[Peetwo]

The Heff's last hurrah-  

Yesterday Senator Heffernan a true gentleman of the bush & unerring advocate of regional & transport issues, gave his last speech in the Senate Chamber.  And today will be the last time Senator Heffernan will Chair the Senate Rural & Regional Affairs & Transport committee in Estimates - we at PAIN will dearly miss him :

"..My aspirations are bound by the honour boards of past campaigns in both war and peace. My commitment is to reward the individual, unburden the dependent and protect the vulnerable. My hope is that in walking the tightrope between rights and responsibilities the balance will always be maintained in Australia by the peaceful democratic processes of our parliament..."

  

Senator HEFFERNAN (New South Wales) (13:43): It is good to see you in the chamber, Sterlo.  This is my last speech. I seek leave to incorporate my first speech into this speech.


Leave granted...

Senator HEFFERNAN: I would firstly like to thank the constituency of New South Wales for allowing me the great honour and privilege of representing them in this chamber for the best part of 20 years—in particular, those from rural and regional Australia; I have long fought to have their voices heard in this place. I would like to thank my family and acknowledge that I would not be here without their support: my hardworking wife, Margaret, who is in the gallery up there; Kate, who is also in the gallery; and my other children, Will, Ted and Harriet. Hello, everybody. They have always displayed much understanding—a bloody lot of understanding—and given me great support through the inevitable highs and lows of family, farming and politics. I would also like to thank all current and former members and senators and my parliamentary colleagues, my current and former staff and the Liberal Party and, in particular, John Winston Howard, who rang me up and said one day, 'What about having a crack in the Senate?' So there you go, I had a crack.


Those passing by have commented on a sign displayed in my office titled 'the Heffernan pledge'. It states, 'I will behave at estimates, I will not swear and I will give other Senators an opportunity to ask questions.' I am sure Senator Sterle will agree how well I have followed these guidelines.


I will go to my maiden speech, which I will incorporate. From John Buchan's 'Great Captains' from Homilies and Recreations, I quote:


We can make a catalogue of the moral qualities of the greatest captains but we cannot exhaust them. First there will be courage, not merely the physical kind, but the rarer thing, the moral courage which we call fortitude—the power of enduring when hope is gone. There must be the capacity for self-sacrifice, the willingness to let worldly interests and even reputation and honour perish, if only the task be accomplished. The man who is concerned with his own prestige will never move mountains. There must be patience supreme patience under misunderstandings and set-backs, and the muddles and interferences of others. There must be resilience under defeat, a tough vitality and a manly optimism, which looks at the facts in all their bleakness and yet dares to be confident. There must be the sense of the eternal continuity of a great cause, so that failure and even death will not seem the end, and a man sees himself as only a part in a predestined purpose. It may not be for him to breach the fortress, but the breach will come. I add another quality: the greatest captains have laid their spell not only on the mind and spirit, but on the heart of their armies.


I will now quote from various parts of my maiden speech in 1996 which I think are still relevant.


I wish to pay tribute to our primary industries. Primary industry, which is generally carried on in rural, regional and remote Australia and includes fishing, farming, forestry and mining, continues to contribute 75 per cent of Australia's net external earnings.


That was in '96.


Our regional cities, towns and villages that support our fishermen, foresters, farmers and miners are a vital part of that contribution, as are our rural women.


Our rural women are often taken for granted. Many run the farm, more often the farmer. Rural women display greater patience, more resilience and are generally better educated than are rural men. 'Marry a teacher or nurse and drought proof the farm' is still a well-known bush convention. Rural women often have to contend with droving, drafting and old harvest trucks, yet find the time to do the books, do the washing and ironing, cook the meals, oversee the homework, school excursions and weekend sport, water the garden and look like a lady of leisure for church on Sunday. Our rural women deserve a medal for holding together the spirit of family farming.


Our farmers are an endangered species. Despite the declining numbers of farmers, now down to 120,000, and an increasing average age, now 53; despite the drift to the coast and the fact that more people live in the western suburbs of Sydney than all of rural Australia; despite the decline of farm employment from 27 per cent of total employment in the 1920s to three per cent today; and despite the relentless decline in terms of trade for agriculture, our farmers and the world's farmers have to feed an extra 90 million people every year.


We live in a world where 1.3 billion people lack regular access to fresh water, where 800 million people do not enjoy food security, where 185 million children suffer malnutrition and where 1 billion people have an income of no more than $1 a day. Population growth is wearing down Mother Earth and swallowing up our farming land and agricultural water resources. Twenty-five per cent of the world's agricultural land is degraded and 25 per cent of the world's wild fisheries are overfished. If the world does not wake up, in 100 years there will be no tropical rainforest.


The loss of land from dryland agricultural production to urban development requires, in resource transfer terms, 1,000 tonnes of water to produce from irrigation 1 tonne of wheat. Many land scarce societies who face such transfers face the paradox of the reproductive rights of the current generation and the survival rights of the next generation.


