Inaugural Speech

Hon. Cassy O'Connor MLC

Inaugural speech: 18 June 2024

Ms O'CONNOR (Hobart) - Mr President, I begin my first contribution in this place by thanking the member for Nelson for staying laser focused on the wellbeing of children at Ashley Youth Detention Centre, for bringing this matter forward on this day. The fate of those children in Ashley and those who have passed through it over the past century is something that needs urgent addressing by this government. We have had detainees, victim/survivors, whistleblowers, the Commissioner for Children and Young People, civil society organisations all calling for the closure of Ashley and therapeutic approaches to juvenile justice, as have the Greens for the past 10 years.

We should all agree the lack of urgency from the state government on this issue is shameful and I will be supporting this motion.

Mr President, it is a very great honour and solemn responsibility to be standing here as the first Tasmanian Green in this place. To the people of nipaluna/Hobart who put me here and our wonderful volunteers who gave their all on the campaign to make history in Hobart, I promise to honour your trust and work hard with my five Greens colleagues in the House of Assembly to drive positive change. I will serve you with courage and integrity in the Legislative Council.

As Greens do, I will be a truth teller and vote in the public interest every time. I will fight for good, green outcomes as the people of Hobart would expect; indeed, as they deserve, as citizens of a representative democracy, a democracy and its institutions, which the Greens will always defend.

With a long, late queen of England and all her colonies looming over us each day in here, I am most acutely aware of lutruwita's colonial history. We were reminded again of this bloody, sorry past and its part in enduring injustice by respected palawa leader and artist Dewayne Everettsmith on the opening day of this new parliament. Mr President, I want to warmly thank you for asking Mr Everettsmith to address members that day.

His words were profoundly moving, a reminder this island's human story reaches back through countless millennia - a reminder we are just one part of the natural world, connected to all living things and not its masters, and a challenge to us all in this colonial institution to make more sincere amends with the first Tasmanians.

The trauma that was inflicted on Tasmanian Aboriginal people, the palawa/pakana, has stayed deep in their storylines and in their cell memory across the generations to this day. I pay tribute to their survival as a proud people against all odds and unspeakable savagery. I acknowledge justice has been glacial; so too, the promised return of lands - a lamentable failure of successive governments and parliaments over the past three decades.

These are failures we collectively can and must remedy. We will never reach our full potential as an island community until we do. There is no justice without the return of lands that were never ceded. There can be no justice for palawa/pakana people until there is treaty. As a Green, and representing a party that has a long history of standing with First Nations people, I wholeheartedly recommit to truth, Treaty, justice and the return of lands.

As the Green MLC for this beautiful city, nipaluna, I stand with Tasmanian Aboriginal people in defending the spiritual mountain that is kunanyi from rent-seeking developers and the political establishment that cosies them along.

Along with the palawa and many thousands of locals who have rallied to defend kunanyi, we are up against those who can put a price on everything, yet seem to know nothing's value beyond power and profit.

We will fight them until we win and kunanyi is safe in her wildness, a sacred cultural landscape for all time. The Greens will always stand with Tasmanian Aboriginal people and wilderness lovers in defence of our ancient forests and our wild lands. Always, and we stand strong and resolute with Aboriginal people and forest activists in defending from greed and predation the timeless, globally significant cultural landscape and wilderness that is takayna, the Tarkine.

In these objectives, we will never back down. Never. The times that we live in demand peaceful and implacable resistance; on the streets, in the forests and the wilderness, along our coastline, in workplaces, in the courts and in our parliaments.

No draconian, corporatist, anti-protest law will stop people who recognise that. In an age of state capture and necrocapitalism, where life on earth itself is in peril, civil disobedience is a moral duty. No government acting on behalf of corporations will be able to arrest its way out of a planetary crisis as it unfolds at every local level.

Parliaments can enact harsh, undemocratic and ecocidal laws. Governments can build bigger jails, but in the end they will fail. When young people and their grandparents look around them and feel they have got nothing left to lose, the threat of jail time will be meaningless.

Surely, it is far better we give people hope through evidence of responsible leadership and the political courage to do things differently.

Responsible political leadership on a heating planet is ending native forest logging and burning. It is committing to and funding rewilding and landscape restoration. It is having science-based programs in place to protect our incredible carbon stores and draw down more CO2 out of the atmosphere. It is working with nature, not against it.

