Mr St CLAIR (4:15 PM) —Mr Deputy Speaker, I wish to acknowledge the great privilege extended to me by the voters of New England in electing me to act and speak for them in the House of Representatives in the parliament of Australia. I am extremely proud to represent the northern New South Wales electorate of New England. I intend to work as hard as I can to ensure that the communities of New England—from Tenterfield to Tamworth, from Texas to Nowendoc, and the communities of and around Inverell, Glen Innes and Armi dale—all thrive. Judith Wright, perhaps Australia's greatest poet, is one of New England's best loved daughters. She describes her `blood's country', the New England Tableland, with its—and I quote:

. . . high delicate outline

of bony slopes wincing under the winter:

low trees blue-leaved and olive, outcropping granite—

Clean, lean, hungry country.

There has perhaps never been a more eloquent description of the New England than this.

I should like to pay a personal tribute to the former member for New England, the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair. A great tribute was paid on the first sitting day of this parliament by honourable members in this House, and the people of New England would have been proud to have heard it. I will not go over Mr Sinclair's parliamentary record, as it was well articulated on that day. However, I will remind the House that he represented the people of New England for 35 years—an extraordinary feat by an extraordinary Australian. On behalf of the people of New England, I thank the Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair for his unstinting service and loyalty to all those people over such a long, long time. To quote from Shakespeare, `Whence comes such another?'

The Rt Hon. Ian Sinclair's service in this place spanned a generation. In his time he saw nine prime ministers, from Menzies to Howard. He saw governments come and go. In his early days, young people embraced the music of Bill Halley and the Comets. Now we have the Whitlams—the younger ones. If we in this House think that the changes that have occurred in Australia in that time have been dramatic, to steal a phrase, `We ain't seen nothin' yet!'

The difficulty of change is that it can be painful, but the failure to change is absolutely fatal. The test of good government is to manage change for the benefit of all Australians. I believe social cohesion and strong leadership are the keys to the successful management of change. Social cohesion occurs when we are all moving down the same road together and not divided by ethnic, religious, social or geographical differences.

Mr Deputy Speaker, we live in a tough, competitive world. We cannot afford the luxury, as we have in the past, of the politics of division. Nowhere is this divide more evident than in regional Australia. Over the last couple of decades a rift has grown between country and city dwellers. The result is that many country people feel left out, that they are no longer part of the decision making that is changing Australia. They feel, Mr Deputy Speaker, that they have little say in their own destiny. Yet, as they know only too well, the wealth of this nation is not generated in Pitt or Collins Streets; it is generated on its farms, in its timber mills and in its mines.

Policy planners must learn to listen and respond to regional Australia. This is true not only for those of us holding public office and in the bureaucracy, but also for industry leaders, bankers and infrastructure builders.

Regional Australia is the powerhouse of this nation and has been since Australia rode on the sheep's back. It is time we healed the rift. The Howard-Fischer government, and the National Party in particular, has recognised this need, and I am delighted that my friend and electoral neighbour the member for Gwydir has been appointed to meet this challenge.

The other essential element to successfully managing change in our society is to have strong leadership. By that I mean leadership that is robust, not fragile; leadership that is courageous, not timid; and leadership that is inclusive, not divisive. Good leaders will take hard decisions where necessary. That needs to be repeated: good leaders will take hard decisions where necessary, always looking to the future, not to the past. Most importantly, good leaders have vision.

Good leadership is why the National-Liberal parties are sitting on the treasury bench and why the ALP is still in opposition. Over the past three years, strong national leadership has delivered a balanced budget. It has delivered a substantial reduction of debt. It has delivered an economy that is successfully weathering the Asian economic firestorm. It has delivered the lowest interest rates in a generation; and we have record exports. Most importantly, courageous leadership has pro vided a blueprint for a much awaited modernising of Australia's taxation system.

That blueprint received a favourable judgment from the people of Australia on 3 October. But for the benefits of that vision for a new tax system to become a reality, the relevant bills must pass both houses of this parliament. The bills will pass through the House of Representatives, but an easy passage through the Senate is unlikely. The Labor Party, with the support of the minor parties and Independents, threaten to block them and substantially amend their content.

