of other positions within the coalition parties.The position of Speaker is a very important one. It is a difficult role. The robust nature of political debate in the Australian tradition ensures that it will always be a difficult role. Let me say, on behalf of the government, that we will support very much any attempts you make to bring greater civility and dignity to the proceedings of the parliament. We naturally expect robust debate. It is the Australian tradition, and people who imagine that you can have debates in this parliament that are free of very strong and on occasions acrimonious exchange are misunderstanding completely the character of this chamber. But I do think there is within the Australian community a desire, where appropriate, for higher levels of civility in parliamentary behaviour. I have a responsibility and the members of the government have a responsibility to contribute to that. The Leader of the Opposition has a responsibility and the members of the opposition have a responsibility to contribute to that.You come to this very high office, this very important political and parliamentary office, with one very great commodity, and that is that you have the respect of your colleagues. Respect is the golden commodity in public life, and you bring to this office that golden commodity. It is an excellent start. I congratulate you. It is properly a great source of great personal satisfaction to you and your family. I wish you well. You will do it well. You will have our goodwill and you will have our support.11:25:005Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEYPE4BrandALP00—Mr Speaker, can I join the Prime Minister in congratulating you and agree with almost everything that the Prime Minister said in the remarks that he made. He did speak on this occasion for the whole House; I speak on this occasion for the largest party in this House.WI4REITHMr Reith—But you didn't win the election.PE4Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEY—We are pleased to see you in that position. The reasons why we chose not to oppose you were many and varied. Not least of the reasons was because of the parliamentary service to which the Prime Minister referred. It is always pleasing to those of us who have been in this parliament for a while, and I suspect too for those who recently joined it, to see somebody who is diligent in his or her work in the House, who represents the parliament effectively on parliamentary delegations, who devotes themselves to detailed committee work, who has the understanding of his peers that allows him to be appointed to a position such as Chief Government Whip, being accorded the high office of Speaker ultimately as an accolade and an indication of confidence that that person knows the procedures of the House and the spirit of the place, and knows the attitudes, the foibles, the difficulties and the problems that are going to beset a person in that office. We have confidence that you understand all those things. That, as I said, is one of the reasons that we chose not to oppose you.We also, however, note that you come with a chequered background in terms of your predecessors in relation to the last chamber. It was the Prime Minister's earnest good faith at the beginning of the last parliament to see an independent Speaker emerge. We on this side of the chamber still share that desire, but it is yet to be demonstrated as far as the other side is concerned. You will recollect, no doubt, the stands we were obliged to take in defence of Speaker Halverson at different points of time. We do note that, despite all his vicissitudes and the fact that he found it impossible to sustain his independence to the end, at least he has ended up as Ambassador to Ireland. It reminded me of Disraeli on his elevation to the peerage after long service in the House of Commons. One of his colleagues asked him what it felt like being elevated to the peerage and he said, `Well, I am dead; dead, but in Elysian fields.' I suspect the same applies to Mr Halverson now.There has, of course, been another Speaker since that point of time, a Speaker whom many of us liked but who got to that position not necessarily because of a decision to uphold the independence of the place. His fate was to lose a preselection in the course of it. Those are the two precedents before you on independence.On the other occasion when I congratulated a Speaker here, I quoted the words which we all know in this chamber from the person who actually defined the role of speakership in the Westminster system, Speaker Lenthall. When Speaker Lenthall sat in parliament and the king's men approached him and asked for the whereabouts of a number of recalcitrant members of parliament, he responded, `I have neither eyes to see nor mouth to speak nor ears to hear except as the parliament directs me.' He was a courageous definer of the office at a point of time when there was no clear-cut division between the executive and the parliament and no clear determination of the rights of the two in relation to each other—it was, indeed, about to be tested in civil war. I looked into Speaker Lenthall, understanding that you would be here, to see how he ended up after all those years of diligent definition. He ended up dead, basically. The king's men finally got him. He was accused unfairly of being a regicide. I thought it was worth quoting from his confession to the Vicar of Whitney, who was later Bishop of Chichester. He said:I confess, with Saul, I held their clothes while they murdered him; but herein I was not so criminal as Saul was; for God, Thou knowest! I never consented to his death; I ever prayed and endeavoured what I could do against it; but I did too much. Almighty God, forgive me!He then went on to say:Three things are especially laid to my charge, wherein indeed, I am too guilty: that I went from the Parliament to the army; that I proposed the bloody question for trying the King; and that I sat after the King's death.He goes on to talk about Presbyterians. However, given the church service that we held this morning, it would not be appropriate for me to quote that, but he did say this:For the second no excuse can be made, but I have the King's pardon, and I hope Almighty God will show me his mercy also. Yet, sir, even then, when I put the question—that was the question on the king's death—I hoped the very putting the question would have cleared him, because I believed four for one were against it; but they deceived me also.That is an important lesson on comprehending the numbers in the House before you put a question before us. He goes on:To the third I make this candid confession, that it was my own baseness and cowardice and unworthy fear to submit my life and estate to the mercy of those men that murdered the King, that hurried me on, against my own conscience, to act with them, yet then I thought also that I might do some good and hinder some ill.He did indeed establish a proud record but was less proud in his death. He asked that there be only one inscription on his tomb when he departed and it was the inscription `Vermis sum'. I am no Latin scholar—in fact, I know no Latin at all—but I am told by those who are that that means, `I am a worm.'That is, however, not to be your fate. In one sense it is to be the fate of all of us, but in another sense I do not think it is to be your fate as Speaker in this chamber.Let me say in conclusion: we accept the view that you stand here as an independent arbiter of proceedings here and that it is the duty of us all to assist you in that charge. We note, too, the fate of those who have been before you and we will be encouraging the government, as the Prime Minister admonished and encouraged us, to ensure that you have every protection of that independence. We note that there were some innovations in relation to supplementary questions and the brevity of answers: we regard those innovations, of course, as the test of true independence.11:33:006Fischer, Tim, MPMr TIM FISCHERDG4FarrerNP10—As the federal Leader of the National Party of Australia I join in congratulating you on your election to the high office of Speaker. The unanimous election of a new Speaker is a great way to start the 39th Parliament and we wish you well in that challenging role.You come from South Australia—you are proud of that fact—and you follow in the footsteps of some very colourful former members of this parliament, including one former Speaker, Archie Cameron, who was at one stage a member of my party and at other stages a member of a raft of groupings. He was a very colourful Speaker. I do not necessarily recommend that you follow in those footsteps; I simply take the opportunity to wish you well.I know the retired member for New England and former Speaker, who is on the floor of the chamber at this historic moment, would want me to impart his congratulations to you as we salute the service that he gave as Speaker in the closing stages of the 38th Parliament. It is a challenging job, as all the occupants of your chair have found over the years. We congratulate you on your election.I recall vividly the proximity we had to share in an experience which had its moments when we travelled on the MV Icebird as part of an inspection of Antarctica by the Joint Committee on Public Works many years ago. We spent three or four weeks in the one cabin as we travelled down to Casey base and back. There was no problem in our cabin; the problem was from the adjoining cabin occupied by Gary Nehl when he flooded us out one night. Mr Speaker, congratulations and good luck.11:35:007McArthur, Stewart, MPMr McARTHURVH4CorangamiteLP10—Mr Speaker, as your proposer, I add my congratulations on behalf of all your friends and supporters from Wakefield and your family. This is a historic moment in this parliament—you have been elected Speaker without another candidate. Like you, I have been here some 14 years and that has not taken place before in my time in this House. So that speaks well of your impartiality and the respect in which you are held by both sides of this House and augurs well for your speakership.As the member for Wakefield, you bring to the parliament many qualities. We all note your free trade credentials that Bert Kelly would be so pleased you have brought to this House. Of course, you will now be impartial on those matters. You bring a sense of good cheer and a sense of humour. You are a man of honour and principle and, Mr Speaker, I wish you well for a long and distinguished career in your post as Speaker.11:36:007Hawker, David, MPMr HAWKER8H4WannonLP10—Mr Speaker, I join with the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Prime Minister and my good friend the member for Corangamite in congratulating you on your election, particularly on being unopposed. I join in supporting you with some of the comments from the Prime Minister. They are very appropriate—you are someone of honesty and integrity who has the respect of all members of this chamber. I have no doubt that you will indeed carry your position with dignity and with civility. The words of the Prime Minister, when he spoke of the responsibility of all members to help in upholding the standards of this chamber, certainly should be heeded by all members. There is no doubt that you as Speaker will give a lead, but I am sure that all members realise that there is a responsibility on us to support that.It is a very special occasion, particularly as the opposition chose not to nominate someone. That augurs extremely well for your future. It is also very special to me, because of some personal connections, to have the member for Wakefield as Speaker. I think you will do great dignity to the electors of Wakefield.While the Leader of the Opposition is to be commended on his support and on the fact that the opposition chose not to nominate someone, it was unfortunate that he then chose to make some critical remarks of your two predecessors. That was a little unfortunate, particularly considering the new Speaker has not even had the opportunity to demonstrate the great skills that he will bring to the job. Again, I congratulate you. I am sure you will do a truly outstanding job.11:38:007Nehl, Garry, MPMr NEHLAE4CowperNP10—I rise to offer you my heartfelt congratulations. I indicate to the House that, while I was unopposed in the party room, I will be opposed later this afternoon—but of course, like you, I will win. Anticipating events later this day, I know we will work together as a very effective team.4T4MELHAMMr Melham—It has got nothing to do with ability.AE4Nehl, Garry, MPMr NEHL—Daryl, I can still make that appointment for you. Mr Speaker, congratulations. I am delighted that you have the position and I look forward very much to working closely with you in the ensuing parliament.7Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER10000PON/A10—I seek the indulgence of the House to respond to the gracious remarks made by the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Corangamite, the member for Wannon and the member for Cowper.Honourable members, when Speakers come to the chair with some historic reluctance many people think it is simply feigned, but let me tell you, as someone who stands here now with a great deal of trepidation, that it is not entirely feigned. You do me a great honour in inviting me to take this chair and electing me to it, but with that goes an enormous responsibility. With the help of all of you, I hope I can discharge that responsibility effectively.I want to respond to the gracious remarks of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Prime Minister. I also want to thank the member for Mallee for his preparedness to second my nomination. The member for Mallee and I are electoral neighbours. We have shared many mutual issues and mutual representations to various ministers and I have been grateful for his friendship.I single out the member for Corangamite for special mention. Let me tell those who have come to this chamber and been sworn in to the 39th Parliament for the first time today—with sentiments that will be shared, I believe, by the member for Corio—that you can ask for no more fearless advocate than the member for Corangamite. The member for Corangamite will be honest with you whether you like it or not. He has this remarkable ability of ensuring that people continue to respect him while he is being brutally honest with them. I say to the member for Corangamite that, in this office and in this chair, I will need that quality and that friendship more than I have needed them at any other time in the past 14 years.I also seek your indulgence to make a personal observation or two. My family is in the gallery. All who know me will know that, but for the support of my wife Carolyn and our three children, but for the affection that they continue to shower on me no matter what I pursue, and but for the constant reassurance that she gives to the four of us, I would not be here and the family would not be the cohesive unit that it is. On this public occasion, I express our appreciation, particularly to her.UNKNOWNHonourable membersHonourable members—Hear, hear!10000Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—I do not have a monopoly on happy family life. It is something that most of you are grateful to have experienced at some time and to be experiencing now. Nor do I have a monopoly on the security of having parents who were committed to each other and who surrounded all of us in the family with love and affection. I suspect, however, that I share with the Prime Minister and with the Leader of the Opposition the reality of being a child of the 1950s who grew up with the traditional Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch in the Andrew house was always either fried parson or fried politician, depending on how the sermon had run two hours earlier. I grew up steeped in some sort of philosophic tradition, as I know both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did, and as most of you did as well.Frankly, we come into this place with a great deal more in common than we have dividing us. All too frequently what the public sees is the political divide rather than the aspirations and the hope for all Australians that we share in common. As the Prime Minister alluded to, I will be seeking a great deal more civility in the House. It is inevitable that when at least two opposing political perspectives meet there will be tensions and heated debate. That is entirely responsible and defensible. What is totally indefensible and intolerable, and what the standing orders do not allow, is the sort of scorn and derision that sometimes emerge in the heat of the moment. I abhor scorn and derision. I intend to reinforce the standing orders to ensure that those characteristics do not emerge in the 39th Parliament.I ran through all the comments that other Speakers had made and found that on this occasion they had exercised their right to much the same sentiments as I have expressed. Friends, let me indicate that it is not possible to raise the standards of this parliament unless we all genuinely desire that it should happen, unless there is peer group pressure to help make it happen, and unless as individuals we exercise some discipline, mutual respect and individual restraint.As I come into this chair, I want to acknowledge a very happy coincidence. The first occupier of the chair of the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the history of the Parliament of Australia in 1901 was Sir Frederick William Holder, who was also the member for Wakefield. I consider it a very fortunate coincidence that, at the end of this century, I should be occupying this chair as the present member for Wakefield. South Australia has had a proud tradition of members occupying this chair. As has been mentioned, Mr Makin, Mr McLeay and Mr Cameron have all been in this chair.I have had the opportunity in 15 years in this place to witness the speakership of former Speakers Jenkins, the father of the member for Scullin; Child; McLeay; and Martin. I want to acknowledge their role in exercising an impartial judgment as Speakers of the parliament. But I want particularly to focus on the speakership of friends of mine, former Speakers Halverson and Sinclair. As the deputy whip I worked closely with Speaker Halverson. I know him well and I believe we would all join in wishing him every success and a long retirement, and express an appreciation for the role he played in this parliament.Honourable members, we are here today for a unique glimpse of history because this is the first time that any one of us has sat in this chamber without the presence on the benches of the member for New England, the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair. Can I say to Ian and to his wife Rosemary: you will be sorely missed in this chamber, Ian. Your role as the Speaker was appreciated. You brought to this chair a unique presence that no-one else can quite hope to repeat. We will miss you enormously and I hope the reforms you so courageously instigated can be continued.Honourable members, it is a privilege to be elected as the Speaker of this chamber but it is an even greater privilege for all of us, me included, to be here representing electors from 148 electorates across this country. I resolve to do all I can to fairly uphold the standing orders so that those people who have elected you and me will know that they have a voice in this place without fear or favour.Miscellaneous911:46:009Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—Mr Speaker, I have ascertained that it will be His Excellency the Governor-General's pleasure to receive you in the Members' Hall immediately after the resumption of sittings at 2.30 p.m.