Responsible political leadership builds ecosystem resilience through protection and restoration. It skills people to give back to the land, back to country, rather than always taking from it.

In a world where hope can be hard to find and hold, responsible political leadership means giving our young people hope through meaningful action. We could turn this beautiful island into a beacon of hope for the world.

While we wait for parties which are wedded to the old destructive ways to change, the Greens will be here to light the way. We, the Greens, are in this place, now six of us across both Houses, led so ably by Dr Rosalie Woodruff, to hold the line for nature and for a more just and decent lutruwita/Tasmania. We are here for fairness and equality. The Greens' vision is of an island where the rights of our people, of creatures great and small, and of natural systems that sustain life are respected, protected and, where necessary, strengthened. That is what we are about. It is what we have always been about, with clear‑eyed resolve over the 50‑year history of the Tasmanian Greens.

We are not here to uphold the status quo. We are here to challenge, and where we must, we are here to break it, and to be part of creating something better. We regard it as our moral duty to do so. We believe we have no choice. Fair warning - the Greens are the disrupters because business as usual is writing humanity's epilogue and we are not going to stand by and let that happen.

I am not here to get too comfortable either, much as these red velvet couches appeal to my long love of velveteen. It may be six years to the next Hobart election, but I plan, indeed I am obliged, to make each day in here count. I have an obligation in here to shake things up a bit, to put Greens' values and policies firmly on the table for the consideration and discussion of members.

Like our mighty leader, Dr Rosalie Woodruff, and her outstanding team on the floor in the other place - the members for Clark, Vica Bayley and Helen Burnet, our member for Lyons, Tabatha Badger, and member for Bass, Cecily Rosol - I am in here to make sure we are talking about the increasingly urgent challenges of our time; challenges such as the terrifying state of the climate, the risks to our communities on a much hotter planet, fire safety, food and water security, the robustness or otherwise of our institutions and infrastructure and their capacity to cope, crashing biodiversity, the loss of insects, of precious miraculous bees, the unimaginable but possible demise of perhaps the most important creature to life on Earth.

We could be talking about things such as the growing threat of pandemics caused by habitat loss, predator capitalism, and eugenicist governance. We could talk about how to restore faith in public health, how to clean the indoor air we share, how to save lives from preventable disease and disability, and how to protect our children from viruses that can maim them and shorten their lives. Surely it is part of our job to prevent suffering however we can.

So much of what we talk about in here, or what we could be talking more about, comes down to political choices. The political choices of major party governments that fund and accelerate ecological and social breakdown, engaging in the great deceit that business as usual is the answer. Political choices that prioritise corporate profit over people's health, stadia over affordable homes and better hospitals, subsidies for forest destruction and animal torture over making sure every Tasmanian child is given every opportunity through our public education and training system to live a good life. Political choices to protect paedophiles and rotten eggs in the State Service, to give up on kids born behind the eight ball or who made bad choices, and throw them in Ashley to be damaged and traumatised anew. A political choice by arguably anti‑science establishment parties to keep logging and burning Gondwanan forests at public loss, destroying habitats, driving species to extinction and sending millions of tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere each year; a political choice by parties that are getting harder and harder to tell apart; to let the Maugean skate, a species that has been evolving here since the dawn of time, be snuffed out of existence so predatory multinational corporations can get a return on their $4000-a-ticket dinner with the Liberal premier.

It takes a special kind of emptiness inside to cheer on the extinction of a species like the Maugean skate, the Masked owl or the Swift parrot. They can dress this up in whatever specious argument they like, but tragically that is where we are. The six Greens who Tasmanians have now elected to this place are here to give these mute and blameless creatures a voice and to fight for their survival. In this too, we will never back down.

Bad political choices and corporate toadying, this island has been blighted by them since colonisation. That is the status quo the Greens stand with civil society in challenging. It is why we will not give up on reform of Tasmania's pathetic electoral donation laws until the dirty money and favours are out of politics to the benefit of every Tasmanian, except, of course, the established political and corporate class.

These are some perspectives on the pressing matters that I plan to bring to the debates with members. I am certain there will be respectful disagreements. Where we can find common ground on behalf of the people we represent, we must. Where we can work collectively towards meaningful solutions for our communities and for what this century is hurtling at us, we must. The times we live in demand the best of all of us. They demand of us courage.

