View the recording of this speech here.
Record of Proceedings, 29 May 2012
Maiden Speech
I come to this place today as the third member for Beaudesert and am proud to state that, for the first time in two years, the LNP once again represents this great electorate. One of my predecessors, the Hon. Kev Lingard, was Speaker of this House during his 25-odd years in parliament. He was elected as the member for Fassifern in 1983, Fassifern being one of at least three formerly constituted electorates which now make up the electorate of Beaudesert, including the Albert electorate. His predecessor was the Hon. Sel Muller, who was also privileged to serve as Speaker. It should be pointed out that the Hon. Sel Muller succeeded his father as the member for Fassifern, the Hon. Adolf Muller having represented the Fassifern electorate from 1935 until his retirement in 1969.
From 1896 to 1899 the member for Albert was a man called Robert Martin Collins, who was also my wife’s great-great-grandfather. Robert Collins was renowned in the pastoral industry in this state and is largely credited with the establishment of national parks in Queensland, to preserve the natural environment he held dear around his home in Mundoolun, which is now in the Beaudesert electorate. I make reference to the history of my electorate and its members because I am proud to continue the work carried out by all of these former members, and I pay tribute to them today. That there were only three members of parliament from 1935 to 2009 speaks volumes about the stable, steady representation afforded to the community by those members, and I hope that the electorate I now represent will see fit to support me as their representative for some years to come.
I congratulate Madam Speaker on her historic appointment as Speaker, the first female Speaker of this House.
The Beaudesert electorate has always been the heart and soul of Queensland and this parliament. Indeed, to see Queensland in a day you only need a good tour of the Beaudesert electorate. We have it all, from the rainforest at Binna Burra and waterfalls on Tamborine Mountain to Gondwanaland in Lamington National Park at the back of Beechmont and the fertile agricultural plains of the Albert and Logan river valleys; the hills of the Main Ranges and the Border Ranges; the ocean views of Beechmont; the unique environment of Kooralbyn and country towns like Boonah, Kalbar and Rathdowney; the magnificence of the vegetable belt in the Fassifern, looked over by the Great Dividing Range and Cunninghams Gap; and the growing centres of Beaudesert, Jimboomba, Cedar Grove, Cedar Vale and Mundoolun. An hour from Brisbane but definitely Queensland country, this is the Scenic Rim of Queensland.
The Beaudesert electorate has always been at the heart and soul of coalition governments. No party other than the LNP and its predecessors has ever won an election in this seat. I make this point to illustrate that my community has been steadfast in its support for our side of politics, and we who are now in government must never take their loyalty for granted.
The election of 2012 heralded an historic event, and this is the first election to result in a Liberal National Party government. May there be many more to follow. It is a long way from my time spent as a student at the University of Queensland in the year 2000 and the disastrous election of 2001. In those days there were not many Young Liberals on campus and even fewer National Party members. The student union was very much dominated by left wing students, and it was here that I had my first combative encounters with the Labor Party and our other political opponents in student elections. On reflection, the rough and tumble of student politics—it can be very rough and very personal—was crucial experience for later years.
Queensland has given us their trust because Queenslanders gave us credit for our policies and those who make up our government team. There is no doubt that this credibility exists because of the creation of the LNP in 2008. As one who grew up on a dairy farm in a National Party family but ended up at university in the Liberal Party, I see myself as the epitome of the merged party, including its traditions of liberalism and conservatism, and I thank all those in both our former parties who worked so hard to ensure the greater good was achieved. In particular I thank Bruce McIver and Gary Spence, along with the Minister for Health and many others, including the members for Gregory, Condamine and Warrego, who have been crucial to the development of a united LNP.
Sir Winston Churchill is quoted as having said, ‘The problems of victory are more agreeable than those of defeat, but they are no less difficult.’ And so now it is with the LNP in government, which must address the difficult problems left to us by the Labor Party. In particular, this LNP government must look after rural and regional communities constituting my electorate and similar communities across Queensland, repaying the overwhelming support given to the LNP.
