Senator CROSSIN (5:06 PM) —I am humble and proud to stand before you as the new Labor senator representing the people of the Northern Territory. I regard it as a great honour to be chosen by my party colleagues, and they can be assured that I will do my utmost to represent all Territorians. I would like to begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal people, the traditional owners on whose land this Parliament House was built. My life in the Northern Territory began at Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula where I arrived in 1981 to teach. I would like to thank the Yolngu people in their own language.

Nhamirr bukmak? Manymak walnga nganapurr nhinan ngarra ga gurrutumirr ngarrak, ngunhal Yirrkala wangangur. Yolngu walal ngarrak djaka, ga gurrutu gathar ngarrak ga marnggikungal ngarran Yolngu Romgu. Buku—wekan mhuma, wanga—watangun Yolngun, nhe ngarrak, djaka. Those words translated mean thank you for welcoming my family and I, for allowing us to live on your land and for the opportunity to understand your culture. I give a public undertaking to work hard to represent them and to continue to respect and acknowledge their rights.

My presence in this chamber today would not have been possible without encouragement and support of many people. It is an opportune time that I pay tribute to and sincerely thank my husband, Mark, who has always given me advice and support and whose political judgment I appreciate and value, and my four children—Paul, Melinda, Amanda and little Kate. My appreciation and thanks goes also to my mother and father, Clare and Albert Borlase, and my sister, Anne, and her husband, Peter Stacey—all of whom have been supportive and tolerant of my ambitions. To my very dear friends Sue Murphy, Graham and Gillian Mitchener and my colleagues, I have always appreciated your guidance, assistance and encouragement.

Growing up in Kensington, Melbourne, instilled in me a strong sense of social justice and fairness. I will always remember this rich, multicultural, working-class community that now provides me with a sense of history and one of the reasons for my involvement in the Labor movement today. I have been a member of the Labor Party for 17 years and have been involved at every level of party politics from the local branch to national conference. My involvement in a large number of community groups provides me with an insight into understanding Territorians and their needs, and I promise to energetically represent their interests during my time in the Senate.

As I am constantly reminded, Bob Collins will be a challenging act to follow. He is highly and widely recognised and regarded in the Territory as having been an outstanding representative for all Territorians. He was renowned for his wit and his wisdom. I am aware he was acknowledged by both his political friends and foes as one of the most effective debaters in the Territory and federal parliaments.

Robert Lindsay Collins served as the Labor senator for the Northern Territory for over 10 years and spent 10 years before that in the Northern Territory parliament acting as opposition leader from 1981 to 1986. As you know, Bob made history when he became the first Territorian to be appointed to the federal ministry and later to federal cabinet. Bob's record of service as a minister of some six years is a worthy legacy any politician would be proud to own, but to have made his contribution as a cabinet minister and senator representing the Northern Territory makes his achievements infinitely more impressive. I, too, am proud to be making a little piece of history myself by becoming the Territory's first female member of federal parliament.

Women have and will continue to play an important role in both the life and development of the Northern Territory. I would like to take a few minutes to pay tribute to just a few of these. As some honourable senators may be aware, Territory women, including Aboriginal women, were the first in Australia, along with South Australian women, to win the vote and the right to stand for parliament. The legislation was passed in the parliament of South Australia, which then had responsi bility for the Territory, in 1894 and was gazetted in 1895. Territory women voted in their first election in 1896 and were the first women in Australia, along with their South Australian sisters, to vote in the federal referendum on federation in 1898. They voted overwhelmingly in favour of federation hoping it would bring the Territory closer to self-government.

It took a while for women to get elected into parliament in the Territory. The first woman took her seat in 1960, followed by such other prominent politicians as Dawn Lawrie, who is currently the Territory's Anti-discrimination Commissioner, and Labor women June D'Rozario and Pam O'Neill, who in 1981 became the first female deputy leader from a major political party. We currently have a talented Territory Labor leader in Maggie Hickey, who is the first female Leader of the Opposition in the NT. It is my desire that Maggie Hickey becomes the Territory's first Labor Chief Minister or Premier. I intend to dedicate time as a member of parliament encouraging other women to stand for political office. It is important that there are more women directly involved in the decision making bodies of this country and that these bodies truly reflect the gender profile of the electorate.

The Northern Territory is an electoral division with an area in excess of 1.3 million square kilometres, with a coastline of some 6,200 kilometres. The electorate includes the territories of Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island. The main towns include the city of Darwin, Alice Springs and a number of regional centres such as Katherine, Tennant Creek, Nhulunbuy, Jabiru and Yulara. The Territory is an electorate that has often been referred to as the last frontier and, although not the largest by area in Australia, it is geographically the most dispersed. It is also home to a diverse range of geographical treasures such as Uluru and Kakadu National Park, to name only a few. So it provides both unique challenges and opportunities.

The mining of uranium adjacent to Kakadu within the Jabiluka lease has gained not only national but international attention during the past two years. This lease is completely surrounded by the Kakadu park, which is one of only 17 world heritage properties listed for both natural and cultural values. It should also be noted that construction on this proposed mine has commenced, despite the cultural heritage management plan not being completed and despite this being one of the conditions laid down by the Commonwealth government.