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Prior to my presentation to His Excellency this afternoon, the bells will ring for five minutes so that honourable members may attend in the chamber and accompany me to the Members' Hall when they may, if they so wish, be introduced to His Excellency.Sitting suspended from 11.48 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.Mr Speaker and honourable members proceeded to the Members' Hall, and having returned—10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—I have to report that, accompanied by honourable members, I proceeded to the Members' Hall and presented myself to His Excellency the Governor-General as the choice of the House as its Speaker, and that His Excellency was kind enough to congratulate me.Miscellaneous99Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER10000PON/A10—His Excellency also presented to me an authority to administer to members the oath or affirmation of allegiance. I now lay the authority on the table.Miscellaneous9The Usher of the Black Rod, being announced, was admitted, and delivered a message that His Excellency the Governor-General desired the attendance of honourable members in the Senate chamber.Mr Speaker and honourable members attended accordingly, and having returned—Ministerial Arrangements915:45:009Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—I have the honour to inform the House that, following the election held on 3 October 1998, in which the coalition was returned, the Governor-General commissioned me to form a government. The ministry was appointed on 21 October. I understand that a document giving details of the ministry will be included in the Votes and Proceedings and Hansard . The document is a list of ministers and the offices they hold. It shows those ministers who comprise the cabinet and provides details of representation arrangements in each chamber. It also shows the parliamentary secretaries that I have appointed.The document read as follows—HOWARD MINISTRY TitleNameOther Chamber Prime Minister The Hon John Howard, MPSenator the Hon Robert HillMinister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Senator the Hon John HerronThe Hon Philip Ruddock, MPMinister Assisting the Prime MinisterThe Hon Wilson Tuckey, MPParliamentary Secretary to CabinetSenator the Hon Bill Heffernan Minister for Trade (Deputy Prime Minister) The Hon Tim Fischer, MPSenator the Hon Robert HillParliamentary Secretary (Trade)The Hon Larry Anthony, MP Minister for Foreign Affairs The Hon Alexander Downer, MPSenator the Hon Robert HillParliamentary Secretary (Foreign Affairs)The Hon Kathy Sullivan, MP TreasurerThe Hon Peter Costello, MPSenator the Hon Rod KempAssistant TreasurerSenator the Hon Rod KempThe Hon Peter Costello, MPMinister for Financial Services and RegulationThe Hon Joe Hockey, MPSenator the Hon Rod Kemp Minister for Transport and Regional ServicesThe Hon John Anderson, MPSenator the Hon Ian MacdonaldMinister for Regional Services, Territories and Local GovernmentSenator the Hon Ian MacdonaldThe Hon John Anderson, MP Minister for the Environment and Heritage (Leader of the Government in the Senate) Senator the Hon Robert HillThe Hon Mark Vaile, MPParliamentary SecretaryThe Hon Sharman Stone, MP Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Senator the Hon Richard AlstonThe Hon Peter McGauran, MPMinister for the Arts and the Centenary of Federation (Deputy Leader of the House)The Hon Peter McGauran, MPSenator the Hon Richard AlstonParliamentary Secretary (Manager of Government Business in the Senate)Senator the Hon Ian Campbell Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business (Leader of the House) The Hon Peter Reith, MPSenator the Hon Richard AlstonMinister for Employment ServicesThe Hon Tony Abbott, MPSenator the Hon Richard Alston Minister for Family and Community Services Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Status of Women Senator the Hon Jocelyn NewmanThe Hon Warren Truss, MPMinister for Community ServicesThe Hon Warren Truss, MPSenator the Hon Jocelyn Newman Minister for DefenceThe Hon John Moore, MPSenator the Hon Jocelyn NewmanMinister Assisting the Minister for DefenceThe Hon Bruce Scott, MPMinister for Veterans AffairsThe Hon Bruce Scott, MPSenator the Hon Jocelyn NewmanParliamentary SecretarySenator Eric Abetz Minister for Health and Aged CareThe Hon Dr Michael Wooldridge, MPSenator the Hon John Herron Minister for Aged CareThe Hon Bronwyn Bishop, MPSenator the Hon John HerronParliamentary SecretarySenator the Hon Grant Tambling Minister for Finance and AdministrationThe Hon John Fahey, MPSenator the Hon Chris EllisonSpecial Minister of StateSenator the Hon Chris EllisonThe Hon John Fahey, MPParliamentary SecretaryThe Hon Peter Slipper, MP Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs (Vice-President of the Executive Council) Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service The Hon Dr David Kemp, MPSenator the Hon Chris EllisonParliamentary SecretaryThe Hon Trish Worth, MP Minister for Industry, Science and ResourcesSenator The Hon Nick MinchinThe Hon John Moore, MPMinister for Sport and Tourism Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Sydney 2000 GamesThe Hon Jackie Kelly, MPSenator the Hon Nick MinchinParliamentary SecretaryThe Hon Warren Entsch, MP Attorney-GeneralThe Hon Daryl Williams, AM QC MPSenator the Hon Amanda VanstoneMinister for Justice and CustomsSenator the Hon Amanda VanstoneThe Hon Daryl Williams, AM QC MP Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and ForestryThe Hon Mark Vaile, MPSenator the Hon Richard AlstonMinister for Forestry and ConservationThe Hon Wilson Tuckey, MPSenator the Hon Robert HillParliamentary SecretarySenator the Hon Judith Troeth Minister Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Minister assisting the Prime Minister for Reconciliation The Hon Philip Ruddock, MPSenator the Hon Amanda VanstoneParliamentary SecretarySenator the Hon Kay PattersonEach box represents a portfolio. Cabinet Ministers are shown in bold type . As a general rule, there is one department in each portfolio. Except for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the title of each department reflects that of the portfolio minister. There is also a Department of Veterans Affairs in the Defence portfolio.ZD4Howard, John, MPMr HOWARD—Mr Speaker, I would also like to inform the House that the honourable member for Ballarat has been appointed Chief Government Whip and that the honourable members for Corangamite and Forde have been appointed government whips.Miscellaneous1215:46:0012Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEYPE4BrandALP00—Mr Speaker, I have the honour to inform the House that the Parliamentary Labor Party has elected me as its leader and the honourable member for Hotham as deputy leader. The honourable member for Watson has been appointed Chief Opposition Whip and the honourable members for Port Adelaide and Maribyrnong have been appointed opposition whips. I understand that a full list of my shadow ministry will be included in Hansard .The document read as follows—SHADOW MINISTRYHon Kim C Beazley MP Leader of the OppositionHon Simon Crean MP Deputy Leader of the Opposition Shadow TreasurerSenator the Hon John Faulkner Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shadow Minister for Public Administration and Government Services Shadow Minister for Olympic Coordination and the Centenary of FederationSenator the Hon Peter Cook Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Shadow Minister for TradeHon Arch Bevis MP Shadow Minister for Industrial RelationsSenator the Hon Nick Bolkus Shadow Minister for Environment and HeritageHon Laurie Brereton MP Shadow Minister for Foreign AffairsSenator Stephen Conroy Shadow Minister for Financial Services and RegulationSenator Chris Evans Shadow Minister for Family Services and the AgedHon Martyn Evans MP Shadow Minister for Science and ResourcesLaurie Ferguson MP Shadow Minister for Defence Science and Personnel Shadow Minister for Forestry and ConservationMartin Ferguson MP Shadow Minister for Employment, Training and PopulationJoel Fitzgibbon MP Shadow Minister for Small Business and TourismCheryl Kernot MP Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Regional ServicesHon Duncan Kerr MP Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs Shadow Minister for the ArtsHon Michael Lee MP Shadow Minister for EducationSenator Kate Lundy Shadow Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs Shadow Minister Assisting the Shadow Minister for Industry and Technology on Information TechnologyRobert McClelland MP Shadow Attorney-GeneralSenator Sue Mackay Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local GovernmentHon Bob McMullan MP Shadow Minister for Industry and Technology Manager of Opposition BusinessJenny Macklin MP Shadow Minister for Health Shadow Minister for Status of WomenHon Stephen Martin MP Shadow Minister for DefenceDaryl Melham MP Shadow Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Shadow Minister for ReconciliationGavan O'Connor MP Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and ForestrySenator the Hon Chris Schacht Shadow Minister for Veterans Affairs Hon Con Sciacca MP Shadow Minister for Immigration Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader of the Opposition on Multicultural AffairsStephen Smith MP Shadow Minister for CommunicationsWayne Swan MP Shadow Minister for Family and Community ServicesLindsay Tanner MP Shadow Minister for FinanceKelvin Thomson MP Shadow Assistant TreasurerOTHER ELECTED OFFICERSHouse of RepresentativesHon Leo McLeay MP, Chief Opposition Whip and Deputy Manager of Opposition Business (with the status of a Parliamentary Secretary)Bob Sercombe MP, Opposition WhipRod Sawford MP, Opposition WhipSenateSenator Kerry O'Brien, Senate Opposition WhipSenator John Quirk, Deputy Senate Opposition WhipSenator Kay Denman, Deputy Senate Opposition WhipAPPOINTED SECRETARIESAnthony Albanese MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Family and Community ServicesAlan Griffin MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for HealthBob Horne MP, Parliamentary Secretary to Shadow Minister forRegional Development, Infrastructure, Transport and Regional ServicesMiscellaneous1415:47:0014Fischer, Tim, MPMr TIM FISCHERDG4FarrerNP10—Mr Speaker, I have the honour to inform the House that the parliamentary party of the National Party of Australia has elected me as its leader and the honourable member for Gwydir as deputy leader. The honourable member for Mallee has been appointed Chief National Party Whip and the honourable member for Hinkler as National Party Whip.Bills14r59214Bill presented by Mr Howard, and read a first time.Ordered that the second reading be made an order of the day for the next sitting.Governor-General's Speech1414Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER10000PON/A10—I have to report that the House this day attended His Excellency the Governor-General in the Senate chamber, when his Excellency was pleased to make a speech to both houses of the parliament. I have received a copy of the speech, which will be incorporated in Hansard for record purposes.The speech read as follows—Honourable Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia:IntroductionOn the third of October, the Australian people re-elected the government and renewed its responsibility for managing the nation's affairs in the interests of all Australians.The government presented the Australian people with a clear set of goals for Australia into the next century, and a detailed strategy for achieving them.The government's priorities for its second term derive directly from those goals and that strategy. They are priorities aimed at realising Australia's unrivalled potential in the twenty-first century through building a stronger Australian economy and a fairer Australian society.They are priorities which provide incentives for individuals and enterprises to succeed within a framework of a strategic but limited role for government.They are priorities centred on stronger families, stronger workplaces and stronger communities.The government's priorities balance fairness and incentive—promoting innovation, choice, opportunity and competition at the same time as ensuring compassion and care for those in genuine need.They are priorities which maximise the potential of Australia's position at a unique intersection of history, geography, economic opportunity and cultural diversity.They are priorities clearly focussed on delivering practical and beneficial outcomes for all Australians.Above all, the government is committed to implementing the priorities for its second term on the basis of its unequivocal commitment to the Australian values of decency, openness, tolerance and a fair go for all.Economic challengesThe government is committed to enhancing our national economic performance and providing a policy framework in which more jobs are created and the living standards of Australians are improved.The government's sound economic policies have been crucial in minimising the impact of the Asian financial crisis.The Australian economy has continued to grow rapidly in the last 12 months despite the financial turmoil in our region and the slide into recession that has been experienced by many of our major trading partners.The Australian economy is forecast to remain one of the best performing in our region, and is expected to grow faster than most of the world's major advanced economies over the next two years.The financial turmoil that initially affected a number of Asian economies has spread more widely in recent months. It directly affects Australia's interests. That is why the government has been an active participant in international efforts to contain the crisis, minimise its impact, and provide support for countries in our region afflicted by it. The government will pursue these objectives in APEC and other international forums to advance Australia's broad national interests.Australia's interests are also affected by the recent high level of instability in international financial markets. The government has therefore assumed, and will continue to assume, an active role in efforts to reform and strengthen the international financial system.To ensure the best possible input from both the public and private sectors on what is a vital national interest for Australia and the greatest economic challenge facing the international community, the government has established a task force on international financial issues which combines the expertise of senior public and private sector representatives. It will report by the end of 1998.The stability of the Australian financial system is testimony to the underlying strength of our economy and the world-class reforms to the financial system introduced by the government in its previous term.The government will continue to actively develop and promote Australia as a regional financial centre. The demonstrated stability of our financial system and the incentives created by the government's new tax system will be important factors in achieving that objective.A new tax systemThe government has made it clear that reform of Australia's taxation system is the single most important item of unfinished business in building an economic infrastructure that will enable Australia to compete and prosper in an increasingly competitive world economy.The government has strengthened Australia's economic foundations and enhanced our international competitiveness through a policy framework that has delivered sound fiscal management, low interest rates, low inflation, effective workplace relations reforms and high levels of business investment.Tax reform will build on, and complement, these achievements.The government went to the Australian people in the last election with a plan for a new tax system that will provide the basis for stronger, more sustainable economic growth, higher productivity, more jobs and higher living standards.The government will move quickly to put its bold new plan in place.The new tax system will dramatically reduce the taxation burden on Australians. It will slash business costs, thereby creating scope for more jobs growth. It will reduce fuel excise by around $3.5 billion a year. It will ensure that tax cheats and tax avoiders pay their fair share of taxation by reducing opportunities to operate in the cash economy. It will improve incentives to work and save. And it will be simple and transparent.Under the government's new tax system there will be: . personal income tax cuts totalling over $13 billion from July 2000;. cuts in income tax rates for about 95 per cent of all individual taxpayers so that around 81 per cent of all taxpayers will face a marginal tax rate of no more than 30 per cent, compared with only 30 per cent of taxpayers now;. reductions in business costs of over $10 billion a year, and in particular reductions of $4.5 billion a year in the costs facing Australian exporters;. a $2 billion family package, including a simplification of the assistance provided to families to make it easier for them to understand and access their entitlements;abolition of provisional tax; and. an up front increase in income support payments so that the aged and other pensioners are more than compensated for the price impact of tax reform.The government's new tax system will modernise the financial basis of Australia's federal system as it prepares to enter its second century. The states and territories will receive all of the GST revenue to replace the most burdensome and inefficient state and federal taxes, as well as the existing Financial Assistance Grants. As a result, the states and territories will have a secure and growing source of revenue to fund essential public services in the future.The end result of the government's reform plan will be a world class taxation system which delivers fair and equitable outcomes for all Australians, and which enhances Australia's economic prospects into the next century.Reform in a community contextWhile the government is determined to maintain the impetus of economic reform to expand Australia's opportunities in an increasingly competitive world, it will continue to be sensitive to community concern, particularly in regional Australia, about the impact and pace of change. It fully recognises the need to ensure that the benefits of reform are fairly shared and that adjustment costs are taken into account in framing policies.Reforms are not ends in themselves. The government's commitment to strategic objectives such as a more productive economy, more effective markets, greater competitiveness and fiscal responsibility is a means to achieving faster jobs growth, more opportunities, rising living standards and a more competitive and dynamic Australia. This commitment is underpinned by the government's strong support for a fair and decent society, including an effective social safety net. Jobs and the workplaceThe government will maintain its efforts to generate strong and sustained jobs growth through sound economic policies and fiscal management, workplace relations reforms, and initiatives to support small business and strengthen the competitiveness of Australian businesses generally.The creation of the Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business portfolio emphasises the importance of the right workplace relations framework and a dynamic small business sector in securing future jobs growth.The Workplace Relations Act will be amended to include the promotion of youth employment as one of its objectives, and provide for junior wage rates on a continuing basis to protect youth employment.Legislation to reduce the burden of unfair dismissal laws, including the exemption of small businesses from the unfair dismissal provisions of the Workplace Relations Act, will be introduced in the parliament at the earliest opportunity.The government's workplace relations reforms will continue to build on the principles of a direct and simplified relationship between employers and employees, a fair go for all, and genuine freedom of association.The government will also continue to pursue a better system of delivering job services for all Australians. The provision of assistance for the long-term unemployed will remain a priority along with ensuring appropriate assistance for young people, indigenous people and people in rural and regional areas.The Job Network is an important and successful initiative, focussed on performance and results, for helping disadvantaged unemployed people to compete effectively for jobs. It will continue to be developed to achieve better outcomes for job seekers.Measures to remove barriers to self-support and create work incentives through the income support and tax systems will be implemented. The government will build on the success of its mutual obligation programs including an expansion of the Work for the Dole program. Ensuring that young people remain connected to the community and develop job skills continues to be a key priority for the government.Our future generationEducation and training are fundamental to achieving our vision for Australia in the twenty-first century. Skills and knowledge of the highest order are essential to maximise job opportunities for Australians in the future and to underpin innovation, technology and competitiveness in Australian enterprises as they compete in the global economy. The government will work to ensure that all young people, whatever their career aspirations, will have access to a strong basic educational grounding and a quality pathway from school to further training and employment.The government will provide additional resources to improve literacy and numeracy standards in all schools and to boost the National Asian Languages Program. It will upgrade funding for schools within the Catholic education system to address identified cost pressures. Furthermore, the government willsupport a Quality Teacher Program to improve teachers' skills and lift the status of teaching in schools.The government will build on the reinvigoration of the traineeship and apprenticeship system achieved during its first term by boosting new apprenticeships in rural and regional small businesses.Higher education policy will focus on expanding access and improving the quality of teaching and research.Families and the communityFamilies will again be a key priority for the government in its new term. This is particularly reflected in the $2 billion package of enhanced family measures in the government's new tax system.The government is committed to increasing opportunities for families to build on and strengthen their own resources and networks of support. The new Family and Community Services portfolio, by drawing together—for the first time—the many different programs of assistance provided to families, will play an important role in achieving this outcome.The new portfolio recognises the central role of families within communities and will assist in developing partnerships between communities, community organisations, business and governments to tackle problems identified at the local level and to strengthen networks of support within communities.Helping families under pressure before they reach the point of crisis is important for the quality of life of families, and for avoiding the consequential costs of family breakdown including youth homelessness, drug addiction, suicide and crime.In its second term, the government will maintain its momentum on the fight against illicit drugs, and will continue to implement its Tough on Drugs initiatives which attack the demand for drugs through education, rehabilitation and active community involvement. These efforts will be backed up with great vigour by effective law enforcement measures to reduce the supply of illicit drugs.The government will build on its achievements for women, with special focus on opportunities for economic independence. It will work to assist women re-entering the workforce after a break for parenting or caring responsibilities, and address the health needs of women, including those in rural and remote areas.1999 is the International Year of Older Persons. This will heighten recognition of the enormous contribution older Australians make to the community and the economy. Through the National Strategy for an Ageing Australia, the government will continue to consult the community about the policies and programs which will help older Australians to meet their needs into the next century. The government has made important reforms to ensure the long-term sustainability of aged care services and to improve choice and access to services, including allowing people wherever possible to be cared for at home if they wish. Where residential care is the best option, the government will ensure it is affordable and of a high quality.The government will continue to strengthen the security of veterans and war widows by heightening recognition of their service and improving health and financial assistance. The commemoration program will be boosted to ensure that veterans' courage and sacrifice are honoured and that our proud history is celebrated.HealthThe government will work to improve the health and medical care of all Australians under the Medicare