The Beaudesert electorate is one of the fastest growing regions in Queensland. Families are moving in and springing up in new estates all over the place. And the community in Beaudesert reasonably expects that it should be able to give birth to children in Beaudesert. I am here to fight for them—to cut the cost of living and to deliver adequate hospital services in Beaudesert, increased public transport options across the electorate, the Beaudesert bypass and improved policing. I will be fighting to ensure the government gives us a fair share of state resources and infrastructure spending, such as the Mount Lindesay Highway upgrade, as our communities evolve gradually into more urbanised communities.
I will work to get the government off the back of our small businesses and our primary producers. Our unique natural environment in the Scenic Rim—the rainforests, national parks, mountains and superb and fertile agricultural lands—dotted with small and vibrant communities all over, should not be exposed to the impacts visited by resource industries. I thank the Premier and Deputy Premier for their commitment to implementing policies which recognise there are some areas where resource industries should not be developed. I will work on behalf of the electorate to ensure these important natural resources are preserved for future generations.
The tourism sector is growing in the Beaudesert electorate. There is a lot on offer, from hiking in the ranges bordering New South Wales or water sports on Moogerah, Maroon and the new Wyaralong dams, to wineries, lavender farms, farm stays, nature retreats, B&Bs and proper country shows. No offence to the member for Moggill, but the Brookfield Show is not a proper country show. I issue an open invitation to all members to visit the region on the doorstep of Brisbane, and I look forward to working with the government to boost tourism on the Scenic Rim.
A key part of the Beaudesert electorate’s economy is our primary producers—not just farms but also the wider economy in the towns of this electorate which rely on primary industries. Australia needs primary industries, and I will support those industries. The government must work to bring cost relief to all small business, especially power and water costs, and through COAG and other dialogue the government should drive an agenda to sustain our primary industries through reforms to the labour market and to trade practices law to provide a fair bargaining position for small business and to quarantine laws to provide for proper quarantine checks on substandard imported produce. This is also about fairness in the economy.
Many of my constituents are family run primary producers and small businesses. They are the hardest working people in our country, yet the former government has given them power price rises of 60 per cent over five years. This is murderous to a dairy farmer who runs refrigeration equipment 24 hours a day, a small business which runs a factory reliant on electricity, or a carrot grower who irrigates using electric pumps 24 hours a day. I generally agree with free market ideology, but that ideology comes to naught if we as a nation cannot sustain ourselves. What protection is there for primary producers who have invested a lifetime in their farms? None. Their revenue is free to go down and their costs are free to go up. That is the free market for them. This is simply unjust when one considers the regulations put in place to support other participants in our economy. This is not just about me standing up for my community; it is plainly about ensuring we have a future in this country where we can feed ourselves. This is a political decision to be made, because at the moment the market is trending in the wrong direction.
The Beaudesert electorate also has a large equine industry. From racing, pacing, showjumping and eventing to polo and cutting, across all breeds and many pony clubs, we have them all. And it is estimated that up to 2,000 jobs depend on equine activities in the Beaudesert region. Beaudesert has a proud history of racing, and I assure the Beaudesert community that I will work for them to see this industry go ahead.
I was raised in a family of four sons on a dairy farm at Marburg. My father and grandfather worked our small farm from around 1927 until 2001. My mother is a teacher, so I can well appreciate the dedication teachers have to their vocation.
Life on the farm when I was young had a fairly strong routine to it. Like many farmers, dad worked long hours and he worked hard. My parents worked hard to provide for their family. Their family was their responsibility, not the responsibility of anybody else. I believe this self-reliance and hard work ethic has been passed down through the generations from my ancestors, most of whom were immigrants to Queensland from a region of Prussia in what is now Germany. These immigrant families were granted small allotments of land which they were required to clear, improve and make productive. Many farms in my home town of Marburg, a town the member for Ipswich West now looks after, like the towns of Boonah and Kalbar in the Fassifern Valley where my wife grew up and where we now live, were settled by these German families, many of whom had fled economic depression, rising militarism of the Kaiser and religious persecution. They set sail to what was then a very remote place all on the chance of a better life. We should pay tribute and remember these pioneers.
