Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Well, this came around quickly!

On a beautiful Sydney day on 22 July, I joined members of the US Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, senior members of the Australian Defence Force and the Defence Organisation, the diplomatic corps, parliamentary colleagues, defence industry representatives and many other passionate supporters of the Australia-US relationship at Fleet Base East as the US Navy commissioned their littoral combat ship, the USS Canberra, the first commissioning of a new US warship outside the United States. It was a spectacular, historic event and, on that day, I was given the singular honour of becoming the ship's sponsor of the USS Canberra, a unique and important role in the life of the vessel—indeed, somewhat confrontingly, making me a permanent member of the ship's crew. I made the call on that day as instructed, 'Officers and crew of the USS Canberra, man our ship and bring her to life,' and they did.

The then US Secretary of Navy, Richard Spencer, chose me as the ship's sponsor a few years ago now. Since then I have somewhat inexpertly welded my initials into the keel of the ship at the Austal shipyard in Mobile Alabama early in COVID, visited her under construction, missed the christening of the ship due to COVID and, ultimately, the commissioning was the culmination here in Sydney just eight weeks ago.

My sponsorship is a mark, I hope, of the contribution I have made to the strength and depth of the Australia-US relationship during my entire parliamentary life. Frankly, it seemed to me a fitting moment to decide to retire from this place. The time is now right for me. I am acutely aware that few parliamentarians are given the chance to choose their time of departure, such is the, shall we say, abrupt nature of the political process, so this is a good opportunity to take!

Over 26 years I have seen valedictory speeches take many forms. The form I particularly want to most avoid today is that of the eulogy; I am far from dead. Principally, I see today as an opportunity for me to thank the very many people who have supported me along my journey in this role.

That was the easy part. Here come the difficult bits. In 26 years in politics I have not managed to excise the emotional gene in me yet. I think you know how much a role means to you when, no matter how long you have been doing it, you still come to work, as I do, inspired by the privilege of working here, in the seat of our democracy. I look at this building, this chamber, every time I am here and remind myself of the immense privilege it is to represent the people of my state. I don't think that feeling will ever leave me.

For me, the New South Wales division of the Liberal Party has made it possible for me to represent my state for so long in this place. I want to thank all the members of the party in New South Wales, even the ones who hate me viscerally—they are in the minority, hopefully! There are still some of the original selectors who probably wonder how on earth they managed to select a board member of the AIDS Council of New South Wales and the deputy chair of the Australian Republic Movement at the time as their new Liberal senator. Confusion reigned supreme. But I have always been transparent about my views. I have always been a small-l liberal. I have never taken a backward step.

I particularly acknowledge the women of my division, many of whom are close friends and mentors and who walked what was a somewhat narrow path with me to elected office. Within our Women's Council, I am grateful to the legendary three Bettys—Betty Coombe, Betty Grant and Betty Davy, all formidable in their own ways, all stalwart Liberals and all great supporters and friends. Following in their steps, presidents Chris McDiven and Robyn Parker were always there. I have been blessed with the friendship of amazing women across the party and here in the parliament. I know that, without them, my political career would have been much lonelier.

We are a coalition, and I want to acknowledge and thank our Nationals colleagues for that robust relationship. I have particularly valued the friendship of Nationals Senate colleagues and also that of the late Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer and his wife, Judy Brewer, and former Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and his wife, Catherine. It was largely due to Tim Fischer's influence and support of my foreign policy interests that I was in Kathmandu 22 years ago this week, on September 11—unforgettable. There are many stories I could share about that day and those following. Of course, so much changed for Australia, our region and the world from that day onward. I was also in Timor-Leste with Tim Fischer in 1999 as he led Australia's observer mission to the popular consultation leading to their independence—a truly momentous experience in my life, seeing a new country awaken.

Our families make a particular sacrifice when we enter political life. Today I acknowledge my brother, William, and my sister-in-law, Fiona, who are here with me, and their two adult children. I thank them all for putting up with the absences, the incessant phone interruptions and the general exigencies of being part of a political family. When I gave my first speech, my mother was also here that day. She passed away many years ago now, but I will never forget the kindness extended to me, as her fairly inadequate carer, by then Labor Senate leader Chris Evans. Chris literally made it possible, by his agreement to very extended pairing arrangements, for me to care much more for my mother than this life would otherwise have allowed. It was very generous—I took out the hard bits of this sentence!—and I was very grateful, and that extra time made such a difference for both of us. I mention this today because I fear many Australians think that politicians are a pretty soulless lot, that we don't work particularly well together let alone help each other. I know that that is not the case.

I acknowledge and thank my partner, Stuart Ayres, for his enduring support and love, and I thank his family as well. At least Stuart had the inside running on knowing what politics was like when he decided to step up in Penrith! We worked together, particularly on championing the cause for our amazing community across Western Sydney, and I know we have made a difference.

