A division of the Liberal Party of Australia
SPEECH TO THE 2006 QUEENSLAND YOUNG LIBERAL'S CONFERENCE
05 February, 2006
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Thanks very much for the introduction. Actually you pinched my speech. I have nothing to say but thanks for that.
It\'s good to be back with Young Liberals again.
Congratulations to Tim on his election and congratulations to the rest of the executive elected. Can I also recognise your immediate Past President Daniel who has done a fabulous job as Young Liberal President in the time he\'s been here and I\'m very sorry to hear that he\'s going south.
I hope that it is only a temporary loss to Queensland and that he will be back to help the Liberal cause in the years ahead and I certainly wish you all the best in your new endeavours in the south.
But it is great to be back at a Young Liberal Conference particularly at Broadbeach. Because it was at the old Lennon\'s Broadbeach Hotel, just across where the Sofitel is at the moment, where I attended my first Young Liberal Conference more than 35 years ago.
At that time politics were as exciting then as they are today, particularly in relation to relations with the National Party. Then as they are now we were having these discussions about three cornered contests on the Gold Coast.
David Russell QC who many of you will know is the current Federal President of the National Party – was then a Vice-President of the Young Liberal Movement and he had the conference, at that first conference I went to, at fever pitch when he attempted to have the Young Liberal Movement adopt a motion condemning the newly installed National Party Premier Joe Bjelke- Petersen.
And I think it was Kevin Martin – then a senior executive of the Young Liberals – now Laurence Springborg\'s Chief of Staff – but still a Liberal – who was trying, even then to find solutions to the Liberal Party National Party rivalry.
My early Young Liberal years opened the eyes of what was then a naïve, shy, boy from the bush, to politics and political bastardry that occurs – much of that of course never changes.
Young Liberals have had an important bearing on my life and they\'ve been an integral part of my life in politics – and for those of you interested in a career in politics or just simply want to ensure good Government in Queensland and Australia it is an organisation to which you must belong and must be part of.
It was a motion at a Young Liberal Conference that started the long battle to get Malcolm Fraser to build the Burdekin Dam – a dam that is now so much a critical part of the North Queensland economy.
Many former Young Liberal\'s helped me in four elections I contested for the Burdekin Shire Council where I topped the poll I\'m proud to say in each of those elections and it was former Young Liberals who helped me in that campaign.
These people were also the backbone of my tilt at State Politics in 1983 when we were trying to make Terry White (the Chemist –but then the Liberal Party Leader) the first Liberal Premier of Queensland.
Young Liberals – past and present – have been instrumental in my four preselections to lead the Liberal Party Senate Team – and I do thank those of you here who helped me to be preselected last September to lead the ticket again.
Ladies and Gentlemen as an aside may I particularly congratulate Mark Powell your new National President who was as you know was preselected for the third spot on the Liberal Senate ticket. It will be difficult but I intend to spend the next two and a half years campaigning throughout the length and breadth of country Queensland and Queensland generally to ensure Mark\'s election to the Senate.
Ladies and Gentlemen, one of the proudest moments of my life was when I was made a Life Member of Young Liberals and I have been honoured as mentioned to have been both the State and Federal Patron of the Movement.
Never has there been a time since I\'ve been in parliament that I have NOT had Young Liberals on my staff. Its been my commitment always to give Young Liberals the opportunity to succeed in the business of Politics and Government. And in that I know I share that passion with John-Paul Langbroek who I\'m delighted to see here today and delighted to see that you have elected him as your Patron for the next twelve months. John-Paul epitomizes all that we hold dear in the Liberal Party - courage, honesty, enthusiasm and a will to achieve and it\'s great that you have people like that and Steven Ciobo as your Patrons.
The support I\'ve given Young Liberals over the years I want to continue. I want to support and nourish the Young Liberal Branches particularly as you\'d expect in North Queensland, in Townsville and Cairns Young Liberals and the Young Liberal group at James Cook University, because we do have important things to do.
There are issues in the north of Australia that need exposure – almost 30% of Australia\'s wealth comes from the north of the Tropic of Capricorn, but there is only 7% of the population there and of course the political influence suffers accordingly.
A NEW Zonal Tax System to bring tax fairness to those living and working in remote areas of Australia is a goal that I first mentioned in my maiden speech – and one I will now be free to pursue from the back bench.
These particular issues of importance to country people are critical to the Liberal Party. For 15 years I have shown country people that the Liberal Party is a broad based Party. It\'s not sectional, it\'s a Party that is perhaps the one most genuinely interested in country Australians. And that work I think has helped get the support that we needed in country Queensland.
That work, together with a great strategy put forward by Senators Brandis and Mason and great work by the Senate team last election, helped in getting that third Liberal elected to the Senate which gave the Federal Government the majority it needed to implement its reform program. A reform program which I know those of you in this room very happily see included the Voluntary Student Unionism Bill.
Without Liberal representation in Regional Queensland, the Liberal Party will never deserve nor achieve the respect it needs as a broad based party, to govern in Queensland and in indeed Australia.
For Young Liberals in the north particularly there is a lot of work to do.
With the passing of both myself and Warren Entsch from the front bench of the Federal Party, the resources that were previously available to the party will no longer be available.
And the Young Liberals will have to fill that gap.
In the north, only the Liberal Party has any chance of winning 8 state seats – Mackay, Whitsunday, Thuringowa, Townsville, Mundingburra, Mulgrave, Cairns and Barron River.
Sadly, because of deals with the National Party, the Liberal Party will be contesting only 4 of those seats.
In the Far North, the Party has selected Stephen Welsh in Barron River and Wendy Richardson in Cairns. Cairns Young Liberals will ensure that Stephen Welsh, who went so close last time, is the next member Liberal for Barron River and is a new Liberal member in the parliament.
And I am absolutely determined to win the state seat of Townsville. A task that I do commit myself to. For without seats like Townsville we won\'t form Government in Queensland.
Why am I so passionate about the State seat of Townsville?
- it only needs a 4.5% to win
- the Townsville Hospital, which is brand new, is already creaking under the maladministration of Queensland Health
- the incumbent is a tired party hack, disliked by even the most ardent ALP supporters
- but most importantly, this time last Sunday we endorsed a sensational candidate.
As the Sunday Mail said on page 19 today
- she\'s young, intelligent, charismatic and determined
- she lead her team to sweep the JCU Student Union elections last year
- and she\'s a Young Liberal
Jessica Weber is, again stealing the Sunday Mail Headline, the NEW LIFE OF THE PARTY.
To succeed as a Party, we have to appeal to the young and the old, to the city and the regions, we have to embellish traditions but look towards new ideas, and we have to be enthusiastic and committed.
Jessica Weber will breathe new life and ideas into the Parliament of Queensland.
Young Liberals, I ask for your support, both people wise and financially, to ensure that this Young Liberal is elected to the Parliament of Queensland.
Ladies and Gentlemen thank you again very much for having me with you. It\'s always a delight to be with Young Liberals. If there is ever anything I can do for the Movement or in any other way help, you\'ve only to call me. I know that it is a great Movement. It has done so much for so many people who are currently in Parliament, including myself, and I and indeed many politicians owe the Young Liberal Movement a lot. We want to return that help so if we can ever help let us know. Thanks for having me with you.