I support the efforts of Yvonne Margarula, who is ably supported by Jacqui Katona—two fellow Territorians that I know dearly—in leading a delegation to Paris to seek a recommendation from UNESCO's world heritage bureau that Kakadu be placed on an in danger list. The Jabiluka project is rejected by the overwhelming majority of Australians. More than 80 per cent of Australians do not want mining in national parks and more than 60 per cent do not want uranium mines. A significant number of Australians are saying that they have gone as far into the nuclear industry as they want to go. I am also one of those Australians.

Geographical uniqueness is not the only special feature of the Territory. The people of my electorate form a rich tapestry of differing backgrounds and traditions. The cultural diversity of the Northern Territory forms a most endearing and welcoming feature of life in northern Australia.

The Territory has its own special set of circumstances and needs. Our population of under 200,000 is diverse and is spread across the bush and regional and urban centres. Almost one-quarter of Territorians are indigenous Australians. We enjoy a rich racial and ethnic mix of cultures from more than 50 countries. It is this aspect of the Territory to which I am pleased to have exposed my children. It is this diverse range of cultures and experience which families in the Territory value and celebrate. As a Territory senator, I will continue to promote the benefits of a tolerant, multicultural Australia.

I have entered parliament at a time when the political scene in this country is undergoing significant historical change. Australia has established a proud international reputation for its policies on indigenous people and migrants, a reputation of which most Austral ians are proud and want their children to understand. We must continue to strive for a country that is built upon the foundations of unity rather than division, that promotes a community of inclusion and a lifestyle based on the principles of racial equality and equal opportunity.

The rights and needs of indigenous Australians must be more seriously addressed by governments. It took many years for any government of this country to recognise in law Aboriginal rights to land, and the Howard government has failed to lead this country towards a peaceful and productive reconciliation. In my first speech in this chamber I would like to extend an apology to Aboriginal people, to those people whom I have personally met and to the stolen generation, who have been the innocent victims of many decades of poor and wrong public policy. I want to record my deep regret for the injustices suffered by indigenous Australians as a result of European settlement. In particular, I offer my personal apology for the hurt and harm caused by the forced removal of children from their families and for the effect of government policy on the human dignity and spirit of these indigenous Australians.

I would also like to record my desire for reconciliation and for a better future for all Australians. I make a commitment to a united Australia which respects this land of ours, values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and provides justice and equity for all.

I believe that my diverse experiences have led me here to represent the people of the Northern Territory. As a working mum who still drops her two-year-old daughter at child care every morning, I have direct experience in the child-care industry. Since being appointed as a senator, the single major issue over which I am stopped time and time again is that of child care and its impact upon working families. I believe the provision of and access to child care is at crisis level in this country. If we are to support families and strengthen their role in the community, which we have done through ratifying ILO convention 156, then we must more seriously address the crucial role that child care plays in our society. More and more families rely upon either one or both parents to work, and there is little recognition of the difficult and challenging role of single parents, particularly women, who choose to juggle a career and a family. Eight hundred million dollars worth of cuts in the last two coalition budgets, particularly to operating grants to community based centres and outside school hours care programs, has seen the quality of child care reduced, job losses in the sector and child-care fees escalating beyond the means of many working parents.

In Darwin the community has been shocked by the recent announcement of the imminent closure of four child-care centres. This was labelled a necessary business decision by the centre operators and is a clear indication of how the coalition's policies are not working. These policies are placing a burden on the nation's families, and there are major policy inconsistencies in the government's approach to this. At a time when, in the labour market, the government's policy direction is allegedly promoting flexibility of working hours, the approach to child care is based in the 1960s, reflecting the work pattern of that time and not what you would hope for or expect as we enter a new millennium. These decisions do not reflect family friendly policies and are limiting the ability of businesses, particularly in the Northern Territory where there is a shortage of skilled labour, to attract and keep workers.

I put on the record that it is unfortunate that there are no child-care facilities in this building for a politician like me. It may well be one of the reasons limiting the capacity of women to enter this arena. I call on governments to recognise and fund child care as the first stage of the lifelong education and learning process. It must be classified as an essential service, part of the formal education system, and must be substantially better funded than it currently is. It is time all levels of government realised child care should be free and accessible to families in this country.

My involvement in the trade union movement as a union official with the Australian Education Union and the National Tertiary Education Union has shown me how vulnera ble workers are in the security of their employment and the lack of knowledge that individuals have about their working conditions and rights. I do not intend to provide detailed comment on the recent waterfront dispute, only to say that the trade union movement, along with the MUA, is here to stay. As our history will prove, the trade union movement continues to improve wages for all sectors of the work force and will ensure that there remains in our society an organised industrial labour movement to defend and promote the interests of Australian workers.