framework.The government is committed to a balanced health system, and to strengthening both the public and private sectors. It is moving quickly to promote the role of private health insurance with the introduction of a 30 per cent rebate on insurance contributions as part of its tax reform package. This initiative—designed to take effect in just over seven weeks on 1 January 1999—will be supported by measures to help funds to keep costs and premiums down, while offering a broader and more attractive range of products to private health insurance clients.The government will work with the states and territories under the new Australian Health Care Agreements to continue to improve the efficiency and quality of services in public hospitals. A major focus will be to ensure that Australians living in rural and remote areas have access to high quality health services.Addressing the huge disparity in the health of our indigenous people will continue to be a priority for the government. Indigenous people need to be able to access good local primary health care services at a level more commensurate with their high level of health need. Regional AustraliaThe government is strongly committed to rural and regional Australia, and recognises the hardships which country people have endured in recent times. The new ministry now has a Transport and Regional Services portfolio, headed by a senior cabinet minister, to focus specifically on the needs and concerns of country Australia.The government's new tax system will contain significant boosts for regional and rural Australia, particularly through the $3.5 billion per year reduction in the cost of fuel.The government will help strengthen the economic and social fabric of rural and regional areas. Priority will be given to establishing Rural Transaction Centres in smaller rural towns as a means of restoring access to services lost over more than a decade. An injection of funding for road, rail, telecommunications and environmental infrastructure, and for flood mitigation, will also deliver substantial benefits to regional Australia.Transport and industry policyAn efficient and integrated transport sector is vital to underpinning economic growth, creating investment and export opportunities, and providing services to people in both urban and regional Australia. The significant reduction in the cost of fuel to all businesses provided under the government's new tax system reflects that priority.The government will continue the revitalisation of the rail industry, including by facilitating major projects such as very high speed train links, and is providing additional funds to improve our road network. The government will maintain a strong, efficient and safe aviation sector, and will address the issues of a second airport for the Sydney region and management of aircraft noise. It will also continue to address issues in the maritime sector to deliver the benefits of a viable Australian shipping industry and a more productive waterfront.The government is committed to the development of industries of the future. Partnership with industry will be strengthened through the development of action agendas in key industries, including biotechnology.Communications and information technologyImproved communications and continuing advances in information technology are fundamentally changing the way we work, live and socialise. To ensure that Australians fully realise the extraordinary potential of these advances in terms of job-creating and other opportunities, the government has established a new portfolio of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts to secure effective information technology cohesion and co-ordination within the Federal Government, and maximum co-operation with other levels of government and industry.In the area of communications, the first priority is the sale of a further share of the government's equity in Telstra. This will bring benefits to Australian taxpayers by paying off public debt and reducing interest payments. There will also be other benefits through initiatives funded by the further sale to improve communications infrastructure and reduce disparities between services to urban and non-urban Australia.The government will continue to boost competitive pressures in the telecommunications sector to ensure better services to consumers.As promised before the election, the government will establish an independent inquiry into Telstra's service levels around Australia. Unless and until that inquiry certifies that service levels are adequate, the further sale of Telstra beyond majority government ownership will not be permitted.The approach of the millennium gives pause to consider the critical influence that information technologies will have on economic performance in the twenty-first century. These technologies are already an integral part of Australians' lives and are a key driver of economic and employment growth. Priority will be given to implementing a national strategy for the information economy and continued efforts to address the Year 2000 computer problem.The environmentThe government remains committed to the ecologically sustainable development of our natural resources for the benefit of all Australians.The government will enact the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Bill as a matter of priority to put in place a streamlined and more effective environment approvals process, and to establish, for the first time in our environmental history, a genuinely integrated approach to biodiversity conservation.The Natural Heritage Trust is now in its third year of operation and represents an unprecedented national commitment to the continued protection of our unique natural environments. The government will build on the proven success of the Trust, and will provide an additional $250 million from the second phase of the sale of Telstra.Australia also has one of the largest and most diverse ocean resources in the world. The government will finalise a national oceans policy that will bring together the interests of all governments, industry groups and the broader community.Australia and the WorldThe first responsibility of government is to provide for the security and defence of the nation and its people. The government will ensure that the Australian Defence Force maintains its capability during a period of great strategic change in our region.The government will strengthen key alliance relationships and expand defence links in the Asia Pacific in order to contribute effectively to regional and international security.The government's commitment to engagement with Asia is unequivocal. So is its determination to strengthen Australia's profound and enduring links with the United States and Europe.The government will work hard at all levels— bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally—to pursue Australia's trade liberalisation objectives and to increase market access for Australian exporters.In our region, the government remains committed to working closely with Indonesia as that country moves forward with its economic recovery and political reform programs. The government will also maintain strong support for the Papua New Guinean Government in its efforts to achieve lasting peace on Bougainville.The government's aid program will continue to focus on poverty alleviation and sustainable development in the region. The government will also continue to promote human rights and democratic institutions, and to ensure greater involvement of the Australian community in the aid program.Australia and the new millenniumThe government will conduct a constitutional referendum by the end of 1999, so that the Australian people can decide whether or not Australia will become a republic. As the Constitutional Convention in February 1998 demonstrated, the nation can debate this issue in an open and constructive manner.In 2001, Australia will celebrate an historic milestone—100 years of nationhood. The Australian achievement is an extraordinary one worthy of great pride and genuine celebration. It will be a time to recognise the benefits of our unique Australian values, our economic stability, the rule of law and our proud record in both defending and promoting freedom. The centenary celebrations provide a great opportunity for Australians to take stock and look forward to a confident, harmonious and prosperous new century of national achievement.As we approach the new millennium and our Centenary of Federation we also face the challenge of reconciliation between indigenous and other Australians.The government will work to achieve the goal of reconciliation over the next two years. It will do so in the knowledge that the great majority of Australians want true reconciliation to be achieved and will support a co-operative approach to achieve that outcome.The government continues to believe in the importance of achieving practical outcomes for indigenous Australians—particularly in terms of improvements in their health care, their education, their housing and their job opportunities. In its second term, therefore, the government will be looking to secure ongoing progress in these key areas.ConclusionThe strategy to which the government is clearly committed, and the priorities and goals which it has set, directly relate to the challenges which Australians face as we prepare to enter the twenty-first century.In implementing its plan for a stronger Australia, the government recognises the clear responsibilities with which it has been charged by the Australian people. Its driving purpose will continue to be the fulfilment of those responsibilities in a way that achieves practical benefits for all Australians and that enhances Australia's national interest in a unifying way.19Motion (by Mr Howard) agreed to:That a committee, consisting of Mr C.P. Thompson, Mr Secker and the mover, be appointed to prepare an Address-in-Reply to the speech delivered by His Excellency the Governor-General to both houses of the parliament and that the committee report at a later hour this day.Sitting suspended from 3.49 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.Miscellaneous191919Neville, Paul, MPMr NEVILLEKV5HinklerNP10—I move:That Mr Nehl be appointed Deputy Speaker.SD4CADMANMr Cadman—I second the motion.19Griffin, Alan, MPMr GRIFFINVU5BruceALP00—I move:That Mr Jenkins be appointed Deputy Speaker.5K6ELLISMs Ellis—I second the motion.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—The time allowed for nominations has expired.17:02:0019Neville, Paul, MPMr NEVILLEKV5HinklerNP10—I have pleasure in nominating Garry Barr Nehl, the member for Cowper, for the position of Deputy Speaker. Before entering this place in 1984, the member for Cowper led a wonderfully full life which undoubtedly prepared him for the rigours ahead. He has been a racon teur, journalist, author, grazier, newspaper proprietor, editor, publisher, town alderman and long-serving and distinguished member. Those are just some items from his curriculum vitae.The member for Cowper is well known to all of us here as a most capable orator devoted to his committee work, and a conscientious and formidable representative of his electorate's needs within the National Party. Anyone who had anything to do with the Pacific Highway needs no convincing of that.The member for Cowper has been a member of this House since 1984. During that time he has been Deputy Chairman of Committees, a member of the Speaker's Panel and Deputy Speaker for the 38th Parliament. He has served on no fewer than 12 standing, joint standing and statutory committees of the parliament and has represented the parliament on five important delegations. In addition, he has been the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the National Party, Deputy National Party Whip in the 36th Parliament and National Party Whip in the 37th Parliament.I raise these points, Mr Speaker, to demonstrate that outside the ministry there is probably no-one in the parliament, other than yourself, better equipped to assist you in maintaining the high standards and behaviour that the Prime Minister, and I have no doubt the people of Australia, desire to see of this House.I echo your own comments this morning, Mr Speaker: we do not need, nor do the people of Australia need, the scorn and derision associated with this place. I am sure the member for Cowper, a passionate advocate for his own electorate, would be the first to commend passionate advocacy for the House. Nevertheless, he has demonstrated in the last parliament an ability to be forceful, deliberate and fair on the one hand and urbane, counselling and witty on the other.On the basis of his parliamentary performance, service to the House and demonstrable skills in mediating debate, I commend the member for Cowper to the House as the person best equipped to aid you, Mr Speaker, in your quest to maintain the efficient management and integrity of the parliament.17:05:0020Cadman, Alan, MPMr CADMANSD4MitchellLP10—Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment and endorse the remarks of my colleague.Mr Melham interjecting—SD4Cadman, Alan, MPMr CADMAN—The member for Cowper has 15 years experience in this parliament and for the last 10 years of those 15 has been dealing with problems of the parliament, including those caused by the honourable member for Banks.I know that the member for Cowper feels passionately about the parliament, its administration and the cause of democracy. He is committed to, and absolutely enthusiastic about, the proper running of the parliament, a fair go for everybody and the full democratic process. I have great pleasure in seconding the motion.17:06:0020Griffin, Alan, MPMr GRIFFINVU5BruceALP00—Mr Speaker, I take this opportunity to also congratulate you on your ascension to high office and wish you all the very best in what is a difficult task. I hope you can last longer than your two immediate predecessors—in terms of, simply, this term, but obviously, of course, longer.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—I remind the member for Bruce that he is speaking to the motion on the nomination of Mr Jenkins.VU5Griffin, Alan, MPMr GRIFFIN—I want to endorse the candidacy of Harry Jenkins, the member for Scullin. I have known Harry for over 10 years now, and his brother before him, in other walks of life that I have been involved in. I have certainly found him to be a very genuine person—a person who has been an honest broker in the affairs of the Labor Party that I have been involved in. He has certainly exhibited a great deal of impartiality and a capacity and experience in the running of this House which certainly exceeds that of the other candidate, in this case the member for Cowper, who is, I admit, also a worthy candidate.The choice today I think is quite clear. Harry Jenkins, with his experience as Deputy Chair of Committees and then as Deputy Speaker between 1993 and 1996 and Second Deputy Speaker in the last parliament, has a great deal of experience. When you look at his performance in these roles over time he has shown a capacity to be able to do the job more than fairly.I am a bit worried about moving this particular motion. I am from the Victorian SL and I lose a lot of ballots, so I am not sure I am quite the right person. It probably does not augur well in terms of the overall result on this occasion. But one thing is for sure: this one is going to be a hell of a lot closer than the last one.As for the member for Cowper, I suspect he may succeed on this particular occasion. I certainly look forward to supporting him in the next parliament, if he is still here, for Second Deputy Speaker.17:07:0021Ellis, Annette, MPMs ELLIS5K6NamadgiALP00—Mr Speaker, may I also offer my congratulations to you on your appointment as Speaker of the House, and I offer you my best wishes.It is my pleasure and honour to second the motion that the honourable member for Scullin, Mr Jenkins, be appointed Deputy Speaker. On seconding this motion, what is uppermost in my mind is the requirement that the position be filled by a member who is well qualified and in whom we have confidence that they are capable of carrying out this important role in an appropriate and deserving way.The member for Scullin has created for himself an enviable record in this House since he became a member in 1986 at a by-election. Since then, he has been successfully returned to office on five occasions and has held an impressive number of positions in those parliaments. He has worked on more than nine different committees over various periods, some as chair, and he has served as Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker, as well as ably representing this parliament and this country on parliamentary delegations and visits.While much of this service occurred prior to my time here, my experience of working, both in this chamber and on committee work, with the member for Scullin has given me an appreciation of the ability and dedication to the task at hand that he continues to display. He also has a wonderful sense of humour—something we all need to display occasionally. I well understand why the member for Scullin is held in high regard by members on both sides of this House.This morning I was interested to hear the member for Cowper refer to the fact that he fully expects to win the ballot this afternoon. That may well be the case. However, I strongly support the motion that the honourable member for Scullin be appointed Deputy Speaker. I take this opportunity to remind the member for Cowper and his colleagues—in a friendly fashion—that the outcome this afternoon will be much closer than it was last time and that it will in no way reflect the outcome we can expect next time.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—In accordance with the standing orders, the bells will be rung and a ballot will be taken.The bells having been rung and a ballot having been taken—10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Order! The result of the ballot is: Mr Jenkins 66 votes; Mr Nehl 79 votes. Mr Nehl is appointed Deputy Speaker and Mr Jenkins will be the Second Deputy Speaker.17:24:0021Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—On behalf of the government I would like to extend my congratulations to the member for Cowper. The member for Cowper has served in this position in the past. He has done so with enormous dedication and great professionalism. He is a robust parliamentarian. He commands authority in the chair. You always hear him, you always know what his rulings are and he is very dedicated to the task. I think he is an excellent person to fill this position, and I think the combination of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker that the parliament has chosen today is an excellent combination.I say to the member for Scullin that my congratulations to the member for Cowper are in no way critical or reflect in a negative fashion on his own candidature. You are a person who is very conscientious when you are in the chair and you conduct yourself in a very fair-minded fashion. You do command some respect on this side of the House for that. In the nature of things, I felt on balance that the member for Cowper should command my vote. I reflected on it for a moment, it hung in the air for a few minutes and, in the end, Harry, I decided to go for my friend the member for Cowper. But no offence meant. You were a worthy opponent. We wish you well as the opposition candidate for Deputy Speaker for years into the future. I congratulate the member for Cowper.17:25:0022Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEYPE4BrandALP00—I congratulate the member for Scullin and the member for Cowper on their continued presence as Deputy Speakers in this chamber. Both of them grace that office and both of them are experienced chairs of this parliament. But, of course, my heart was with the Second Deputy Speaker as opposed to the first in this instance, and he has experienced both those positions. Heart and vote go together on this occasion.Harry Jenkins is a graceful occupant of the chair. It is in the breeding, basically, in this particular instance. I well remember his father in the chair as our first Speaker with a lengthy period of time in office. He had an interesting expression which he used to extend to both sides of the House: `You're not helping the chair.' It is a very old-fashioned reading of standing orders that the principal duty of a member of parliament when entering this chamber is to assist the chair. Whether or not honourable members help the chair, Harry Jenkins has proved himself a most effective occupant of it. He has many of the attributes that you yourself have. In fact, Mr Speaker, that wealth of parliamentary experience, that solid commitment, is there to make all the various parts of the parliamentary process work, and a deep love and affection for the forms and status of the House. He will, as he has done in the past, do remarkably well in this position.His counterpart, who is at this stage of the game the first Deputy Speaker, will no doubt continue in exactly the shape and form that he has managed over the last little while. The best thing—not the best thing; that is a patronising and dreadful thing to say—or one of the useful things about the fact that you have taken on those responsibilities is that we will not all get bored to tears about the Antarctic. You seem to have developed another interest in life, and it is all to the good that that is the case. But we wish you well in the position.17:27:0022Fischer, Tim, MPMr TIM FISCHERDG4FarrerNP10—As federal Leader of the National Party of Australia, I congratulate the member for Cowper especially. I have had a very good and close working relationship with the member for Cowper over the years. I know he will meet the challenges of this position once more with great dignity and with great professionalism.To the member for Scullin, my congratulations also. It has been a pleasure to know your father and you in the various roles that you have performed as members of this House, particularly in your roles as the Second Deputy Speaker and head of the second chamber or Main Committee, as it is referred to in the standing orders.I make the point that the family of the member for Cowper—and, I think, the family of the member for Scullin—are in the galleries. To the families of all of those elected today I extend a degree of sympathy because the schedules and commitments associated with these high offices are very demanding on