Standing in this chamber I look back on generations past, including my great-great grandfather Isaac Ham who served as mayor of Ipswich in 1905 and my late grandfather Victor Krause who served over a decade on Moreton Shire Council in the 1960s and seventies, and all of the pioneers who built this state. I am inspired to make Queensland a success again. We need to reward people who work hard and give them incentives to do so. After attending Ipswich Grammar School, a fine institution where the values of self-discipline, pride and diligence were ingrained by all of the teachers like Jon Snow and the late Dick Rima, I studied law and accounting at the University of Queensland and worked in Brisbane and overseas as a solicitor. Further educational opportunities are in abundance in Australia, but we must ensure we invest wisely in our economy to create an economic incentive for individuals to increase their knowledge. Without that incentive, history shows us that our society will not move forward.
To my parents, Robert and Janet Krause, I thank them for their never-ending love and support and for the sacrifices they made in their own lives to provide my brothers and me with the best opportunities in life. I thank them for instilling in me a sense of right and wrong. There are so many debts to them which I can never repay. I remember my departed grandparents, Victor and Gertrude Krause and Len Ham, who was a farmer and a coalminer. All three of them were staunch conservatives and would be absolutely delighted—and amazed—to see me in this place today. I also remember my wife’s grandmother, Joan Philp, a most enthusiastic supporter, who passed away only a week or so after the election. I think she voted for me! I acknowledge and thank my grandmother, May Ham, for her support in my life and who, at 94 years of age, still lives in her home and is an example of love and dedication to family. I thank my parents-in-law, Peter and Janet Philp, for their continuous support and guidance over the years, particularly in the election campaign in Boonah.
My brother David and his wife Emma, who are sitting in the gallery tonight, deserve special thanks for their work on the campaign. He once said to me that politics was a mug’s game. A few months later he attended a function, joined the party and was hooked. It looks like he was the mug after all! Thank you also to brothers Paul and Tim and their wives Sarah and Alison. Paul lives in London but is a terrific media adviser. Through time zone differences, he reads all of the papers in Australia before I awake and emails me if there is anything I need to know. My brother-in-law at Condamine, Luke Philp, and his wife Jennifer deserve a thankyou for their contribution to the campaign.
To all who assisted on my campaign, thank you. There are so many, but I pay special tribute to Sheila and Lloyd Venz, campaign director Bob Harper and his long-suffering wife Rhonda, Mitch Redford, James McGrath, Leanne Allen, Darrell and Brenda Dennis, Liz Dittman, Mark and Bernadette McCabe, Glenn Abbott, Marjorie Yarrow and Kate Seymour, Ken Turnbull, Colin Lagoon, Julian Creighton, Jon Forbe-Smith, John Dunn, Trevor and Jan Pfeffer, Patsy Bell, Ron and Gail Waters-Marsh, Ruth Doyle, Kath Mulders, Laurie Veitch, Greg McKenzie, Robbie and Julanne Murphy, David and Gloria Brennan, Ollie Johnson, Clive and Summer Todd, Phil Lowe, Amy Hanson and Chris McLellan. I also thank Scott Buchholz, the member for Wright, and John Brent, Mayor of the Scenic Rim. David Russell QC gave me the spur on I required in 2010. Thank you. Thank you to National Australia Bank, my former employer, for its indulgence during the long unofficial campaign. To Kate Olgers, Nigel Ward, Scott Mackay, Rukshi Jayawardena, John Lowrey, Ann Choi, Lynda Jardine, Tanya King and Brooke Howard and even Bruce Hollas, thank you for your support. I thank each and every member of the Beaudesert electorate. The people of this electorate have big hearts and will give a fair go to anybody who is willing to genuinely represent them. I am thankful for the frequent offers of cold water while doorknocking in the summer heat. I look forward to working with you all in the future.