The great challenge in feeding the world will be to produce enough food at a price that is affordable to all without destroying the environment. Rural, regional and remote Australia has taken up this challenge. We have adopted land care and our farmers are bonded to the land, often in a similar way to the custodial and spiritual ways of our Indigenous people. They have stuck through drought, fires and floods, through good times and bad and compete in world markets corrupted by the US and European treasuries and in many years have accepted fresh air and freedom as their only income.


My tribute also extends to my bush companions, our Indigenous people, who live in rural and remote Australia. I share their love of the land and their concern for the loss of their timeless culture. They, like myself, sleep many nights under the stars, understand the value of a campfire and can read Mother Nature, her seasons and warning signals. They, sadly, often live in a mire of low self-esteem, shunned by the passage of time and technology.

… … …

For many years, try as many have, we have failed these people. They, like our jackeroos, drovers, shearers, shearer's cooks and all rural dwellers, are a precious part of Australia's culture. All these people need not feel isolated and forgotten. They will have a champion for their cause in me.

… … …

Only a strong economy will fund from income the compassionate side of government, 'the true measure of good government'. Bold initiatives will produce a strong economy, real jobs and real wealth. Australia is ready for an era of bold initiatives, an era of national savings and real wealth creation. Like the Snowy Mountain scheme of the 20th century, we need a plan for the 21st century—a plan which will bring cohesion and long-term benefit to all.


Our plan should include a very fast train which adopts an inland route and has passenger and freight capacity and time lines to link our capital cities. The VFT will break down the barrier between city and country, curb the environmentally destructive urban sprawl, open up development corridors for the next 100 years and be the bridge to the 21st century. It will take Australia from a country retiring to the coast, living on welfare and resting on its laurels to a new frontier for development with job opportunities and excitement.


We should also harness some of the millions of megalitres of fresh water that flows annually into our northern tropical seas. This water … can be used to open up some of the last tracts of virgin farming land available in the world. Such a plan would recognise that in a world of shrinking land, mineral and water resources Australia has much to offer. It would also allow many remote communities, both black and white, a lifeline to higher self-esteem and a train ride to better health and education facilities and employment opportunities.

…   …   …

For my own state of New South Wales, the development of an inland international air … terminal would be a catalyst to restructure and vertically integrate the Murray-Darling farm enterprise … With the added value of workplace reform it would allow Murray-Darling farmers to competitively enter Asian supermarkets as fresh food suppliers to three billion people.


Madam President, the paradox and urban consolidation and urban sprawl, public and private transport, productivity employment, the myriad of environmental issues, clean air, fresh water—we buy fresh water now; will we eventually have to buy clean air?—

this was in 1996 and we are seeing it now— are not some trendy 'Greens' issues; they are our issues. They are planet survival issues which will not be solved by lobby groups, radical political agendas or single issue … parties. These issues will only be solved by government achieving interaction and understanding between city and council, between the various competing energies and agendas and between the producers and the users.

…   …   …

We have tolerated a public purse which has allowed rights to overpower responsibilities and build in billion dollar rorts; an archaic tax system that taxes battlers and the thrifty, yet allows taxable profits in key industries to be exported by foreign owned and vertically integrated companies—


that includes transfer pricing and of course these days derivative swaps.

My last appeal to parliament is to create a federal judicial commission—and this is away from my speech in 1996—for reasons that are well-documented, but have never been made public. I am sure the torture of history, as is the case in the current McClelland royal commission, will tell the truth. When I made my first speech to this chamber on 10 December 1996—it seems like only yesterday—my final words were:

… every time I hear the bugle sound the last post, I am reminded that I belong to a generation that has never been to war, has taken much and given little. I am reminded that the debt we all owe to earlier generations of Australians cannot be repaid but merely serviced.

My aspirations are bound by the honour boards of past campaigns in both war and peace. My commitment is to reward the individual, unburden the dependent and protect the vulnerable. My hope is that in walking the tightrope between rights and responsibilities the balance will always be maintained in Australia by the peaceful democratic processes of our parliament.


My dream—


and it is today—


is that on the day of my last speech in this chamber I will be able to say that I have served in a parliament whose members have all put the nation's interests ahead of their own; a parliament which has robustly discarded as un-Australian the morays of the eighties and its legacy of greed, corruption and debt … a parliament which has delivered the opportunity for all Australians to enjoy independence of means and mind; and, finally, that my contribution in this place will be judged by my fellow Australians as worthwhile.

My only wish then—


which is now—


will be that God allows me to return with my family to the peace and tranquillity of the bush.


Thank you.

A couple of memorable moments from the Heff:

Ripping it into Beaker on UAVs (at 02:00 min)..

& from last Estimates... - A Senator Said “Fuck That’s Risky Shit” And It’ll Make Your Day

&..the classic - "A cover-up or a balls-up"

Finally the original "person at the back of the room" quote from the PelAir cover-up inquiry:

 

  
Farewell Heff, it is not going to be quite the same without you -


MTF...P2

Ps From Estimates 05/05/16...