STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator ASKEW (Tasmania—Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate) (12:24): When I first stood in this place in April 2019, I said that none of us knows what the future holds. None of us knows how long we have to serve here. I have been so grateful to have served my fellow Tasmanians and my country for more than seven years, but today I'm announcing that in the coming weeks I will be resigning from the Senate.
I came to this place in circumstances I could never have fully expected. I had spent many years around politics, many years working for others, many years watching this parliament from the advisers boxes, the corridors, the offices and the committee rooms. But to stand here as one of Tasmania's senators was something altogether different.
It was humbling then; it's humbling now. My family, my work, my community, my politics and my sense of public duty all have their roots in Tasmania. To be here, many of my fellow Tasmanians supported me, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the Tasmanian Liberal Party members and supporters for putting their faith in me.
Tasmanians have a particular way of looking at the world. We are practical people. We understand distance.
We understand that decisions made far away can have very real consequences for communities that are not always heard first in national debates. We understand the importance of small business, regional jobs, schools, hospitals, aged care, roads, ports, energy, agriculture, forestry, tourism and the countless community organisations that hold our communities together.
I've always believed in bringing the lived experience of one state into the national parliament. I am proud of the work that I have done to bring issues that, while they may not be as fashionable as some, have changed the lives of my fellow Tasmanians and Australians. Politics and policy are never abstract.
A program that is poorly designed, a service that is too slow, a form that is too complex, a decision that is too remote—these things land on real people. That is one of the reasons I have valued the committee work of this Senate. Committees do not always attract the attention and rarely come with the theatre of question time, but they are where much of the parliament's most serious work is done.
They are where witnesses are heard, where legislation is tested, where officials are questioned, where the detail matters and where senators from different parties can, at their best, put the national interest ahead of the daily contest. I have served on committees with many of you here, from community affairs, education and employment to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and even the Parliamentary Library.
During my time in this place, I have participated in well over 100 inquiries, 47 of them as chair or deputy chair, and there have been positive outcomes achieved as a result of the recommendations made by those committees. Together with my involvement in parliamentary friendship groups, there have been many highlights, but I particularly want to note the rare cancer inquiry, the delivery of the first National Parkinson's Action Plan and more recently the epilepsy inquiry, which is due to report in coming weeks.
In part because no one party controls the majority, the Senate is sometimes criticised for being difficult. It is difficult. That's the point.
It is designed to make governments explain themselves. It is designed to achieve consensus. It is designed to require negotiation, patience and persistence.
Those qualities may not always be celebrated in modern politics, but they are the fundamental secret to this place. I have achieved more working together with my fellow senators than we ever would have alone. I have achieved more by building relationships with people who, while I may not have much in common with, I have the most important common interest—a better Australia.
I say to all of you as I leave this place that you will remember the great achievements you make together far better than simple victories you take alone. This is the Senate. You may have the votes today, but no triumph is forever.
Treat each other with this in mind, and you will protect our institution and achieve great things. I've also had the honour of serving as Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate, and I suspect that no-one truly understands the work of a whip until they have done it. It is a role that requires arithmetic, patience, discretion, stamina and, on some days, a sense of humour.
It requires trust. It requires respect for colleagues. It requires an understanding that parliamentarians are human beings, each with their own pressures, views, obligations and responsibilities.
The work is often invisible when it is done well, but it matters. The Senate cannot operate without cooperation across the chamber, and oppositions cannot do their job unless they are organised, disciplined and purposeful. I'm grateful to my colleagues for the trust they placed in me in that role, and, to my fellow whips across the chamber, thank you for your cooperation and support over the past four years.
I've been proud to serve as a Liberal senator. The Liberal Party I joined and have served for many years is at its best when it trusts people, respects enterprise, values communities, supports families, defends institutions and understands that government should empower citizens. Those beliefs are not slogans to me.
They come from experience. They come from watching small businesses struggle under red tape. They come from seeing families trying to navigate complicated systems.
They come from understanding that communities flourish when people are given the freedom and confidence to build, work, save, volunteer and serve. Our great party, led by Angus Taylor and Jane Hume, is well positioned to rebuild and lead the party to success at the next election. I wish them, along with Matt and the National Party team, all the best.
To serve in this parliament is also to understand the importance of family. No-one serves alone. Families carry the absences, the late nights, the cancelled plans, the travel, the scrutiny and the emotional weight of public life.
John and I married just months before I entered the Senate. We have lived most of our married life apart, yet he has been my rock throughout. I have known and appreciated his love and support throughout my time here, and we are looking forward to spending more time together in retirement.
My children, Thomas and Amanda, have both married during the past seven years, and my four grandchildren have arrived—Wally in 2021, Clarke in 2023, Elsie last year and little Rhys literally just four weeks ago. Family is my everything. They are the reason I am here, wanting a better world for them.
They're also the reason that I've decided to leave. To my staff over the years, Jorden, Simon, Charles, Sharna, Mary, Ruth, Julian, Maree, Johanna, Don, Bec, Thomas, Charles, Nick, Anita and John, and to my current staff, Caitlin, Kylie, Callum, Jess and Celia and especially Helen and Jacki, who have both been with me since the beginning, I say a very simple but heartfelt thankyou.
No-one can do this job alone, and I have truly appreciated the loyalty and commitment shown by you all. To the clerks, Table Office, committee staff, attendants, Broadcasting, Hansard, security and everyone in this amazing building, thank you for what you do to make this place tick. While I may be leaving here, I still have hopes for this place.
My hope for those who remain and those that come after us is that they remember the Senate's purpose. It is not an inconvenience; it is a house of review. It can make governments better and is a safeguard within our constitutional system.
My hope for my party is that it remains confident in the values that have sustained it: personal responsibility, reward for effort, respect for families, support for small business, prudent economic management, strong national institutions and a deep belief in the capacity of Australians to shape their own lives. My hope for Tasmania is that it continues to be ambitious.
Tasmania has extraordinary natural advantages, remarkable people, world-class produce, innovative businesses, strong communities and a story that deserves to be told with confidence. My hope for all of you in this chamber is that you use your time in this place wisely. Take the advice of a chief whip: you will never have the numbers forever, but together you can achieve amazing things for our country.
None of us knows what the future holds, but, for what it has given me, I'm so very grateful—grateful to the Liberal Party for the opportunity to serve my party, grateful to the people of Tasmania for giving me the honour of representing them, grateful to my colleagues and staff for their support and friendship, grateful to my family for their love and patience, and grateful to this Senate.
This chamber can frustrate, test and exhaust those who serve in it, yet it remains one of the great pillars of our Australian democracy. Madam President—Deputy President, in fact; the President is here too—none of us knows what the future holds. I am confident, however, that this Senate will be ready for whatever that may bring.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Askew, you've certainly done this on your own terms. It would be remiss of me if, on behalf of all senators, I did not thank you for your service, thank you for your friendship and wish you all the best for the future.