those families. We salute the contribution that you make, including the wife of the member for Cowper, Sue Nehl. We wish the families well as they carry the burden associated with those who are on the front bench or, indeed, in any of the presiding officer positions associated with both houses of this parliament.22Mr SPEAKERMr SPEAKER10000PON/A10—I seek the indulgence of the House as the Speaker to congratulate both the member for Cowper and the member for Scullin. I have worked with them both in the past and look forward to working with them now and in the future.17:29:0022Nehl, Garry, MPMr NEHLAE4CowperNP10—Mr Speaker, thank you very much indeed for your congratulations. I also thank the Prime Minister for his very kind comments and the Leader of the Opposition. It may well be true, Kim, that there are not as many motions about Antarctica as there used to be, but the interest is abiding. I noticed that the Leader of the National Party this morning made some reference to our visit to Antarctica in 1986 with Mr Speaker. I hasten to say that the flooding of the ship did not sink it; it was merely the toilet that misfired. Actually, I did have a cabin mate who was a Finnish engineer, and I think it was he who made the mistake.I would also like to say to the Leader of the Opposition that he forgot the Pacific Highway when he was commenting on what I normally speak about at great length and frequently. The Pacific Highway is an endearing and continuing occupation for me to make sure that the expenditure continues.I do want to say thankyou to the Prime Minister, to the Leader of the Opposition and to my very good friend Tim Fischer, the Leader of the National Party, for their congratulations.As for my nominator and seconder, I say to those of my friends on the other side who suggested that I may have written the speech delivered by the member for Hinkler that, if I had, it would have been much more moderate. I thank him and the member for Mitchell for their very kind words and I thank the House for the honour which it has bestowed on me. I note that both the member for Bruce and the member for Canberra were pleased, in their speeches nominating the member for Scullin, to also say kind words about me, and I thank them for that.I remember well at this point in the last parliament that the member for Scullin said that this was the only time he went up for an election knowing that he was going to lose but, in so losing, winning what he was going to get anyway. That is the way the standing orders are. I say to Harry Jenkins that I, for one, am delighted that we will be working together again. Along with Mr Speaker, we will be a very good team indeed. I endorse all of the nice things said about Harry Jenkins by his colleagues in the opposition. He is indeed an excellent occupant of the chair. His father, of course, was an excellent Speaker. I was very pleased and proud to have the opportunity of serving in this House under the speakership of Harry Jenkins Sr. I say to all of you that Harry Jenkins will probably also end up being Speaker of this place a long time in the future.I want to comment very briefly on the words used by my nominator and seconder. They both used the word `passionate'. I am passionate about democracy. I can recall the very first time I entered the chamber, when I was very much younger than I am now, and my blood tingled. It still does, because this is the absolute representation of freedom and liberty. We all are charged with the wonderful responsibility to maintain that for Australia and as an example for the world. I am very, very privileged and honoured to be elected by the House to the position of Deputy Speaker, and I thank the House.17:32:0023Jenkins, Harry, MPMr JENKINSHH4ScullinALP00—Standing order 13 is a wonderful standing order. It is, of course, the standing order that covers the election of the Deputy Speaker and allows for the person who gets the second highest number of votes to achieve the position of Second Deputy Speaker. But whilst I am comforted by standing order 13, I am much more comforted by the fact that the result on this occasion was a darned sight closer than on the last occasion.I was a bit worried when the honourable member for Mitchell made a person's ability to control the honourable member for Banks part of the selection criteria for Deputy Speaker. Back in 1993, when I was able to win a ballot against the honourable member for Cowper for Deputy Speaker, I have to admit, for those who do not realise it, that the honourable member for Banks was my proposer. On that occasion I did warn those who were my greatest urgers that they would not get any special dispensation from me when I was in the chair. For the honourable member for Banks, I want to indicate to the chamber that that continues.I say to the honourable member for Cowper that I am pleased that he has again been the nominee of the National Party to be Deputy Speaker. I look forward to continuing to work with him. I thank the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and, more importantly, the Leader of the Opposition for their gracious words on the occasion of my re-election as the Second Deputy Speaker. I thank the honourable members for Bruce and Canberra for their gracious and valiant attempts to try to get for me a majority of votes. I appreciated their support in this attempt by me to become Deputy Speaker.Mr Speaker, may I offer you my sincere congratulations. I have had the opportunity to work with you in different capacities—whilst you were a member of the Speaker's Panel and in other capacities around the chamber. I understand your great interest in what happens in this place and your great understanding not only of the standing orders but of the traditions and the atmosphere in which occupants of the chair operate. Sometimes it is very difficult to look strictly at the black and white of the standing orders and to implement them in the fairest way. I think people should understand that, in a way, the standing orders support the attempts of what the majority in this place are trying to do, whilst at the same time trying to protect the rights of the minority. That is a very difficult task.It is often dependent upon the ability of the occupant of the chair to do things that are within perhaps not the words of the standing orders but the traditions of this place. I know that you will be able to bring to your high office the types of attributes which will ensure that you are able to endeavour to make this place operate in a most efficient way, to operate in the way in which the Australian community would expect, to operate—to use your words—with a great degree of civility.Condolences242417:36:0024Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—I move:That the House expresses its deep regret at the death on Saturday, 24 October 1998, of the Honourable Charles Edward (Ceb) Barnes, member of the House of Representatives for the Division of McPherson, Queensland, from 1958 to 1972, Minister for Territories from 1963 to 1968 and Minister for External Territories from 1968 to 1972, places on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious service, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. Charles Edward Barnes was born on 13 November 1901 at Einasleigh, Queensland, therefore dying close to his 97th birthday. Ceb was educated in Sydney. His family moved to their Canning Downs property near Warwick in 1917. He left school in 1918 aged 17 and gained employment with the Union Trustee Company.Ceb bought the Canning Downs property from his father after World War II and lived there until his death. Canning Downs is a horse stud where Ceb and his family have bred fine race horses including Tails who, on his third attempt, finished third in the 1971 Melbourne Cup. In fact, Ceb credited one horse, Basha Felika, the 1951 Caulfield Cup winner, with winning him an election when his constituents found out that he owned him.During World War II, Ceb served in the Royal Australian Air Force. He enlisted in 1942 and was discharged in 1944, having reached the rank of Flying Officer, after serving in Australia and New Guinea.Ceb was elected as the Country Party member for McPherson in 1958. His maiden speech to the House was full of praise for the farming industry in Queensland. He remarked on how Queensland had gone from importing flour to growing some of the best wheat in Australia and how Queensland had changed from relying solely on its mining industry to sustaining a thriving agricultural sector. His parliamentary career was distinguished, serving for 14 years in the parliament, eight of which as a minister.Ceb's association with New Guinea did not end with his war service but continued through this parliamentary duties. As Minister for External Territories, he will be remembered for his dedication to the economic and political development of Papua New Guinea and its progress toward self-government. He had responsibility for a difficult and controversial portfolio which would have tested any minister, but he discharged those duties with great honour and distinction.During his 14 years in this parliament he contributed to the work of parliamentary committees. He was a member of both the Select Committee on Voting Rights of Aborigines and the Select Committee on Griev ances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve. He also attended the inauguration of the Papua and New Guinea House of Assembly in 1964 and led a parliamentary delegation to the South Pacific in 1971.He retired from federal politics in 1972 and returned to Canning Downs and to his love of horse breeding. He has been quoted as saying that he gained so much from his years in parliament that he would not have missed them for anything, but in the end was a farmer at heart. He will be remembered by those who worked with him as a man of integrity, dignity and honesty, and he had many other virtues as well.On behalf of the government, I extend to his wife Barbara, his daughters Patricia and Jill, his son John and their families our deep sympathy, our respect for the contribution he made as a member of parliament and to his nation and our bereavement on his passing.17:41:0025Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEYPE4BrandALP00—I would like to join the Prime Minister in his remarks and his expression of condolences to Ceb Barnes's family. It is one of the valuable things in my life to have had a parent in parliament because it enabled me to meet a number of the people who, unfortunately, we are now farewelling. Ceb Barnes was one of those people. I met him on a large number of occasions and that was because my father had, from our side of the House, so much business with Ceb Barnes.It is impossible now to imagine the parliaments of the 1950s and 1960s, given the focus of parliaments these days. These days parliaments focus intensely on social and educational policy in particular, on management of the economy and on employment programs. These are the things which dominate the affairs of parliament and really form a post-Whitlam era focus.The parliaments of the 1950s and 1960s focused enormously on defence, on territories and on pensioners. There were five defence ministers until 1972 and one of the most powerful positions in the country was the Minister for External Territories. The Minister for External Territories ran Papua New Guinea—which was really a nation in itself; it became a nation shortly after Ceb Barnes ceased to be the Minister for External Territories—and the level of control over the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory was much more intense than it is now. The Minister for External Territories effectively ran two states.No more sensitive set of relations did Australia have than those with the emerging nation of Papua New Guinea. It happened to be an interest of my father's. He got to know Ceb Barnes before he got that position because they served together on two of the critical committees in terms of changing race relations in this country: the Voting Rights of Aborigines in 1961 and the Select Committee on Grievances of Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve in 1963. Ceb Barnes was not quite the ranking member from the government on those committees; my father was from the opposition.Ceb Barnes had a reputation in relation to race relations which did not please editorialists or necessarily people on our side of the House. He had what was for many people a very old-fashioned view of affairs. He always had, my father tells me, the enormous value of great courtesy, a willingness to listen and an ability to set aside what might have been views that he began his life with in order to comprehend what was being put to him. My father's recollection of him on those two committees was of enormous courtesy to the Aboriginal witnesses who appeared.The Aboriginal witnesses were, of course, appearing for the first time ever before parliamentary committees. There was no set form or fashion for those appearances—committees were few and far between in parliament in those days—and there was from Ceb Barnes an enormous personal courtesy which allowed ease of presentation of evidence at that time.He then became the Minister for External Territories, a very powerful position. In that position, he succeeded Paul Hasluck, who had really made it his own portfolio for more than a decade. He was not, it might be said, popular in that position either with our side of the House or with the Liberal Party, but he was strongly defended in that portfolio by McEwen who insisted that he should be sustained in it when Menzies got annoyed with him and then insisted that he should be elevated to the cabinet—it was a slightly different National Party.He had his critics but none could fault his willingness to listen and the courtesy with which he conducted himself in the positions he held. My father had a deep interest in New Guinea and wrote a foreword to Ceb Barnes's biography—really in gratitude for the relationship he had with him at the time. When a crisis would emerge from time to time, my father was able to communicate to Ceb whatever was being communicated to him and get a response. He cites an occasion when an extremely difficult situation had developed on Rabaul. The potential was there for quite a systematic riot among some thousand Toli people—all armed with machetes—and the Pacific Islands Regiment was in the process of being deployed to quell it. Many were concerned about the possibility of a bloodbath. The Prime Minister had given authority for force to be used. Again, reflecting the extent of the power of the Minister for External Territories, Ceb Barnes effectively stayed a prime ministerial order—he had that level of local control. In the process, he delayed any intervention by the military. A storm took care of the ardour of the politics on the occasion, and nothing untoward emerged.He was criticised for his handling of the portfolio, but it has to be said that, in the time he held the portfolio, spending on Papua New Guinea trebled, the first steps were made towards the creation of a more powerful parliament in the Northern Territory and in Papua New Guinea. From his record, nothing would suggest that he necessarily highly valued a great reputation for statesmanship or that he regarded his parliamentary career as necessarily the primary of his pursuits. Nevertheless, because of the way in which he conducted himself and the portfolios he held, he left a substantial mark on Australia's political history. With the Prime Minister, I extend condolences to his family on his passing.17:48:0026Fischer, Tim, MPMr TIM FISCHERDG4FarrerNP10—It reflects another era that Charles Edward Barnes entered parlia ment at the age of 57 and stepped down from parliament at the age of 71. Having entered parliament at the age of 57, he had the privilege of serving in cabinet and in the ministry for some eight years of his 14 years as a member of the federal parliament. I commenced politics at the age of 24 in another parliament, and there are many on both sides of the House who are commencing their first day formally in the House of Representatives at much younger ages. I wish them well. I do not think we will see an era again where someone enters parliament at the age of 57 and has the privilege of serving eight years as a minister of the Crown—so much fundamental change has taken place in the decades since that time.I did not know Charles Edward Barnes—or Ceb Barnes, as his initials led everyone to call him—that well, although I did meet him on two occasions, I think. But he was undoubtedly a gentleman. As Kim Beazley Sr wrote, he was a gentleman to his fingertips. He reflected a dignity about the purposefulness of being a representative for the seat of McPherson and a dignity about the purposefulness of being a minister of the Crown—for Territories and then External Territories. He carried that dignity throughout his career in politics, as an engineer involved in the mining industry in the northern part of Queensland, in his horse breeding after he left politics, and in a range of other activities pursued over the decades of his long, illustrious life.In terms of his war service, he did not start too well. Landing at Townsville airport in a crosswind, he elected to use the wrong runway—not the one the tower had directed him to. It was just at the build-up towards Pearl Harbour—there were a lot of US aircraft in the area, and the arrangements for radio control were not all that adequate. He managed to do what is called a ground loop upon landing. But as a consequence of doing that ground loop he headed directly at a newly arrived US aircraft, the crew of which had still not got out after arriving a couple of minutes earlier. There was almost a total collision and wipe-out. But Ceb, having hung on grimly and managed to just miss the American aircraft, got out and shook hands with them, as you would imagine that he might do. You could imagine the exchange.He went on from that to serve in Australia and in New Guinea, and had the privilege of then helping to fashion the way ahead for independence and the early years of independence of our northern neighbour. Ceb Barnes is well regarded around Papua New Guinea. He is well regarded around Queensland. I am pleased to see Don McDonald and Ray Braithwaite, who have been directly involved with him over the years, in the gallery on this occasion. He was committed, dedicated, determined and, as such, a parliamentarian who made a contribution which was above average and one which would be well recognised and is well recognised by this motion today. I have much pleasure in extending a salute to Ceb Barnes on this occasion and in extending sympathy to Barbara and members of the Barnes family.17:50:0027Neville, Paul, MPMr NEVILLEKV5HinklerNP10—In speaking today to this condolence motion, I would like to mention that the current member for McPherson, Margaret May, would like to have spoken on this motion but could not do so because she has not yet made her first speech. I hope I can convey the sentiments which I am sure she would wish to convey regarding a predecessor in the seat. I grew up in the Warwick district in the electorate of McPherson. The 39 new members who took their oaths of office or their affirmations this morning could learn a great deal from Ceb Barnes. I certainly did.In those days, McPherson stretched from the Gold Coast to Inala in Brisbane across the Fassifern valley to Warwick and Stanthorpe. It was a very diverse seat. I can remember as a teenager and junior delegate to the Country Party going to meetings at Boonah and Beaudesert in the back of his old green Rover car. Even in those days, when the young Labor movement, the young Liberals and the young Country Party, as it was then, were emerging—with some trepidation, I might add, from the senior hierarchy of those parties—Ceb Barnes was a mentor for young people in politics.Ceb was a true Australian. He always exhibited those most appealing characteristics of the Australian country gentleman. He was resourceful and passionate. He had a self-deprecating sense of humour. He had ingenuity, modesty, dignity and a great sense of community obligation and compassion for his fellow man. He was offered a knighthood but declined it because he believed he had been remunerated for public office, and I understand that his family declined a state funeral for the same reason. He was an ingenious mechanic, a handy schoolboy boxer, a world traveller, a skilled pilot—or not quite so skilled if the Deputy Prime Minister is correct—a successful goldminer, an innovative farmer, an accomplished racehorse breeder, a genuine philanthropist, an outstanding politician and an excellent minister.Ceb Barnes was a minister in the Menzies, Holt, Gorton and McMahon governments, and he proved to be somewhat of a visionary. As the Prime Minister said, he served as Minister for Territories from 1963 to 1968 and then as Minister for External Territories until his retirement in 1972. He oversaw Papua New Guinea's path to independence and was often criticised—I believe wrongly, as recent events in that country have demonstrated—for not hurrying the process. He believed it was not something that should be imposed on the people of Papua New Guinea but was something that should evolve and that they should work towards.Not an ambitious man, he was reluctant at first to accept the Country Party nomination when the then federal Treasurer Arthur Fadden—or Artie Fadden, as we knew him—offered it to him. I was in the Warwick Town Hall the night that Artie Fadden handed over to Ceb Barnes, and his speech was memorable, like all Artie Fadden speeches were memorable. He had his speech notes marked in different colours and, in the middle of the presentation, he got them mixed up. He then, on the stage of the Warwick Town Hall, flicked them out into piles, restacked them—with his backside to the audience the whole time—never missed a beat, turned around and went on with his speech. That was the night he introduced Ceb Barnes as his successor. Ceb Barnes represented the electorate until 1972, as the Prime Minister said. He was famous for his racehorse Tails and it was interesting that his retirement in 1972 was the same year that he turned Tails out to stud at Canning Downs.I last saw Ceb Barnes on 17 May this year when I returned to Warwick to open a wing at a nursing home. My wife, Margaret, and I drove to Canning Downs unannounced, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that