2018-08-17
With her time as a Greens senator now at an end, Lee Rhiannon reflects on an extraordinary career spent standing up for what matters. Below are excerpts from her final speech in the Senate.
By Lee Rhiannon
I have been very fortunate in my life. Being a state MP and a senator with the opportunities it presents to work with communities for social justice, genuine democracy and the environment has been a huge privilege.
My first visit to federal parliament was 50 years ago. It was 1968; the Vietnam War was raging and the Paris peace talks had stalled. With a group of high school friends we organised a protest under the slogan “Paris must mean peace”. We collected names on our petition, lobbied for support from prominent individuals and organisations, decided to demonstrate outside the US Embassy and to meet leading opponents of the war, Labor MPs Dr Jim Cairns and Tom Uren.
The Hansard for 16 May 1968 shows that some conservative MPs speaking in the House of Representatives misrepresented our motives as “communist inspired”. This was despite the broad based support from Reverend Ted Noffs, Reverend Alan Walker, founder of the Liberal Reform Group Ken Thomas, and a number of unions.
Yes, the parents of a few of us were in the communist party, but so what? The attacks then are not dissimilar from what I and sections of the Greens experience today. As a 16-year-old the lessons I learnt in 1968 have stuck with me – organise, involve people in the campaign, build allies, and don’t be put off by bullying, insults and McCarthyist tactics of right-wing politicians and media.
Early wins in the parliament
When I was in the state parliament we kicked off the Greens democracyforsale campaign. We set up a user friendly searchable website that was put to great use by the public and journalists. I am proud of the role my office and the Greens played in exposing political donation scandals.
In 2002, to much ridicule from major party MPs, I introduced the End Developer Donations Bill. By 2009 Labor buckled and introduced the ban. Other electoral funding reforms the Greens had championed followed.
It is disappointing that at a federal level we still do not have a national corruption watchdog. I know my federal Greens colleagues are passionate about continuing the campaigns for a national ICAC, and for lobbying and political donation reform.
Another consistent theme of the Greens work, and one that I have endeavoured to build into my work in parliament and with communities across this country, is active opposition to the sell-off of public assets.
The interest in our publication 'Sold Off. Sold Out' reflects growing public support to renationalise and revitalise public services that have been privatised.
Recent highlights
In recent months the level of deception that the Turnbull government engaged in during the debate over their 2017 school funding bill has become apparent. The Greens were right to vote against the government’s plans – the so-called Gonski 2.0 – that benefited private schools and will mean nearly nine in ten public schools will not receive enough funding to meet the needs of each student by 2023.
I picked up the housing portfolio after the 2016 election. At the moment we are putting the finishing touches to the Greens universal social housing initiative. This plan is much more than an attempt to make the housing market less brutal – it radically redefines what it means for housing to be a human right.
Building strong relationships with the Palestinian community has been a significant aspect of my work. My travels to Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan and my work in parliament have provided the opportunity to challenge the dominant narrative and shed some light on the reality facing the people and the region. I look forward to continuing this work.
What I have loved about my parliamentary work is the opportunities to work with people. That is the essence of my politics – to engage with people with the hope that they will become active for the public good. It is a key part of our democracy.
We have tabled private members bills to end the live export trade and the testing of cosmetics on animals. While I am proud of this work, it is the strength of public opinion and public actions that will end the cruel treatment of animals.
The 2014 Abbott-Hockey budget provoked resistance among so many communities. Working with the NTEU, the NUS, Labor and a number of crossbenchers, we defeated the higher education cuts. Our website – What will my degree cost? – highlighted they could soar to $100,000.
Highs and lows
My work with union members has been a delight and highly recommended to help an MP stay grounded.
From the solid support of the Meat Workers Union for our end live export bill, to backing MUA actions for job security, to campaigning with the CFMEU against the Australian Building and Construction Commission, to working with education unions on funding issues, and backing the ACTU #changetherules campaign, the Greens recognise the vital progressive role unions play.
I pay tribute to John Kaye who died in 2016. He was a great Greens NSW State MP. John was a public intellectual whose insights and campaign initiatives built broad support for the Greens, and for our stance on public education and our pioneering work on climate change for 100 percent renewables. John’s death has been a huge loss. He was not just a colleague but a valued friend.
In 2015 all parties agreed to the JSCEM report recommending amendments to the Electoral Act that would end undemocratic Senate Group Voting Tickets and leave it up to voters to determine their own preferences. However, when the legislation came on for debate Labor back-flipped and ran a dirty campaign to make out that we were working with the Liberals out of self-interest.
The many Labor voices in this debate conveniently forgot that they had previously backed the reforms at a federal level and in the NSW parliament.
Looking forward
What is the future for the Greens? I believe it can be long and fruitful but the challenges that all progressive parliamentary parties face are upon us. We need to remain a progressive, democratic party of the left. That means resisting careerism, hierarchical control, bullying behaviour, and the associated leaking and backgrounding.
If we fail to stand up to that sort of behaviour not only will the Greens suffer setbacks, our contribution to building social movements will be reduced, we will lose members and individual members will be hurt.
We need to engage constructively with the great progressive causes of our time. The future of a liveable planet depends on it.
Before I came into parliament I believed that people working together are the drivers of progressive change. Our history illustrates this truth – winning the right to vote for Indigenous people and women, withdrawing our troops from Vietnam, securing decent employment conditions, saving the Franklin River and most recently the marriage equality victory and so much more, testify to this truth. The streets is where the action is.
I have been privileged to be a member of two parliaments. I am leaving parliament but not politics. I look forward to returning to the streets.