Just as my Greens colleagues and friends do with such tenacity and strategic clarity in the Assembly, I am here to hold the line in the Legislative Council for Tasmanians who want change. I feel and embrace the weight of expectation and responsibility that comes with being the first Tasmanian Green elected to this institution. Although as an MP and minister over the journey, I have, at times, felt great frustration with this place, I respect its history and its important role in our Westminster democracy. I am also super keen to learn from experienced hands in here how to make the most of every sitting day.

As I look around this Chamber, I see members I have known and worked with, in some cases, for decades. In my past life as a journalist, I first met you, Mr President, as a giant, affable possum on Tasmania TV's Kids Show 35 years ago. You have always been a lovely fella. I first worked with the members for Rosevears and Windermere in my time as Chief of Staff at Southern Cross News in Launceston. Ms Palmer and Mr Duigan were then two bright young things at the start of their media careers, and here they are today, ministers of the Crown, who I can ask questions of every time we sit.

In 2014, my long-standing respect for the member for Murchison grew when we travelled to Tonga together as part of the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnership. The member for McIntyre and I got to know and like each other on a visit to Flinders and truwana/Cape Barren Islands more than a decade ago when I was minister for Aboriginal Affairs. The member for Mersey and I first worked together on the Joint Standing Committee inquiry into the Greens' Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill in 2008-2009. A little over a decade later, your compassion and your commitment, Mr Gaffney, ensured we now have a safe legal framework for dying with dignity in place.

I have also long held the member for Nelson in high regard for her sincere, unwavering commitment to improving people's lives and to political integrity going back long before your election to this place, Ms Webb. To my fellow newly elected colleagues, the members for Elwick and Prosser, again warmest congratulations. Having engaged with you in your immediate past roles, I fully concur with the observations of the member for Pembroke that your election demonstrates the respect and trust you have earned in your communities.

To the Leader of Government Business, particularly, but also to the members for Rumney, Huon, Pembroke and Launceston, thank you for making me feel so warmly welcome.

All of this is to say, Tasmania is a small place and so is this Chamber. Honourable members will be well aware I am no political maiden giving her first speech. I gave my first inaugural at Albert Hall in the Launceston sitting of the parliament almost 16 years ago. Then, I was the newly elected member for Clark following Peg Putt's resignation after years of tireless service and leadership.

A potted history of my family background is there for the reading, if anyone can be bothered. I will just say this: since then, both my parents, Shane and Colleen, who came down from Queensland for that day, have passed away and so has my beautiful, clever baby sister Kristy, who took her life 11 years ago. It is just me and my much loved brother Brendan left from my childhood. We are orphans now, but I am sustained in every way by my greatest achievement, my pride and joy, my four amazing, kind, clever and funny children: Lachlan, Conor, Jasper and Stella. Lachlan is here today. I feel I should explain why the others are not. Conor is a doctor at the Royal and he is at work; Jasper lives and works in Melbourne; and my baby Stella is on her travels through Europe. I am simply nothing without my children. My pride in them sometimes makes me feel fit to burst.

Always, there is my great love, Nick, who is also here in the Chamber today. Nick's strength of character, generous spirit and enthusiasm for life are a constant source of warmth and affirmation. Nick keeps me laughing. He is very funny, and helps me to be my best self every day. Nick, my children, the terrific partners of the older three, and my lovely mum-in-law, Jo McKim, who is also here today, are a reminder to me often that these are the good days and I am blessed with a gorgeous family.

I was also very blessed to represent the people of Denison and Clark for 15 years; to lead the Greens for eight of those years; and, from 2010 to 2014, to be one of two Greens ministers in government who did not waste a single day in delivering reform. We introduced Tasmania's Aboriginal Dual Naming Policy. We got the unaccompanied minors who were seeking asylum out of Pontville and into classrooms. We built 2200 new energy efficient and affordable homes. We transformed Stainforth Court into Queens Walk Apartments. We rolled out 9500 free energy efficiency upgrades across the island. We made sure Tasmania had a Working With Children And Vulnerable People Registration Scheme. We improved public transport in urban and regional areas. We delivered the state's first Elder Abuse Prevention Strategy. We put paid to the myth that the Greens do not care about people.