As so many of us are able to say, I have had outstanding staff over many years in my electorate office in Parramatta and in my ministerial and shadow ministerial staff. From Parramatta we literally worked from one end of Western Sydney to another. We built relationships. We engaged in community organisations, with business and schools and multicultural communities, with Western Sydney University and countless other areas of life across the west. I've loved seeing Western Sydney transform in front of me, in all its fabulous diversity, and I have been proud to work in a government that took commitment to this fast-growing area of Sydney seriously. Today I acknowledge the current members of 'Team Payne': Michael Creed, Kate York, Christian Martinazzo and Pedro Roh from my Parramatta office; our part-timers, Zaccary Lancaster, Mollie Uzowuru and Cameron Last; and my shadow ministerial adviser, Erika Cevallos. Thank you, all.

I was the beneficiary of exceptional advice and leadership from my ministerial chiefs of staff, Megan Lees, Sarah de Zoeten and Justin Bassi, and the excellent teams they led. In a cabinet minister's office it's a continual churn of work—of hourly, if not by-the-minute, issues and, to be fair, the occasional problem, small and big. I want to thank each of them for the work they did for our nation, the support they gave to me. I am forever in their debt.

I have great respect for the Australian Public Service, and to the many public servants with whom I worked over the years: I thank you. From innumerable estimates committees—on both sides of the table for me—to working with Human Services staff supporting bushfire victims who had lost everything, working with the ADF and Defence APS members in some of the most challenging and dangerous environments possible, running multiple women's roundtables around the country with the Office for Women, and seeing the reach and impact of our diplomats and their efforts for Australia around the world, they deserve all our thanks, and they certainly have mine.

I've spent a lot of time on the road in the last 26 years, and not just in Australia but globally. Sometimes it's meant I've been accompanied by protective security from the Australian Federal Police, sometimes from the ADF. Some of you may recall that my strong respect and admiration for the AFP developed soon after my arrival here, from my engagement with their UN CIVPOL deployment to Timor-Leste for that popular consultation in 1999. To those members of the Australian Federal Police who've since provided me with close personal protection, I want to say thank you. You make a substantial difference to how we can do our jobs and to ensuring the worst does not happen. From encountering armed militia roadblocks in Timor-Leste to terrifying, dangerous driving in too many countries, which literally could only be stopped by a police officer, I have thanked my lucky stars repeatedly over the years for the AFP's protection.

Of course, I want to thank those who make this place work: here in the chamber, our Clerk and his staff and our hardworking chamber attendants; the library and DPS teams; the scores of women and men who clean and maintain this vast, extraordinary building in our national capital; the hospitality and catering staff and the baristas; the parliamentary security officers, who ensure our safety; and countless others. I thank the Comcar drivers who have looked after me for so many years. Happily, we were not in a horse and wagon when I started, but the vehicles have certainly changed. They've particularly looked after me on the journey from Western Sydney to the city, to the airport or to Canberra. If I may in particular single out one: John Stikovic, the last permanent driver in New South Wales, who has always been the epitome of professionalism and courtesy and helped me get from point A to point B more than any other driver. For the frosty 0500 starts and the late nights, I apologise to John and all his colleagues.

Madam President, I came to this chamber many years ago with a passion for Australia's place in the world, and ultimately I was distinctly honoured to serve in the roles of Minister for Defence and Minister for Foreign Affairs, enabling me to give real meaning to that passion in our region and around the world. I'm the daughter, a very emotional daughter, of a World War II Army veteran, and both parents of my partner, Stuart—his mother, Lesley, and his father, Garry—have served in the Royal Australian Air Force, and Garry Ayres first served in the Royal Australian Navy in Vietnam. They are my heroes—all three of them. I thank them and all current and former service women and men for their service.

The honour of serving as defence minister is one that I share with my leader, and with my friend Senator Reynolds. It is the greatest privilege. We have the opportunity to stand in this parliament because of the service to our country of so many women and men who have worn the uniform of our nation, who have fought for and defended the democratic values that ultimately bring us together here, notwithstanding our political differences: freedom, rule of law and respect for human rights—fundamentals of our democracy. The debt we owe the women and men who defend those values every day is incalculable. I sincerely thank the families of our service personnel as well. You have my eternal gratitude.

President, if ever I needed a reminder of why the principles of our democracy matter, it occurred early in my career. In 1998 I visited Yad Vashem Jerusalem, and I know many colleagues have been there. It's a compelling, devastating reminder of the horrors of World War II and the imperative to ensure they are never repeated. Perhaps less well-known is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh. It tells the story of the Cambodian genocide. It's a former school which was used as a prison for torture—and worse—by the Khmer Rouge. It is simple, rudimentary even, and so confronting. Is there anything more perverse than turning a school into a torture chamber of horrors? I challenge anyone to walk past the walls of photographs of those who were incarcerated and tortured there without viscerally feeling the horror of that place. I recall visiting Tuol Sleng with Senator Meg Lees and others. We left in silence, and I recall neither of us spoke for some time. Man's inhumanity to man was writ large, graphically, in front of us—another salutary reminder of why we do what we do in this place.