I have lived and worked in other places and I cannot think of any place where so many volunteers give so much to their community than in the Beaudesert electorate. Whether it is Rural Lifestyle Options, an organisation which provides a live-in home for children and adults with severe intellectual or physical impairment, or Beaucare, Caddies or Bluecare or Centacare or Quota, Zonta, Rotary or Lions or the many sporting bodies which produce world-class athletes, the list goes on—I could not name them all here in the allotted time. I thank all of these volunteers as representatives of the wider community for their hard work. I thank community groups such as the Tamborine Mountain, Beaudesert and Boonah Men’s Shed, the Beaudesert University of the Third Age, the Rathdowney Bowls Club, Jimboomba, Boonah and Beaudesert Rotary and Boonah Chamber of Commerce as well as the staff and residents at Wongaburra, Star Gardens and the Churches of Christ Village, among many others, who were willing to have me visit them.
To all of my constituents, I give you this pledge: I will always listen to your concerns and do my best to address them. You are my first concern in any legislation which comes before this House. I will not pack up my tools and run away if the interests of the electorate are not always addressed—that is politics sometimes—and I will continue to doggedly represent you. All of you understand that you cannot always get everything you need at once, but you can rely on me to keep coming back—like a pitbull terrier attaches itself to the trousers of an intruder—to ensure you have a voice which is heard.
I will not take the electorate for granted, and nor should the LNP ministers now in government take it for granted. I acknowledge there are many issues and challenges which the government must address in my electorate: exploration permits for mining and CSG which should never have been granted, restoring hospital services in Beaudesert, giving real cost relief to families and farmers, upgrading many main roads and building new transport options into growth areas near Jimboomba and Boonah, cutting the cost of doing business so our tourism operators, our owner-drivers in the transport industry—a group of people I know the member for Gregory holds dear—our builders and our small businesses can thrive, and the list goes on. There is so much to do. But if we do not have a plan to tackle these problems, there are opponents of the LNP who will seek to replace the LNP from rural and regional communities, threatening once again to split the non-Labor forces in Queensland. We all know, in the LNP, that such forces do only Labor’s bidding, for division only serves to get Labor back in power. There are no prizes for holding the most seats in opposition. I say simply to the Premier and his ministers: if you play straight to Beaudesert, Beaudesert will play straight to you. Today I thank the Premier for leading the LNP to government in Queensland. History will mark you as a truly remarkable Queensland politician. Thank you for visiting and campaigning with me in the electorate. I am sure you and I agree with the following principles enunciated by the 15th Premier of Queensland—
I believe the Government ought to be like a good merchant or a good citizen who always pays his way and never expends more than his income. I say it is this continual borrowing, lending and spending of large sums of money that is sapping the independence of the people of the country and destroying … self-confidence …
The 15th Premier of Queensland was Sir Robert Philp, an entrepreneurial businessman and politician who was also my wife’s great-great grandfather. I wholeheartedly agree with his statements and sentiments, which are as relevant today as they were when he stated them at the turn of the last century. Premier, not only are you the first to become Premier from outside the parliament; history will remember your courageous decision to give up the Lord Mayoralty to lead the LNP in Queensland—a selfless, determined decision to do what needed to be done to put things right.
I thank our heavenly father for his blessings given to this country and our family. It is my prayer that, with his help, I will be a worthy custodian of his creation—for that is what we all are in this House.
There is one person I must thank above all others for her support, endurance and guidance. She is my mate and the best sounding-board I could ever ask for. She keeps me grounded—incredibly so—and keeps my chin up when things get tough. My wife, Kit, has taken on a lot in the past two years as we travelled through preselections and an election campaign to arrive here today. As I said to my wife on our wedding day, thank you for accepting me as I am. The coming years will be a time of challenge and change for Queensland, for the electorate and for our family. To you and my little boy, Rory, I treasure you above all things and I am privileged to have you by my side as we work together for our community and for Queensland to secure a future for our children and the generations to come. That is what I am here to do— to secure the future for our community, its families, as well as my own, its industries, its environment. It is indeed an honour and a privilege to represent the heart and soul of Queensland which is the electorate of Beaudesert.