although he had suffered a slight stroke he strode out to meet us. He was a very imposing man—he was about six feet three or six feet four. He came out onto the verandah and greeted us. He recalled, not in any maudlin way but very lucidly and with great clarity, his time here, and he spoke very positively about the current Prime Minister and the then Speaker, Ian Sinclair.It is interesting too that, although he had a great respect for the House, he once had a question ruled out of order. In November 1960 he attempted to ask the then Treasurer, Harold Holt, if the then member for East Sydney, Eddie Ward, had been appointed financial editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. The question was ruled out of order despite the fact that Harold Holt was itching to respond to it.I also recall an incident on the steps of the Warwick Town Hall when Ceb Barnes had come back from Canberra. I think the story has become somewhat apocryphal, but the Chief Hansard Reporter, Bernie Harris, and I could not find it readily in Hansard. The story goes that on one occasion—as Ceb Barnes told me—Eddie Ward asked Bob Menzies whether, prior to the next election, he would swim a crocodile-infested creek in North Queensland, because in the kingdom of Siam at that time to take your place in the legislature you had to show a mark of courage by swimming a crocodile-infested river. Menzies was reputed to have said that he would swim the creek provided the then honourable member for East Sydney went first, because no self-respecting crocodile would stay in the same stream.Ceb Barnes's wry sense of humour even extended to his deathbed. He made the point that he had outlasted the C.E. Barnes Grandstand at the Warwick showground—you will recall there was a tornado at Warwick about two months ago that took the grandstand. A day or two before his death, someone said something about the grandstand, and Ceb Barnes said, `Well, at least I outlasted that.'Warwick journalist and friend of mine Gerard Walsh in his Daily News obituary described Ceb Barnes as `a man with a wonderful memory, a great problem solver, the perfect gentleman, a fair dinkum Aussie who made a lasting mark on Australian life, politics, racing, mining, agriculture and aviation'.Mark McGinness, who penned Ceb's obituary in the Australian, hit the nail on the head when he said that Ceb Barnes was `a quintessential Australian gentleman: tall, vigorous, adventurous, well dressed, wellmoustached, well read, self-contained but never strident in his opinions'. I cannot help thinking that if more of us strove to follow his example there would not be the community disenchantment with this House that we have heard over the last two or three years. He certainly set the bar high for the rest of us. Along with the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Prime Minister, I extend my sympathy to the Barnes family on the passing of this great Australian.18:00:0028Moore, John, MPMr MOOREEI4RyanLPDefence10—Ceb Barnes was a friend of my father's and a person I knew quite well. He was one of nature's gentlemen who frequently came from the rural countryside of Queensland. His family, the late J.H.S Barnes, owned a station in North Queensland and, if history serves me right, in 1917 it was acquired by the then state government at a time when they were taking on any number of private enterprise projects, including coke ovens, mines, smelters and other things, and from that he moved to Canning Downs.As the Prime Minister outlined, Ceb Barnes left school in 1918, but the Prime Minister did not outline the fact that, after that, Ceb Barnes went exploring. He walked around Cape York and did quite a number of goldmining operations on his own. In that time he grew to know the bush in the north particularly well, and that is why he took such an interest in Aboriginal affairs when he came to this House.As the Leader of the Opposition said, Ceb Barnes was interested not only in the Aboriginal people of Australia but also very much in the development of New Guinea, where he was interested in, firstly, mining and also in the people in the area. When he came here to take up the ministry of external affairs, as the Leader of the Opposition quite rightly said, he was not particularly well liked by the southern press, particularly the Sydney Morning Herald, which used to refer to him as `Mr Charles Barnes' and then go on to the many derogatory comments that went with it.When Artie Fadden decided to retire, Ceb Barnes was a very well-known identity on the southern downs. As the Member for Hinkler said, Ceb Barnes very reluctantly—because he was not that sort of guy; he was not the sort of person who sought publicity—took on the nomination and came here in his quiet way and succeeded at quite a late age. When he retired in 1972 he took with him, I think, an ideal life of a country man of that age. My sympathy to his family.Honourable members having stood in their places—Miscellaneous2918:02:0029Howard, John, MPMr HOWARDZD4BennelongLPPrime Minister10—Mr Speaker, this parliament is the first parliament since 1963 that will not have as one of its members the recently retired former right honourable member for New England, Ian McCahon Sinclair.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Prime Minister, you need to seek indulgence. I think it is entirely appropriate under the circumstances for me to grant the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition indulgence to say a few words.ZD4Howard, John, MPMr HOWARD—I seek your indulgence to say a few words.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Indulgence granted.ZD4Howard, John, MPMr HOWARD—The parliament that was sworn in today, as I said, for the first time does not have as one of its members the former right honourable member for New England, Ian McCahon Sinclair. I think it is appropriate on this first day that the parliament sits that we take a few moments to pay tribute to a remarkable career in public life.Ian Sinclair was elected to the parliament as the member for New England in the election of 1963. His departure at the last election severs the last link between this parliament and the long period of the Menzies government, because Ian Sinclair's first ministerial appointment was that of Minister for Social Services at the age of 35 in the Menzies government that was elected in 1963. Over the following 35 years Ian Sinclair left a quite indelible mark on the life and the work of this parliament; and the life and the work of, first, the Country Party, then the National Country Party and subsequently the National Party of Australia.Ian Sinclair and I had many experiences together: Ian Sinclair and I served together as senior ministers in the Fraser government, Ian Sinclair and I served together as leaders of our respective parties for a period of time, and Ian Sinclair and I lost our jobs together. Ian Sinclair and I subsequently maintained a very close personal association. We experienced some of the great successes of the two parties working together and we also went through some of the more difficult phases, particularly during the circumstances surrounding the break-up of the coalition in 1987.Ian Sinclair has many remarkable qualities. I do not think I have seen anybody in my entire political life who had a greater capacity from a standing start to absorb a brief and then to speak very eloquently on it. Without a word of a lie, and I hope without breaking any of the confidences that one should not, I have seen Ian Sinclair come into a cabinet meeting without having read a document and, within the space of 10 or 15 minutes, to have gone through it, to have assimilated what was in it and then to have argued very cogently and very eloquently in favour of what was in the document. I might also say I have seen him come into similar cabinet meetings, sponsoring a submission in his own name and then proceeding to argue against his own submission.Such was his natural capacity, and I do not believe that, in the cabinets I have worked in, I have worked with anybody who had more natural ability than Ian Sinclair. He had a great degree of native, innate intelligence. He had a remarkable capacity to absorb an argument and he had an extraordinary capacity to put in a very effective way a very strong point of view.Ian Sinclair was an outstanding debater and an outstanding parliamentarian. I have not seen a better parliamentarian in the 24 years that I have been in this place. Without doubt, I do not think anybody I have seen in the 24 years I have been in this place could put a glove on Ian Sinclair as a parliamentarian.I think his most powerful and effective years as a parliamentarian were the first years that I experienced. I came in here in 1974, at the re-election of the Whitlam government, and Ian Sinclair was the Leader of Opposition Business. He was, without question, the most effective Leader of Opposition Business that I have ever seen, and he went on to become a remarkable Leader of the House. The havoc that he wreaked on the Whitlam government and the energetic way in which he and his colleagues like Peter Nixon delivered and argued the then opposition's case was quite remarkable. I think his contribution to this parliament and the way in which he absorbed and understood the standing orders was quite unsurpassed.Many of us will remember the remarkable job that he did as chairman of the Constitutional Convention held earlier this year. Most Australians believe that that particular event was highly successful and a unique opportunity for the Australian community to have its say on a very important issue. Much of the success of that occasion was due to the chairmanship of Ian Sinclair, assisted by Barry Jones, the national President of the Australian Labor Party. Ian's calm manner and his understanding of the rules of procedure governing that gathering, his humorous interventions and his capacity to sit down, without too much offence, a fairly substantial collection of large egos which that Constitutional Convention comprised—both parlia mentary and otherwise, equally shared—was a great performance.Ian's parliamentary career began at the age of 31 when he entered the New South Wales Legislative Council. It was only two years after that that he resigned from the council to contest the federal division of New England in 1963. When you remember that Ian Sinclair entered federal parliament only seven days after President John Kennedy was assassinated, you have an idea of the breadth of national and world history that his period in this parliament covered. It is an extraordinary circumstance that somebody started politics so young and continued to give so much for such a long period of time.`Sinkers', as he became affectionately known, never seemed to lose his zeal, his energy and his commitment. He was always wanting to participate. I was pleased, as I know many of us were pleased, to see the honour bestowed on him earlier this year when he became Speaker of this parliament. His many friends, both in the National Party and in the coalition, were greatly pleased because that was a fitting reward and a fitting acknowledgment—indeed, the most appropriate acknowledgment, because he was in so many ways the father of this House. He was not only the father of the House by dint of being the longest serving member but also the father of the House in that he knew its nature, its workings and its rules. He understood its moods and he knew how to relate to it and deal with it like few other men and women who have been here—or, indeed, are likely to be here—would be able to do.I want to say on a very personal note to you, Ian, and to your wife, Rosemary—both of you are in the gallery—how much I have enjoyed our very long and close friendship. I worked with you very closely. I sometimes disagreed with you on policy issues. We might often argue over this or that particular issue, but your word was always your bond. I found that—particularly during the time that I was Leader of the Opposition in the mid-1980s when you were Leader of the National Party—when we had to grapple with a problem or two surrounding relations between the two coalition parties you were a person who came through that with remarkable civility and strength. You came through those years as somebody I felt I could always rely upon—a person of immense integrity.You have made a remarkable impression on the parliament. You have been an instructor in the ways of this House to Liberals, to members of the National Party and, I am sure, members of the Labor Party as well, because yours is the sort of career that impresses and reaches out to people on all sides of politics.You have been, in your time, a very tough fighter. I do not raise this in any rancorous sense, but this tribute to you would be incomplete without a reference to it. I do not think that, in the years that I have been in this parliament, I have heard a more sustained vituperative personal attack on anybody than I heard meted out to the former member for New England in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. It reached a level of personal abuse, scorn and downright character assassination, the like of which I have never heard and I hope never to hear again. You weathered that and you displayed courage, backbone and the strength of will and determination to hurl back the insult at your accusers by surviving them and outliving them politically. And so many of those worst accusers are gone, and were gone years before you decided, of your own free will, to go.I want to record my warm thanks to Ian Sinclair for the contribution that he has made to the public life of Australia. To have served in the national parliament for 35 years is an extraordinary achievement. To have led your party is a great achievement. To have been a senior cabinet minister is a distinguished achievement. To have been Speaker of this parliament is a great accolade for a great parliamentarian. To have won respect for your professionalism from your parliamentary peers and your parliamentary colleagues, to have survived the personal assaults on your character and to have hurled back the insults in the way that you have done so characteristically, won for you immense regard, immense warmth and immense respect. I wish you, Rosemary and your family long years of happiness. I thank you for your service to the coalition. I thank you for your service to this parliament and I thank you for your service to Australia.UNKNOWNHonourable membersHonourable members—Hear, hear!18:15:0031Beazley, Kim, MPMr BEAZLEYPE4BrandALP00—On indulgence, Mr Speaker, given the felicitous nature of this occasion, I will not dwell on the partisan features of the relationship between the former member for New England and this side of the House. Suffice it to say he brutalised us over an extensive period of time and we brutalised him. The exchange was neither edifying for us nor, I suspect, edifying for him, but the fact of the matter is he survived it all and sailed on.I was speaking once at one of those occasions that the National Party got together from time to time to try to encourage the honourable member for New England to leave politics—this was on the 30th anniversary of his membership of parliament, so it shows how long ago that was and how long he managed to survive from that point of time onwards—and I likened him to a photograph I had once seen of a cruiser which had taken a battering from Japanese Kamikaze planes. In fact I presented a picture of one such cruiser to him from his detractors in the federal Labor Party. Its guns were all shot away, the funnels had tumbled over, the bridge was gone, the captain was dead and the tiller had been taken by the chief engineer operating from the aft bridge but it was still moving and it still got into port. There was in that, I thought, a simile to the life and times of the Rt Hon. Ian McCahon Sinclair.The name Sinclair comes from the St Clairs, who were that clan in Scotland that provided the last refuge for the Knights Templar. That was when there were efforts being made all over Europe to execute the Knights Templar and to seize their properties, and indeed it is still rumoured that under the family church of the St Clairs is buried the Knights Templar treasures. The defence of the Knights Templar required a capacity for intrigue, a capacity for secrecy, a capacity for overt bluster, a capacity for toughness, a capacity for king-making and a capacity for king-dragging-down. Somehow or other, they did pass it onto you; somewhere or other it is sitting there in your genes.The fact that you are actually on the floor of the House to hear this is, of course, because your own decision as Speaker has put you there. It is a fact that you restored the Speaker's gallery to the floor of parliament, and therefore we can roast you or whatever directly and in person on this occasion. One would have to say for the historical record that the record of the former member for New England would have to be one of the top half-dozen political careers to have been provided to the country by the National Party; that he would be up there with Fadden and McEwen—and in longevity of service ahead of all of them—and up there with Anthony as well. These are substantial Australian political careers, not ones that we on this side of the House found terribly edifying but, nevertheless, great careers in anybody's language.The former member for New England held 10 portfolios, most of them senior ones, as well as being Speaker of this place. He was Leader of the House on top of that, leader of the National Party for a lengthy period of time, its deputy leader and, as the Prime Minister has said, an extraordinarily effective parliamentarian. He was Leader of the House for a lengthy period of time, and a new set of standing orders was produced. Subsequent standing orders were produced, but you stuck by the standing orders you originated and insisted in every intervention—as I recollect when I was Leader of the House—that the standing orders were as you had left them and not as altered by others, with at least as malevolent an attitude to the intentions of the opposition as you possessed at the time yourself. Nevertheless, you were a devotee of the forms of the House and a great parliamentarian.Can I also say—and this does not apply necessarily to many members of this chamber—that you are a humble man. I look here at your career, the service, that is presented to the parliament, look down the list of the portfolios that you held and look at the status that you had briefly as Speaker of this place, and then go to your committee service of the parliament and look at the period from 1989 onwards when you served after you lost your leadership of the National Party on a whole range of parliamentary committees which do not necessarily attract the attention of people on a day-to-day basis. For example, you were a member of the Joint Statutory Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings and briefly the chair of that. You were a chair of a joint committee dealing with migration regulations. You served from time to time on Privileges. You served on the House Committee for a period of time and on the Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.You did not—as many leaders would feel entitled to do—having been placed on the back bench by your parliamentary colleagues, quietly serve out your years with the odd, dignified intervention in the adjournment debate or on the odd bill and then exit the parliament. You did not waste the taxpayers' money whilst serving in the chamber; you sought to get out and contribute to your fellow parliamentarians by sharing the breadth of your experience—and none of it with bitterness. You are entitled to a degree of bitterness—just as I might suggest that one or two of us are entitled to in regard to you as well—but you did it without bitterness and with great generosity of heart to those with whom you had contact.We were not entirely pleased with your speakership—you will not be unaware of that; we made that evident at the time—but it is a great thing to have achieved that office in this parliament, to have matched an almost matchless career in the ministry with elevation to the highest official position in this chamber. So I think that you can leave this place, having served for more than a third of the history of Federation and having served as one of the great National Party members of this place, with a great degree of pride and with the good regard of members on both sides of the House.UNKNOWNHonourable membersHonourable members—Hear, hear!10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Under the circumstances it is my intention to allow indulgence to be granted, for obvious reasons, to the Leader of the National Party, the Deputy Prime Minister. 