We progressed the return of larapuna and Rebecca Creek to the Aboriginal community through a unanimous vote in the lower House. They were only small parcels of land; it was all we could get through Cabinet. I hold no grudge, of course, because life is too short, but it is one of my great political sorrows that this Chamber, at that time, saw fit to not even debate that legislation and those stolen lands were not returned.

Moving right along - in what will always be my proudest moment in parliament, in 2013 we voted to ensure the protection of more than half a million hectares of the most amazing Gondwanan forests on Earth, and to extend the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Not all the forests we wanted to save were saved, but those extraordinary places that the TFA did are wildlife refuges and what makes this island a net carbon sink today. They are intergenerational public assets of immeasurable and global value.

Despite the best endeavours of the Liberals in government, the loggers are still out of those magical forests set aside for protection under the Tasmanian Forest Agreement. The fight goes on to save the rest.

Many years ago, I read a quote from a book that stuck by author Rachel Carson, who wrote the groundbreaking book about pesticide contamination, Silent Spring. She said:

We must all have a great sense of responsibility and not take the comfortable view that someone else is looking after it. Someone else isn't looking after it.

I am certain I speak for all my Greens colleagues in this parliament when I say we feel that way about this island and its people. We feel a great sense of responsibility. The Greens know change is coming, fast; and that lutruwita/Tasmania has to mitigate and adapt fast.

We know this peaceful, glorious little island, cooled as it is by the Southern Ocean, will become an increasingly desirable place for people to live. One of our great challenges will be to plan, prepare, and welcome people from all over the world, while strengthening our communities and looking after this beautiful place. Can we do this?

I sure hope so, for our children's sake and theirs. I know the Tasmanian Greens will be giving it everything we have. Through its long-established capacity to carefully consider matters of public interest and concern, I believe this Council will be vital to tackling these enormous challenges in the years ahead too. It may require all of us, and this institution itself, to do things differently in some ways.

On that note, I know this is slightly dangerous territory, Leader of Government Business, I did listen carefully to the member for Mersey's contribution on the re-establishment of the sessional orders in the first week of the new parliament. A bit like Mr Gaffney, I am baffled by the afternoon tea break every sitting day at 4.00 p.m. - one-and-a-half-hours after we get back from a one-and-a-half-hour lunch break, although I appreciate that members are often working through the lunch break. I am not convinced that we need to, nor should we as hard-working MLCs, adjourn for afternoon tea every day. So, members should brace themselves for some respectful conversations on the topic as time goes on.

In my shadow portfolio areas of Attorney-General and Justice, Democracy and Integrity and Animal Justice, I will be working with my Greens colleagues downstairs and, I hope, members in here to drive meaningful, evidence-based reform; stronger human rights protections; a faster and fairer justice system; strengthening the rights of nature and recognising the sentience of animals; making sure our integrity bodies best serve the public interest and that our ever-fragile democracy is made stronger. These will be some of my specific portfolio priorities and I very much look forward to the discussions with my honourable colleagues.

In closing, I know we will have a further opportunity later in the day, but I do want to make particular mention of my predecessor as the member for Hobart - the always honourable, Rob Valentine. As a Hobart local, I always knew Rob could be counted on to do the right thing. I knew he would vote in the public interest every single time. That is why I, and a significant majority of people who live in this great city, entrusted him with our vote. Rob Valentine served this community with a manifest sense of responsibility and civic duty and a genuine love of community. He has more than earned his new life of peace, no longer called by the bells, disrupted only by the grandchildren. I warmly wish Rob well in retirement.

Mr President, just as I always worked hard to do in 15 years as the Greens member for Clark in the Assembly, I will honour the trust the people of Hobart have placed in me to represent their values and hopes for our beautiful city, nipaluna/Hobart and for our shared future as Tasmanians. To them I say, I will not let you down. That I am standing here today owes everything to those who have built the Greens from the grassroots up over the past 50 years, those who have worked for us and who do work for us, campaign for us, supported us, and voted for us all these decades; and our volunteers, our superpower, who slogged so hard and with such good spirits on our fantastic campaign to win Hobart. You all know who you are, fellow travellers. My gratitude is unending.

Mr President, and honourable members, I may be the first Green to stand here, but I can guarantee you I will not be the last, and that is a very good thing. We made history, and there is plenty more yet to be made. You can be sure of it. I note the motion. Thank you.