Ivan Dean, Speeches Index

Tuesday 23 November 2010

ELECTORAL AMENDMENT (LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL BALLOT PAPERS) BILL 2010

Mr DEAN ( Windermere ) - Madam President, there has been a lot said already, and I do not think it really serves great purpose to go back through all of that information, but I raised this matter when I first stood to be elected. I had a meeting with the Electoral Office telling them that I wanted to disclose on my ballot paper that I was independent, and I was told then that I could not do it. It was not provided for under the Electoral Act. I identified very clearly then that I felt that was unfair and was not affording us the similar conditions or position that it was affording a party member, so I am very pleased that the member for the Western Tiers has brought this matter forward.

Mr Wilkinson - In fact if you stood for Federal Parliament you could have been.

Mr DEAN - That is right. Could have done. And that is why I have asked the Treasurer and the Leader what is the difference. If it can be used in that forum in that area, why is it seen as being so bad here, in a State situation? I just cannot quite follow that argument at all.

Mr Wilkinson - The argument is, because it could be of a disadvantage to either of the parties.

Mr DEAN - Quite obviously that is the reason for it.

Mr Wilkinson - That's the logic, isn't it.

Mr DEAN - Quite obviously. There is no doubt about it, the Independents -

Mr Parkinson - Federally there have been so few of them over a period of time. That is probably one of the reasons that they have tolerated the idea. It has only been of recent times that being an independent has made any difference Federally, whereas in Tasmania it has often made a difference.

Mr DEAN - The fact is, Independents in upper House elections is really a big issue, and very clearly in my electorate there is a big sway towards Independents. Throughout my campaigning on both elections people would say to me time and time again, 'if you are Independent we will support you'. And that came through. I would probably say 70 to 80 per cent of the people I spoke to would raise that issue, 'Are you really an independent?' And as members know, in both my elections I had quality Labor candidates standing against me, one who has continued to say that she was 'Independent Labor', and that was interesting in itself as to why she wanted to use 'Independent', and she used it on all of her material, advertising material, right through the papers and handouts and so on.

Mr Parkinson - So if you had accepted John Howard's phone call, you wouldn't have been Independent, would you?

Mr DEAN - There were quite a number of reasons, and I will talk about that one day, as to why I did not accept his phone call.

Madam PRESIDENT - And that has nothing to do with the principle of the bill in front of us.

Mr DEAN - And it has nothing to do with this. Thank you, Madam President. It has nothing to do with this whatsoever.

Mr Parkinson - But what I am saying is, at one point in time you gave consideration to whether you would be Independent or not.

Mr DEAN - Yes, I did.

Mr Wilkinson - You did not ring him, he rang you, didn't he?

Mr DEAN - He rang me and if he were here today he would simply say that I said to him, I could not toe -

Mr Aird - He is here today. He is in Hobart.

Madam PRESIDENT - Order. This is not about who had telephone calls from a former prime minister, this is about the principle of whether 'Independent' is on a ballot paper or not. Let us go back to it.

Mr DEAN - Thank you, Madam President. But it was interesting when I was campaigning because those who were supporting me at the time, my wife and my sons and those others were saying, what do we tell people when they ask us the question, which they were, about 'Independent Labor'; my being Independent and 'Independent Labor'. What I said to them was that there are two or three things that you can do, and one is to either shake your head and just throw your hands in the air or the other thing is to simply say, very clearly, she does not know what she is and therefore she is simply throwing it up at this stage to try to get the electors to support her. So I told them to take the pick of what they wanted to do. But I think most of them, on each occasion, threw their hands in the air and just shook their head in dismay. But, very clearly, it does benefit an Independent member, there is no doubt about that.

What I did, Madam President, because of the 'Independent' thing in my last election, not my first but my last election, I included on my signs in very big writing '100 per cent Independent' because -

Mr Parkinson - So you told a fib then?

Mr DEAN - other members were using 'Independent' in many other forms, so I included the written form, numerical numbers, '100 per cent Independent' and that certainly caused a lot of discussion and a lot of -

Mr Parkinson - That is absolutely impossible.

Mr DEAN - Not impossible at all. The Leader made comment about 'Independent' in this House, and what does it identify with. What I see is that it identifies with being exactly that, and that is not having to tow a party line, not being told how to vote by a party and being able to take a position in line with your electorate or with the strong field out there that you talk with and that raise issues with you. That is what it does. It is not about trying to get an unfair advantage over anybody. It is not about that at all. That is not the way I see it. Some might, but I certainly do not see it that way. I see it as being in a position where I do not have to tow a party position and I am free at all times to take the decision that I believe is right in all of the circumstances. I will not be swayed by any party. I do not think I have indicated that in this Chamber to this date and I am not likely to.

The Treasurer raises that issue as well and I am not going to go back over it anymore, other than to simply say that, very clearly, independence is important to those people who are truly Independent. If you are independent you ought to be able to identify that on your ballot papers. That is, if that is an accurate statement and if that is a statement that is reasonable in all of the circumstances. People use it and they throw around the word 'Independent' for a number of reasons. I raised it at the first election that I stood for, where the member was using 'Independent' and very clearly was trying to get in on the 'Independent' thing in that electorate because of what was being said and all the publicity around being Independent. Very clearly, that is what it was all about. To me, a person needs to be honest, upfront and very clearly, it ought to be accepted.

The bill should be supported by all and I think it will in this House, with the exception of probably two or three members. I would just hope that this bill, when it is passed in this House, will be supported in the other place moving forward. I just hope that there is support there for it. It would be good to see this change in accordance with the Commonwealth position and I will be supporting the bill.

Mr Aird - What is the Liberal Party's view on this, I wonder?

Madam PRESIDENT - Order. The Liberal Party member is not in the House.

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