18:23:0033Fischer, Tim, MPMr TIM FISCHERDG4FarrerNP10—I want to put a practical edge into the recognition of the contribution made by the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair. He started off in the New South Wales upper house, the Legislative Council, the oldest parliamentary chamber in this country, while winning a very big preselection battle for New England against General Macdonald, father of Senator Sandy Macdonald. It was a very gracious gesture by Sandy Macdonald last night to comment on that in a very eloquent way in the National Party room as we farewelled Ian Sinclair. He entered parliament, as the Prime Minister points out, in 1963, a long while ago, and went straight into the ministry two years later, in February 1965, as the Minister for Social Services.Let us look at the practical contribution he made. I remember meeting him at a Tumut branch dinner of the party while I was still in the Army, and he was already speaking of the modernisation of social services at that time and the introduction of the forerunners to computers and the like as he was pushing the envelope in that portfolio. He went on to become Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Industry from 1966 to 1971 and was Minister for Shipping and Transport from 1968 to 1971. There again there was another practical contribution, especially on something dear to my heart, rail standardisation, which had fallen off but which was pushed forward again by Ian Sinclair in a very practical way to link our capital cities by standard gauge rail.He served in the Primary Industry portfolio in 1971-72, and subsequently in 1975-79 in primary industry, or agriculture, as it was briefly known, he brought in the Income Equalisation Deposit Scheme or farm management deposits, which have taken years to get back to where they were when originally introduced. The former Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, the member for Gwydir, John Anderson, and the federal government in its last term have succeeded in doing that. Those original IEDs were a very practical breakthrough at that time, and I acknowledge that. He dealt with Special Trade Representations in 1980, carrying forward a lot of the negotiations with Europe at the time. He was Minister for Communications from 1980 to 1982, a period when SBS Television was introduced to this country. During that period he held that portfolio.One thing which is especially noteworthy is his contribution as Minister for Defence in a brief period in 1982-83. He was responsible for one very clear-cut decision with regard to the placement of our defence resources in this country. He took the bold decision to back the assessment and the strategy to build bases in northern Australia and gave the go-ahead for the RAAF base at Tindal, at Katherine, which has been an outstanding success and has given depth to the contribution of the RAAF from a very key location just south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. I commend him on that.This career is not one only about being a good parliamentarian; this career is one about delivering in a practical way to the improvement of Australia and the lot of Australians through a range of specific contributions and projects which have stood Australia well, including the defence of Australia. I have a great deal of pleasure to speak on behalf of my colleagues and say that his contribution will be missed from all those positions, including for 18 years leader or deputy leader of my party and, of course, more recently as Speaker of the House of Representatives. You can walk tall and proud, Ian, out of this chamber.I am delighted to see Rosemary here. I salute Rosemary and your family and the help they have provided you along the way. I realise that in New England, at Bendemeer and beyond, you had a forthright commitment at the electorate level which also made a difference in a range of projects in that area.One last thing: I am reminded that you were a privy councillor, the last privy councillor to ever serve in this parliament, the last ever minister from the Menzies government and the last ever minister from the first caretaker Fraser ministry at the time of 1975. There are just so many of those accolades which are absolutely accurate. They are record breaking and reflect the uniqueness of your career as a member of two parliaments, briefly the New South Wales state parliament and the Federal Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. We wish you, Ian Sinclair, the very best.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—May I, on behalf of the parliament, extend to the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair and his wife and family the best wishes of the parliament.Governor-General's Speech3434Mr Cameron Thompson, for the committee appointed to prepare an address-in-reply to the speech of His Excellency the Governor-General, presented the proposed address, which was read by the Clerk.10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Order! Before I call the honourable member for Blair, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech and I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.18:28:0034Thompson, Cameron, MPMr CAMERON THOMPSON84CBlairLP11—I move:That the address be agreed to.It is a great honour for me to respond to the speech of His Excellency the Governor-General. To respond when His Excellency lays out the future program of a new government is an honour that has been awarded to just 38 Australians in the history of our Federation. I thank the Prime Minister for his confidence.Mr Speaker, I congratulate you on your appointment today, and I hope my comments reflect the moment of the occasion.As the first member to represent the federal division of Blair, I am a proud addition to this place. Covering an area of about 15,000 square kilometres, Blair includes the shires of Kingaroy, Nanango, Kilcoy, Esk, Gatton and Laidley and includes part of the City of Ipswich and Rosalie and Crow's Nest shires. Across this area, traditional primary industries, including beef and dairy farms, peanut, fruit and vegetable growers, are under considerable pressure. Drought and decades of rising costs and falling returns have undermined these industries and the communities they support.The urban and near urban areas in and around the city of Ipswich make up 30 per cent of Blair's voting population. Development in the city is a matter of priority. In recent years, there have been serious concerns about the future of Ipswich, but lately the city has scored a few home runs that are worth recording. In particular, we have the establishment of the Ipswich campus of the University of Queensland, and the Global Information Links Internet Project pioneered by the City Council is generating a lot of interest and activity. Now we have plans for an innovative global arts link venture and a rail technology centre, both of which provide an impetus for tourism that has been lacking in the past.The RAAF Base Amberley is also a source of pride and future growth in the electorate. Currently there is uncertainty about the future of RAAF personnel and their accommodation. The changes that lie ahead must be handled sensitively, recognising the opportunity for growth but providing support for people and families caught up in the process. Blair is a beautiful and productive region with tremendous potential for new growth in areas such as tourism and downstream processing.Blair received its name from the celebrated Aboriginal opera singer, Harold Blair, who won recognition across the world but never forgot his upbringing. Harold Blair grew up in the small community of Purga near Ipswich. His life took him to the great concert halls of the world, but even at the height of his career Harold Blair was a regular attraction at the old town hall in Ipswich. All members must take a leaf from the book of life as lived by Harold Blair. This is the House of Representatives and each member arrives courtesy of a community of electors whose hopes and dreams we must always place first. We must fight on their behalf, we must show leadership on their behalf, and always we must remember that our neighbours will be the judge when we give account of work done on their behalf.The reasons according to which each of us are honoured to be selected as a community representative and therefore a member of this House are many and varied. Australia is the world's greatest democracy. Many countries live by democratic principles, but we are especially privileged. In our society Australian values such as mateship, a fair go, a helping hand and a fair day's work remain the unwritten code we all respect. His Excellency referred to the same tradition when he spoke of decency, openness, tolerance and a fair go for all.The people who are the real source of parliamentary power in this place are our neighbours back at home. The people we meet in the supermarket and on the sports field all aspire to those Australian values and respect those who live by them. When we rise on behalf of our electorates, we should always speak in line with those great Australian principles—in a spirit of mateship, ensuring a fair go, offering a helping hand and never giving or expecting less than a fair day's work for a fair day's pay.I am here because the people of Blair share those great Australian principles and because they believe that of nine candidates I am the one most capable of being a strong, dedicated and appropriate representative over the coming three year term. I thank the people of Blair for that decision. They did not choose the most controversial candidate, the most divisive candidate or the one with the best publicity. Their choice was for the candidate that came closest to representing the community as a whole. For the great silent majority in Blair, this election result proved that we are supported by a voting system that truly reflects the community mood. It is a system that represents those Australian principles that I salute in this address.Today the most important challenge I face is to address the needs of that significant minority of people in Blair who did not go to this poll with moderation in mind. By and large, these Australians are not prone to radicalism—they are true conservatives who love this country and want to see a better life for their children. The fact that such a group can be stirred to vote in a strident manner regardless of the consequences is a warning to all in this parliament. Rebuild faith in Australia and our democratic government, rebuild respect for each other, rebuild those longstanding Australian values, or much more could be at risk.I am truly blessed because my wife, Sharen, has real faith in me. Together, and with the incredible support of my mother-in-law, Betty Grove, we entered a political colosseum 12 months ago and we emerged strong, healthy and in one piece. Because of Sharen's faith, I never ducked a blow in the contest and I know our two sons, Fletcher and Ari, and number three, who will join us in April, will always speak with pride of what we have achieved as a family in the past 12 months. I hope that, in the time ahead, there will be many more achievements that help the people of Blair and that our family will regard with pride.Naturally, my thoughts at this time turn also to my parents, Dorothy and the late Norm Thompson. Much of what I am I owe to Dot and Norm. They instilled in me an understanding and an appreciation of what is great about family life. I hope I can pass some of that appreciation on to my own boys.Others I must thank include my campaign manager, John Andrews, and workers Christine Trevett and Roy Hopkins-Deacon. These three gave everything to the campaign and deserve three hearty cheers from me.Peter Clarke, who is the Liberal Party branch development officer in Queensland, moved to Blair for the duration. He lent me his organisational and engineering skills, his car and boundless enthusiasm. Without Peter, assisted by Jeff Matijasevic, all 71 booths in Blair would not have been manned on 3 October and the result may well have been different.For me a feature of the campaign was the discovery of friendship in places where it was not expected. True friends do stand by you when the chips are down. Daryl Butler, his young son and those many other hard-working friends, like Mark and Sue Phelps and Liberals from across south-east Queensland, will certainly always be welcome at my house.The President of the Liberal Party in Queensland, Bob Carroll, deserves a great deal of credit. He recognised the importance of the seat of Blair and the fact that it was unique in this campaign. He helped structure campaign activities and material to make the concerns of the people of Blair count.I also thank the Liberal Party State Executive. I was preselected ahead of a fancied rival. It is easy to speak in hindsight, but plainly the preselection decision taken by the State Executive was right for Blair and the future of the party. The support I received from State Director, Greg Goebel, National Director, Lynton Crosby, and their staff was at all times dedicated and professional.I place on record special thanks to the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Shane Stone, who campaigned with me in Blair. Shane attracted strong financial support and flew the flag for change and a better future at a dinner in his honour at Kingaroy. His sage advice was a boon to my efforts.constitutionSimilarly, I received valuable support of a different character from the Victorian Premier, Jeff Kennett. Jeff chased One Nation down every burrow, and he took up the charge early in the campaign when the strength and direction of my main opponent was impossible to predict. As a result of experiences stretching back over many years, I also salute many in politics who encouraged me. Apart from Shane Stone, these include: former Northern Territory education minister Tom Harris; the member for Fisher, Peter Slipper; and former Deputy Premier of Queensland, Joan Sheldon.In the campaign, I received encouragement and support from another former Queensland Deputy Premier, Bill Gunn, who did more than anyone else to preserve the strength of the coalition's spirit. An unexpected ally, whose words from out of the blue helped to guarantee a One Nation defeat, was former Governor-General Bill Hayden, who spoke in a forthright manner in support of his community and their interests.Apart from building many strong and supportive friendships, my background in state and territory politics has shaped my thinking. It has helped me to set goals about building a better future for residents in Blair, particularly those frustrated and disappointed with recent progress. Today, the harsh realities of life are impacting on all Australians, but not all are given access to benefits that compensate for the heavy costs brought about by change.Many of those who feel the most pain have been made the targets of reduced services and backdoor tax increases by all levels of government over many years. They are the easy marks who are exploited again and again, usually because, after many years of falling revenue, our system has become adept at finding those who will suffer pain in silence. That is a prime source of the fire that has Australian politics in hot water today. Governments cannot continue to be driven by annual bouts of financial blood lust. The victims are out there in Blair and in many other Australian electorates, and they are no longer silent.That is why I strongly support the government's tax reform package. This system would finally redistribute some of the burden of tax onto the prominent individuals who regularly dodge it. It would create an orderly growth of revenue and balance our budgets without recourse to proxies like speed cameras, user charges, road funding cuts and a whole host of other things that I could name.Today, I was thrilled to hear His Excellency make the clear point that this government will ensure that the benefits of reform are fairly shared. But as we demand greater competition and improved efficiency on farms, in small businesses and among local and state bureaucracies, so we must do more in this parliament to put our own house in order.While members of this House go back to their home towns after every sitting, the source of bureaucratic power in this country remains constant and truly remote from most Australians. The depth of duplication between state and Commonwealth departments remains a national shame and a burden that ordinary Australians in my electorate have carried for too long.I acknowledge that at one time former Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke advocated a serious reallocation of resources between these two levels of government. I also acknowledge that the government's tax reforms will direct more funding to state authorities, which are the ones that actually provide the vast bulk of services. But it is just not enough. In key areas like health and education, the Commonwealth must begin to look at handing back in their entirety many of the resources that are duplicated.I do not advocate job losses as part of this process but the state-level integration and staged conversion of duplicated resources to the sharp end of service delivery. In this way, at last, Australians who have campaigned long and hard for many years really would see a significant drop in class sizes and a strong and uniform influx of doctors and health professionals—even in country areas.I am not a fanatic for states rights nor am I a flat earth economic nut. I have simply witnessed wave after wave of change breaking over the lives of less fortunate Australians—generally those who live in regional areas. The result has been a disastrous flow of population out of those areas, which has sapped confidence and left many wondering whether their communities have a long-term future in this country.Rising property values and high powered salaries like those offered in our capital cities do make the national economy look good and strong. Unfortunately, they come at a tremendous cost in terms of falling values, salaries and prospects across the vast bulk of the Australian landmass. We should begin to remember the massive investment Australia has made in infrastructure across these areas and the importance of generating regional growth to support that infrastructure in the long term.In defence of the system, I recall a couple of recent examples where the miracle of telecommunications technology has been used to help turn the tide. Obviously, the government's proposed transaction centres are one example—and I am keen to see a firm commitment to those in Blair. I mark His Excellency's words in that regard, where he noted those transaction centres as a priority for the government.Another decision was taken by the former coalition government in Queensland to build a departmental call centre at Emerald. That is excellent work, but it is a very small drop in a very big bucket. I know it feels good here in Canberra, but centralism is a cancer that is eating away at our country. I am surely not the font of wisdom on the subject, but we need to lift the debate, and I look forward to hearing from other members on these issues.When I began this address I referred to the plight of the many important rural industries in Blair. It worries me that, as current population trends continue, the number of MPs speaking on behalf of the dwindling number engaged in these industries is also reducing. Those of us with rural and regional electorates need to work together more strongly and build links with leaders in other levels of government who share our constituency and our concerns.In Blair, I have vowed to work closely with local authorities to strengthen our hand. In preparation for this address, a number of local mayors agreed to contribute a few lines to highlight areas of mutual concern. Gatton Shire Mayor Bernie Sutton wrote:Hopefully the Government will recognise the disillusionment and frustration in all rural areas and positively respond to that feeling.Mayor Sutton gave priority to funding councils and roads. He believes that financial assistance and tax incentives should be given to improve water supplies and that young residents need access to better sport and recreation facilities.Kingaroy Mayor Roger Nunn wants the Commonwealth to construct new infrastructure to provide jobs. He wrote:Money spent on infrastructure is never wasted, provided it is carefully planned.As a local example, Mayor Nunn said building a standard gauge railway to serve the Surat Basin coal development would advantage industries in Kingaroy. It would also link producers in New South Wales with bulk export facilities in Queensland. Ipswich City Mayor, John Nugent, wrote:The Ipswich region would benefit enormously if the Federal Government restored in real terms the amount spent on road funding to 1983 levels.Mayor Nugent called for increased financial assistance grants to councils, equal to or better than levels of funding that applied in the mid-1980s. Other local representatives to contribute included Laidley Mayor, Shirley Pitt, who joined the call for improved road funding following community meetings that declared a major intersection at Plainlands on the Warrego Highway a deathtrap. Rosalie is another local shire to advocate road funding as the Commonwealth's top priority.At Kilcoy, Mayor Alex Brown is campaigning for lower meat inspection fees to promote stability at the Kilcoy Pastoral Co. abattoir which provides 300 local jobs and sustains the Kilcoy community. I recognise that funding and projects of this magnitude do not just materialise, but I endorse these comments from the mayors. Infrastructure, jobs, appropriate industry support and a campaign to boost the morale of people in communities like Ipswich, Gatton, Kingaroy and other centres such as those in Blair must be a high priority for the government and necessary funding should be found.Mr Speaker, in closing I want to advise members that the words I speak and views I express today are mine. I do give credit to the mayors, however, for their contributions. There is no speech writer, bald or otherwise, hiding away back in my office. I will continue to write my own speeches and I will continue to represent the views of the people of Blair to the best of my ability and in my own words.848SECKERMr Secker—Mr Speaker, I second the motion and reserve my right to speak. Debate (on motion by Mr Melham) adjourned.Adjournment38Motion (by Mr McGauran) proposed:That the House do now adjourn.3818:48:0038Crosio, Janice, MPMrs CROSIO7T4ProspectALP00—In the adjournment debate tonight I would like first to put on the record my sincere congratulations—which I have already done privately—to you for the high office which you now hold. I feel sure you will do an excellent job in the years to come. I would also like to congratulate the Deputy Speaker and the Second Deputy Speaker on their appointments today. What I would like to raise in the adjournment debate tonight is the fact that on the 8th day of this month, last Sunday, I attended what was classified as the blessing of a nursing home on the border of my electorate, in the electorate of Fowler. I raise this particular case in the House to bring to the notice of the government what can be achieved with seed funding of $1.2 million—I might add it was given in the previous government's time—offered to a community to build a nursing home. In this case it was a Croatian village and His Lordship came out from Croatia to do the actual blessing. I would like to put on record my appreciation to Archbishop Josip Bozanich. More importantly, I want to explain to the House that this community, when they first built their church in 1985, having bought the land, had a dream to provide aged accommodation for their community. They were then given a grant by the previous government of $1.2 million to build a hostel. Having then raised something like $1½ million themselves, they completed that hostel and it was opened officially in November 1989.In June 1995, they applied for, and were given, another grant of $1.2 million to go into what was then the third stage of the dream, to build a nursing home