SENATOR LOUISE PRATT:
I want to acknowledge that we are here on Noongar country. I'm announcing today that I'll be making way for a new senator to come forward to represent both WA and WA Labor at the next election.
I informed the Prime Minister of my intention a couple of weeks ago. And it's a great honour that you're able to join me here today to make this public.
My Senate term, of course, doesn't end until the middle of 2025. And this gives the Labor Party plenty of time to go through the appropriate processes to find a candidate or candidates. Because we did, after all, elect three senators from Western Australia, when we elected this man Prime Minister. We also returned, of course, four new lower house seats to help win government. And you know, I'm incredibly proud of the role that I've been able to play in supporting my colleagues here.
I would expect that preselections will commence very soon, but of course, after the AEC has finalised its boundaries. I want to pay special tribute to former Senator Patrick Dodson. It was a particular honour to serve with him. And from him, I learned a great deal. And I can see from this that Labor will continue to elect leaders who represent our nation's diversity. And I think WA's newest senators, as in Fatima Payman and Varun Ghosh from WA Labor, really proved this point.
I have to say, I do find zone changes, flights to and from Canberra harder than I used to, and it is getting harder and harder to get on that plane. I have psoriatic arthritis. And it is much better managed when I'm not flying, not chairing Estimates and not whipping in the chamber. And I did the maths, and since being elected, I have literally spent - as my son would say, literally - and it's appropriate in this case to use those words, three months in air, 24 hours a day off the ground.
So making this decision, nevertheless, has not been easy. I have so much of my sense of self that is tied up with this job, and I guess in public life. That is what you have to do, what you're supposed to do. When I lost my seat in 2013-14, after the AEC lost 1500 votes and the Prime Minister became Tony Abbott, I had really good reason to fight to come back. But I can say now, I have absolute confidence in the agenda of Prime Minister Albanese and the government he leads. And this includes its ability to serve the interests of Western Australia.
To serve the interests of LGBTIQ+ Australians. To serve the interests of working people in our nation, accessible health care, and delivering prosperity to people. Back in 1996, when I was about 24, I was campaigning to change the many hundreds of laws that discriminated against the LGBTIQ+ community. I took great heart back then from the newly-elected Member for Grayndler when he gave a speech to stop discrimination against same sex couples in superannuation law. And Albo remembers that I applied for a job in his electorate office back in 1997, or thereabouts.
And I want to thank Albo for giving that job to someone else. I can hardly believe the things that I've had the opportunity to contribute to over my now long career. LGBTIQ+ rights - in so many different areas we've made a difference. Maternity services, family law, climate change, HIV policy, foreign aid, employment services and so much more.
But I have to say - nothing compares to that feeling of changing the law on marriage and then being able to get married. I love you, Bek. For ensuring reproductive access technology and being able to have that much-loved and much-wanted child. Very often it has been an intense fight. A fight for rights, a fight for equality, against climate change, for jobs, for housing for communities. Prime Minister, you lead a government that is close to the people.
That's working to listen to people. That works with civil society, with communities, with business, Indigenous communities, working people, LGBTIQ+ communities, multicultural communities. And I don't feel like I need to be inside the Parliament, or the caucus to help make things happen.
However, I have to say giving this announcement publicly gives me a renewed focus on what I want to contribute before I finish. And so today is not a day for valedictories or extensive ‘thank you’s, those will come later. But I do want to thank my wife Bek, son Jasper, my brother, sister, and parents, my office team, and many people in the Labor Party.
Now that I've made this decision, I can honestly say I do have plenty of fuel in the tank - or the battery - for the rest of my term. I had some good advice from my family who said, 'you've stuck at this for a long time, you have a young son to look after, you don't want to miss his teenage years.' They also said, 'you have lots to give, and you'll always be fighting for justice, you've made a good decision.' And I have to say, today I know I've made a good decision.
I very much look forward to the rest of my term, and to contributing through new roles in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE:
Well, thanks very much, Lou. And thank you for giving me the respect and the honour of being here for this announcement.
Louise came to me a couple of weeks ago, and we sat in my office, and she informed me of the decision that she had made. It's one that I have utmost respect for.
One of the reasons why I'm such a regular visitor to this great state of Western Australia, is that I understand that more so than anywhere else in the country, it's a big ask to travel across to the East Coast. Not just to Canberra, but that's where most of parliamentary committee meetings take place. That's where a lot of events take place as well.
And I know that Western Australians spend a lot of time - as Louise has said - three months on a plane is a lot of time. And I think the opportunity for you to spend more time with Bek and with young Jasper is a decision that I'm sure you won't regret in the future.
I do want to pay tribute to your contribution for Western Australians, for the Labor Party, and importantly as well for the nation. Louise has never been anyone who sat in the Senate just to occupy the seat. She's someone who has been an agitator, someone who has been out there pushing on issues, because she has wanted to make a difference each and every day. I've known Louise for almost 30 years. It's true that she did apply for a job in my office, way back in about 1997.
There were a host of very talented people who applied. Verity Firth, who went on to become the Education Minister in New South Wales was the successful applicant. But I was quite pleased that I made the right decision when Lou entered the WA Parliament in 2001.
And then entered, of course, the Senate at the 2007 election. Faced with the disappointment of what occurred in 2013, with that rather strange decision here in the Senate with lost ballot papers, and by-elections for the Senate, Lou fought her way back and has each and every day sought to make a difference. Louise has served on 29 different committees.
She has made - a bit of research we did here - 977 statements to the Senate, contributing in so many areas. Maternity services, family law, climate change policy, HIV, foreign aid, employment services, as well as issues facing the LGBTIQ+ community; a fighter for equality. She received extraordinary support across the party as a candidate for her election.
She, I think, can be very proud of the role that she played in advocating for marriage equality, and equality regardless of people's sexuality. That was something that I spoke about in my first speech, that to remove discrimination on the basis of sexuality back in 1996. It was something that Louise really campaigned for so strongly. And a campaign that was seen to be quite radical at the time was embraced by Australians. And it's the example of where society does always change.
And the role of people in public life is to try to shape that change in a way that produces really positive outcomes for all of the community. And of course, in spite of the scare campaigns about that change, the rights of same sex couples to marry has not diminished anyone's existing marriage, it has indeed enhanced the institution. And that is important for everyone, regardless of who they love, to be able to celebrate that in front of friends and family.
In 2012, Louise and three other Labor senators co-sponsored a bill to amend the Marriage Act and enable same sex marriages to be recognised. Now, that wasn't successful at the time, but it is one of the events that led to that change occurring. Change that I think, now, I don't see any pushback at all to that reform. She's also worked really importantly on industrial relations and on the rights of working people to get a fair go in their workplace.
And no one was more pleased than Louise, when we announced that we weren't going to leave workers behind from tax cuts. And that was something that the last policy discussion we had, was Louise when we made that decision, expressing her very public support for it. But not just that - the rights of migrant workers, the rights of people who are underprivileged, has been something of which Louise has been an absolute champion.
She served, of course, on committees, she served as a frontbench member of the Labor Party and Louise will be missed by her many friends and colleagues in the caucus. She is someone who will depart - not yet, in time, in July of next year - with enormous goodwill.
And in this business, not many people get to choose their time of departure, either elections or pre selections, things intervene. Louise Pratt is leaving as she arrived - on her own terms, with respect, with dignity, with the support of her friends, family, and of course, her parliamentary colleagues. And on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, I wish Lou and her family all the very best for a great future. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Prime Minister.
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