As defence minister and foreign minister, I served during the most rapid changes in the global strategic environment since the Second World War. As a government which had the strongest focus on national security, we delivered the 2016 Defence white paper and its associated opportunities for the Australian defence industry, enabling the rebuilding of defence materiel and infrastructure in this country after years of neglect and underfunding. We delivered multiple Indo-Pacific Australian Navy deployments in our region, the Pacific Maritime Security Program and strong engagement on regional and global counterterror initiatives, amongst many others. I remind the chamber, with the utmost seriousness, that our vigilance against the genuine, continuing threat of terrorism must not be lost in the raft of other challenges that we face. I genuinely fear that occurring.

As a government, we responded strongly and emphatically in response to foreign interference in our democracy, enacting the earliest anti-foreign-interference laws amongst like-minded countries. We protected our 5G network from foreign actors, restricted political donations by foreign entities, protected the security of critical infrastructure and reformed the foreign investment system. As foreign minister, I introduced legislation to establish Australia's Foreign Arrangements Scheme, ensuring that arrangements between state and territory government and foreign governments do not adversely affect our foreign relations and are not inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy. These were essential steps in the face of actions by authoritarian states, protecting our sovereignty, our national security and our democracy. The recent experience of the UK parliament is a salutary warning. What was the alternative? Not to act? Not to protect our nation? To bend to threats and coercion? That's untenable, and it must still be untenable. No matter what blandishments are received or what overtures are made, we must maintain an absolute focus on this threat.

As a government we also faced a global pandemic with the extraordinary circumstances it delivered around the world. Notwithstanding the efforts by some to rewrite history, Australia emerged from COVID-19 stronger than the vast majority of the world. We quickly adapted our own development assistance to support our friends in the Pacific and South-East Asia. We delivered millions of vaccines and provided budget support to economies crushed by the pandemic.

From a quick scan—and my staff won't thank me for that—my calendar tells me that I participated in at least 600-plus online and video international engagements throughout COVID. Quite a few were from my house in Deakin in the middle of the night. That helped us to stay connected and engaged. We were able to work hand-in-hand with our partners and allies to maintain and grow relationships, even given the isolation of the pandemic. It was extremely important.

There's one further matter with which I want to end my comments today. In 2021, the Afghan government in Kabul fell, and the Taliban retook that country, a country in which 41 Australian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice. It means a lot to Australia. As the United States made the decision to leave Afghanistan, Australia also led our own operation to evacuate people from Kabul. At a time of indescribable chaos and fear, we evacuated over 4,000 people. I want to acknowledge my own staff, particularly Justin Bassi and Chris McNicol, my ministerial colleagues, and the DFAT officials, the ADF members, the Defence and Home Affairs officials who worked in such difficult and dangerous conditions in Kabul. It was, without exaggeration, a phenomenal effort.

For those who came to Australia, particularly the young women, I am so happy that you are safe here and have new lives. I've enjoyed meeting with some of you, and I thank you for sharing your experience with me. I love the Afghan women cricketers and the women football players—I got a new video from Craig Foster this week—and seeing the pure joy that they experience just from the freedom to play the sport they love. I also know that for many here there is still pain for those left behind, for the family and friends who face Taliban rule every day. Tragically, there are recent reports of a disturbing surge in female suicides in the past two years. It's their only answer, stemming from the oppression and deprivation once again faced by Afghan women.

Colleagues, I met some amazing Afghan women on my visits over the years. Every single one of those women's lives has been irrevocably changed for the worse. Human Rights Watch has recently concluded that many of the abuses against Afghan women and girls amount to crimes against humanity, of persecution based on gender. This is unfinished business for all of us. The injustice of this treatment of women sticks in my heart and my head. The world must never look away, no matter where such injustice occurs, and particularly not from the women and girls of Afghanistan.

Today, as I said, has come around very quickly. I thank those who've watched online and those who've come to the chamber for this valedictory: my family and friends; my leader and friend, Peter Dutton; and my parliamentary colleagues. I thank my Senate colleagues around the chamber for your longstanding collegiality and friendship. To coalition senators: we are a really great team, and I know that you will continue the fight for what we all believe with everything you have. To my Senate leader, Simon Birmingham: thank you for everything.

I've served my party, my state and this nation passionately, diligently and to the best of my ability in this place. I think, in cricket terms—and I have consulted, maybe with a former sports minister—it's 260 not out, carrying the bat. I'm very proud of my time here, and it's been a privilege. I thank the Senate.