Joint Sitting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly Monday, 19 May 1997

3165 Joint Sitting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly Monday, 19 May 1997 SENATE VACANCY In accordance with the Standing Orders passed by both Houses of Parliament and approved by Executive Council, the members of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly met in joint sitting in the Legislative Council Chamber to fill the vacancy in the representation of Western Australia in the Senate of the Federal Parliament caused by the death of Senator the Hon J. Panizza. The President of the Legislative Council (Hon Clive Griffiths), in accordance with the Standing Orders, took the Chair at 10.02 am. He was accompanied by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Mr George Strickland. ELECTION OF SENATOR THE PRESIDENT (Hon Clive Griffiths): Honourable members, this joint sitting has been called to choose a person to hold the place in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia rendered vacant by the death of Senator John Panizza, notification of which has been reported to this Parliament by His Excellency the Governor (Major General Philip Michael Jeffery, AO, MC). I now call for nominations to fill the vacancy. MOTION - SENATE VACANCY Panizza, Senator John Forrest, Death - Lightfoot, Philip Ross, Appointment MR COURT (Nedlands - Premier) [10.03 am]: I move - That Philip Ross Lightfoot, of Donnington Springs Farm, Great Northern Highway, Chittering, Western Australia being a person who is eligible to be chosen pursuant to section 15 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act be chosen to hold the vacant place in the Senate of the Commonwealth Parliament caused by the death of Senator John Forrest Panizza. I advise that I have Mr Lightfoot's assurance that if chosen he is willing to act. It was with some sadness that we heard of Senator Panizza's death on 31 January this year. John was born in March 1931 at Southern Cross, the son of Italian migrants. He was a farmer and property developer until he entered the federal political scene as a Senator for Western Australia in 1987. Prior to entering the Senate, he played an active role in local government, being a councillor of the Yilgarn Shire Council from 1975 to 1987, and shire president from 1982 to 1987. When he became a Senator in July 1987 it was the realisation of a lifetime's ambition. Senator Panizza had a strong love for both regional and rural Western Australia, and he took great pride in his Italian parentage. He had huge respect for the role migrants play in our nation. Senator Panizza did not speak English until he was nine years old, and he went on to become the first person of Italian descent elected to the Senate. During the nine and a half years he served in the Senate, he served on a number of committees, including the Senate Economics References Committee, the House Committee, the Privileges Committee, and the Selection of Bills Committee. After the 1996 federal election he was appointed the Government Whip. He was married to Coral and had four children - Point of Order Mr BROWN: What is going on with these photographs? The PRESIDENT: What is going on? Some photographs are being taken. Mr BROWN: I did not understand this joint sitting had agreed to photographs being taken. The PRESIDENT: In this Chamber I gave approval for this to be done. Mr BROWN: I understand this is not a sitting of the Legislative Council - The PRESIDENT: I know that. Mr BROWN: It is a joint sitting, and I thought decisions in relation to joint sittings would be made by joint sittings. 3166 [COUNCIL and ASSEMBLY] The PRESIDENT: It is generally made by joint Presiding Officers. On all the occasions on which I have participated in this procedure, someone has taken photographs to record the occasion for the benefit of members - not anybody else - who wish to have photographs. Mr BROWN: I place on the record that in the other place when photographs are to be taken, general approval of the House is sought. I find it a matter of impertinence that the joint sitting was not asked about the taking of photographs, and I find it quite offensive. The PRESIDENT: I am sorry about that. Debate Resumed Mr COURT: Senator Panizza was respected by members on both sides of the Parliament as a hard working person, a good man, and someone who genuinely had the interests of all Western Australians at heart. In my time in politics I have had the opportunity to work alongside John Panizza. We travelled throughout much of the State together, and I always admired the way in which he carried out his responsibilities. I was greatly saddened earlier this year when he passed away. Mr Thomas: You did not rush to replace him. Mr COURT: With regard to the replacement of John Panizza, the nominee from the Liberal Party for his replacement, Ross Lightfoot, was born in South Australia in 1936 and he has lived in Western Australia since 1968. He was a pastoralist and company director prior to entering Parliament. He did his national service training between 1953 and 1955, and has a great deal of experience in both the mining and pastoral industries. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as the member for the Legislative Assembly seat of Murchison-Eyre in 1986. He retired from State Parliament at the expiration of that term because the seat was abolished in a redistribution. He re-entered Parliament in February 1993 when he gained a position in the thirty-fourth Parliament for the Legislative Council in the North Metropolitan Region. He has always taken a very keen interest in regional and rural Western Australia and the mining industry, and has always been a fierce campaigner for Western Australia's position in the Federation. I am sure one of the main reasons he was chosen by the Liberal Party was the strong interest he has taken in regional Western Australia. He is thus a good replacement for Senator Panizza, who also had this as his theme. MR BARNETT (Cottesloe - Minister for Resources Development) [10.10 am]: I second the motion, and in so doing I congratulate Hon Ross Lightfoot on his appointment to the Senate and wish him well. I trust that he will work hard in the interests of Western Australia. Several members interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order! We keep order in this place. DR GALLOP (Victoria Park - Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly) [10.11 am]: Today's proceedings provide us with a window into the affairs and attitudes of members of the contemporary Liberal Party and the State and Parliament they run. For all to witness, we see their hypocrisy on the subject of States' rights, and their cynicism and unscrupulousness in respect of the practice of politics. For them, of course, the stakes are high. It was only until 22 May that they had a clear run at moving against their class enemy, the trade union movement. It was only by selecting someone such as senator-elect Ross Lightfoot that they could guarantee the extra number in their century-old struggle against Aboriginal land rights and the understanding of history which underpins that struggle. When the stakes are high to Western Australian conservatives, the ends always justify the means. We can note that the very provision which brings us here today which ensures that a Liberal replaces a Liberal results from a 1977 referendum to change the Constitution. That change ensured that what previously had been convention became law. This change was needed because the Liberal Government in New South Wales and the National Party Government in Queensland each appointed an anti-Labor senator to replace a Labor senator, so keen were they to assist the federal Liberals in their attempts to knock off the then Whitlam Government by improperly using the Senate. As Professor Dean Jaensch said in his text,"Getting Our Houses in Order" - In supporting this constitutional change, after they had broken the convention, the Liberal and National parties succeeded in guaranteeing that the method they used to remove the Whitlam Labor Government could not be used by Labor to remove them. [Monday, 19 May 1997] 3167 To illustrate my argument about hypocrisy and cynicism, let us return to the scene of another Senate replacement - that of Fred Chaney in 1990. It took 78 days for the Parliament to replace Chaney with Ian Campbell, and at that time a certain Liberal senator had this to say - The State Parliament of Western Australia met between 1 May and 17 May. During that period it failed the test of competence and integrity. During that time it failed to have a joint sitting, a process which takes about five minutes. Whether that was incompetence, Machiavellian politics or just pure corruption, I don't know. The same senator also complained about the 41 days taken to replace Jo Vallentine in 1992 in that it denied all Western Australians their voice in the Senate. Who said this, members might ask. It was none other than the former Senator Noel Crichton-Browne! Several members interjected. The PRESIDENT: Order! Dr GALLOP: Despite his non-membership of the Liberal Party, Crichton-Browne seems to be directing events within the Liberal Party from his culinary bunker at the Blue Duck in Cottesloe. Crichton-Browne, the master of divisional malapportionment and number crunching, has much to complain about, being the victim of what was probably the dirtiest and most sordid campaign ever perpetrated in Western Australian intra-party politics. Even Labor's split of the 1950s and the occasion factional stoush since have been wholesome by comparison with that campaign.

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