within this village area. That nursing home, I am proud to say, was officially blessed last Sunday and has been licensed now to have in occupation something like 40 residents. The government provided $1.2 million out of a total cost of something like $3 million. The community raised the rest among themselves. They have done that because over 900 families contributed in excess of $1,000 each.We had another group of certificates given out last Sunday to families who had given over $5,000 each. People who did not have the financial means gave of their time, whether in building, doing pathways or in other accommodation areas that were just so essential to bring this dream into a reality. I would like to commend quite publicly the Australian-Croatian community that worked so hard in the Kardinal Stepinac Village and also place on record my sincere appreciation to the hardworking community and to Father for his work in uniting that community.I say to this government: look around and see what you can do if you come forward with small capital grants. The community will then rally to provide the proper accommodation for the aged that they care about. This government, I am ashamed to say, since 1996 has stopped all capital funding that would enable anything like this to ever happen again. I know, because I have been working with an Italian group in my area—Italian-Australians—to try to raise money to build an Italian village for the aged. They cannot get the original seed funding that was normally required and so freely given by governments in the past. I think this is a shame. I think this government has to reassess what it is doing with expenditure. I think we have to reassess how communities can become involved and do so much to care for their loved ones and their aged.I think anybody on the government benches who doubts it has only to take a very short visit to the Kardinal Stepinac Village in St John's Park to see what has been achieved by that hardworking community. Again, I praise them. I praise the young in that community who also had functions to raise money, again to support both the hostel and the nursing home. I say to that community: stand with your heads high. You have done a wonderful job and really achieved so much.Government members, please look at what can be done with a bit of financial generosity in providing a certain amount of capital funding. We have not seen that in the 1996-97 budget nor the 1997-98 budget. I would like to say to this new Prime Minister—he has now resurrected himself: he is going to be a new Prime Minister, a new leader who is going to look more at social structures and the social structure of the community as a whole—and to his ministers: start by contributing some of the capital funding that is required if we want to see bigger and better nursing homes throughout Australia.Our people are getting older, our communities are aging. Where government cannot provide either the finance or the resources that are required to house the aged within our community, communities are willing to bear the burden and to raise the finances, as has been proved by the Kardinal Stepinac Village last Sunday, and has been proved by them in the previous 10 years. What they need is just a little bit of assistance at the beginning, a little bit of help, and to know that the government cares about them and cares that they are doing this work within their own community.I thank that community. I know that the people who are going to occupy this nursing home in the future will thank them and the happy community in that hostel accommodation thanks them so much for the work that they have done. I understand that their next course is to provide self-contained accommodation in a hostel environment as well, and I commend and congratulate them on that because I know that they will achieve it. Congratulations to the Kardinal Stepinac Village on a job well done.3918:53:0039Nehl, Garry, MPMr NEHLAE4CowperNP10—I wish to take the opportunity in this adjournment debate to continue the valedictory remarks associated with the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair. I do so because at the time he was endorsed by the Country Party as the candidate for New England my wife, Suzanne, and I were residents of Armidale in northern New South Wales and members of the Country Party, and we were able to give Ian total support from the moment he was endorsed until we left Armidale in 1978.I think that Ian Sinclair is a remarkably fortunate man. I think that he has been blessed through his life, and I am not referring to the record in here. I want to touch on a different aspect altogether. Sue and I knew his first wife, Margaret, a wonderful, charming woman who regrettably died at far too early an age leaving Ian with some wonderful children who are also part of the great good fortune that God has given him. But he really won the jackpot when he married Rosemary. I have to say that every one of us in this place needs and mostly gets the support of our wife, our husband, our spouse, our partner—whatever term you wish to use. My people, the electors of Cowper, know that they get two for the price of one when they elect Gary Nehl. But certainly the electors of New England were very fortunate when Ian Sinclair was elected as their member to succeed David Henry Drummond, who was Ian's predecessor. He was also a marvellous member of this parliament and a marvellous Australian. I knew David Henry Drummond very well indeed, and it was one of the joys of our life in Armidale we were able to have so much to do with him.I am not going to go on at enormous length, but Rosemary Sinclair has been an absolutely committed, loyal, dedicated wife as much and more than any member of this parliament, any Australian, could expect. I started by saying that Ian Sinclair is a very fortunate man because he has had that wonderful support of Rosie, as we love to call her. I say to Rosemary Sinclair that she enjoys the respect and the love of all of us who know her, particularly in the National Party but also, I know, in so many other areas of Australia. So I want to conclude by saying to both Ian and Rosie: enjoy a wonderful life, and we look forward to your continued friendship until we all fall off the perch.4018:56:0040Ellis, Annette, MPMs ELLIS5K6NamadgiALP00—I am a little bit dismayed that, on the first opportunity I have to stand up and speak in the adjournment debate in the new parliament, I have to do so on such a regrettable subject. But my duty is to represent my electorate, as I did in the past parliament. I have no qualms in continuing to do so in this parliament.The announcement made yesterday by the government in relation to Centrelink is one of huge concern to me on several levels. I am sure in the weeks to come we will hear much more said about this particular decision relating to Centrelink.To apprise members who may not be aware or who may not understand the dimension of this decision at a local level, imagine a major employer in your electorate in an economy like many of us have had in our electorates. Many electorates have, in fact, been more than devastated in the previous two to three years. We all know of many electorates around this country where there have been hardships due to the economy. Imagine that your major employer, who is sitting there with 1,800 people in their employment base, suddenly hears that about 40 per cent of those employees are going to lose their jobs over the next three years—around 500 of them in this current year and the remainder over the next two years.That is what my electorate is facing in local economic terms because of the decision announced yesterday in relation to Centrelink. As we know, 5,000 jobs are to go from Centrelink, but I understand around 21 per cent of them will be removed from the national support office—which happens to be in Tuggeranong in my electorate—where the 1,800 people are currently working.That is one level. The second level is the small businesses in that area that require a vibrant and healthy work base to continue to survive. Not all of those people who are going to lose their jobs live within Tuggeranong, but they all happen to work there. There are some small businesses in that area that have been hanging on, looking for that rose in the future, so that they can believe the worst is over only to hear this particular announcement. The local economy which has been struggling to hang on—and I am talking about small, individual family businesses—now will really find it hard to find the optimism and the confidence to continue.The other angle is what will happen to those families—the families who are relying on that income, the individuals and the family units who are going to be offered what is quaintly termed `voluntary redundancy'. Anecdotally, voluntary redundancy can be experienced in two ways. It can literally be experienced as voluntary redundancy where you volunteer to leave or it can be experienced in the way many people in the public sector have experienced it—I am not making this up; this is what they have told me—that is, they are given an option: `You can voluntarily become redundant now and walk out with a certain package or you can hang onto your job and, in 12 or 18 months, the inevitability of redundancy will occur and you will leave on our terms and not on yours.' That is what the modern term `voluntary redundancy' tends to mean in the public sector.The other concern that I have, and which goes much deeper in a societal sense, is the client base of Centrelink. The people who need the services of Centrelink need those services because of particular circumstances in which they find themselves.I do not know about you, but I think it is pretty unfair that we expect people who may have certain difficulties in dealing with the bureaucracy or in dealing with legal matters or matters concerning their income and their future viability to patiently hang on a telephone line for hours, if not days, attempting to get information.I was appalled by the news announced yesterday that we are going to go further down that track. It is just shocking that we are going to replace 5,000 people with what I understand will be 5,000 information kiosks. People will have to walk up to a touch screen. What about the person who may not be literate enough; what about the person with a disability, maybe of a psychological/intellectual kind; what about the ageing person who cannot even use an ATM, not because they are stupid but because they are from a different era and the thing terrifies them and they do not know how to use it? Are you telling all of these people that they can confidently walk up to a touch-screen unit and be consulted about their future tenure in terms of income and support?The government really should rethink this. If this is the government with a new social conscience, I absolutely despair. This is not the way to handle unemployment. You are creating it. This is not the way to deal with clients of Centrelink. You are disregarding them. I urge you to reconsider.4119:01:0041Katter, Bob, Jnr, MPMr KATTERHX4KennedyNP10—I rise to say a few words this evening about Ian Sinclair. I live on the frontiers, I suppose, having regard to Australia's population. Many people from the National Party would agree that sometimes we live in a society that may be described as being not as civilised as we would like it to be. For that reason, we appreciate people who are civilised. If I were to choose a word to describe Ian Sinclair from the first time that I met him when I was a very young man, I would describe him as a very civilised man.With regard to his forebears, as the Leader of the Opposition referred to them, the Knights Templar, one of the greatest stories in history was the Battle of Malta which involved their brother order. Of course, one of the most terrible stories in history involved the persecution of the Knights Templar. I do not doubt for a moment that some of that has come down to Ian Sinclair. That attribute of civilisation and of acting in a civilised manner is something that a lot of people with a background similar to mine admire very greatly.I remember as a very young man in 1963 seeing a photograph in the Bulletin of the front row of the parliamentary team of Anthony, Nixon and Sinclair against the journalists. You could not have listened to the Leader of the Opposition this evening without thinking that that was a very formidable front row, although I do not think that the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition were necessarily meant to be in praise.Those three men served also with John McEwen, and in that period the minimum price scheme for wool was introduced. When I buried my father, I said that the most important thing that had happened in all of those years for the people who live in the areas that I come from was the introduction of the minimum price scheme for wool. The world was a different place for us when that was introduced. I pay tribute to all of those men, including Ian, who participated in that decision.In those days we had the AIDC, PIBA, the Commonwealth Development Bank and the Rural Reconstruction Board to provide us with help when we were in desperate straits. I suppose I should not say this, but I saw Ian Sinclair, in another place, put up a very spirited fight against the sale of the Commonwealth Development Bank. I admired him very greatly for it. It gave great heart to many people who think that sometimes people on this side of the House have abandoned them.The introduction of the sugar agreement gave us a 200 or 300 per cent increase in the price of sugar. Once again, Ian Sinclair was a member of the government that delivered that to the Australian sugar industry. They built a series of dams at Burdekin, Bundaberg and Emerald. My colleague the member for Hinkler would agree with me that they facilitated the doubling of production in the sugar industry in Australia. It is now the third ranking export industry in agriculture and the sixth ranking export industry overall.They introduced the beef road scheme. A recent survey asked what was the best thing that had ever happened in this country with respect to drought. Seventy per cent of people responded that it was the beef road scheme. We saw the construction of bitumen roads in places where we never dreamed we would see them in our country. It opened up our country, not only to outback people but to city people as well.All of those wonderful things were achieved in that period. When I first spoke in this House, I said that my father came into this House and had so many dreams come true. As the tide of civilisation ebbs away from the areas that I call my homeland, it is with very great regret that I see the passing of Ian Sinclair from this House.4219:05:0042Horne, Bob, MPMr HORNEUU5PatersonALP00—Mr Speaker, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I congratulate you on your elevation to your position. I have no doubt that you will do a great job.This evening, I would like to reflect on my re-election to this place after a little time on the sidelines. It is a great honour, as we all know, to be elected to this place, but I can assure you that to come back here after a spell is a great honour. It was the only seat that we took from the government in New South Wales. I feel very humble about that. I pay tribute to the team of people who supported me. I guess people on the other side would not know what it is like to have the support of hundreds of volunteers who come forward because of a desire to get rid of a government that has been completely unjust with respect to ordinary working people. People here do not understand what has been happening in the Hunter. They do not understand that in the Hunter region, which is one of the greatest and most prolific producers in Australia, we have a steelworks that will close next year and we have mines that are closing weekly. In the lead-up to the election, hundreds of jobs were lost in the textile, clothing and footwear industry because of the policies of this government, because of inaction by this government, because of the refusal of this government to listen to ordinary Australians. That is the reason why we won Paterson. Hundreds of people said, `It is time to get rid of this curse,' and so they did.They supported us in every way. At no time could we match the wealth and the support of big business that always comes to the Liberal Party. We had to rely on volunteers coordinated by my wife Jan to stuff letters into envelopes and letterboxes with no mail allowance, and so it went on.I would also like to pay tribute to the support we got from the unions, vilified as they were by a minister the like of which Australia has never seen before and, let us sincerely hope, will never see again. The sort of person who is prepared to unleash dogs and thugs on Australian workers left a vivid image in the minds of all Australian workers and is to the detriment of this government—it will not be forgotten. It will certainly not be forgotten in the heart of the industrial might of the Hunter region.I would particularly like to pay tribute to the Trades Hall Council of Newcastle and to unions such as the CFMEU, the CEPV, the AMIEU, the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union, the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers Union.HX4KATTERMr Katter—You took the tariffs away and lost them all their jobs.UU5Horne, Bob, MPMr HORNE—I know that unions are an embarrassment to the other side because they represent democracy, they represent the right of workers—10000SPEAKERMr SPEAKER—Order! The member for Paterson will address his remarks through the chair.UU5Horne, Bob, MPMr HORNE—Thank you, Mr Speaker. Through you, Mr Speaker, I remind members on the other side that unions are an embarrassment to them because they exist due to free will of workers who have the desire to get together, and that is being denied by the current government. I pay tribute to the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the Australian Teachers Union, the Australian Metal Workers Union, the Liquor and Hospitality Union, the Shop Assistants Union, the Miscellaneous Workers Union, the Transport Workers Union, the Electrical Trades Union, the Postal Workers Union and to a group of workers who are not renowned for their support of this side of politics, the nurses. They came forward in great numbers because they saw what the policies of this government were doing to our hospitals and to our nursing homes, and they knew the service that was being denied to those Australians who are in greatest need. I have no doubt, if this government continues down the path which it took during the previous term, that at the end of three years we will not be here sitting and looking at that side; we will be on the treasury bench and we will govern with a passion that satisfies the need of common Australians, working-class Australians who demand fair play. (Time expired)4319:10:0043Anthony, Larry, MPMr ANTHONYXJ6RichmondNPCommunity Services10—I would like to endorse the valedictory remarks made on the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair, who was known affectionately as the father of the House. Indeed, I have a long association with Ian Sinclair dating back to the times when I first met him. When I as a young child in our house at Kent Street, I would often wake in the middle of the night to raucous activity, whether it was plotting or discussions of future tactics for the next day. My mother as well was very good friends, as the member for Cowper said, with Rosemary and the Anthony family became very good friends with the Sinclairs in later years.It gives me great pride to speak about Ian Sinclair. As was mentioned by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, he served in 10 portfolios, which is quite remarkable, serving under five Liberal Prime Ministers from the days of Menzies through those of Holt, Gorton and McMahon to Fraser. Indeed, he has been in the parliament to see nine Prime Ministers come and go, up to the 39th Parliament that we are in today.It is very important for those who knew Ian in the 38th Parliament to now have a link back to the past, back to the Menzies era, back to an era which was mentioned by the Leader of the Opposition, back to the 1970s when I remember Ian Sinclair as a very tough operator. I remember particularly the 1975 Whitlam crisis. He was always at the centre of activity and certainly went through some very difficult times during the late 1970s and 1980s. It is not just his style and panache that some of us got to know which we admire—I am sure new members also saw him as a bit of a mentor; it is that inner strength and passion that he has and I suppose the rhinoceros hide which he developed as a tough and brutal debater in this parliament. Indeed, he became the leader of the National Party from 1984 to 1987, and very successfully conducted the Constitutional Convention. That is rather ironic because, as was mentioned by members of the National Party, Ian Sinclair is the last right honourable member. He is the last link back to the Privy Council—we no longer have that link. The Constitutional Convention was managed with great care and dexterity by Ian's personality and was a very large collection of egos.To me and to all of us in the House—even though the opposition may not admit it—to see the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair elected as Speaker was certainly a culmination of a remarkable career of 35 years. Just think that the average term in this parliament is six years and he was here for 35, with two years prior to that in the New South Wales parliament. I will miss a great Australian, a great parliamentarian and a great member of the National Party representing regional Australia. He was a great supporter of mine when the chips were down and a friend to all of us. He has earned the respect of this parliament through the ups and downs of political life and that does not often happen.He was a great sportsman, as was mentioned, and a pianist as well. I have never actually heard him play the piano; I might get that indulgence one day. And I would like to pay special tribute to Rosemary, who has been such a great supporter of Ian through his trials and tribulations and his victories, and to his children, whom I got to know in my younger days. I also pay a tribute on behalf of my father who had some great days during their political careers in the old chamber—he did not experience this chamber—with