The date 1 July is less than two weeks away, and this is the day that the scales of industrial relations in this country will be tipped in favour of the employer by the coalition government. Award conditions will be stripped back to only 20 allowable matters whether or not there is agreement at the workplace between employees and management to the contrary. Union members will retain limited award protection during this period of insecurity. The impact of the Workplace Relations Act will be felt by young people, rural and regional workers and women in part-time and casual employment, all of whom are generally underrepresented in unions and conscious of complying with the requirements of their employer in order to keep their jobs. The Workplace Relations Act discourages true workplace reform and regulates it in a punitive, limited manner. It fragments the work force and further marginalises women and youth and those workers who are engaged in fixed term or other forms of casual short-term employment. This act is another slight by the coalition government on the ordinary workers in Australia.

During my term as a senator, I will actively support the move towards Australia becoming a republic as well as moves by the Northern Territory to become the seventh state of Australia. Territorians deserve to be granted statehood, and to secure the full range of rights that other Australians already enjoy. Territorians also deserve a modern constitution which provides us with a better, more democratic system of government in our region.

The Northern Territory Legislative Assembly has adopted a bipartisan push for a grant of statehood by the centenary of Federation in 2001. Not all Territorians agree on the detail which must be attached to a grant of statehood. It is not the number of senators or the size of the population that should be seen as possible barriers to statehood. The main impediments are how and under what conditions do we move to statehood while ensuring that specific recognition is afforded to indigenous Territorians within a contemporary constitution. This issue should be decided by Territorians, not by the Northern Territory parliament.

We should have a representative people's convention and not the recent sham which was imposed upon Territorians without an opportunity for all Territorians to determine the content of the territory's new constitution. The current Chief Minister's agenda is to be condemned as undemocratic and counterproductive. I call for the democratic process to be reinstalled.

I believe that a new constitution for the Northern Territory should be a document of significance, a document which enjoys the overwhelming support of the people of the Northern Territory. It should secure rights and entitlements for Territorians and ensure those rights cannot be taken away on the whim of the politicians of the day, and, above all, it should provide a system of government which is both democratic and openly accountable to the people. Before statehood can be achieved, I also believe the territory government should come under scrutiny. With no freedom of information legislation, the territory government has remained unaccountable since self-government.

In mentioning the accountability of governments, let us look at the record of the coalition government and its handling of regional Australia, particularly in my electorate of the Northern Territory. The economy of the territory and the importance of business and its reliance on regional development is crucial. The Northern Territory looks to the Commonwealth to provide it with most of its revenue. The manufacturing base of the territory is small, and the tourism industry continues to grow, along with the mining, fishing, horticultural, pastoral and cattle industries—but it is difficult, and it has not been made any easier with the policies of the Howard government.

One of the first acts of this coalition government was to cut $250 million in regional projects as well as cutting general purpose funding to the Northern Territory by $12 million. In the Territory we have experienced massive cuts to the Public Service, which means not only jobs are taken out of the region but also vital services are removed. Offices that have closed in the Northern Territory include Darwin's office of the Department of Transport and Regional Development, AusAID—the Australian Agency for International Development—Radio Australia, the Office of Northern Development, and the Department of Finance's regional office.

Let me make a comment about a number of these decisions. The Office of Northern Development was absolutely crucial in getting major development projects such as the MacArthur River mine and the Mount Todd mine off the ground. Cox's Peninsula transmitter station has closed down and may, quite possibly, now be sold for scrap metal. We heard how Australians in Jakarta during the recent trouble in Indonesia had trouble contacting the Australian Embassy for advice—for such purposes alone an effective Radio Australia is important. The Howard government has reduced funding to Batchelor College by six per cent, which has meant a cut of $334,000 and 20 places in 1998. Similarly, the Northern Territory University has suffered cuts under the Howard government as part of the massive reduction in funding in tertiary education. (Time expired)

The PRESIDENT —Order! Senator, the time for your speech has concluded.

Senator Vanstone —Madam President, I raise a point of order. I understood that at the commencement of Senator Crossin's speech you quite rightly reminded senators of the convention in this place that a new senator's first speech should be heard in silence. Unfortunately, I did not hear you say at the com mencement of that that the reciprocal convention is that first speeches are not meant to be self-indulgent or controversial.

Opposition senators interjecting—

Senator Vanstone —On this occasion, no-one on this side chose to not offer the proper courtesy. I, as everyone on this side does, support—

Opposition senators interjecting—

The PRESIDENT —Order!

Senator Vanstone —Madam President, I am quite happy to make the point to you and sit down. We are very happy to support that convention. We believe first speeches should be heard in silence, but it is a reciprocal convention. Either Senator Crossin was not informed of that, in which case I am very sorry for her, or she has chosen to take the courtesy that is extended and throw it back in government members' faces.

The PRESIDENT —What is the point of order?

Senator Vanstone —The point of order, Madam President, is that I ask you to take this up with the leaders of the parties to ascertain whether this is a convention worth maintaining, because it is not worth maintaining if new senators come in here and say what they damn well like.

The PRESIDENT —There is no point of order, Senator. It is a matter of convention between the parties.