One vital aspect of the proposed new tax system is to reform the present tax on diesel used in transporting the produce of regional Australia to export gateways and markets. The National Party's vision is to remove the current tax of 44c per litre and replace it with an 18c per litre charge—a charge which approximates the cost of road damage caused by trucks. This initiative alone is a $3.5 billion per year boost to our regional economies. It is an initiative especially well understood in New England, it being a highway electorate. This National Party policy will remove a major tax on our regional exports, it will generate jobs and provide growth in our regional industries, and it will reduce the cost of doing business in regional Australia and encourage that most important decentralisation.

I believe in building a society which rewards effort, encourages innovation, values excellence and respects the rights of all. I believe in our Constitution, the flag and our Australian way of life. Yet, Mr Deputy Speaker, our Constitution is not without flaws.

The Senate is said to have been the price of federation. If that is the case, then the Senate's obstruction of our elected governments today may be a price too high to pay. If the latter-day Senate cannot accept the legislative legitimacy of a reformist government then perhaps it is time for the Senate itself to be reformed.

Across Australia, people are clamouring for governments to get on with the job of governing. They do not want excuses, they do not want compromises; they just want govern ments to get on with the business of governing. Our people are sending us a powerful message. I hope that my colleagues on the Labor side have the ears to listen to that message and that they pass the government's taxation bills in the Senate.

Government in Australia stands at the crossroads here today. We can retreat to the time-honoured processes of backroom deals with the opposition, minor parties and Independents and so further entrench political cynicism, or Labor can accept the will of the people as expressed on 3 October and give speedy and unfettered passage to the government's taxation package through the Senate.

The Senate was conceived as the states house. It is interesting that even the Labor states are hardly opposing the tax package. They recognise that the funds they need to pay for their schools, hospitals and roads must come from somewhere. They recognise that a modern Australian economy needs a modern and equitable tax system if jobs and growth are to be generated. They know, too, that a general, consistent and simple tax on goods and services is a far fairer tax regime than having hidden wholesale sales taxes and a multitude of stamp and transaction duties, all of which have to be bolstered by growing state gambling taxes.

Even Labor icons like Gough Whitlam recognised a mandate when he saw it. Paul Keating recognised it in 1993 when he promised to support the Hewson Fightback package if a coalition government was returned at the polls because that package was put to the people. Now, though, Labor promises to oppose the very measures which formed the key plank of the recent federal election campaign.

And what of the Democrats? Their rallying cry over the years has been, `Elect us in the Senate and we'll keep the bastards honest!' Now they are plotting to force changes to a package which will force the government to break its electoral promises. So much for honesty and integrity there.

Government, I believe, must have a story to tell and a positive role in managing unemployment and poverty. Safety nets are certain ly necessary, especially in times of rapid social and economic change. But if national wealth is to be generated and the dignity of employment is to be extended to all, governments at all levels must work together to provide opportunity and not stifle the talents and energies of our communities.

Our coalition government has charted a path here. We in this place and in the Senate must take up that challenge. The choice lies in the hands of the Labor Party and the Senate.

My views on society have been forged in a fairly rough crucible. My education was not at a prestigious university, but at the university of hard knocks. Timber milling, small business and my experience in local government have taught me many lessons. I have learnt to work hard, to listen and to act. These lessons I will bring to this parliament in support of the people of New England and Australia at large.

For me to stand here as the new member for New England, I owe thanks to many people indeed. I will not name them all today. However, I would like to thank the National Party—the second oldest political party in Australia—for giving me the honour to be one of its representatives in this parliament. I thank all those hundreds of party members and supporters who campaigned as volunteer foot soldiers—I repeat, `volunteer foot soldiers'—on my behalf over the last year, particularly Richard and Elizabeth White, of `Bald Blair', Guyra, and the Hon. Jenny Gardiner MLC, who provided me and my family with great strength.

I thank the electors of New England who have entrusted me to represent them here. Most of all, in closing I would like to thank my family: my wife Lynne for doing the hard yards with me, my youngest son Ben for his sense of humour, and my other sons Lachlan, Duncan and Rohan for sharing their experiences of life.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Jenkins) —Before I call the honourable member for Oxley, I remind the House that this is the honourable member's first speech. I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.