Ralph Hunt, Peter Nixon and all those who were associated with him.I will conclude with the words I mentioned last night which I remember Ian saying when I was defeated in 1993: `Never complain. Never explain. And always remember that tomorrow is another day.' I hope that the rest of your days are fantastic, Ian. You leave this House with a great sense of dignity, style and respect.Question resolved in the affirmative.19:15:0044House adjourned at 7.15 p.m.Notices44The following notices were given:Mr Price to move:(1) That a Standing Committee on Appropriations and Staffing be appointed to inquire into:(a) proposals for the annual estimates and the additional estimates for the House of Representatives;(b) proposals to vary the staff structure of the House of Representatives, and staffing and recruitment policies; and(c) such other matters as are referred to it by the House;(2) That the committee shall:(a) in relation to estimates— (i) determine the amounts for inclusion in the parliamentary appropriation bills for the annual and the additional appropriations; and (ii) report to the House upon its determinations prior to the consideration by the House of the relevant parliamentary appropriation bill; and (b) in relation to staffing— (i) make recommendations to the Speaker; and (ii) report to the House on any matter its determinations prior to the consideration by the House of the relevant parliamentary appropriation bill;(3) That the committee consist of the Speaker and 11 other members, 6 members to be nominated by the Chief Government Whip or Whips and 5 members to be nominated by the Chief Opposition Whip or Whips or any independent Member;(4) That the committee elect a Government member as its chair;(5) That the committee elect a deputy chairman who shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee, and at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee the members present shall elect another member to act as chairman at that meeting;(6) That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members and to refer to any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine;(7) That the committee appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only, and at any time when the chair of a subcommittee is not present at a meeting of the subcommittee the members of the subcommittee present shall elect another member of that subcommittee to act as chair at that meeting;(8) That the quorum of a subcommittee be a majority of the members of that subcommittee;(9) That members of the committee who are not members of a subcommittee may participate in the public proceedings of that subcommittee but shall not vote, move any motion or be counted for the purpose of a quorum;(10) That the committee or any subcommittee have power to send for persons, papers and records;(11) That the committee or any subcommittee have power to move from place to place;(12) That a subcommittee have power to adjourn from time to time and to sit during any sittings or adjournment of the House;(13) That the committee have leave to report from time to time; and(14) That the foregoing provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders.Mr Price to move:(1) That standing order 28B be amended by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):(ba ) annual and additional estimates contained in the appropriation bills presented to the House shall stand referred for consideration by Members of the relevant committee (as determined in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (b) for the consideration of annual reports), and, for the purposes of this consideration: (i) six Members of each committee, determined by the committee in each case, shall consider the estimates; (ii) the Members of the committee selected to consider the estimates shall meet with Members of the relevant Senate legislation committee so that the Members and Senators may meet together for the purposes of considering the estimates; (iii) members of the relevant House and Senate committees, when meeting together to consider estimates, shall choose a Member or a Senator to chair the joint meetings; (iv) the provisions of Senate standing order 26 shall, to the extent that they are applicable, apply to the consideration of estimates under this paragraph, and (v) that, upon the completion of joint meetings at which evidence is received or written answers or additional information considered, it shall then be a matter for the Members of the relevant committee to consider the terms of any report to the House on the estimates.(2) That a message be sent to the Senate acquainting it of this resolution and requesting that it concur and take action accordingly.Mr Price to move:That the standing orders be amended by amending standing order 94 to read as follows:Closure of Member94 A motion may be made that a Member who is speaking, except a Member giving a notice of motion or formally moving the terms of a motion allowed under the standing orders or speaking to a motion of dissent (from any ruling of the Speaker under standing order 100), "be not further heard", and such question shall be put forthwith and decided without amendment or debate. Mr Price to move:That standing order 129 be omitted and the following standing order substituted:Presentation of petitions129 At the time provided for the presentation of petitions, the following arrangements shall apply to the presentation of petitions certified to be in conformity with the standing orders: (a ) in respect of each petition, the petitioner, or one of the petitioners, may present the petition to the House by standing at the Bar of the House and reading to the House the prayer of the petition, and (b ) where a petitioner is not able to present the petition in accordance with paragraph (a) of this standing order, the Member who has lodged the petition may present it to the House by reading to the House the prayer of the petition.Mr Price to move:That the standing orders be amended by inserting the following standing order after standing order 143:Questions to committee chairs143A Questions may be put to a Member in his or her capacity as Chair of a committee of the House, or of a joint committee, in connection with the work or duties of the committee in question.Mr Price to move:That the standing orders be amended by inserting the following standing order after standing order 145:Questions without notice—Time limits145A During question time: (a ) the asking of each question may not exceed 1 minute and the answering of each question may not exceed 4 minutes; (b ) the asking of each supplementary question may not exceed 1 minute and the answering of each supplementary question may not exceed 1 minute; and (c ) the time taken to make and determine points of order is not to be regarded as part of the time for questions and answers.Mr Price to move:That standing order 275A be omitted and the following standing order be substituted: Statements by Members275A Notwithstanding standing order 275, when the Main Committee meets on a Thursday, the business before the Committee shall be interrupted at 1 p.m. and the Chair shall call for statements by Members. A Member, other than a Minister, may be called by the Chair to make a statement for a period not exceeding 3 minutes. The period for Members' statements may continue for a maximum of 1 hour. Any business under discussion at 1 p.m. and interrupted under the provisions of this standing order shall be set down on the Notice Paper for the next sitting.Mr Reith that:Contingent on any bill being brought in and read a first time, a Minister shall move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the second reading being made an order of the day for a later hour.Contingent on any report relating to a bill being received from the Main Committee, a Minister shall move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the remaining stages being passed without delay.Contingent on any bill being agreed to at the conclusion of the consideration in detail stage, a Minister shall move That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the motion for the third reading being moved without delay.Contingent on any message being received from the Senate transmitting any bill for concurrence, a Minister shall move - That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the bill being passed through all its stages without delay.Mr Mark Vaile to present a bill for an act to amend the Wool International Act 1993, and for related purposes.Dr Wooldridge to present a bill for an act to regulate activities involving radiation, and for related purposes.Dr Wooldridge to present a bill for an act to deal with consequential matters arising from the enactment of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998, and for other purposes.Dr Kemp to present a bill for an act to amend the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 1996, and for related purposes.Dr Kemp to present a bill for an act to amend the Higher Education Funding Act 1998, and for related purposes.Mr McGauran to present a bill for an act to establish the film licensed investment company scheme, and for related purposes.Mr Truss to present a bill for an act to amend the law relating to child support, and for related purposes.Mr Hockey to present a bill for an act to amend the States Grants (General Purposes) Act 1994, and for related purposes.Documents46The following papers were deemed to have been presented on 10 November 1998:Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act—Direction 1998 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (Conditions of Payment to Organisations).Report of the augmented review panel convened by the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs—Final boundary recommendations.Rules 1998 Regional Council Election Amendment (No. 2).Aged Care Act—Schedule of residential care services determined to be adjusted residential care services as at 1 October 1997.Air Force Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 290.Antarctic Treaty (Environment Protection) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 231.Archives Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 273.Australian Federal Police Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 232.Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act—Declarations of—Approved donor—21 August 1998.30 June 1998.7 July 1998.Industry marketing body 30 June 1998.Industry research body 30 June 1998.Orders—Nos. LC-1/98, LC2/98.Australian National University Act—Statute No. 256.Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act—Instrument fixing charges to be paid to APRA.Determination 1998 Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (Commonwealth Costs). Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 294.Authorised Non-operating Holding Companies Supervisory Levy Imposition Act—Determination 1998 Authorised Non-operating Holding Companies Supervisory Levy Imposition.Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act—Instrument of approval of forms 12 October 1998.Cheques and Payment Orders Act—Regulations —Statutory Rules 1998 No. 238.Christmas Island Act—Casino Control Ordinance—Direction 10 July 1998.Notice of cancellation of casino licence 28 July 1998.Civil Aviation Act—Civil Aviation Regulations—Civil Aviation Orders—Part 105—Amendments 1998 5, 23 (2), 24, 25, 30 (3) June, 3 (2), 6 (2), 16, 17 (4), 24 (5), 26, 27 (4), 28 (7), 30 (2), 31 (5) July, 3, 5, 7 (2), 11, 13, 17, 19, 24 (4), 28 (3), 31 (7) August, 3, 4 (4), 11 (10), 16 (3), 18 (3), 22 (3), 23 (2), 25 (7) September, 1, 2, 7, 9, 12, 13 (2), 14 (3), 15, 16 (3), 23 (23) October.Part 106—Amendments 1998 16, 20, 30, 31 (2) July, 24 (3), 28, 31 (2) August, 1, 25 September.Part 107—Amendments 1998 29 June, 3 (3), 27 (2), 29 July, 28 (2) August, 10, 25 September, 8, 14, 23 October.Part 20—Amendment 1998 19 October.Part 82—Amendment 1998 24 September.Parts 95, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 108—Amendments 1998 28 September.Exemptions 1998 Nos. CASA 24, CASA 27, CASA 28, CASA 32, CASA 33, CASA 34, CASA 35, CASA 36, CASA 37, CASA 38, CASA 39, KSAAD.Instruments 1998 Nos. CASA 254, CASA 267, CASA 290, CASA 309, CASA 310, CASA 316, CASA 327, CASA 358, CASA 392, CASA 417.Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 234, 235, 236, 237, 288.Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 256.Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act—Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Orders 1998.Notices under section 45— Commonwealth acquiring shares in Employment National Limited.Formation of four Commonwealth owned companies and disposal by the Commonwealth of all shares in, and ceasing to be a member of, three companies.Commonwealth Electoral Act and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 296.Commonwealth Places (Application of Laws) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 271.Corporations Act—Accounting Standards Nos. AASB 1001, AASB 1008, AASB 1016, AASB 1037.Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 239, 293, 295.Customs Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 228, 229, 276, 278.Customs Act and Excise Act—Notice 1998 No. 1.Defence Act—Determinations 1998Defence Force (Superannuation) (Productivity Benefit) (Amendment) No. 4.Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.Nos. 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37.Designs Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 259.Endangered Species Protection Act—Declarations Nos. 98/ESP1, 98/ESP3, 98/ESP4, 98/ESP6.Excise Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 274, 275, 277.Export Inspection (Quantity Charge) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 233.Family Law Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 248, 249, 270.Rules of Court—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 299.Federal Court of Australia Act—Rules of Court—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 224, 297.Financial Management and Accountability Act—Financial Management and Accountability Orders (Amendment).Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 261, 289.Fisheries Management Act—Determination 1998 SBT Final TAC.Directions 1998 Nos. NPFD 21, NPFD 22. Temporary Order 1998 No. 1.General Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act—Determination 1998 General Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition.Health Insurance Act—Declaration 1998 No. QAA 1.Determinations 1998—Health Insurance (Pathology-Licensed Collection Centres) (No. 8).No. HS/1.Guidelines 1998 Health Insurance (Approval of Billing Agents) Amendment (No. 1).Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 253, 266, 268, 301, 302, 303.Higher Education Funding Act—Determinations 1998 Nos. T18, T19, T20, T21.Home and Community Care Act—Home and Community Care amending agreement with—New South Wales 1 July 1998.Victoria 12 August 1998.Indigenous Education (Supplementary Assistance) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 279.International Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 250, 251.Judiciary Act—Rule of Court 4 August 1998.Rules of Court—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 298.Lands Acquisition Act—Statement under section 40.Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act—Determination 1998 Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition.Live-stock Transactions Levy Act and National Residue Survey (Sheep, Lambs and Goats Transactions) Levy Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 254.Migration Act—Notices (5) under section 502.Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 284, 285, 304, 305, 306.Statements under section 48B (8).Statements under section 417 (22).Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 282. Migration Agents Registration Renewal Charge Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 283.Military Superannuation and Benefits Act—Instrument 1998 Military Superannuation and Benefits Trust Deed (Amendment) No. 4. Motor Vehicle Standards Act—Determination 1998 Road Vehicle (National Standards) No. 1.Mutual Assistance in Business Regulation Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 263.Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 292.National Environment Protection Council Act—National Environment Protection Council—National environment protection measure for—Ambient air quality.Movement of controlled waste between States and Territories.National Health Act—Declarations 1998 Nos. PB 14, PB 15, PB 17, PB 18, PB 19.Determinations 1998—Health Benefits Reinsurance (Records of Organisations).Nos. HIG 5, HIG 6, PB 16,PB 20.Instrument for the purposes of section 40AA 8 September 1998.Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 262.Native Title Act—Determinations 1998—Native Title (Notices).Representative Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander Bodies Revocation (No. 1).Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 272, 281, 286.Naval Defence Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 230.Navigation Act—Marine orders 1998 Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 287.Overseas Missions (Privileges and Immunities) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 300.Ozone Protection Act—Notices (7).Parliament Act—Parliamentary Zone—Proposal to erect identification signs in front of Old Parliament House.Parliamentary Entitlements Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 269.Patents Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 257, 264, 291.Payments System and Netting Act—Approvals of RTGS system 29 (2) October 1998.Primary Industries Levies and Charges Collection Act, National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act, National Residue Survey (Excise) Levy Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 245.Proclamations by His Excellency the Governor-General fixing the dates on which the following Acts and provisions of Acts shall come into operation—Cheques and Payment Orders Amendment (Turnback of Cheques) Act 1998—Schedule 1, other than item 6, 22 July 1998.Cheques and Payment Orders Amendment Act 1988—Schedule 1, other than item 27 and items 70 to 82, and the items of Schedule 2 and 3, 1 December 1998.Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Amendment Act 1991—Section 10 and subsections 11 (2) and 13 (2), 22 June 1998.Customs Legislation (Anti-dumping Amendments) Act 1998—Schedule 1 (other than item 39), the items of Schedules 2 and 4 and the items of Schedule 3 (other than item 11), 24 July 1998.National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act 1998—1 August 1998.National Residue Survey (Excise) Levy Act 1998—1 August 1998.National Residue Survey Administration Amendment Act 1998—Schedules 2 and 3, 1 August 1998.Native Title Amendment Act 1998—Schedules 1, 2, 4 and 5 30 September 1998.Part 1 of Schedule 3 30 October 1998.Productivity Commission Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 255.Public Service Act—Determinations 1998 Nos. 16, 17, 18, FAT 6, FAT 9, FAT 10, FAT 11, FAT 12, FAT 13, FAT 14, FAT 15, LES 30, LES 31, LES 32, LES 33, LES 34, LES 35, LES 36, LES 37, LES 38, SESROB 55, SESROB 56, SESROB 57, SESROB 58, SESROB 59, SESROB 60, SESROB 61, SESROB 62, SESROB 63, SESROB 64, SESROB 65, SESROB 66, SESROB 67, SESROB 68, SESROB 69, SESROB 70, SESROB 71, SESROB 72, SESROB 73, SESROB 74, SESROB 75, SESROB 76, SESROB 77.Parliamentary Presiding Officers' Determination 1998 No. 1.Quarantine Act—Determination 1998 No. 2.Radiocommunications Act—Determinations 1998—Radiocommunications (C-Tick Mark).Radiocommunications Licence Conditions (Broadcasting Licence) No. 1. Licence 1998 Radiocommunications (Communications with Space Object) Class.Remuneration Tribunal Act—Remuneration Tribunal—Determinations 1998 Nos. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.Statement.Retirement Savings Account Providers Supervisory Levy Imposition Act—Determination 1998 Retirement Savings Account Providers Supervisory Levy Imposition.Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act—Notices 1998 Nos. 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15.Sales Tax Assessment Act—Determinations 1998 Nos. STD 4, STD 5, STD 6.Rulings 1998 Nos. SST 12, SST 13.Social Security Act—Determinations 1998Advance Payment of Entitlement (Waiver of Waiting Period) (No. 1).Youth Allowance (Activity Test Exemption Guidelines).Youth Allowance (Satisfactory Study Progress Guidelines).States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 280.Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 226.Stevedoring Levy (Imposition) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 225.Student Assistance Act—Notice 1998 Present Value of the Unpaid Amount—Annual Rate of Interest (No. 1).Superannuation Act 1976—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 242.Superannuation Act 1990—Declarations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 243, 244.Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 No. 240.Superannuation Supervisory Levy Imposition Act—Determination 1998 Superannuation Supervisory Levy Imposition.Sydney Airport Curfew Act—Dispensations 1998 Nos. 6, 7, 8.Taxation Administration Act—Determinations 1998 Nos. TD 98/15 (Addendum), TD 98/16 (Addendum), TD 98/17, TD 98/18, TD 98/19, TD 98/20, TD 98/21, TD 98/22, TD 98/23, TD 98/24.Rulings 1998 Nos. PR 98/1, PR 98/2, TR 98/13, TR 98/14, TR 98/15, TR 98/16. Telecommunications Act 1997—Determinations—1998—Net Universal Service Cost Avoidable Costs.Nos. 1, 2.Technical standard No. TS 101.Instruments 1997—Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Scale of Damages (Amendment No. 2).Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard (Amendment No. 2).Instruments 1998—Telecommunications Labelling (Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling) Notice Telecommunications Labelling (Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling) No. 2 of 1997 (1998 Amendment No. 1).Telecommunications (Interception) Act—Declaration 1998 Agency (Police Integrity Commission).Therapeutic Goods Act—Instrument of approval under section 6AA 13 July 1998.Instruments of approval under section 23AA 13 July, 17 September 1998.Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 227, 247.Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 246, 260.Trade Marks Act—Regulations—Statutory Rules 1998 Nos. 258, 265.Veterans' Entitlements Act—Instruments 1998 Nos 8, 9, 10, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75.