Speech by Dale Shuttleworth MEMBER FOR FERNY GROVE Hansard Wednesday, 30 May 2012 MAIDEN SPEECH Mr SHUTTLEWORTH (Ferny Grove—LNP) (5.49 pm): I rise in this chamber today wrestling with many conflicting emotions. I have a great sense of pride but then I humbly reflect upon the fact that, without the support of so many, my own effort would have fallen short. I feel a sense of relief in our success, but then I am reminded that it is not us who should make that judgement so early. I ponder upon the trust that has been shown in me by the electorate of Ferny Grove. The 244 square kilometres of the Ferny Grove electorate stretches from Keperra in the east to Mount Nebo and Mount Glorious in the west and includes Bunya, Ferny Hills, Arana Hills, Ferny Grove and Upper Kedron, the picturesque Samford Valley, Highvale, Whites Mountain, Camp Mountain, Yugar, Cedar Creek, Mount Samson and Clear Mountain. Each contribute a unique quality to the overall fabric of the electorate. The traditional owners of the land throughout this region were the Turrbal and Garumngar people, whose presence can be witnessed at a number of very well-preserved bora sites throughout Samford and Mount Samson regions. Samford and surrounding valley suburbs are roughly 21 kilometres from the CBD of Brisbane and were settled by Europeans in the mid-1850s. The settlement grew to a vibrant one by the early 20th century largely on the back of successes in banana farming, an industry which continued to prosper past the end of the First World War when returned servicemen were encouraged into the area to assist with this industry’s growth. Success was short-lived, however, when disease wiped out the crops and with it the hopes of so many in this area. There remained other industries at the time within the electorate; namely, a tannery at Arana Hills and a clay pit and tile factory at Ferny Grove. Today all of this industry has made way for developments of transport infrastructure, parklands or residential estates. The local area today, while remaining industrious, has very little industry. We boast almost 3,500 small businesses, many operating from home offices and, not surprisingly, many aligning with the four primary pillars of our economy. We have our share of colourful local identities such as Jack Mitchell, a Samford resident who has recently published his memoirs in a book titled From Samford to Salamaua—and back. This book outlines his story from the family farm through to his war service in Papua New Guinea and categorises the many outstanding community and volunteer organisations that Jack has devoted his service to over the years. Another local identity, George Wilmore, who landed at Gallipoli in April 1915, became a Salvation Army missionary and later a dynamic and successful real estate agent. Then there are the Pickering, Stokes, Marshall and McGuinn families who have so richly contributed their time and service to our local area, who have made it the great place that it is today. Their service also reminds me, as I begin my journey as the representative of Ferny Grove, that it is this unwavering dedication and willingness to serve that creates a legacy, not simply my elevation to this place. Mr Deputy Speaker, at this point I wish to reiterate my commitment to the people of Ferny Grove and say with complete conviction that I will remain wholly focused on the people and places throughout the Ferny Grove electorate. I heard while doorknocking that they were desperate to have faith in our government. They wanted a capable government to deliver a reduction in their cost of living, to restore File name: shut2012_05_30_25.fm Page : 1 of 4 Speech by Dale Shuttleworth extracted from Hansard of Wednesday, 30 May 2012 accountability and integrity to government and to provide better services, and they desperately wanted a government in which they could once again trust to act in accordance with our own stated convictions. Today I am proud to say that I form part of that government This Campbell Newman-led LNP government has made five pledges to the people of Queensland: we promise that we will deliver a four-pillar economy focused on construction, agriculture, resources and tourism; we will lower the cost of living for families by cutting waste; we will deliver better infrastructure through better planning; we will revitalise front-line services; and we will restore accountability in government. I am extremely grateful to be a member of the class of 2012 that has brought about this great change. However, I am under no illusion that the task ahead will be made any easier by our numbers in this House. In fact, I imagine it may well be the opposite. I am certain that we will be more harshly judged. We will be held to account more stringently and have greater expectations placed upon us all. Each of the stated pledges is a measurable commitment to which we will all be held to account. Far from causing me consternation, this invigorates me and drives me more tenaciously towards the benchmarks I set for myself. My journey to this place began in my birthplace of Mackay, which was for the vast majority of my younger years also where we lived, apart from a small stint further north in Townsville, where I began school at Hermit Park State School. When we returned to Mackay, I continued school at Mackay North State School. My father, mother, two sisters and I lived quite near the school, and perhaps my oldest recollection is one of walking home across a small causeway tributary of the goose ponds from school each day. While life has dealt quite a few challenges, perhaps the biggest one we faced as a family was that, like many others, we did not remain together and circumstances of life, far too complicated for me to understand at the time, meant that for all of my high school years I was raised in a single parent home. I would like at this point to acknowledge and thank my mother, Margie, for her pivotal role in my life. As the member for Whitsunday mentioned earlier this afternoon, life in Mackay was fantastic in the 1970s. The fishing was unbelievable. The sugar industry continued to thrive. The fledgling mining industry appeared to be worth supporting and tourism competed well against our northern neighbours, with Brampton Island being one of the better resorts throughout the Whitsundays. The region contributed well towards a strong and diverse Queensland economy. I had a job with my uncle as a milk boy and recall how the newly relocated Port Curtis Dairy at East Boundary Road, Paget, was in the middle of farming land. Now those coldrooms are dwarfed by heavy industry supporting the resource sector throughout the region. Mackay is no longer the place of my memories and, like so many regions of Queensland, the previous government’s single focus and reliance upon the resource sector has come at great cost to the diversity and strength of other sectors. The Newman-led LNP government’s commitment to grow our state through a four-pillar economy will revitalise many regions throughout the state and ensure that we all enjoy a stronger, more diversified and resilient future. I left Mackay to join the Royal Australian Navy on 8 January 1982. I took an oath to God, Queen and country. I absolutely loved the Navy. It provided me with a real purpose, direction, challenge and camaraderie like nothing I had experienced to that point. The Navy taught me my trade of electronics engineering in communication systems, and I would enjoy that job more than any other I would have in my life to this point. My 12 years of service saw me posted to a number of platforms—the tanker HMAS Supply; the destroyer HMAS Vampire; patrol boats out of Cairns; and, finally, HMAS Adelaide, a frigate which now rests on the ocean floor off Newcastle in New South Wales. During my time on these ships I deployed to South-East Asia, the United States of America, the Pacific islands, New Zealand and the Persian Gulf during Operation Damask in 1990. It was during the lead-up to this deployment that my interest in politics began. Like many of my colleagues, I was appalled at the apparent lack of funding to the defence department by the Hawke government and the damage this appeared to do to our preparedness to confront difficult situations. This became apparent when the Navy scrambled to ready our ships with additional equipment as we sailed from Sydney to Perth and then on to Diego Garcia. The ‘fitted for but not with’ options that made our ships suitable for operational deployment were hastily fitted, with little or no training provided to the officers and sailors responsible for the use and maintenance of this equipment. It seems ironic that at this time it is Defence that has once again become a casualty of the current Labor federal government as it tries desperately to deliver its first budget surplus. Over the years my focus has shifted from federal issues to those of state responsibility and, like so many individuals, my interest in politics was largely only aired at barbecues or family gatherings and I did not become actively involved until much later in life. One of the best aspects of life in the Australian Defence Force is the friendships we make, often with members of other forces, even though we compete consistently against each other. I have received many gibes over the years in relation to my naval service, most of which I could not share in the House.