Address-in-Reply
Address-in-Reply
Motion
Resumed from an earlier stage of the sitting.
Hon Nick Goiran (Leader of the Opposition) (5:05 pm): Prior to the interruption for the taking of questions without notice, I was replying to the Governor's address to Parliament delivered on 8 April 2025. In summary, members will recall that at one point the Governor said on 8 April this year:
I hope and anticipate that this Parliament's experienced members will set the standards you all should strive for.
I had posed to members my suggestion that the duties of a member of the Legislative Council might include these five things: scrutinising new laws, looking for bipartisan opportunities, keeping the government to its commitments, persistently asking the questions that need to be asked and, lastly, requiring the government to justify expenditure and adhere to the rule of law. In the time that had been allotted to me, I had spent some time unpacking the first of those principles, which is to scrutinise new laws, and we were looking at the second, which is to look for bipartisan opportunities. I indicated to members that, for example, we have the Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care. All members are warmly invited to the event that we will have with Dr Ashwini Davray next week on 28 May.
In that same vein of looking for bipartisan opportunities, I draw to members' attention that in the 40th Parliament this chamber established the Select Committee into Elder Abuse. This was another example of where we were able to work collaboratively on a bipartisan basis. A little like the issue of palliative care, I would like to think that the issue of preventing elder abuse really should not be party political in any way and that we should be single-minded in our determination to eradicate elder abuse, just as we should be single-minded in our determination to make sure that every Western Australian, at the end of life, has access to expertly practiced specialist palliative care. It was very pleasing and an honour to be the Chair of the Select Committee into Elder Abuse, which was established in 2017. I said it was a bipartisan initiative, but in fact it ended up being a tripartisan initiative. Hon Alison Xamon was, if I recall correctly, the deputy chair of that committee; Hon Tjorn Sibma joined me on that committee; and my learned friend Hon Matthew Swinbourn was the representative from the government on that committee. It resulted in a unanimous report on how, together, we might be able to tackle the scourge of elder abuse. It was incredibly rewarding, albeit taxing. The 40th Parliament was particularly taxing in terms of workload, but that was very rewarding. I commend those recommendations to the attention of members.
Members might be disappointed to hear that here we are now in 2025 and I am still talking about recommendations made in that select committee report from 2018. This really takes me to the third of the suggested duties for all members of the Legislative Council after the duties to scrutinise new laws and look for bipartisan opportunities, and that is to hold the government to its commitments.
With regard to elder abuse, there is really no other way of putting it in any more charitable fashion than this, but the Labor government has absolutely failed to adhere to its commitments with respect to elder abuse.
I was a bit troubled that yet again—I think it was only last week, on 16 May 2025—a media release was issued, this time by the new Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Hon Simone McGurk. It is entitled "Regional events to shine a light on elder abuse". My observation on this matter of elder abuse is that the Labor government has been quick on media releases and like tortoises or snails with respect to action to eradicate elder abuse. It was as far back as September 2017 when the Select Committee into Elder Abuse was established and the then leader of the government, Hon Sue Ellery said:
We went into this election with a strong policy on elder abuse—
Remember, this was September 2017—
as part of our comprehensive family and domestic violence package. We are committed to ensuring that every Western Australian has the ability to make a positive contribution without being at risk of becoming a victim of abuse. We have made a series of commitments around some practical responses to put actions in place to protect older Western Australians. One of those is to expedite the enactment of amendments set out in the recommendations of the "Statutory Review of the Guardianship and Administration Act 1990" report, which goes into the laws surrounding the power of attorney and guardianship.
This was September 2017, when the government's leader in this place said that the government had made these commitments and it was going to expedite these laws in respect to guardianship and administration. Where are those expedited laws? Here we are on 22 May 2025. This was in September 2017, at the beginning of the 40th Parliament. We had all of the 40th Parliament—no expedited laws. We had all of the 41st Parliament—no expedited laws. Would it be possible, ministers—noting that two are away on urgent parliamentary business—to see something in the 42nd Parliament? We did not see it in the 40th. We did not see it in the 41st. All we are asking for is that something happens in this Parliament. This government promised that it was going to be expedited.
Members, particularly new members, may now have a deeper appreciation of why on the notice paper, in the "Motions" section, immediately after Hon Dr Brian Walker's motion, "Regulation of Alcohol and Cannabis", they will find a motion on elder abuse. That is the context in which that motion sits on the table; it is because we have a job to do in this Parliament. I put it to members of the government backbench that they also have this duty. They also have a duty to make sure that their government adheres to the commitments that it has given to the people of WA. There is no point in giving an inaugural speech—or any kind of speech—saying how proud they are to be part of a team that is going to deliver on these commitments if it does not happen. We had the 40th Parliament and the 41st Parliament—no expedited laws. It is not my choice of language; it was this government's choice of laws. The two prime suspects, Hon Sue Ellery and Hon John Quigley, have now retired. Will anyone in the government take up this issue and make sure that we see expedited laws on elder abuse finally surface in this place? Rest assured that I will continue to ask the questions that need to be asked on this matter.
President, I note that we are getting to the customary time for the taking of member statements. I have more to say about this and other topics with respect to what the Governor has described as "experienced members will set the standards you all should strive for", having now partly dealt with our duty to hold the government to its commitments. But at this time, President, I am aware that there are other urgent matters to attend to.
Leave granted for the member's speech to be continued at the next sitting of the house.
Debate adjourned, on motion by Hon Lauren Cayoun.
